Efficacy of ricinus communis leaf extract against rhipicephalus appendiculatus and amblyoma variegatumm on Arapai farm

Abstract

Parasitic infections are one of the major problems affecting the livestock industry in many regions of the world. Ticks are considered one of the important and harmful bloodsucking species of ectoparasites of domestic animals and humans in the world after mosquitoes. Farmers generally use conventional accaricides to control ticks and tick borne diseases, however finding new, cheap and eco-friendly alternatives source of accaricides is of paramount concern. In this study, the mortality rate of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Amblyoma variegatumm ticks exposed to different concentrations of Ricin’s communist leaves extract and a conventional accaricides was investigated. Among the Ricinus communist leaves extract, 25 % showed the highest rate of mortality of 50%, 75% and 87.5% and 62.5%, 75% and 100% in 12, 24 and 36 hours of exposure to the extract in RA and AV ticks respectively. Generally, the mortality rate increased with time of exposure to the chemicals, with highest mortality shown at 36 hours of exposure to the extract. In addition, the conventional accaricides (12.5% Amitraz) showed the highest mortality rate of 100% in RA ticks and 87.5% in AV ticks after just 2 hours after exposer. Obviously, distilled water with 0% Ricin’s communist leaves extract showed 0% mortality in both tick species, to assess the ability to inhibit oviposition, Ricinus communist leaf extract showed negative results in both trials as none of the concentrations of the extract was able to inhibit the process in both RA and AV engorged ticks, therefore Ricinus communist leaves extracts can be used as an alternative accaricides though it could not inhibit oviposition process.