A study was conducted with the objective of evaluating the in vivo acaricidal efficacy of Tephrosia vogelii methanolicleaf extract in controlling ticks on cattle. For this experiment, forty five naturally tick-infested cattle were selected and equally divided into five treatment groups of nine animals in a completely randomized design. The first three groups were topically treated with 20%, 25% and 30% w/v extract, the fourth group was sprayed with diazinon as a positive control at a recommended dose of 1:1000 while the fifth group was left untreated as the negative control. Tick counts were conducted on day0 pre-treatment and on days4 and 7 post-treatment on each animal. Post-treatment quantitative assessment of tick burden revealed a significant (P<0.05) reduction in tick load in all treated groups compared to untreated ones. The percentage tick count reduction was higher on day 7 than onday 4 for all treated groups with their respective efficacy of 80.33%, 85.42% and 90% for 20%, 25% and 30% extracts and 97.67% for diazinon at day 7 post-treatment. The observed tick count reductions were found to be statistically signi?cant (P<0.05) at all dilution levels of the extract but without signi?cant difference (P>0.05) among themselves. The results also revealed both time and dose-dependent efficacy of the extract and its comparable effectiveness with diazinon which was evidence suggestive of its significant anti-tick effect. Therefore Tephrosia vogelii-based acaricides could be recommended as an effective natural tick control alternative, especially for poorly-resourced small-scale farmers in rural areas where commercial acaricides are unavailable or unaffordable.

Keywords: Acaricide, Leaf extract, Tephrosia vogelii, Tick count