Vol. 11, Special Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
Jitendra Kumar, Hakim Manzer, Vikram Punia and Pradeep Kumar Godwal

Abstract:
The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of tick infestation in cattle from May 2018 to November 2018 in three villages (Vallabhnagar, Ranchorpura and Kikawas) of Vallabhnagar tehsil of Udaipur district in Southern Rajasthan. The prevalence of tick infestation was studied in relation to age, sex, breed, month and season. A total of 552 cattle were examined on random basis, out of which 442 cattle were found infested with ticks. The overall prevalence of tick infestation in cattle was 80.07%. The village wise highest prevalence of ticks was highly significant (P>0.05) in Kikawas (84.34%) followed by Ranchorpura (79.23%) and Vallabhnagar (78.74%) villages. The age wise prevalence of ticks was highest (p>0.05) in above 1 year (82.45%) followed by 7 month to 1 year group (78.16%) and 0 to 6 month age group (73.58%). Sex wise prevalence of tick infestation was found be highly significant (p<0.01) in female cattle (83.37%). Breed wise prevalence was significant (p<0.01) in non-descriptive breed group of cattle (82.81%) compare to exotic group of cattle (75.90%). Month wise tick infestation in cattle was significantly higher (p<0.05) during May month (93.84%) and lower during November month (54.54%). Seasonal prevalence of tick infestation in cattle was found significantly higher (p<0.05) in summer season (88.97%) followed by rainy season (82.45%) and lowest in winter season (67.14%). Identification of ticks revealed Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum, Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus species of ticks on the basis of keys of Soulsby, (1982) ^[13] & Sen and Fletcher, (1962) ^[12].