Composting has been used to dispose of animal mortalities and infected materials, such as manure and feed, during major animal disease outbreaks. In this study, we adapted the plastic-wrapped mortality composting system developed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency during the 2004 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak to compost swine mortalities. The goals of the study were to evaluate the performance of the plastic-wrapped composting system to dispose of swine mortalities and to field test its ability to eliminate the spread of airborne pathogens through the aeration ducts. Two cover materials, ground cornstalks and woodchips, were tested using passively and actively aerated composting sheds. The mortalities were inoculated with Salmonella spp. and vaccine strains of Bovine herpesvirus-1 and Bovine viral diarrhea virus. Air samples collected from the upper aeration duct (air outlet) during the first 10 d of composting were negative for Salmonella and the viruses tested, which indicated that aerosol transmission of the pathogens was limited. The aeration plenum placed under the mortalities helped to keep conditions aerobic, as O₂ concentrations of both passively and actively aerated test units were above 11%. Actively aerated cornstalks had the highest degree-hours (1,462 °C h d⁻¹), which was followed by passively aerated cornstalks (1,312 °C h d⁻¹), actively aerated woodchips (1,303 °C h d⁻¹), and passively aerated woodchips (1,062 °C h d⁻¹). After a 7-wk composting period, all three pathogens were inactivated based on quantitative polymerase chain reaction test results. The mortalities were not inoculated with the African swine fever virus, but temperature data showed that if they were, the system had the potential to eliminate this virus.

中文翻译：

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在动物疾病爆发期间测试塑料包裹的堆肥系统以处理猪的死亡

在主要动物疾病爆发期间，堆肥已被用于处理动物死亡和受感染的材料，例如粪便和饲料。在这项研究中，我们采用了加拿大食品检验局在 2004 年高致病性禽流感爆发期间开发的塑料包裹死亡率堆肥系统来堆肥猪死亡率。该研究的目标是评估塑料包裹的堆肥系统处理猪死亡的性能，并现场测试其通过通风管道消除空气传播病原体的能力。使用被动和主动充气堆肥棚测试了两种覆盖材料，磨碎的玉米杆和木片。用沙门氏菌接种死亡率。牛疱疹病毒1型和疫苗株和牛病毒性腹泻病毒。在堆肥的前 10 天从上部通风管（出风口）收集的空气样本中沙门氏菌和测试的病毒均为阴性，这表明病原体的气溶胶传播是有限的。置于死者下方的曝气室有助于保持有氧条件，因为被动和主动曝气测试单元的O ₂浓度均高于 11%。主动曝气玉米秸秆的度数最高 (1,462 °C hd ^-1 )，其次是被动曝气玉米杆 (1,312 °C hd ^-1 )、主动曝气木片 (1,303 °C hd ^-1 ) 和被动曝气木片(1,062 °C hd ^-1）。经过 7 周的堆肥期，根据定量聚合酶链反应测试结果，所有三种病原体都被灭活。这些死亡者没有接种非洲猪瘟病毒，但温度数据显示，如果接种了，该系统有可能消除这种病毒。