Toxicity of Millettia ferruginea darasana (family: Fabaceae) against the larvae and adult ticks of Amblyomma variegatum Fabricius a three-host tick in cattle.

ABSTRACT

The in vitro toxicity of Millettia ferruginea darasana (family Fabaceae) was tested against the larvae adult male and female of a three-host tick, Amblyomma variegatum Fabricius (family Ixodidae or hard tick), known as 'tropical bont tick' parasitic mainly to cattle found in Ethiopia and other equatorial Africa. The 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 % concentrations of the seed oil extracted with petroleum ether were found to kill all (100 % mortality) larvae after 12, 9, 6, 3 and 1.5 h respectively. The results summarized in the Table 1 was found to be statistically significant at the probability level of p = 0.05. The 100 % concentration of the oil caused 100 % mortality of adult male, adult female and fully engorged female tick after 5, 7 and 12 h respectively. The root and root bark showed less toxicity. The leaves did not show any toxicity. [Table see text].