Vet Med - Czech, 2025, 70(5):151-155 | DOI: 10.17221/47/2024-VETMED

Pathogenic bacteria in biogas plants using cattle, swine, and poultry manureOriginal Paper

L Cermak1, E Pechouckova1,2, M Marounek1, T Paulova1,2
1 Department of Physiology of Institute of Animal Science, Nutrition and Quality of Animal Products, Prague, Czech Republic
2 Department of Microbiology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

Fugate, a waste product from biogas production, regularly used in agriculture as a fertiliser, may contain bacterial pathogens that cause zoonoses. Anaerobic digestion (AD) can inactivate viable pathogens, including parasites, viruses, and pathogens containing antibiotic resistance genes. This study aimed to compare the numbers of pathogenic bacteria and diversity of potential bacterial pathogens in the fugate using three different types of slurry: cattle, swine, and poultry manure. The swine fugate showed higher numbers of Clostridium perfringens and Campylobacter sp. than the poultry and cattle fugate. In the cattle fugate, the lowest total number of pathogenic bacteria and a low number of coliforms were detected after the AD. The use of cattle manure in biogas plants presents a lower potential for soil contamination with pathogens. The fugate produced using poultry or swine manure can be used carefully to avoid possibility of contamination of aquifers or surface waters. Also fugate produced from manure of cows suffering from chronic botulism  can be used only with carefulness because of the presence of Clostridium botulinum spores in biogas waste of diseased cows.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; animal slurry; bacterial pathogens; fugate

Received: May 28, 2024; Revised: February 10, 2025; Accepted: March 24, 2025; Prepublished online: May 23, 2025; Published: May 29, 2025  Show citation

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Cermak L, Pechouckova E, Marounek M, Paulova T. Pathogenic bacteria in biogas plants using cattle, swine, and poultry manure. Vet Med - Czech. 2025;70(5):151-155. doi: 10.17221/47/2024-VETMED.
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