ABSTRACT
Nitrate (NO3-) leaching from farmland remains the predominant source of nitrogen (N) loads to European ground- and surface water. As soil mineral N content at harvest is often high and may increase by mineralisation from crop residues and soil organic matter, it is critical to understand which post-harvest management measures can be taken to restrict the average NO3- concentration in ground- and surface waters below the norm of 50 mg l-1. Nitrate leaching was simulated with the EU-rotate_N model on a silty and a sandy soil following the five main arable crops cultivated in Flanders: cut grassland, silage maize, potatoes, sugar beets and winter wheat, in scenarios of optimum fertilisation with and without post-harvest measures. We compared the average NO3- concentration in the leaching water at a depth of 90 cm in these scenarios after dividing it by a factor of 2.1 to include natural attenuation processes occurring during transport towards ground- and surface water. For cut grassland, the average attenuated NO3- concentration remained below the norm on both soils. In order to comply with the Nitrates Directive, post-harvest measures seemed to be necessary on sandy soils for the four other crops and on silty soils for silage maize and for potatoes. Successful measures appeared to be the early sowing of winter crops after harvesting winter wheat, the undersowing of grass in silage maize and the removal of sugar beet leaves. Potatoes remained a problematic crop as N uptake by winter crops was insufficient to prevent excessive NO3- leaching. For each crop, maximum levels of soil mineral N content at harvest were proposed, both with and without additional measures, which could be used in future nutrient legislation. The approach taken here could be upscaled from the field level to the subcatchment level to see how different crops could be arranged within a subcatchment to permit the cultivation of problem crops without adversely affecting the water quality in such a subcatchment.
Subject(s)
Environmental Monitoring/legislation & jurisprudence , Models, Theoretical , Nitrates/chemistry , Soil Pollutants/chemistry , Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry , Agriculture/methods , Computer Simulation , Crops, Agricultural/growth & development , Europe , Humans , SeasonsABSTRACT
DISCUSS, the Dual Indicator Set for Sustainable Crop protection Sustainability Surveys, was designed to help farmers achieve more sustainable crop protection. The indicator set pairs risk indicators--POCER--, with response indicators--a management questionnaire. Both parts of DISCUSS are indicators in their own right, but the dual risk-response setup has the additional trump that the questionnaire reveals farm level information, by which POCER calculations are refined. Simulations with personal protection and drift mitigation measures illustrate how DISCUSS can be used to support the farmers' crop protection decisions.
Subject(s)
Agriculture/methods , Conservation of Natural Resources , Environment , Humans , Occupational Exposure/adverse effects , Occupational Exposure/prevention & control , Pesticides/toxicity , Surveys and Questionnaires , WorkforceABSTRACT
Eight representative Enterococcus strains from a collection of over 600 previously isolated from an Irish artisanal cheese were subjected to phenotypic and genotypic analysis of antibiotic resistance and virulence properties. Genes encoding resistance to tetracycline (tet(M) and tet(L)) and/or erythromycin (erm(B)) were detected in five strains. In addition, all strains contained two or more of the virulence genes tested (agg, gel, cyl, esp, ace, efaAfs, and efaAfm). Further investigation into the transferability and environmental dissemination of these resistance and virulence traits will allow risk assessment and safety evaluation of artisanal cheeses.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Cheese/microbiology , Consumer Product Safety , Drug Resistance, Bacterial , Enterococcus/drug effects , Enterococcus/pathogenicity , Drug Resistance, Bacterial/genetics , Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial , Enterococcus/genetics , Erythromycin/pharmacology , Food Microbiology , Genotype , Humans , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Phenotype , Risk Assessment , Tetracycline Resistance , Virulence/geneticsABSTRACT
AIMS: To investigate the influence of the culture medium on antibiotic susceptibility testing of food-associated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with the agar overlay disc diffusion (DD) method. METHOD: The antibiotic resistance profile of 39 food-associated lactobacilli and enterococci was determined with the agar overlay DD method using a defined medium (i.e. Iso-sensitest agar; ISA) or an undefined medium (i.e. de Man, Rogosa, Sharpe or MRS agar). RESULTS: The study revealed that ampicillin discs and, although to a lesser extent, also tetracycline discs consistently produced larger zones on MRS medium compared to ISA medium. For the antibiotics gentamicin, bacitracin and erythromycin, the radius of the inhibition zones produced on MRS medium was significantly smaller in relation to ISA. For categorizing LAB isolates into resistant, intermediate and susceptible groups, it was demonstrated that major errors can occur in determining bacitracin and gentamicin resistance if MRS medium instead of ISA medium is used. On the other hand, the performance of both media was found to be equivalent for testing tetracycline resistance. CONCLUSIONS, SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Despite the fact that MRS medium generally supports the growth of lactic acid bacteria much better than the nutrient-poor ISA medium, the present study clearly demonstrates that both media are not compatible in susceptibility testing against various classes of antibiotics. These results may stimulate future discussions on a generally recommended DD method for susceptibility testing of food LAB strains.
