Microbiological Air Contamination in Farming Environment

The aim of this study was to evaluate microbiological contamination levels of indoor air in some farm settings, including barns and dairy objects. The level of microorganism emissions from farm buildings into atmospheric air was also estimated. In the research a MAS-100 air sampler (MERCK) was used. It was revealed that the number of microorganisms in barns ranged between 1.7·10 8.8·10 for mesophilic bacteria, 3.5·10 8.3·10 for hemolytic bacteria, 1.5·10 -4.6·10 for staphylococci, 5·10 -2·10 for coli-group bacteria and 1.7·10 -2.4·10 for moulds (mainly from the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Mucor and Rhizopus). There were no significant differences concerning microbiological air contamination between buildings of old and modern types. In one of the dairy stores, high numbers of mesophilic bacteria and staphylococci occurred. Farming objects were confirmed to be strong emitters of bioaerosols.