Study on Prevalence and Major Species Identification of Ixodidae Ticks of Bovine in Soddo Zuria Districts of Wolayta Zone in Southern Nation Nationalities and People’s Region
A cross-sectional study design was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020 to identify the major ixodidae tick species and their prevalence in Sodo Zuria districts of Wolaita Zone in SNNPR of Ethiopia. A total of 3287(1701 male and 1586 female) adult ixodid ticks were collected from 500 animals during the study period. In this study three genera/sub-genus; Amblyomma, Rh. (Boophilus) and Rhipicephalus and four species were identified. From the three genera Amblyomma takes highest prevalence (45.29%). From four species identified, two of them belong to genus Amblyomma; Amblyommavariegatum and Amblyommacohaerence, one Boophilus; Boophilusdecoloratus and one Rhipicephalus; Rhipicephalusevertsievertsi. The quantitative hierarchy of the tick species was Rh. evertsi (14.40%), A. cohaerence (17.60%), A. variegatum (27.66%) and B. decoloratus (40.34%) in ascending order. Therefore, the result indicated that B. decoloratus (40.34%) and A. variegatum (27.66%) are the most abundant tick species of cattle in Sodo Zuria districts. Except B. decoloratus of which more females than male were collected, the number of male ticks counted were exceed those of female. The result of this study also demonstrated a significance variation (p<0.05) on infestation between local, cross and exotic breed cattle’s with highest prevalence in exotic breeds (75%),than both cross (56.2%) and local (68%) breeds and poor body conditioned cattle’s. Although a comparatively higher infestation was found on animals > 4 years compared with ≤ 4 year ones and between females than males and the difference was not statistically significant (p >0.05). Acaricide application was the main tick control method in the study area. Thus strategic application of acaricides might minimize the burden of ticks on the cattle of the study area.