METHODS OF TICK CONTROL: CONVENTIONAL AND NOVEL APPROACHES

Dilpreet Kaur, Kamal Jaiswal and Suman Mishra*

ABSTRACT

Ticks have a major impact on livestock industry as they are responsible for substantial economic losses. They have been controlled by chemicals for past several decades. Chemical acaricides are effective against ticks, however, pose undesirable effects on host organisms and the environment. Problems like environmental contamination, residues in food and feed, high costs, residual in milk and meat, development of acaricide resistance in tick have been reported in literature. The development of resistance by ticks stimulated interest in tick control by immunological as well as other means. A vaccine against ticks which enhances the natural immunity often acquired by animals in response to tick infestation was developed, however, it has not proven to be successful in the developing countries. Ethnoveterinary practices, performed by rural people in many indigenous communities for the ancient times, is successful in combating many ailments in human and livestock including tick infestation. Plant extracts used in ethno-veterinary medicine represent a cheaper and easily accessible medicine for tick control. The plants used by the rural people should be identified and extracted followed by their phytochemical profiling in the laboratories.

Keywords: Tick control, Acaricides, Vaccination, Ethnoveterinary practices, Plant extract etc.