Experiences with Duddingtonia flagrans administration to parasitized small ruminants.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the nematophagous fungus Duddingtonia flagrans applied orally to small ruminants in a field study in Germany. 20 female, pure breed goat kids and 20 female, pure breed lambs, all naturally infected with GIN, were kept on pasture and fed additionally with concentrates amended by 5 x 10(5) spores of D. flagrans per kilogram bodyweight daily for 3 months during pasture season. The equally sized control groups got the concentrate without spores. Every fortnight data of body weight, eggs per gram faeces and larval development in faecal cultures and on pasture were collected. Following 3 months of spore feeding the control goats showed arithmetic mean faecal egg counts of 1235 (+/-533) eggs per gram (epg) faeces, in comparison to 517 (+/-671) epg in the fungus-fed group (p<0.001). No statistically significant difference was found between the two sheep groups. The maximum in larval reduction in faeces was found at the end of the fungus-feeding period (81.3% in the sheep groups and to 67.9% in the goat groups), but without statistical significance. At the end of the study the mean body weight gain in the fungus-treated groups tended to be higher than in the control groups, but not showing statistically significant differences. Only regarding the first-year-grazing-goats, the bodyweights of the post-feeding period revealed significant (p<0.05) differences between fungus-fed and control group. However, no statistically significant differences were observed in qualitative faecal cultures, pasture larvae counts, serum pepsinogen-level and PCV. In the study presented here, no clear effect of fungus could be observed. Furthermore, climatic conditions during the study period may have demonstrated how vulnerable the fungus application is to such parameters.