Poultry Growers, Have You Checked Your Water Lines Lately?

Water quality could impact the kind of microbial populations in poultry drinking water lines and lead to the buildup of a biofilm that can harbor pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, according to a new study.

Biofilm is a thin, slimy layer made up of long-chain carbohydrates, proteins, fats and other substances that serve as a sort of cocoon for microscopic bacteria. These biofilms form regardless of water quality, according to Tomi Obe, an assistant professor of poultry science with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

“If you have good water quality, that doesn’t mean you don’t want to understand what’s in your water lines and in the biofilm,” said Obe, who is also a member of the food science department and the Arkansas Center for Food Safety. “We want to know what’s in the biofilm, and how that can contribute to the persistence of pathogenic bacteria.”

The recent study by Obe, with lead author Tolulope Ogundipe, DVM, who recently completed a master’s degree from the poultry science department under Obe’s advisement, examined two groups of poultry houses. One group of five houses had historically normal sulfur-iron water and another group of five houses had historically high sulfur-iron water. Between the two groups, the researchers found there were no major differences in the quantity of Salmonella incidence. However, there were differences in the microbial makeup of both the poultry litter on the ground and in the biofilms within the poultry water drinking lines.

The study showed that a Bacillus species with probiotic properties was more prevalent in the biofilms of poultry house water lines with a historically normal sulfur-iron content, and a pathogenic Bacillus species was more prevalent in the biofilm of water lines in the historically high sulfur-iron content group.

Additionally, the one farm showing a low level of Salmonella in the biofilm was also the farm with the highest quantity of Salmonella in the litter. Although that farm was in the historically high sulfur-iron water group, another farm in that group had the lowest quantity of Salmonella in its litter.

“It’s hard to say that one group is good compared to the other,” Obe said. “We just observed different microbial populations, and we’re saying the water quality can impact the kind of microbial population that we see in the water line.”