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Farm use of calcium hydroxide as an effective barrier against pathogens.

ABSTRACT: Livestock farming is affected by the occurrence of infectious diseases, but outbreaks can be prevented by proper sanitary control measures. Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)₂), commonly called slaked lime, powder is traditionally used as a disinfectant to prevent infectious diseases in livestock. Since Ca(OH)₂ can inactivate a wide variety of pathogens, has a small environmental impact, does not require a disinfection tank (i.e., can be spread directly on the ground) and is produced inexpensively worldwide, it is used for the prevention of epidemics on farms worldwide. Water is essential for the strong alkalinity that underlies its disinfecting effect, but it is unknown how much water is required under field conditions. In addition, Ca(OH)₂ reacts with carbon dioxide in the environment, reducing its pH, but it is unclear how long its degradation takes under actual field use. Thus, we measured the water adsorption ability of Ca(OH)₂-based disinfectants and its relation to disinfectant activity, as assessed by colony counts and live/dead staining and observation. We found that 15-20% (w/w) water in Ca(OH)₂ was necessary for disinfection to occur in practice. Moreover, we found that the pH of Ca(OH)₂ decreased within about two weeks to one month under actual use in practical conditions and lost its ability to disinfect. We further showed that granules prepared from Ca(OH)₂ and zeolite maintained high alkalinity more than twice as long as calcium powder. These findings will help to establish a suitable method of applying Ca(OH)₂ to protect farms from infectious diseases.

SUBMITTER: Matsuzaki S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8041792 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe omnipresence of nanoparticles (NPs) in numerous goods has led to a constant risk of exposure and inadvertent uptake for humans. This situation calls for thorough investigation of the consequences of NP intake. As the vast mucosa of the human gastrointestinal tract represents an attractive site of entry, we wanted to take a look on the fate that ingested NPs suffer in the gut. As a model to investigate NP uptake we used the isolated perfused rat small intestine. Differently sized fluorescent latex particles were used as exemplary anthropogenic NPs.ResultsThe particles were administered as bolus into the isolated intestine, and samples from the luminal, vascular and lymphatic compartments were collected over time. NP amounts in the different fluids were determined by fluorescence measurements. No particles could be detected in the vascular and lymphatic system. By contrast a major amount of NPs was found in luminal samples. Yet, a substantial share of particles could not be recovered in the fluid fractions, indicating a sink function of the intestinal tissue for NPs. A histological examination of the gut revealed that virtually no particles adhered to the epithelium or resided in the tissue, the bulk of particles seemed to be trapped in the mucus lining the gut tube. When this mucus was dissolved and removed from the gut almost the entire amount of particles missing could be recovered: over 95% of the given NPs were present in the two fractions, the luminal samples and the dissolved mucus. To foster NP uptake via an extended interaction time with the epithelium, the intestinal peristalsis was decelerated and the duration of the experiment was prolonged. Even under those conditions, no particle fluorescence was detected in the vascular and lymphatic samples.ConclusionWe could show that after intestinal exposure with a large dose of NPs the vast majority of NPs did obviously not come into contact with the epithelium but was either directly discarded from the gut or trapped in mucus. The healthy small intestinal tract evidently provides an effective barrier against NP uptake whereby the mucus film seems to play an important role.

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Farm use of calcium hydroxide as an effective barrier against pathogens.

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