Researchers at the USDA Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory evaluated the CP Select™ as an alternative approach for concentrating microbial indicators and pathogens from irrigation waters used in agricultural environments. The study showed that the Concentrating Pipette effectively concentrates indicator organisms and pathogens like total coliforms, fecal coliforms, E. coli, enterococci, B. fragilis, C. perfringens, Salmonella, L. monocytogenes, and E. coli O157 from irrigation water samples using culture, enumeration, and PCR techniques. Irrigation water monitoring presents unique challenges because environmental waters vary widely in turbidity, organic content, and microbial background.
The study concluded that the Concentrating Pipette™ is substantially faster, and results were comparable to membrane filtration for analyzing microbiological quality of various irrigation water sources, with superiority in enabling the detection of virulence genes linked to E. coli O157.
“The concentrator method is simple, highly effective, and rapid in helping to detect bacterial populations in irrigation water and can be used as an alternative to traditional tedious membrane filtration method."
Read the study - Comparison of methods to determine the microbial quality of alternative irrigation waters - Hsin-Bai Yin, Jitendra Patel
Agricultural Water Management Vol. 201 March 2018
