Title: Survey of Tick Infestation of Cattle at Four Selected Grazing Sites in the Tropics
Abstract:Survey of tick infestation of cattle was studied at different communities of Nsukka district, Enugu State, Nigeria from November 2010 to October, 2011. The prevalence of ticks in relation to age, sex,...Survey of tick infestation of cattle was studied at different communities of Nsukka district, Enugu State, Nigeria from November 2010 to October, 2011. The prevalence of ticks in relation to age, sex, breed, weight, season of the year and different body parts of the host was studied. A total of 139 cattles were examined, of which 123(88.49%) cattle were tick infested. Four species of tick were identified namely Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Amblyomma variegatum, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and Amblyomma maculatum. The range of tick burden was 1 - 8 per four square inch of heavily infested area of Nsukka district. Mean tick burden was high in case of R. (B.) microplus (2.93±0.21), followed by A. variegatum (2.01±0.15), R. (B.) annulatus (0.74±0.08) and A. maculatum (0.25±0.04). Prevalence was significantly (p 2.0 years of age (48.94%). Infestation of tick was significantly higher (p 299kg body weight (27.15%). Ticks were widely distributed in different parts of the host body such as armpit, inner thigh, penis, udder, mammary gland, scrotum and vulva, of which inner tigh (26.66%) was most infected, while vulva (10.80%) was the least infected animal body part. It was concluded that R. (B.) microplus is the main tick species identified which was a threat to the cattle population in Nsukka district, irrespective of age, sex, breed of the animal, Season of the year, weight of the animal of the study area.Read More
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 29
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