Abstract
This study was conducted to determine tick burden and immunological parameters of resistance to East Coast fever (ECF) in Tarime and Sukuma cattle. Tick load, packed cell volume (PCV), Theileria parva (T. parva) specific antibody percent positivity (PP), and prevalence of T. parva parasites were studied in relation to dipping regime, strains, and season. A total of 50 experimental cattle were included in this study. Tick load was determined by whole body counts, antibody percent positivity was determined by the polymorphic immunodominant molecule (PIM)-based T. parva enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and prevalence of T. parva parasites was detected by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on the p104 gene. Dipping frequency on tick burden showed no statistically significant differences when cattle of either strain were dipped either once every 2 or 3 weeks in the dry and wet seasons. However, Tarime cattle had higher (p<0.05) tick count than Sukuma cattle and non dipped groups maintained high tick infestation throughout the experimental period. The PCV values were within the physiological range, although this parameter was lower in Tarime cattle (p<0.05). All cattle regardless of strain were seropositive, although Tarime cattle maintained higher PP compared to Sukuma by 15%. Conversely, the prevalence of T. parva parasites was lower in Tarime (38%) compared to Sukuma cattle (38.5%), but the difference was not significant (p>0.05). During the study period, 20% (5/25) of Sukuma cattle contracted ECF, but none of the Tarime cattle showed clinical signs for the disease. The differences between the two strains shown in terms of PP and T. parva parasite prevalence may indicate the ability of individual cattle to resist tick infestation and ECF infection under natural challenge. Higher antibody levels but lower parasite prevalence attained by Tarime cattle, suggests inherent ability of Tarime cattle to resist clinical development of ECF infection, but to remain as T. parva carriers. Key words: Carrier state, Theileria parva, ticks, seropositivity.
Highlights
Tanzania is endowed with valuable indigenous strains of cattle (Das and Mkonyi, 2003)
Farmers’ knowledge on unique attributes of their cattle breeds is usually passed on through generations (FAO/links, 2000) and our result has demonstrated evidence to farmers’ beliefs and paves way to designing improvement programmes for Tarime cattle for East Coast fever (ECF) tolerance and in terms of productivity Thirdly, this study has revealed a broad range of antibody percent positivity levels for both strains, but the majority of the Tarime cattle clustered to higher antibody PP categories
The present study has demonstrated differences in terms of tick burdens between Tarime and Sukuma cattle, whereby Tarime cattle carried significantly higher tick load
Summary
Tanzania is endowed with valuable indigenous strains of cattle (Das and Mkonyi, 2003) These livestock resources, apart from offering direct food products like meat and milk, provide draught animal power as labor saving technologies; manure for fertilizing crop fields and biogas for electrification or cooking fuel which has a potential for reducing deforestation (MLFD, 2015). ITM offers a valuable alternative for ECF control (Oura et al, 2004); its widespread application has faced many challenges These include the requirement of cold chain mode of delivery to remote areas and high cost of the vaccine (up to US$10 per animal), which is unaffordable to most smallholder herders (Di Giulio et al, 2009). ITM does not completely eliminate the need for acaricide application due to the potential existence of other tickborne diseases
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