[13] Terrestrial gastropods are a common problem in agricultural areas with a moist climate around the world,[15] crop damage occurs via the eating of leaves and stems and/or contaminating them with slime and faeces.

[17] Without any type slug control for both rapeseed oil and wheat crops, the cost to the UK agricultural industry would be an approximate £43.5 million per year.

[17] P. hermaphrodita was developed into a natural molluscicide to prevent crop damage from horticultural slug pests from the families Agriolimacidae, Arionidae, Limacidae, Milacidae[4] and Vaginulidae.

[18] P. hermaphrodita is the only nematode of the eight families (Agfidae, Alloionematidae, Angiostomatidae, Angiostrongylidae, Cosmocercidae, Diplogasteridae, Mermithidae and Rhabditidae) associated with molluscs, which has been developed as a biological molluscicide, first released under the name Nemaslug® by MicroBio Ltd in 1994, then acquired by Becker Underwood in 2000 and finally taken over by BASF in 2012.

[4] Nemaslug® has been found to be successful at reducing agricultural damage from slug in crops such as Winter wheat, lettuce, rapeseed, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, asparagus and others.

[19] At this stage, depending on temperature, the weight of the gastropod, nematode density in the soil the host may die within 4 to 21 days,[2][4] however, studies show if large enough (over 1g), some slugs (e.g. Arion lusitanicus) can resist infection.

[12] M. osloensis was found growing cultures of P. hermaphrodita [23] and was shown to kill slugs when injected in large amounts into D. reticulatum,[12] but it is not vertically transmitted to offspring, hence its role in the pathogenicity process is currently unclear.

[2] Behavioral changes include the fact that infected slugs will be more attracted to areas with populations of P. hermaphrodita, increasing the reproductive fitness of the nematode.

[31] Reproduction occurs and the next generation continues to reproduce until food runs out and more third stage infective dauers are produced and the cycle is repeated.