Trapping Behaviour of Duddingtonia flagrans against Gastrointestinal Nematodes of Cattle under Year-Round Grazing Conditions

FERNÁNDEZ, SILVINA; ZEGBI, SARA; SAGÜES, FEDERICA; IGLESIAS, LUCÍA; GUERRERO, INÉS; SAUMELL, CARLOS

Pathogens

MDPI

Lugar: Basilea; Año: 2023 vol. 12

The purpose of using nematophagous fungi as biological control agents of gastrointestinal nematodes of livestock is to reduce the build-up of infective larvae on pasture and, thus, avoid clinical and subclinical disease. As the interaction fungus-larval stages takes place in the environ-ment, it is crucial to know how useful the fungal agents are throughout the seasons in areas wherelivestock graze all year-round. This study was designed to determine the predatory ability of thenematophagous fungus Duddingtonia flagrans against gastrointestinal nematodes of cattle during four experiments set up in different seasons. In each experiment, faeces containing eggs of gastro intestinal nematodes were mixed with 11000 chlamydospores/g and deposited on pasture plots.Comparison between fungal-added faeces and control faeces without fungus were made with regards to pasture infectivity, larval presence in faecal pats, faecal cultures, faecal pats weight andtemperature inside faecal mass. In three of the four experiments, D. flagrans significantly reducedthe population of infective larvae in cultures (68 to 97%), on herbage (80 to 100%) and inside faecalpats (70 to 95%). The study has demonstrated the possibility of counting on a biological control tool throughout most of the year in cattle regions with extensive grazing seasons.