Ovicidal effect of nematophagous fungi on Taenia taeniaeformis eggs

Abstract

This work evaluated the ovicidal effect of the nematophagous fungi Monacrosporium sinense (SF53), Monacrosporium thaumasium (NF34) and Pochonia chlamydosporia (VC1) on Taenia taeniaeformis eggs in laboratory conditions. T. taeniaeformis eggs were plated on 2% water-agar with the grown isolates and control without fungus and examined at seven and fourteen days post-inoculation. At the end of the experiment, P. chlamydosporia showed ovicidal activity (P < 0.01) on T. taeniaeformis eggs unlike the other two species, mainly for internal egg colonization with percentage results of 32.2–54.0% at 7th and 14th day, respectively. The other fungi only showed lytic effect without morphological damage to eggshell. Results demonstrated that P. chlamydosporia was in vitro effective against Taenia taeniaeformis eggs unlike the other fungi. In this way, the use of P. chlamydosporia is suggested as a potential biological control agent for eggs of this cestode.