Detection of silage effluent pollution in river water using biosensors

Analysis of silage effluent identified glucose and lactic acid as suitable markers for diagnosis of silage effluent pollution in river water. The use of biosensors, utilising the reactions of glucose oxidase and lactate oxidase to detect glucose and lactic acid respectively, in silage effluent, was investigated. The lactate sensor was able to detect effluent from mature silage at 1/1000 dilution, whilst the glucose sensor proved more suitable for detecting effluent from freshly ensiled grass, which contains higher levels of sugar than mature silage. In both cases the sensor response was within 60 s of exposure to the effluent. The potential of biosensors for rapid monitoring in the water industry was demonstrated in this work.