Publication Database

Efficacy of disinfection of various structural timbers in livestock farming (2022)

Art

Vortrag

Autoren

Mattauch, M. C. (WE 10)

Schweizer, P. E. (WE 10)

Roesler, U. (WE 10)

Friese, A. (WE 10)

Kongress

ISAH 2022 : 20th Congress of the International Society for Animal Hygiene

Berlin, 05. – 07.10.2022

Quelle

ISAH 2022 : 20th Congress of the International Society for Animal Hygiene — Freie Universität Berlin (Hrsg.)

Berlin, 2022 — S. 101–102

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://www.vetmed.fu-berlin.de/en/einrichtungen/institute/we10/ISAH-2022/_downloads/Abstract-Book-ISAH2022.pdf

Kontakt

Institut für Tier- und Umwelthygiene

Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13
14169 Berlin
+49 30 838 51845
tierhygiene@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Introduction
For decades, wood had been one of the most used building materials in agricultural constructions. Especially in livestock farms, due to hygienic requirements, the disinfectability of wood is a highly debated topic. Former studies evaluated the sanitary characteristics of timber as rather poor and raised concerns about the hygienic safety. More recent studies show an antibacterial effect of wood and even recommend the use in hygienically critical areas. In addition, due to the climate crisis as a highly risk of our society, the use of wood as a renewable raw material for construction trade is becoming increasingly attractive. To evaluate the hygienic aspects of various structural timbers in livestock, this study investigates the sanitization of different structural timber by routinely used chemical disinfectants for large area surface application in animal husbandry.

Material & Methods
The effect of three different surface disinfectants (peracetic acid, glutaraldehyde, formic acid) each in combination with three different wood types (Spruce (Picea abies),Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Poplar (Populus spp.)) was investigated. Surface test was carried out according to the guidelines of the German Veterinary society (DVG) for efficacy testing of disinfectants in livestock area in accordance with EN 16437. For this purpose, Enterococcus hirae (E. hirae) was chosen as surrogate for gram-positive and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) for gram-negative bacteria. The surface tests were performed by +10°C and -10°C, respectively.

Results
The tests initially performed at +10°C showed that peracetic acid and glutaraldehyde exhibited effective disinfection on all wood substrate types at practical concentrations by 0.5% and 1%. In contrast to this, the disinfection success of formic acid seemed to depend on the type of wooden carrier. An effective disinfection was achieved on pine with a concentration of 4.5%. The other two types of wood needed concentrations higher than suitable for practical use (>7%). At +10°C E. hirae required higher disinfectant concentrations than P. aeruginosa for successful disinfection. This was the case for all possible combinations of these tests. Subsequent tests at -10°C were conducted with E. hirae as the restricted bacteria. Here, only peracetic acid at a concentration of 1.5% showed effective disinfection of all wooden carrier types.

Discussion
The results suggest that a routine, practical and effective disinfection of wood is feasible. However, a suitable disinfectant requires careful selection. As only peracetic acid was able to achieve a sufficiently disinfecting effect, we conclude that peracetic acid could be successfully used as a disinfectant in wooden stables. Further investigation concentrate on the effectiveness of wood disinfection under biofilm formation of the investigated bacteria.

Acknowledgement & Funding
ZukunftLaWiBau (AP 5), project funding: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (funding number: 2220HV036A)