PREVALENCE OF CATTLE TICK INFESTATION IN THREE DISTRICTS OF THE PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

A survey was conducted to evaluate the current precipitation of cattle tick infestations in the livestock progressive districts of Punjab including Sargodha, Khushab and Rawalpindi. The tick species identified from cattle were Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and Haemaphysalis spp. The overall prevalence of cattle tick infestation was 54.76%. The highest prevalence (57.71%) of cattle tick infestation was recorded in Sargodha district followed by Khushab (54.00%) and Rawalpindi (52.57%) districts, respectively. Breed, age and month-wise prevalence of tick infestation was statistically significant (P<0.05). Highest prevalence of tick infestation was recorded in the months of June-July in all study districts. The analysis of simple linear regression revealed that mean maximum temperature was significantly involved on month-wise prevalence of ticks in all study regions. Perineum, udder and external genitalia (98%) were the most tick infested sites in cattle followed by dewlap (92%), inner thighs (90%), neck & back (54%), tail (26%), ears (13%), around eyes (10%), flanks (4%) and legs (2%).