Nematophagous fungi to controlling gastrointestinal nematodes in small ruminants: A systematic review

Gastrointestinal nematode infections are responsible for production losses in small ruminant worldwide. Moreover, anthelmintic resistance has increased mortality. New sustainable control strategies have been developed to overcome this problem. Biological control has emerged as a new trend with the recent market introduction of bioproducts. This systematic review aimed to analyze publications on the production of formulations and bioproducts based on helminthophagous fungi used to control gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep and goats, and to survey patents filed with this recommendation. The guidelines PRISMA 2020 were used, searching from 2004 to 2024. The following scientific databases were used: Springer, Science Direct, SciELO, Web of Science, Google Scholar, CAPES Journals and PubMed. The search for patents was carried out using the PATENTSCOPE database. Duplicate articles; review/opinion articles; studies in other animal species; studies without approval by an ethics committee; and tests performed only under in vitro conditions were excluded. Nine studies were included, six of which tested formulations and three tested bioproducts. Duddingtonia flagrans was most frequently included (8), being found in the two available bioproducts. Brazil shows the largest number of studies in the area (5). Sheep were more frequent (7) than those with goats (2). Reduction percentages ranged from 6 % to 96.6 %. Regarding patent searches, only three were found, two of which were for D. flagrans formulations and one for a utility model with Arthrobotrys drechslen. D. flagrans is the nematophagous fungus with the greatest potential to produce bioproducts in the biological control of gastrointestinal nematodes in small ruminants.