Fate of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis after application of contaminated dairy cattle manure to agricultural soils.

Details regarding the fate of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (basonym, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis) after manure application on grassland are unknown. To evaluate this, intact soil columns were collected in plastic pipes (lysimeters) and placed under controlled conditions to test the effect of a loamy or sandy soil composition and the amount of rainfall on the fate of M. paratuberculosis applied to the soil surface with manure slurry. The experiment was organized as a randomized design with two factors and three replicates. M. paratuberculosis-contaminated manure was spread on the top of the 90-cm soil columns. After weekly simulated rainfall applications, water drainage samples (leachates) were collected from the base of each lysimeter and cultured for M. paratuberculosis using Bactec MGIT ParaTB medium and supplements. Grass was harvested, quantified, and tested from each lysimeter soil surface. The identity of all probable M. paratuberculosis isolates was confirmed by PCR for IS900 and F57 genetic elements. There was a lag time of 2 months after each treatment before M. paratuberculosis was found in leachates. The greatest proportions of M. paratuberculosis-positive leachates were from sandy-soil lysimeters in the manure-treated group receiving the equivalent of 1,000 mm annual rainfall. Under the higher rainfall regimen (2,000 mm/year), M. paratuberculosis was detected more often from lysimeters with loamy soil than sandy soil. Among all lysimeters, M. paratuberculosis was detected more often in grass clippings than in lysimeter leachates. At the end of the trial, lysimeters were disassembled and soil cultured at different depths, and we found that M. paratuberculosis was recovered only from the uppermost levels of the soil columns in the treated group. Factors associated with M. paratuberculosis presence in leachates were soil type and soil pH (P < 0.05). For M. paratuberculosis presence in grass clippings, only manure application showed a significant association (P < 0.05). From these findings we conclude that this pathogen tends to move slowly through soils (faster through sandy soil) and tends to remain on grass and in the upper layers of pasture soil, representing a clear infection hazard for grazing livestock and a potential for the contamination of runoff after heavy rains.