Evaluation of multinutritional pellets containing Duddingtonia flagrans chlamydospore for the control of ovine haemonchosis.

This research evaluated the use of multinutritional pellets (MP) containing Duddingtonia flagrans chlamydospores as vehicles for oral administration in sheep against Haemonchus contortus. Pellets containing urea, wheat coat, soy meal, molasses, and D. flagrans chlamydospores were offered for 10 days to six nematode-free sheep (group 1, treated). Group 2 (control), also six nematode-free sheep, was supplied for the same period with nonfungi pellets. Feces were collected daily from each animal and deposited on water agar plates containing 500 H. contortus infective larvae. Three plates were used as three replicates per treatment, and all plates were incubated for 7 days. Microscopic observations revealed trap formation and the captured larvae. Washes from the plate content were passed through a Baermann funnel to collect noncaptured larvae and to quantify nematode reduction by fungal action. A larval reduction of 82% was found in fungal culture plates. The use of MP containing D. flagrans chlamydospores could be considered as a viable alternative control tool against sheep haemonchosis.