title: Comparative performance of three sampling techniques to detect airborne Salmonella species in poultry farms.
abstract: Sampling techniques to detect airborne Salmonella species (spp.) in two pilot scale broiler houses were compared. Broilers were inoculated at seven days of age with a marked strain of Salmonella enteritidis. The rearing cycle lasted 42 days during the summer. Airborne Salmonella spp. were sampled weekly using impaction, gravitational settling, and impingement techniques. Additionally, Salmonella spp. were sampled on feeders, drinkers, walls, and in the litter. Environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, and airborne particulate matter (PM) concentration) were monitored during the rearing cycle. The presence of Salmonella spp. was determined by culture-dependent and molecular methods. No cultivable Salmonella spp. were recovered from the poultry houses' surfaces, the litter, or the air before inoculation. After inoculation, cultivable Salmonella spp. were recovered from the surfaces and in the litter. Airborne cultivable Salmonella spp. Were detected using impaction and gravitational settling one or two weeks after the detection of Salmonella spp. in the litter. No cultivable Salmonella spp. were recovered using impingement based on culture-dependent techniques. At low airborne concentrations, the use of impingement for the quantification or detection of cultivable airborne Salmonella spp. is not recommended. In these cases, a combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent methods is recommended. These data are valuable to improve current measures to control the transmission of pathogens in livestock environments and for optimising the sampling and detection of airborne Salmonella spp. in practical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Universitat Politècnica de València. Institute of Animal Science and Technology, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Adell
authors.affiliation: Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Tecnología Animal, Segorbe, Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Verónica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moset
authors.affiliation: Iowa State University. Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Universitat Politècnica de València. Department of Biotechnology, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Belenguer
authors.affiliation: Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciuones Agrarias. Centro de Tecnología Animal. Polígono la Esperanza N 100, 12400 Segorbe, Spain.
authors.forename: Alba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cerisuelo
authors.affiliation: Universitat Politècnica de València. Institute of Animal Science and Technology, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cambra-López
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D012475:Salmonella / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology