Variability of cattle infestation by Amblyomma variegatum and its possible utilisation for tick control

A great variability of the individual infestation by Amblyomma variegatum adults was observed on naturally infested Gudali zebus. Some of the animals (called "attractive for A. variegatum") had a tick burden 10 to 16 times higher than that of the least parasitized cattle of the herd (called "non-attractive"). Ranking of the animals based on A. variegatum infestation was correlated for successive tick counts. Experiments were designed to determine if the "non-attractive" cattle remained lightly infested when the "attractive" ones are removed from the herd. When these two types of cattle grazed separately, it was observed that the "non-attractive" animals had a lower tick burden and that their infestation occurred more slowly than that of the "attractive" ones. The difference between the two groups was nevertheless smaller than that existing when the animals were in the same herd. The selection of the "non-attractive" cattle, on which a tick control programme should not exclusively be based, could however be used as a component of a tick control strategy, if this characteristic is hereditary. An experiment in progress will study the question.