Ecological studies on the development of the pasture stages of Nematodirus battus and N. filicollis, Nematode parasites of sheep

Abstract

1. The availability of Nematodirus infection to sheep was followed by grazing successive pairs of worm-free lambs on a contaminated plot. It was shown that lambs did not become infected during the summer following pasture contamination in the spring, but became infected when they were grazed on the plot the following spring.2. The development and hatching of the eggs and larval stages of N. battus and N. filicollis were followed by the periodical examination of infected faeces set out during May-November. The results showed that development to the infective larval stage occurred during the summer, taking normally about 3 months, but that the larvae then remained dormant within the egg membranes until the following spring.3. Laboratory studies confirmed the hypothesis that the hatching of the infective larvae was a response to a rise in temperature in the spring, following sensitization by exposure to low temperature during the winter. A rise in temperature to 50° F. was necessary before a high percentage hatch occurred.4. The epidemiology of Nematodirus infection is discussed in relation to these observations.