Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov 6;64(4):549-555.
doi: 10.2478/jvetres-2020-0075. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Potential Determinants of Clostridium Spp. Occurrence in Polish Silage

Magdalena Goldsztejn  1 , Tomasz Grenda  1 , Nina Kozieł  1 , Magdalena Sapała  1 , Małgorzata Mazur  1 , Zbigniew Sieradzki  1 , Beata Król  1 , Krzysztof Kwiatek  1
Affiliations

Potential Determinants of Clostridium Spp. Occurrence in Polish Silage

Magdalena Goldsztejn et al. J Vet Res. .

Abstract

Introduction: Silage quality deteriorates with Clostridium spp. contamination, and if consumed, such silage jeopardises herd health and productivity. Minimising its occurrence reduces economic and animal welfare risks. The study investigated the influence of environmental and technological determinants on the Clostridium genus' occurrence in silage.

Material and methods: Analyses were conducted on 305 silage samples directly collected from farms located in all Polish provinces. Cultures and isolates were evaluated phenotypically and examined for occurrence of Clostridium spp., particularly C. perfringens and C. botulinum using PCR techniques. The results were statistically analysed using the ᵡ2 test for continuous and Student's t-test for non-continuous values.

Results: The most influential effect on Clostridium spp. occurrence is exerted by factors potentially associated with primary production, like the type of fertilisation and the contamination level of the ensiled feed material. Clostridium spp. was detected in 232 (76%) samples, and C. perfringens strains, predominantly toxinotype A, in 79 (26%). C. botulinum occurrence was not detected.

Conclusions: Deterioration of silage by clostridia could be prevented by a properly conducted ensiling process with the addition of starter cultures, but the presence of spores mainly depends on primary production and the extent of contamination of the feed material.

Keywords: Clostridium botulinum; Clostridium perfringens; Poland; silage; toxins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Conflict of Interests Statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Baums C.G., Schotte U., Amtsberg G., Goethe R.. Diagnostic multiplex PCR for toxin genotyping of Clostridium perfringens isolates. Vet Microbiol. 2004;100:11–16. - PubMed
    1. Böhnel H., Schwagerick B., Gessler F.. Visceral botulism – a new form of bovine Clostridium botulinum toxication. J Vet Med A. 2001;48:373–383. - PubMed
    1. Cai Y., Benno Y., Ogawa M., Ohamomo S., Kumai S., Nakase T.. Influence of Lactobacillus spp. from an inoculant and of Weissella and Leuconostoc spp from forage crops on silage fermentation. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1998;64:2982–2987. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deprez P.. Clostridium perfringens infections – a diagnostic challenge. Vet Rec. 2015;177:388–389. - PubMed
    1. Doležal P., Pyrochta V., Doležal J.. Effects of chemical preservative and pressing of ensiled sugar-beet pulp on the quality of fermentation process. Czech J Anim Sci. 2005;50:553–560.

LinkOut - more resources