Prevalence and risk factors of ticks infesting cattle reared on the main campus of Haramaya University, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Tick infestation is a major problem constraining animal production and productivity in Ethiopia showing the need for tackling the situation. A crosssectional study was carried out to determine tick prevalence and associated risk factors among cattle reared on dairy, beef and free-range grazing farms of Haramaya University from November 2014 to April 2015. A total of 519 animals were randomly selected. Ticks were collected and identified under stereomicroscopic examination. A total of 384 (73.9%) animals were positive for tick infestation which was higher on both beef (79.2%) and dairy (82.3%) than on free-range grazing (32.4%) cattle with OR = 8 (95% CI 4.2-16.9) and OR= 9 (95% CI 5.0-18.8) in beef and dairy animals, respectively. Infestation was significantly lower on Borana breed (20%; 95% OR CI 0.5-1.99) than on others. Difference in infestation between sexes and among the age groups of animals were not observed (p > 0.05). Of positive cattle, 52.9%, 12.8%, 7.0% and 27.3% were infested with single, two, three and four genera of ticks, respectively. In positive animals, subgenus Boophilus (51.0%), Amblyomma (58.3%), Hyalomma (48.2%) and Rhipicephalus (53.1%) tick genera were observed. Multiple tick genera infestation were more frequent in cattle managed under both beef (34.7 to 62.9%) and dairy (22.2 to 55.1%) farm types than that of free-range (4.4 to 14.8%) farm types. All the currently encountered tick genera infested 48.5%, 46.8% and 4.8% of beef, dairy and free range grazing cattle farms, respectively. The result showed all animals are found in endemic environment for tick infestation and thus the burden might cause economic loses mainly by reducing milk and meat yields, body weight gain, skin and hides quality, and risk of tick-borne diseases. Therefore, tick infestation in the study farms warrants strategic tick control approaches.

Identification and Prevalence of Ixodid Ticks of Cattle in case of Haramaya Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia

“…This finding is in agreement with the previous study of Kassa and Yalew [ 22 ] who reported 33.2% prevalence of ticks in the same study area and Desalegn et al [ 21 ] who reported 25.23% prevalence. However, the finding disagrees with 61–89.4% prevalence reports in different parts of Ethiopia [ 23 , 27 – 31 ]. This difference might be due to the difference in the agroclimatic condition of the study areas and season of sample collection.…”

“…Difference between young and old was statistically significant ( p ≤ 0.05). This finding was strengthened by the finding of Desalegn et al [ 21 ] who reported infestation was higher in more than 3-year-old cattle than in less than 3-year-old cattle and also agrees with finding of different authors [ 18 , 22 , 23 , 31 ] who reported higher proportion in adult cattle. Higher proportion may be due to long-distance movement of adult cattle to search for food which increases the chance of contact to tick and also low immunity in older animals.…”

“…However, contrary to our finding, Abdeta et al [ 18 ] and Kassa and Yalew [ 22 ] reported higher prevalence in female animals (68% and 18.8%) compared to male (82.06% and 14.23%), respectively. In another study, difference in infestation among sexes and the age groups of animals was not observed [ 23 ]. This variation may be related with female cattle kept in the house with proper management for dairy purposes while male cattle grazing on a field all day which can be exposed to tick infestation [ 28 ].…”

“…A very recent study conducted two years before showed higher prevalence of tick infestation in the study areas which was 73.9% in farms of Haramaya University. The identified ticks' genera were Boophilus (51.0%), Amblyomma (58.3%), Hyalomma (48.2%), and Rhipicephalus (53.1%) [ 23 ]. There is a wide range of difference in the prevalence of tick infestation reported by different authors and the previous study primarily carried out on Haramaya University farms which creates difficulty knowing the current status of ticks in Haramaya district.…”

Risk factors associated prevalence of hard tick in large ruminants of coastal areas of South Gujarat, India

“…The finding of present study, tick's prevalence was highest (70.56%) in the animals allowed for group feeding while lowest (29.44%) in the animals fed individually. Abdella et al (2017) observed significantly lower tick's prevalence in free-range grazing farm (32.4%) than in both beef (79.2%) and dairy farm (82.3%).…”