Prevalence of Tick Infestation in Cattle in Bako District, West Shoa Zone, Ormia Regional State, Ethiopia

Tick infestation is the most important parasitic disease of cattle and it remains a major burden to cattle producers as well as resulting in significant economic losses worldwide. A cross sectional study was undertaken from November 2015 to March 2015 E.C at Bako district in Oromia Regional state of Ethiopia to identify the major tick species of cattle and to determine the tick burden and as well as to asses possible risk factors that might be associated with cattle infestation. The study involved adult ticks to determine the prevalence and their predilection site in cattle at Bako district and Bako Veterinary Clinic that brought from five kebeles. A total of 400 cattle were selected by simple random sampling method. Adult ticks were collected from nine half-body regions of cattle into universal sampling bottle containing 70% ethanol, then identified by using stereomicroscope and counted to know the tick burden. As a whole 4 tick genera and 5 species were identified in the study period. The tick genera identified were Amblyoma, Boophilus, Rhipicephalus and Hylomma. During the study, a total of 645 adult ticks belonging to five species were collected. In this study, the tick species identified and their relative abundance were Amblyomma coherence ( 36.43%), Amblyomma variegatum ( 29.45%), Boophilus decoloratus ( 20% ), Rhipicephalus eversti eversti (13.17%) and Hylomma marginatum rufipes ( 10%). Amblyomma ticks were found to be the most abundant in the study area and constituted 65.89 % of the ticks collected. Statistical comparison of the mean tick burden within age groups, breeds and sexes were not significant ( p>0.05 ). The difference in the mean tick burden within body condition and physiological status group was to be statistically significant. Keywords : Prevalence, ticks, Cattle, Bako, Ethiopia.