Parasirological contamination of arable soil in selected regions of Poland - preliminary research

Abstract

The hygienic status of arable soils in developed countries has been unknown. In the presented study, preliminary investigation was undertaken to determine the contamination of arable fields in Poland with eggs of parasitic nematodes.The study was conducted from autumn 2021 to spring 2022 in 5 provinces: Dolnośląskie (DS), Mazowickie (MZ), Podlaskie (PL), Pomorskie (PM) and Zachodniopomorskie (ZP). A total of 133 soil samples were collected. Parasitological examination of soil samples was carried out using the PN-Z-19006 method, with confirmed high sensitivity. Parasite eggs were found in a total of 67 samples, of which 56 samples contained eggs of roundworms of the genus Ascaris (an average of 3.29 eggs/100g of soil), 23 contained eggs of whipworms (an average of 1.22 eggs/100g), and 3 contained eggs of To x o ca r a (1 egg/100 g). The percentage of pos-itive samples collected in autumn (53.57%) was higher than the percentage of positive samples collected in spring (48.05%), and this difference was statistically significant (Chi2 test p=0.002). Similarly, the average number of eggs of all three parasite species together in positive samples collected in autumn (3.43 eggs/100 g) was higher than the average number of eggs in samples collect-ed in spring (2.90 eggs/100 g). This difference was statistically significant (Mann-Whitney test p=0.003834). Differences in the percentage of positive samples were also found depending on the region of origin of the samples. The highest percentage of positive samples was found in the PM (85.19%), which is characterized by a 2-5 times higher pig population per 100 ha of agricultural land than in other provinces. The differences in the percentage of positive samples between the PM and other provinces were statistically significant.The conducted research confirms relatively frequent contamina-tion of arable soils with eggs of parasitic intestinal nematodes, al-though the concentration of these eggs in the soil is generally low.