UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Pahl, Donna MarieSubject: search.filters.subject.Plant Sciences

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    Comparing Source of Agricultural Contact Water and the Presence of Fecal Indicator Organisms on the Surface of 'Juliet' Grape Tomatoes
    (2010) Pahl, Donna Marie; Walsh, Christopher S; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Microbial water quality standards exist to prevent food safety outbreaks due to the use of agricultural water, although little is known about how the levels the fecal indicator organisms in water relate to the counts on the tomato fruit surface. This study used fecal indicator organisms commonly used in microbial water quality standards (Enterobacteriaceae, total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and E. coli) to monitor the water quality of surface ponds, a groundwater source, and the phyllosphere of treated grape tomatoes over two growing seasons. Water source and date caused a significant difference in the counts of fecal indicator organisms. Variability in bacterial counts was found in the surface water sources over the course of the season, partially explained by environmental variables such as water temperature, pH, precipitation, and air temperature. The microbial counts on the surfaces of the tomato fruit did not reflect the water treatments applied to the plants.