The Acaricide effect of Ethanolic Extracts of Some Plants on Tics Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

Objective. Evaluate in vitro, the ixodicide effect of the ethanolic extract of five plants; Brugmasia arborea, Sambucus nigra, Nicotiana tabacum, Bidens pilosa and Ambrosia cumanenses on adult ticks of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus species. Materials and methods. The extract of each plant was obtained through leaching technique. Adult ticks of two different sizes (small and medium) were used in the tests, by being exposed to the extract of each plant using the immersion of adult tick technique. Twenty-four hours after exposure, the mortality rate reading was taken, where an efficient minimum mortality rate was defined to be 60%. The initial tests were conducted with pure extracts, and when these proved to be efficient, increasing dilutions were made, until the minimum efficient concentration was found. These tests were done in both cold and warm areas. Results. The N. tabacum extract showed effectiveness in small tics, with dilutions of 0.5:10 and 1:10 in both cool and warm areas, accordingly, and 2.5:10 and 5:10 on medium sized ticks in cool and warm areas respectively; B. arborea, showed efficiency on small tick up to a 7.5:10 dilution in both climates; S. nigra and B. pilosa were only efficient in warm areas on small ticks using pure extracts. A. cumanenses was not efficient in any of the tests. Conclusions. N. tabacum, was more efficient and noted that the best results were obtained with higher concentrations.