In-vitro efficacy of a botanical acaricide and its active ingredients against larvae of susceptible and acaricide-resistant strains of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Canestrini (Acari: Ixodidae)

Ticks and tick-borne diseases are a major constraint for a sustainable cattle industry in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The development of resistance to most of the commonly used acaricides has led to an assessment of herbal products for acaricidal activity as an eco-friendly tick control alternative. A botanical product, Essentria® IC-3 insect concentrate containing rosemary oil (10%), geraniol (5%) and peppermint oil (2%), acts on target pests by blocking octopamine. Essentria® IC-3 and its active components were evaluated for larvicidal activity against several susceptible and acaricide-resistant strains of the cattle fever tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Canestrini by Larval Packet test using 14-21 d old unfed larvae. The efficacy was assessed by measuring percent larval mortality and estimating lethal concentrations at 50% (LC50) and 95% (LC95) with 95% confidence limits (CL) using probit analysis. The LC50 and LC95 (95% CL) values for Essentria® IC-3 against the susceptible strain were estimated as 0.647% (0.59-0.69) and 1.033% (0.94-1.19), respectively, whereas, LC50 and LC95 values for other strains were variable, ranging from 0.597-1.674% and 0.927-2.236%, respectively. Among the various active ingredients, the larvicidal property of Essentria® IC-3 seem to be attributable mainly to geraniol and the LC50 and LC95 (95% CL) values for geraniol against the susceptible Deutch strain were estimated as 0.656% (0.61-0.69) and 1.114% (1.03-1.25), respectively. The comparison of LC50 and LC95 values of acaricide-resistant strains showed susceptibility comparable to Deutch against geraniol except for the Las Palmas strain. We report a low level of resistance in some of the acaricide-resistant strains against the herbal acaricide in the cattle tick for the first time, possibly due to cross-resistance to chemical acaricides.