The cucumber industry could offer an unlikely lesson to pig farmers on how to reduce the risk of spreading disease in indoor herds, according to scientists.
Alison Wakeham, a senior research scientist at the University of Worcester, said there were clear similarities between growing cucumbers in greenhouses and rearing pigs in ventilated buildings.
And she said technology being used in the cucumber industry could provide solutions to the pig industry in tackling disease.
Speaking at the Bpex innovation conference at Stoneleigh Park on Wednesday, Ms Wakeham said both cucumber and pig growers had problems with diseases coming in from the outside, and they needed to clean effectively between batches to prevent cross contamination.
Both industries also needed to identify infectious diseases quickly to prevent any unnecessary losses.
The root of many of these problems lay in bio-aerosols such as fungi, viruses, bacteria, pollen and insects, she said.
While these do not cause significant problems for plants grown outdoors as they mix with fresh air and are blown away, in indoor systems they become trapped.
“These bio-aerosols have the ability to change an environment,” Ms Wakeham said. “Damp, warm environments like greenhouses are the perfect environment for bacteria to grow, which leads to disease spreading.”
To help cucumber growers identify diseases quickly, scientists have developed air sensors which sample the air and alert farmers to any bio-aerosols. Ms Wakeham said it was a technology which had potential in the pig industry.
“There are more-rapid systems being developed for identifying bio-aerosols, so it is only a matter of time,” she said.
Previous air monitoring tests on pigs had picked up influenza two days after infection and required four animals to have the illness, but developments were being made, she added.
In the meantime, the biggest change producers could make was improving sanitation.
“We wouldn’t have a disease problem in the cucumber industry if we had good sanitation at the start-up process. It’s common sense, but it’s really important,” said Ms Wakeham.
“Clean water, fresh air and cleanliness are all you need. You have to keep the environment as clean as possible.”