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Revista MVZ Córdoba
Print version ISSN 0122-0268
Abstract
SALAZAR-B, Raquel; BARAHONA-ROSALES, Rolando and SANCHEZ-P, María Solange. Tick loads in Bos taurus cattle grazing in two contrasting production systems. Rev.MVZ Cordoba [online]. 2016, vol.21, n.2, pp.5404-5415. ISSN 0122-0268. https://doi.org/10.21897/rmvz.606.
Materials and methods
. Tick counts were performed on 27 Lucerne breed animals that were in different physiological states, six of which were grazing on forage grass paddocks associated with commercial sugarcane plantations and the remaining animals grazed in an ISS based on Leucaena leucocephala and Cynodon plectostachyus. The tick counts were made every 15 days. The data of temperature, humidity, and radiation were taken from a weather station that was inside the ISS.
Results
. There was a weak relationship between saturation deficit and tick load (R2=0.34) and another between UV radiation and tick load (R2=0.205) for animals grazing in ISS. There were differences in tick counts when comparing animals of similar productivity from both systems evaluated: in La Isabela (sugarcane grass paddocks) average counts were 311 ticks perceptible to the touch (TPT) and in Lucerna (ISS farm) average counts were 206 TPT (p= 0.02). Additionally, there were greater tick counts in high productivity cows compared to low productivity cows.
Conclusions
. The abiotic and biotic factors of the ecosystem and animal productivity can affect the TPT counts. In ISS systems, tick counts can be lower than those observed in monoculture grazing systems.
Keywords : Ectoparasites; microclimate; radiation; saturation deficit.