Title : Nanoparticle impregnated adsorbents for pathogen reduction in poultry litter
Abstract:
Poultry litter is used to line the floors of poultry farms, and is mainly made up of rice straw, wood shavings, along with feces, urine, leftover feed and feathers that are mixed, characterizing it as a product of animal origin. During the time poultry is reared, the presence of bacteria in the litter is inevitable, increasing the risk of contamination and infection to the chickens, which has a direct impact on poultry productivity. It is therefore understood that the proper treatment of poultry litter is a field to be explored, which will bring benefits to poultry production as well as to public health. An alternative to current treatments is based on the use of adsorbent materials capable of retaining and inactivating microorganisms. The aim of this study was to explore adsorbent materials, zeolite and wood shavings, impregnated with silver and copper nanoparticles, which could retain and inactivate microorganisms such as Salmonella entereditis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, with a focus on inactivation and microbiological reduction in poultry litter. Silver nitrate and copper sulphate were used in various concentrations, and the adsorbents impregnated with metallic nanoparticles demonstrate efficacy as antibacterial and antimicrobial agents, resulting in a synergistic disinfection effect for bacterial cells. The characterization of the adsorbents by FTIR, EDX and SEM methods demonstrated the effective impregnation of the nanoparticles on the materials evaluated. In the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration tests, all the microorganisms evaluated showed inhibition against the nanoparticle-impregnated adsorbents. The adsorption results obtained were inspiring, showing an 80% reduction in the mass of S. entereditis, S. aureus and E. coli when using Zeolite impregnated with silver, and 99% in the mass of the microorganisms when using wood shavings impregnated with silver and copper. It was therefore possible to understand the advantages of using zeolites and wood shavings functionalized with nanoparticles to act against pathogens in chicken litter.
