Predatory activity of Butlerius nematodes and nematophagous fungi against Haemonchus contortus infective larvae

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predatory activity of the nematode Butlerius spp. and fungal isolates of Duddingtonia flagrans, Clonostachys rosea, Arthrobotrys musiformis and Trichoderma esau against H. contortus infective larvae (L3) in grass pots. Forty-eight plastic gardening pots containing 140 g of sterile soil were used. Panicum spp. grass seeds (200 mg) were sown into each pot and individually watered with 10 mL of tap water. Twelve days after seeding, the pots were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=8). Two thousand H. contortus infective larvae (L3) were added to each group. Additionally, the following treatments were established: Group 1 – 2000 Butlerius spp. larvae; group 2 – A. musiformis (1x107 conidia); group 3 – T. esau (1x107 conidia); group 4 – C. rosea (1x107 conidia), group 5 – D. flagrans (1x107conidia) and Group 6 – no biological controller (control group). The larval population of H. contortus exposed to Butlerius spp. was reduced by 61.9%. Population reductions of 90.4, 66.7, 61.9 and 85.7% were recorded in the pots containing A. musiformis, T. esau, C. rosea and D. flagrans, respectively. The results of this study indicate that the predatory nematode Butlerius spp. and the assessed fungi display an important predatory activity can be considered suitable potential biological control agents.