Efficacy of Strychnos spinosa (Lam.) and Solanum incanum L. aqueous fruit extracts against cattle ticks

The efficacy of Solanum incanum and Strychnos spinosa aqueous fruit extracts was evaluated against cattle ticks in on-station experiments and laboratory tick bioassays. In the on-station experiment using cattle, fruit extracts were applied at three concentrations 5, 10, and 20 % (w/v) and compared with a commercial acaricide, Tickbuster® (amitraz) spray (positive control) and no treatment (negative control). The treatments were applied at weekly intervals for 6 weeks as surface sprays on 32 Mashona cattle in a completely randomized design experiment. Ticks on individual cattle were identified, counted, and recorded daily. Peripheral blood samples were collected for parasite screening. In the laboratory, tick bioassays were conducted at four concentrations, 5, 10, 20, and 40 % (w/v) fruit extracts compared to Tickbuster® (amitraz) spray (positive control) and distilled water (negative control). The extracts were incubated with Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus tick larvae and mortalities for each treatment level recorded after 24 and 48 h. The 5 % Solanum incanum treatment had higher efficacy ratio (P?P?S. spinosa-treated cattle than in the untreated control but lower (P?Solanum incanum and Strychnos spinosa individually have some acaricidal effect.