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Highlights

Shallow burial with carbon enables rapid response to swine mortalities using available resources.

ABSTRACT. The advance of highly transmissible and deadly animal diseases, such as African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), presents a critical need for mass mortality disposal that does not further transmit the disease or contaminate water resources. Additionally, the decomposed carcasses should not be an environmental hazard but rather something that can be returned to and benefit the soil. Above-ground burial (AGB), also called Shallow Burial with Carbon by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is a method of mortality disposal where carcasses are placed on top of a carbon source (wood chips, wood shavings, corn stalks, etc.) that have been placed in a shallow trench. The spoil of the trench is then placed on top of the carcasses, creating a low mound. This study was a meso-scale carcass disposal trial (200 carcasses in four trenches) to determine differences in potential risk to groundwater contamination from nitrate-N, E. coli, and survival of Seneca Valley Virus (SVV) utilizing two carbon sources (corn stalks and wood shavings) and two burial times (June and November). The results showed that carcasses buried above the wood shavings carbon source demonstrated less risk for nitrate-N loss, while corn stalks demonstrated higher nitrate-N movement below the burial trench. E. coli results were highly variable, with a range from 0-18,000 colony forming units per 100 mL (CFU/100mL) with no statistically significant difference between the two carbon sources or three well depths. SVV was present in the .15 m (6 inch) and .46 m (18 inch) wells but not in the .91 m (36 inch) well, with the corn stalk carbon source having lower numbers than the wood chips. The SVV material detected was either on parts of the virus or inactive virus, and there was no risk for new disease transmissions. These results show us that AGB is a viable way to dispose of carcasses, but care must be taken to minimize risk to vulnerable aquifers.