Activity of nematophagous fungi Pochonia chlamydosporia and Paecilomyces lilacinus on Dipylidium caninum egg capsules

ABSTRACT

Nematophagous fungi are potential agents to be employed for biological control of helminthes. The ovicidal activity of the nematophagous fungi Pochonia chlamydosporia (isolates VC1 and VC4) and Paecilomyces lilacinus on egg capsules of Dipylidium caninum, a cestoda parasite of dogs, cats and men, was evaluated on Petri dishes cultures. One thousand of D. caninum egg capsules were placed onto Petri dishes containing 2% water-agar medium and grown fungal isolates, and also onto dishes without fungi, as control. The ovicidal activity of these fungi was evaluated after 5, 10 and 15 days. After the beginning of the interaction and at the end of the experiment, fungi P. chlamydosporia and Paecilomyces lilacinus demonstrated ovicidal activity (p<0.05) when compared to the control. Pochonia. chlamydosporia showed ovicidal activity of 49.0% (isolate VC1) and 41.9% (isolate VC4), while ovicidal activity of Paecilomyces lilacinus was 42.7% after fifteen days of interaction. The fungi Pochonia chlamydosporia and Paecilomyces lilacinus showed ovicidal activity on Dipylidium caninum egg capsules, thus it could be used as potential biological controllers of this cestoda.