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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Soil And Compost Tea: A New Restoration Technique?, Carol E. Day
Soil And Compost Tea: A New Restoration Technique?, Carol E. Day
Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations
Historically, prairie restorations have lacked the plant diversity seen in remnant prairies. Most restoration practices focus on reestablishing the plant community but overlook the soil microbial community even though microbes are critical to habitat functioning. Developing techniques that increase soil microbes in prairie restorations is critical to ensuring diverse restored habitats. We compared how microbial communities differed between remnant and restored prairie sites. We also investigated if soil and compost teas could be used to reintroduce microbes to restored prairie soil and if the teas affected native plant establishment. We found significant differences in the levels of bacterial taxa between …
Effectiveness Of Windrow Composting Methodology In Killing A Thermo-Tolerant Species Of Salmonella During Mortality Composting, Spencer Gabriel Myers
Effectiveness Of Windrow Composting Methodology In Killing A Thermo-Tolerant Species Of Salmonella During Mortality Composting, Spencer Gabriel Myers
Master's Theses
In a large agricultural operation, such as the one at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, disposal of deceased animals is an immense issue. The cost of transporting and rendering every dead animal is inhibitory to the general function of the agricultural operations and their thin budget. Therefore, we propose that composting mortalities could be an economical alternative. Composting is a recognized method for taking animal waste products along with carbon waste and turning it into a pathogen-free, nutrient-rich topsoil. Carcass composting is in fact performed in other countries and states to varying degrees of success. However, the California EPA limits …
Ecological Dynamics In Compost-Amended Soils And The Resulting Effects On Escherichia Coli Survival, Anya Cutler
Ecological Dynamics In Compost-Amended Soils And The Resulting Effects On Escherichia Coli Survival, Anya Cutler
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Escherichia coli (E. coli) are common and typically innocuous copiotrophic bacteria found in the mammalian gut microbiome. However, over the past 30 years, pathogenic E. coli have been responsible for several outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to contaminated produce. The introduction of Escherichia coli to an agricultural soil, via contaminated water, compost, or raw manure, exposes the bacterium to a medley of ecological forces not found in a mammalian gut environment. This study assesses a variety of abiotic and biotic soil factors that influence the ability of an "invasive" copiotrophic coliform bacterium to survive in compost-amended agricultural soil. The study …