Factors related to cattle infestation level and resistance to acaricides in Boophilus microplus tick populations in New Caledonia
Introduction
The cattle tick (Boophilus microplus) imported in New Caledonia from Australia by American troops during the last world war (Rageau and Vervent, 1959) was free of the diseases usually transmitted by this tick. The main cattle bred by farmers are Bos taurus breeds (mainly Limousin cattle) highly susceptible to ticks (Wharton et al., 1973) and therefore, we meet on this island some particular conditions for the development of an efficient couple host–parasite relationship. Tick control is organized at the territory level and the acaricide is freely delivered to cattle farmers according to the size of their herd and the type of treatment unit. This strategy is based on the initial eradication program with one treatment a month during the whole year. The main advantage of this method is that all the farmers will treat their cattle with the same acaricide chosen for the whole territory allowing for easier control and a more efficient assistance to the farmers to overcome their tick problems. On the other hand, this method is very expensive for the community and quite far from the currently recommended, environmentally safer integrated methods of tick control. Therefore animal health authorities decided to investigate the conditions of the chemical treatments to try to decrease the possible wastage and the use of chemicals.
Furthermore, the generalization of the cattle tick resistance against deltamethrin (Butox™) since the first cases of resistance diagnosed in 1992 (Beugnet and Chardonnet, 1995) led New Caledonia to investigate in further detail the process of this resistance. In particular, the knowledge of the conditions leading towards the resistance of the ticks to that acaricide in order to increase the lifetime of the next acaricides is required. The current resistance status of the New Caledonian cattle ticks against the previously used acaricide, ethion (Rhodiacide™), was also studied. At the same time, it appeared useful to have a better understanding of the factors involved in cattle infestation by this tick.
The present paper reports the methodology and results of a survey on a sample of cattle farms of the whole of New Caledonia. The objective is to identify the factors or groups of factors that could be valuably associated with tick resistance and cattle infestation.
Section snippets
Description of the survey
The survey was carried out from March to July 1998. Ten percent (n=148) of the 1500 cattle farms of New Caledonia were submitted to a detailed investigation. These 148 farms were randomly chosen among the registered farms of the territory and visited one time only. With the assistance of the field veterinarians and technicians of the sector, the survey staff (usually one veterinarian and one technician) investigated the farms the day of dipping scheduled freely by the farmers, but at least 4
Typology 1: main characteristics of the farms
Six different classes were distinguished. The first class (frequency of 8.8%), composed of the “East Coast farmers”, groups together some aged farmers of this humid and quite remote coast. They are traditional farmers (using bush fires), not members of any cattle association. The second class (2.7%) represents the small very specific group of the “Government farms”. The third class (23.7%) is the “Small farmers of the West Coast”. The characteristics of this class are a pasture surface <100 ha,
Factors related with tick resistance to acaricides
The deltamethrin resistance is associated with different factors taken into account in this survey (Table 6). The geographic location of the farm is the most important of them. This result has been previously cited by different authors (Roulston et al., 1981, Jonsson et al., 2000). It is not clear why the farms in the southwest show a higher rate of resistance than in other areas. Some explanations may be proposed to explain the role of this factor (Sutherst and Comins, 1979). (1) Common
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the Government of New Caledonia who supported this work with the agreement of the partners of the “Comité de lutte contre les tiques”. Thanks are due to the field province technicians and veterinarians that helped us in the organization of the survey. Thanks also to the IAC technicians Joel Mathieu, Jean-Claude Hurlin, René Guiglion, who assisted us in our visits of farmers and Laurent Chardonnet and Huguette Gaı̈a, who made the laboratory resistance tests, and to all the
References (26)
- et al.
Tick resistance to pyrethroids in New Caledonia
Vet. Parasitol.
(1995) - et al.
Possible risk factors on Queensland dairy farms for acaricide resistance in cattle tick (Boophilus microplus)
Vet. Parasitol.
(2000) Selection of beef cattle in northern Australia for resistance to the cattle tick (Boophilus microplus): research and application
Prev. Vet. Med.
(1984)The effect of rangeland fires on cattle tick infestation in western Zambia
Trop. Anim. Health Prod.
(1999)- et al.
Influence of annual and biennial prescribed burning during March on the abundance of Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) in central Georgia
J. Med. Entomol.
(1994) - Desquesnes, M., 1988. Boophilus microplus, biologie et modes de lutte, applications à la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Doctorat...
- FAO, 1984. Ticks and Tick Borne Disease Control. A Practical Field Manual, vol. 1. FAO, Rome, 299...
- et al.
Boophilus annulatus: effect of host nutrition on development of female ticks
J. Med. Entomol.
(1973) - Kendall, D.G., Stuart, A., 1961. Categorized data. In: The Advanced Theory of Statistics: Inference and Relationships,...
- et al.
Insecticides and acaricides resistance and environmental impact
Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz.
(1994)
Cited by (73)
A retrospective review on ixodid tick resistance against synthetic acaricides: implications and perspectives for future resistance prevention and mitigation
2021, Pesticide Biochemistry and PhysiologyCitation Excerpt :An increase in the resistant population's proportion to an acaricide has been linked to short time intervals between successive acaricide applications (Rodriguez-Vivas et al., 2018). Farmers in New Caledonia that are used to monthly control of ticks during massive tick infestation usually respond promptly to tick resistance by decreasing the interval between treatments (Bianchi et al., 2003). A study in Mexico reported that the number of macrocyclic lactone applications per year is a factor associated with the development of ivermectin-resistant populations (Fernández-Salas et al., 2012a, 2012b).
Voltage-gated sodium channel gene mutations and pyrethroid resistance in Rhipicephalus microplus
2020, Ticks and Tick-borne DiseasesAcaricidal action of ozone on larvae and engorged females of Rhipicephalus microplus: a dose-dependent relationship
2023, Experimental and Applied Acarology