Volume: 55 Issue: 1
Year: 2024, Page: 111-121, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2024.55.1.111-121
Received: Oct. 10, 2023 Accepted: Nov. 21, 2023 Published: March 31, 2024
Semiochemical assisted tick control is a novel, promising alternate tick control perspective which can be utilised for controlling tick populations both on and off the host. In the present study, optimal concentrations of synthetic analogues of assembly pheromone (AP) viz., guanine, adenine and xanthine were encapsulated in calcium alginate microparticles. Qualitative analysis of encapsulation of AP within the beads was performed by Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR). Test beads with AP-deltamethrin combination in alginate microparticles, pheromone control, acaricide control and polymer control beads were prepared. In vitro Petri-dish bioassay was performed for evaluating the responses of unfed larvae and partially fed adults of Rhipicephalus annulatus and Rhipicephalus microplus ticks to the test and control microparticles. Behavioural responses like attraction, cessation of kinetic activity, clustering, sluggishness and mortality of ticks were recorded at 10 min, 30 min, 2h and 24 h post exposure intervals. Larvae and adult stages of both Rhipicephalus spp. exhibited attraction and clustering on exposure to AP microparticles. Statistical analysis revealed a highly significant difference in the number of ticks that were attracted to pheromone control as compared to polymer control. In test plates more than 70 per cent ticks were found dead within 30 min post exposure and cent per cent mortality of ticks was recorded at 2 h post exposure period with test microparticles. There was highly significant difference in the number of ticks that were found dead with test beads as compared to acaricide control. Slow and steady increase in mortality was recorded with acaricide control beads while none of the ticks were found dead on exposure to pheromone control beads. Assembly pheromone-acaricide beads were very effective in controlling ticks in vitro as compared to using only AP or only acaricide.
Keywords: Rhipicephalus annulatus, Rhipicephalus microplus, assembly pheromone, Petri-dish bioassay
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© 2024 Sethulekshmi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Sethulekshmi M.J., Asha R., Bindu L., Priya M.N. and Sujith S. 2024. Assessment of the response of Rhipicephalus annulatus and Rhipicephalus microplus to the synthetic analogues of assembly pheromone by Petri-dish bioassay. J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 55(1):111-121
DOI: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2024.55.1.111-121