Reducing anthelmintic inputs in organic farming: Are small ruminant farmers integrating alternative strategies to control gastrointestinal nematodes?

Autor: Chylinski C; Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Roslin Institute Building, Easter Bush, EH25 9RG, United Kingdom., Athanasiadou S; Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Roslin Institute Building, Easter Bush, EH25 9RG, United Kingdom., Thüer S; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Ackerstrasse 113, 5070 Frick, Switzerland., Grovermann C; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Ackerstrasse 113, 5070 Frick, Switzerland., Moakes S; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Ackerstrasse 113, 5070 Frick, Switzerland., Hoste H; Université de Toulouse, UMR 1225 IHAP INRAE/ENVT, 31076 Toulouse, France., Petkevicius S; Veterinary Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas LT-47181, Lithuania., Verwer C; Louis Bolk Institute, 3981 AJ Bunnik, the Netherlands., Verkaik J; Wageningen University & Research, AH 6700 Wageningen, the Netherlands., Werne S; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Ackerstrasse 113, 5070 Frick, Switzerland. Electronic address: steffen.werne@fibl.org.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Veterinary parasitology [Vet Parasitol] 2023 Mar; Vol. 315, pp. 109864. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Dec 22.
DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2022.109864
Abstrakt: To counter the global spread of anthelmintic resistance (AR), considerable efforts have been invested in the development and dissemination of sustainable alternatives to control gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections in small ruminants. The degree to which these have been accepted and integrated by farmers, particularly in organic systems, where the drive to reduce chemical inputs is arguably even more pressing, has been little studied. To identify whether more comprehensive actions are needed to support the uptake of alternative GIN controls amongst organic farmers, this study conducted a survey in five European countries on organic dairy goat and meat sheep farmers to gain insight into current GIN control strategies and farmer attitudes towards AR and alternative measures in these countries. The structured survey was disseminated in the five European countries Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Lithuania and United Kingdom, receiving a total of 425 responses, 106 from organic dairy goat farmers and 319 from organic meat sheep farmers. Regression analyses were carried out to identify factors impacting anthelmintic drenching on meat sheep production systems, whereas all data were analysed descriptively. Four key findings emerged: i) The frequency of anthelmintic treatments averaged less than two per animal a year in all production systems; ii) Overall, organic farmers seemed well informed on the availability of alternative GIN control methods, but fewer stated to put them into practice; iii) Targeted selective treatment (TST) strategies of anthelmintics appears to be not commonly incorporated by organic farmers; iv) Despite operating under national and EU organic regulations, each of the organic dairy goat (Switzerland, France and Netherlands) and meat sheep (Switzerland, Lithuania and United Kingdom) production systems developed distinct approaches for GIN control. To increase uptake of alternatives to GIN control and optimise anthelmintic use, initiatives that promote research dissemination, farmer participatory and knowledge transfer activities at national level would be desirable.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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