Plant-Derived Natural Compounds for Tick Pest Control in Livestock and Wildlife: Pragmatism or Utopia?

Abstract

Ticks and tick-borne diseases are a significant economic hindrance for livestock production and a menace to public health. The expansion of tick populations into new areas, the occurrence of acaricide resistance to synthetic chemical treatments, the potentially toxic contamination of food supplies, and the difficulty of applying chemical control in wild-animal populations have created greater interest in developing new tick control alternatives. Plant compounds represent a promising avenue for the discovery of such alternatives. Several plant extracts and secondary metabolites have repellent and acaricidal effects. However, very little is known about their mode of action, and their commercialization is faced with multiple hurdles, from the determination of an adequate formulation to field validation and public availability. Further, the applicability of these compounds to control ticks in wild-animal populations is restrained by inadequate delivery systems that cannot guarantee accurate dosage delivery at the right time to the target animal populations. More work, financial support, and collaboration with regulatory authorities, research groups, and private companies are needed to overcome these obstacles. Here, we review the advancements on known plant-derived natural compounds with acaricidal potential and discuss the road ahead toward the implementation of organic control in managing ticks and tick-borne diseases.

Acaricidal Activity of Phenolic Crude Extract from Artocapus lakoocha Leaves against Cattle Tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

“…The toxins in plants often contain alkaloid, some types of alkaloid are not toxic, but some types are very toxic. Plants play an important role in the prevention of insect pests due to the presence of the active alkaloids, which is related to the findings on the study of acaricidal activity of secondary metabolites from crude extract plants (Vernonia amygdalina, Calpurnia aurea, Schinus molle, Ricinus communis, Croton macrostachyus, and Nicotiana tabacum) against R. decoloratus and R. pulchellus in an in vitro adult immersion test with crude extract plants Quadros et al (2020). Additionally, Islam et al (2018) reported that ethanolic extracts from Magonia pubescens St. Hil (Sapindaceae) revealed no significant differences in larvicidal activity (90-100%) against B. microplus.…”

Acaricidal and Repellent Effects of Essential Oils against Ticks: A Review

“…Essential oils are the most studied plant-derived compounds for tick control and prevention [9,16,18,122]. Two effects of essential oils against ticks were observed: acaricidal or repellent effects [9,16,[122][123][124][125][126][127].…”

“…Essential oils are the most studied plant-derived compounds for tick control and prevention [9,16,18,122]. Two effects of essential oils against ticks were observed: acaricidal or repellent effects [9,16,[122][123][124][125][126][127]. They cause various effects against ticks: feeding inhibition [125,128,129], inhibition of chitin synthesis [9,78,129], decrease in growth, development, or reproduction [9,78,125,126,128,130], and affect tick behavior [129].…”

“…Unfortunately, the misuse, overuse, and inappropriate application of chemical acaricides led to the development and selection of resistance in the tick population [4,7,[12][13][14][15]. However, apart from their high costs, these acaricides could also be potentially hazardous through contamination of ruminant milk and meat [13,16,17] and thus, may have an effect on human health [18,19], as well as contamination of the environment with residues harmful to humans and animals [15,16,18,20,21]. Due to this and the growing interest in organic farming practices, several acaricides have undergone restriction of use in the global market, such as organochlorines, organophosphates, and pyrethroids [18].…”

Interactive Gene Expression Between Metarhizium anisopliae JEF-290 and Longhorned Tick Haemaphysalis longicornis at Early Stage of Infection

“…Another report showed that the antlion Euroleon coreaus could become a new predator for the ticks ( Nwanade et al, 2020 ). However, control methods using predators and plant extracts have disadvantages as they are difficult to apply in large areas and rarely show high control activity ( George et al, 2004 ; Quadros et al, 2020 ).…”