Purpose: To assess the effect of environmental factors and soil types on the persistence and survival of Salmonella serovars under controlled conditions. Determine which single or combined cover crop-solarisation treatment will facilitate die-off of Salmonella enterica in soil so that there is no recontamination associated with the replanting of leafy greens.
Methods: Extraction and enumeration of Salmonella from soil samples was performed following cultural methods. Plating and enumeration was done using spiral plater and automatic colony counter respectively. Enrichment was done for all plates with zero-count using enrichment solution to check the presence of residual Salmonella cells.
Results: Because of the large number of treatments, only two way interactions between factors manure, soil, temperature, moisture, serovar and the variable time was considered. Tukey’s HSD test was performed for multiple comparison testes. For the controlled study, most of the interaction are significant from P<0.001 to P=0.0226. There was no significant difference among the cover crop treatment in hastening decline of Salmonella however; the application of black plastic significantly hastened the decline of Salmonella in the field.
Significance: The quality of the research is very relevant to the fresh produce industry in treating Salmonella contaminated soil which decreases the possible preharvest contamination of vegetables and increases growers’ and consumers’ confidence.