The impact of season and vegetation on the survival and development of Oesophagostomum dentatum larvae in pasture plots

Abstract

Pats of pig faeces containing known numbers of Oesophagostomum dentatum eggs were placed on plots with bare soil, short or tall herbage on 8 occasions during 1 year. The number of eggs and larvae and the relative distribution of larvae in faeces, soil and herbage was monitored for 1 year after deposition. On 2 occasions soil from 8 selected plots was given to pigs, which were later slaughtered and examined for the presence of adult O. dentatum. Less than 1% of the deposited eggs could be recovered as infective larvae. The highest recoveries were generally made on tall herbage plots. The majority of infective larvae was found within the faecal pats, which indicates that infective O. dentatum larvae, to a large extent, do not disperse onto the herbage or into soil. The infective larval stage was reached only when the mean temperature in the weeks post-deposition was above 10 °C. This stage was reached within 1 week when the mean weekly temperature was above 13 °C. After the winter period no infective larvae could be recovered from any plots and no parasitic worms could be isolated from pigs fed soil from 8 selected plots.