Abstract:
A cross section study was conducted from October 2013 to March 2014 in and around Bishoftu town
with the objectives of determining the prevalence of bovine tick species within groups of age, sex, breed and
body condition scores under different management systems and to assess the effects of different tick species
on the packed cell volume. Out of the 384 cattle examined, 270 (70.31%) were found to be infested by one or
more tick species. About 1066 ticks were collected and the collected tick were identified to genera and species
level, four genera; namely Ambylomma, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) and Hyalomma and five species were
identified of, which Ambylomma variegatum was the most abundant tick species comprising of 43.6 % of the
total collection and the least abundant tick species was Hyalomma marginatum rufipes (4.7%). The association
of the prevalence of tick infestation with different risk factors was assessed to be statistically significant
between sex, body condition, breed of cattle and management. However, it was statistically insignificant
between the age group of animals. Male animals were statistically significantly infested more than females,
which was 79.09% and 58.53%, respectively. Local breed were statistically significantly infested more than
crossbreed, which were 82.75% and 31.91%, respectively. Medium and poor body condition animals were
statistically significantly infested ticks than good body conditioned cattle, which were 76.70%, 74.24% and
17.94%, respectively. There was no statistically significant variation between the age groups, however, adult
age group was more infested than the young age group, which was 74.56% and 58.1%. Cattle kept under
extensive production system were highly infested than in those kept under semi-intensive production system
with statistically significant difference. There was no significant difference between tick infestation and anemia
but tick-infested cattle have lower mean packed cell volume (PCV) than the non-ticks infested cattle, which was
27.90% and 29.43%, respectively. Therefore further research should be undertaken to study the exact effect of
ticks on the packed cell volume (PCV) and effective tick control programs should be formulated and
implemented based on the patterns and factors of ticks responsible for their distribution.
