Animal bait effect on the recovery of Boophilus microplus larvae from experimentally infested grass in Morelos, Mexico

Abstract

ABSTRACT To quantify the influence of the animal presence on the percentage of Boophilus microplus larvaerecovery from plots experimentally infested with this tick, it was carried out a trial in Jiutepec,Morelos, Mexico, during autumn 1999 and winter 1999-2000. For this purpose there were comparedfour sampling methods: human walking with chaps, bovine dressed walking, double walking flaggingand double walking with baited flagging. The comparison was made on tree grasses: Andropogungayanus (gamba), Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel) and Melinis minutiflora (molasses) . It was observed thesame recovery efficiency of B. microplus larvae in the four sampling methods studied in the twoseasons. There were no statistical differences, although, there were differences (P < 0.05) among thegrass species. The higher number of larvae recovered was recorded in the low third of the chaps, inthe head and front legs of the bovine dressed, from the buffel grass and on the ventral region and legsin the other two grasses.