Abstract

Herbal remedies have a long history of use for tick control. Solanum incanum ripe fruits are locally used to manage ticks. In this study, the effect of S. incanum fruit extracts on egg hatchability, inhibition of oviposition and larval mortality of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks was investigated. The reproductive efficiency of eggs laid by the ticks was determined. The highest number of eggs laid was recorded in the untreated control, whereas the lowest was in the control treated with amitraz. The number of eggs that were laid after treatment with the plant extract increased with increase in the extract concentration, that is, 20, 10 and 5% was 51.0262, 43.774 and 36.901%, respectively. The control treated with amitraz showed higher efficacy of 98.63556% whereas the untreated control had no effect on the ticks. S. incanum 5% showed higher efficacy of 33.49%, than 10 and 20%, which showed 19.405 and 7.833%, respectively. However, there was no significant differences in efficacies between the fruit extract concentrations. In the results obtained from the larval packet test (LPT), the control treated with amitraz was recorded with the highest mortality of 100% whereas the untreated control showed no significant larval mortality. There was high larval mortality recorded in all the three concentrations of S. incanum, of 100, 50 and 25 mg/ml with 97.969, 98.589 and 95.948%, respectively.

Key words: Efficacy, Solanum incanum, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus.