Organic farming promotes biotic resistance to foodborne human pathogens

Summary

This field study across 70 commercial vegetable farms on the US west coast investigated whether organic farming practices enhance biotic resistance to foodborne pathogens through conservation of coprophagous beetles and soil bacteria. Organic farms fostered greater dung beetle diversity and significantly higher soil bacterial biodiversity than conventional farms, and coprophage communities from organic systems were substantially more effective at suppressing human-pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 in laboratory conditions. The findings suggest that farm management practices, biodiversity conservation, and pathogen suppression may be mechanistically linked through ecological processes.

UK applicability

The findings are potentially relevant to UK vegetable production, though the specific dung beetle species and landscape contexts differ between the US west coast and the United Kingdom. The mechanism—linking soil and above-ground coprophage diversity to pathogen suppression—could apply in UK systems, but local validation would be needed to assess how UK soil conditions and beetle assemblages influence E. coli suppression in organic versus conventional vegetable farms.

Key measures

Coprophage biodiversity (above- and below-ground), faeces removal rates of Sus scrofa, soil bacterial biodiversity, suppression efficacy of E. coli O157:H7 in laboratory conditions

Outcomes reported

The study surveyed coprophagous beetles and soil bacteria across 70 commercial vegetable fields in organic and conventional systems, measured faeces removal rates of Sus scrofa, and tested the ability of coprophage communities to suppress human-pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 in laboratory experiments.

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