Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Horticulture

Committee Chair

William Bryan.

Abstract

There are few USDA organic certified practices for controlling the nematode Haemonchus contortus. This small ruminant parasite has a life cycle that makes it a candidate for control using field rotations. The third-stage of the nematode's life cycle is responsible for infecting or re-infecting a host and the use of chickens to control H. contortus has not been tested. This experiment was conducted to determine if the chicken's foraging behavior reduces the number of infective third-stage larvae on the pasture by comparing a chicken sub-plot, a sub-plot that was mowed, a control sub-plot and a pretreatment. These forage removal methods were applied to areas of a pasture infested with L3 larvae and two weeks after the end of treatment L3 counts per gram of forage were calculated. There was no significant difference between the forage removal methods, but there was a numerical trend showing that the chickens reduced the number of nematodes in comparison to the control. Different chicken management might increase the effects of the treatment.

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