Biological control of nematode parasites of livestock in Fiji: screening of fresh dung of small ruminants for the presence of nematophagous fungi.

Approximately 2500 faecal samples were collected per rectum from sheep and goats from 26 farms located on four of the Fijian islands where most of the small ruminants in this country are raised. The purpose was to screen these samples to isolate nematode-trapping fungi that had been acquired by these animals during the course of their feeding and which had remained viable following passage through their gastrointestinal tract. From these samples, 23 examples of nematophagous fungi were noted in the initial appraisal, from which 12 pure isolates (all of the genus Arthrobotrys) were made. A number factors emerged from this work which may have restricted the opportunities in which nematophagous fungi were detected, or isolated.