ABSTRACT

1. Ascarids (Ascaridia galli and Heterakis spp.) are highly prevalent in free-range laying hens. Ascarid eggs survive for long periods in soil, and one preventive measure is to add litter material to areas close to the henhouse. In this study, recovery rates of ascarid eggs from three common litter materials, namely pea gravel, beech (Fagus sylvatica) and spruce (Picea abies) wood chips were compared to recovery rates from soil.

2. Materials were mixed with faeces containing 1,408 ascarid eggs per g of faeces, placed in plastic fruit boxes and exposed to natural weather conditions in a randomised block design with six replicates per treatment.

3. Numbers of ascarid eggs were quantified at 28 time points over 3.5 years. Ascarid eggs were recovered for over three years from all materials and completely disappeared during the fourth winter of exposure. Time needed to get to a 50% reduction in ascarid eggs did not differ between litter materials and soil (242 to 269 days). A 99% reduction was reached significantly (P < 0.001) earlier in pea gravel (548 days) than in the three other materials, and earlier in the two wood chips (day 682 for beech, day 692 for spruce, P < 0.05) than in soil (1,277 days).

4. Accumulation of ascarid eggs in the area close to the henhouse can be reduced by any of the tested litter materials compared to bare soil. Adding litter to this area is highly recommended for free-range layer farmers in order to reduce numbers of infective ascarid eggs.

摘要

1. scar虫（Ascaridia galli和Heterakis spp。）在散养蛋鸡中高度流行。虫卵在土壤中可以长期生存，一种预防措施是在鸡舍附近添加垃圾材料。在这项研究中，将豌豆碎石，山毛榉（Fagus sylvatica）和云杉（Picea abies）三种木屑中的scar虫卵的回收率与从土壤中的回收率进行了比较。

2.将材料与每克粪便中含有1408个scar虫卵的粪便混合，放置在塑料水果盒中，以随机区组设计暴露于自然气候条件下，每次处理重复六次。

3.在3.5年中的28个时间点量化了a虫卵的数量。all虫卵从所有材料中回收了三年多，在暴露的第四个冬天完全消失了。凋落物材料和土壤之间的减少卵scar卵减少50％所需的时间没有差异（242天至269天）。与其他三种材料相比，豌豆碎石（548天）显着降低了99％（P <0.001），而在两种木屑中（比奇山毛榉第682天，云杉第692天，P <0.05）更早达到了99％的降低。在土壤中（1,277天）。

4.与裸土相比，采用任何一种经测试的垫料可以减少靠近鸡舍区域的a虫卵的积累。强烈建议自由放养的蛋鸡在此区域加垫料，以减少感染性scar虫卵的数量。