Vol. 11, Special Issue 11 (2022)

Author(s):
Patel JA, Binod Kumar and Chetariya CP

Abstract:
To study the tick infestation and infectivity of tick with Babesia parasite, a total of 860 cattle were examined from more than 100 farms/Gaushala/Panjrapole of four districts namely Junagadh, Porbandar, Rajkot and Gir-Somnath of Saurashtra region of Gujarat where 46.05% cattle were found infested with ticks. The collected ticks were identified as either Hyalomma or Rhipicephalus (Boophilus). Only Hyalomma tick, only Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) and mixed tick (both tick) infestations were recorded as 48.23%, 29.04% and 22.73%, respectively on cattle. District wise, higher percentage of Hyalomma tick infestations was recorded compare to Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) except Junagadh where both were equal. But, the difference was statistically not significant except between Rajkot and Junagadh. The present research programme documented that about half of the cattle population of this region are infested with Hyalomma and/or Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) ticks. Where, certain percentage of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) tick are infected with B. bigemina.