10.57647/j.jrs.2025.1503.20

Effect of sheep grazing management on the endoparasite population on grassland

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  • Krisztina Varga*1,
  • István Csízi1,
  • Csilla Erzsébet Bojté1,
  • András Halász2,
  1. Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences Karcag Research Institute, Karcag, Hungary
  2. Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Sciences Technology and Animal Welfare, Gödöllő, Hungary

Received: 2023-11-22

Revised: 2024-03-14

Accepted: 2024-08-19

Published in Issue 2025-07-20

Copyright (c) 2025 Krisztina Varga, István Csízi, Csilla Erzsébet Bojté, András Halász (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Varga, K., Csízi, I., Bojté, C. E., & Halász, A. (2025). Effect of sheep grazing management on the endoparasite population on grassland. Journal of Rangeland Science, 15(3). https://doi.org/10.57647/j.jrs.2025.1503.20
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Abstract

Our research objective was to clarify the effect of different sheep grazing practices on parasite infestation in a semi-natural grassland community with a solonyec soil composition. Sampling for the occurrence of internal parasites of sheep was carried out in three extensively cultivated Achilleo - Festucetum pseudovinae grass communities with different grazing systems but in the same site conditions, in 2022-2023, at the MATE Research Institute in Karcag, Hungary. The sheep grazing regimes were: pastoral grazing, rotational grazing, and permanent, shelterbelt-forest grazing used in all grazing days. Microscopic analyses of the genomes and numbers of potentially infective oviposition and L3 larval stage endoparasites in sheep pastures were carried out on samples of faecal matter from grazed pastures and grass samples prepared using a 'larval running'. During our investigations, we found that the most infested area was the permanent pasture, 1350 eggs/g were found and Trichostrongylida type eggs were the most common in the faecal samples; furthermore, Nematodirus sp., Eimeria sp. and Strongylid type eggs were the most highly ones in this area.

Keywords

  • Sheep,
  • Endoparasitic,
  • Grazing mode,
  • FLOTAC technique,
  • Larval running
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