Rm. Connan et Dr. Wise, DEVELOPMENT AND SURVIVAL AT LOW-TEMPERATURE OF THE FREE-LIVING STAGESOF TRICHOSTRONGYLUS-TENUIS, Research in Veterinary Science, 55(1), 1993, pp. 20-24
To test the ability of Trichostrongylus tenuis eggs to survive and dev
elop at temperatures similar to those they might experience in late wi
nter on a grouse moor, they were exposed in replicate faecal cultures
to various low temperature regimes in the laboratory. Yields in experi
mental cultures were compared with those in control cultures incubated
at 21 to 23-degrees-C. Eggs in caecal faeces were also placed outside
on grass plots at intervals through the winter. In addition to this,
infective larvae (1,3), also in replicate faecal cultures, were subjec
ted to similar low temperature regimes. The results confirm that few,
if any, eggs deposited from November to January are likely to develop
successfully, but increasing numbers of those deposited from February
onwards are likely to do so and to give rise to L3 in May. 1,3 were sh
own to have the potential to survive the winter in significant numbers
. It is suggested that infection newly acquired during the winter may
represent a very significant part of the worm population found in adul
t birds in early summer.