Dispersal and concentration of sheep gastrointestinal nematode larvae on tropical pastures

Publication date: Available online 20 March 2019Source: Small Ruminant ResearchAuthor(s): Jalise Fabíola Tontini, Cesar Henrique Espírito Candal Poli, Viviane da Silva Hampel, Neuza Maria Fajardo, Anelise Afonso Martins, Alessandro Pelegrine Minho, James Pierre MuirAbstractKnowledge of free-living stages of endoparasite population ecology may guide their control in domesticated ruminants. Our objective was to evaluate sheep gastro-intestinal nematode (GIN) L3 distribution in tropical pasture profiles (grass and legume). Three different swards (treatments) were compared: 1) grass-only (G), 2) legume-only (L), and 3) one half of the paddock with grass and another half with legume (GL). We assessed pasture larval counts (PLC) in upper, medium and bottom strata, each representing one third of the sward height. Lamb health and performance characteristics were also evaluated. The PLC per kg of herbage dry matter (DM) tended to be 129% greater (P =  0.08) in the upper pasture profile compared to the lower stratum in GL pasture. However, the largest PLC dispersed per area (PLC/m²) was found (P <  0.01) in the lowest stratum in all pasture types. The overall PLC, averaged over strata, tended to be greatest (P =  0.09) in GL pasture (377 ± 45 L3/kg DM) when compared to G or L pastures (178 ± 13 L3/kg DM and 160 ± 16 L3/kg DM, respectively). The PLC dispersion in the area (L3/m²) was not different among pasture types (47.0 ± 4.1 L3/m²; P =  0.63). The PLC di...
Source: Small Ruminant Research - Category: Zoology Source Type: research