In-vivo acaricidal efficacy of Tephrosia vogelii leaf extract against tick infestation in cattle

Abstract

Abstract A study was conducted with the objective of evaluating the in-vivo acaricidal efficacy of Tephrosia vogelii leaf extract in controlling ticks on cattle. For this experiment, forty five naturally tick infested cattle were selected and equally divided into five treatment groups of nine animals in completely randomized design. The first three groups were topically treated with 20%, 25% and 30% w/v extract, the forth group was sprayed with diazinon as positive control at a recommended dose of 1:1000 while the fifth group was left untreated as negative control. Tick counts were conducted on day0 pre-treatment and on days4 and 7 post treatment on each animal. Post-treatment quantitative assessment of tick burden revealed a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in tick load in all treated groups compared to untreated ones. The percentage tick count reduction was higher at day 7 than day 4 for all treated groups with their respective efficacy of 80.33%, 85.42% and 90% for 20%, 25% and 30% extracts and 97.67% for diazinon at day 7 post treatment. The observed tick count reductions were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05) at all dilution levels of the extract but without significant difference (P > 0.05) among themselves. The results also revealed both time and dose dependent efficacy of the extract and its comparable effectiveness with diazinon which was an evidence suggestive of its significant anti-tick effect. Therefore Tephrosia vogelii could be recommended as effective natural tick control alternative, especially for poorly-resourced small-scale farmers in rural areas where commercial acaricides are unavailable or unaffordable.