Abstract

A cross sectional study was conducted with the aim of identifying and estimating the prevalence of cattle tick infestation with respect to host related factors in Bedele district, Western Ethiopia. A total of 384 cattle were considered in the study, and both physical examination and microscopical investigation were employed. The study revealed that there was high tick infestation in the study with an overall prevalence of 315 (82%). Four species of ixodidae ticks were identified from the study area. Among the ticks, Amblyomma cohaerens (41.5%) was the most prevalent tick species while Amblyomma variegatum was the least prevalent (6.5%) tick species recorded in the study. All species of ticks had more than one male to female ratio except Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus (0.0097:1). There was no statistically significant association between hosts related factors and tick prevalence except for body condition score. Cattle with poor body condition have significantly (p < 0.05) higher tick burden than cattle with the other body condition scores. All tick species were distributed and attached with statistically significant (p < 0.05) variation among different parts of the host body, while all ticks inflict significantly diverse (p < 0.05) types of lesion except A. variegatum. Overall, the present study revealed very high prevalence of tick infestation that could potentially hamper the productivity of cattle in the study area, hence a serious measure should be put in place to control and reduce the adverse effect of tick infestation.

Key words: Bovine, identification, prevalence, ticks.