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Arrested development of sheep strongyles: onset and resumption under field conditions of Central Europe

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Abstract

Two tracer tests were conducted between August 2004 and March 2007 at an ecological farm in western Bohemia. The first tracer test was performed for the summer–autumn grazing period (onset of arrested development), the second for spring (resumption of arrested development). In the first tracer test, the percentage of nematodes arresting development over the winter months reached 87.7% for Teladorsagia circumcincta, 66.7% for Haemonchus contortus, 89.9% for Nematodirus filicollis, 21.6% for Trichostrongylus axei, and 23.9% for both Trichostrongylus vitrinus and Trichostrongylus colubriformis. None of the arrested larvae were observed with species Cooperia curticei, Nematodirus battus, and Oesophagostomum venulosum. In the second tracer test, a significant increase of adult worms was discovered in March of species T. circumcincta and N. filicollis and Trichostrongylus spp. in February. Redundancy analysis and generalized linear models analyses have confirmed that environmental conditions play a crucial role in hypobiosis of sheep strongyles in the Czech Republic. The analysis of influences of various environmental factors revealed that the number of arrested larvae was negatively influenced by light—day length, sunshine, or daylight decrease (p < 0.01).

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Research Project of the Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, No. MSM 6046070901.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 957, 165 21, Prague 6-Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Iva Langrová, Kateřina Makovcová, Jaroslav Vadlejch, Ivana Jankovská, Miloslav Petrtýl & Jan Fechtner

  2. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 00, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Petr Keil

  3. Department of Laboratory Animals Breeding and Hygiene, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vídeňská 1083, 142 20, Prague 4, Czech Republic

    Andriy Lytvynets

  4. Department of Zoology, Fisheries, Hydrobiology and Apiculture, Faculty of Agronomy, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Marie Borkovcová

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  1. Iva Langrová
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  2. Kateřina Makovcová
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Correspondence to Iva Langrová.

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Langrová, I., Makovcová, K., Vadlejch, J. et al. Arrested development of sheep strongyles: onset and resumption under field conditions of Central Europe. Parasitol Res 103, 387–392 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0984-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0984-6

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