Treatment of beef cattle with pellets containing mycelial mass
of the nematophagous fungus D. flagrans can be effective to control
trichostrongyles in tropical southeastern Brazil. This is the first
study of biological control using an isolate of D. flagrans in tropical
climate and beef cattle. Our results showed that that treatment of
beef calves with sodium alginate pellets containing mycelial mass
administered twice a week reduced the pasture infestation by
infective larvae of nematodes during the rainy and dry seasons in
the southeastern Brazil. The findings of this study are encouraging
for the use of nematophagous fungi in the biological control of the
gastrointestinal nematode of beef cattle in natural conditions.