Horsetalk.co.nz Stabilility of bacterial communities in horse dung samples tested
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How long can samples of horse manure be kept at room temperature before the bacterial composition starts to change significantly?
It is an important factor in field studies, where access to freezing or refrigeration may be limited or non-existent, resulting in samples remaining at room temperature until being taken to the laboratory.
Michelle Martin de Bustamante and her fellow researchers devised an experiment to determine how storage techniques may affect the collective community composition of bacteria present in horse feces (the fecal bacterial microbiota).
Eleven healthy adult horses from the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine equine research program were enrolled in the study.