Duddingtonia flagrans in the control of gastrointestinal nematodes of horses.

The research article explores the use of the fungus Duddingtonia flagrans as a method to control the number of harmful gastrointestinal nematodes in horses, highlighting a significant reduction of these parasites when the fungus is administrated at specific doses.

Research Objective

• The main goal of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the fungus Duddingtonia flagrans in reducing the quantity of infective larvae (L3) of gastrointestinal nematodes in horses.

Methodology

• The researchers used a completely randomized experimental design involving three treated groups (G1, G2, and G3) and a control group (CG). Each group included eight horses.
• The horses in the treated groups received different numbers of D. flagrans chlamydospores based on their body weight for a duration of 21 days. G1 received 1.5×10(5), G2 received 3×10(5), and G3 received 6×10(5) chlamydospores per kilogram of body weight.
• The treatment was given every three days. Similarly, fecal samples from the horses were also collected every three days for 30 days. These samples were used to measure the fecal egg counts (EPG) and perform a fecal culture.

Findings

• The results showed that there was no significant difference in the EPG counts among all groups of horses, indicating that the treatment hadn’t significantly altered the overall number of eggs produced by the parasites.
• However, the presence of D. flagrans noticeably reduced (P < 0.05) the number of infective larvae after a 72-hour interval between treatments. This means that the fungus effectively decreased the population of parasites that could potentially infect the horses.
• Moreover, groups G2 and G3, which received higher dosages of D. flagrans chlamydospores, showed a significantly higher (P < 0.05) reduction of L3 larvae compared to the control group.
• This suggests that the application of D. flagrans fungus could be further explored as a potential biological control method to regulate free-living parasites in livestock.