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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2004, p. 4267-4275, Vol. 70, No. 7
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.7.4267-4275.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of Bacterial Populations in Dairy Wastewaters by Use of 16S rRNA Gene Sequences and Other Genetic Markers

Foodborne Contaminants Research Unit,¹ Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Albany, California 94710,² Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology and Athens Diagnostic Laboratory, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602³

Received 1 December 2003/ Accepted 5 April 2004

Hydraulic flush waste removal systems coupled to solid/liquid separators and circulated treatment lagoons are commonly utilized to manage the large amounts of animal waste produced on high-intensity dairy farms. Although these systems are common, little is known about the microbial populations that inhabit them or how they change as they traverse the system. Using culture-based and non-culture-based methods, we characterized the microbial community structure of manure, water from the separator pit, and water from the circulated treatment lagoon from a large dairy in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Our results show that both total bacterial numbers and bacterial diversity are highest in manure, followed by the separator pit water and the lagoon water. The most prevalent phylum in all locations was the Firmicutes (low-G+C, gram-positive bacteria). The most commonly occurring operational taxonomic unit (OTU) had a 16S rRNA gene (rDNA) sequence 96 to 99% similar to that of Clostridium lituseburense and represented approximately 6% of the manure derived sequences, 14% of the separator pit-derived sequences and 20% of the lagoon-derived sequences. Also highly prevalent was an OTU with a 16S rDNA sequence 97 to 100% similar to that of Eubacterium tenue, comprising approximately 3% of the manure-derived sequences, 6% of the separator pit-derived sequences and 9% of the lagoon-derived sequences. Taken together, these sequences represent approximately one-third of the total organisms in the lagoon waters, suggesting that they are well adapted to this environment.

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