Background:
Ticks and tick-borne diseases are a severe economic and public-health problem for cattle producers. The emergence of acaricide resistance to synthetic chemical treatments has prompted interest in developing alternative tick control methods.
Aim:
The main objective of the current research was to identify the chemical structure of
Carthamus tinctorius
and
Nasturtium officinale
seed oils and to assess their anti-tick properties against
Hyalomma scupense
ticks both alone and in combination (1:1).
Methods:
Analytical methods were used to analyze the chemical components. For
in vitro
assays, adults of
H. scupense
were immersed in
C. tinctorius
and
N. officinale
seed oils at 100, 125, 200, and 300 mg/ml concentrations; for 5 minutes. Larvae of
H. scupense
were dipped in 25, 50, 100, 125, 200, and 300 mg/ml doses of seed oils; the mortality percentage was determined after 24 hours.
Results:
The seed oil safflower was mainly composed of linoleic acid (84.48%), followed by palmitic acid (6.54%) and stearic acid (3.77%). Meanwhile, watercress seed oil was mainly composed of linolenic acid (50.78%), gondoic acid (13.57%), linoleic acid (10.58%), palmitic acid (8.02%), and erucidic acid (6.62%). The Adults Immersion Test showed the sensitivity of ticks to
C. tinctorius
and
N. officinale
seed oil:
C. tinctorius
seed oil caused (95%) mortality of
H. scupense
at 300 mg/ml, while
N. officinale
seed oil induced (88.68%) mortality at the same concentration. At a 200 mg/ml concentration,
C. tinctorius
and
N. officinale
oil combined caused 100% mortality. Tested oils showed larvicidal efficacy
.
LC50 values for
C. tinctorius
and
N. officinale
seed oils were 84.16 and 61.78 mg/ml, respectively, in 24 hours. LC50 value of oils association (50%
C. tinctorius:
50%
N. officinale
) was 47.96 mg/ml.
The mixture of seed oils from two plants tested against
H. scupense
larvae and adult females at a 1:1 ratio showed synergistic interaction.
Conclusion:
Seed oils tested alone, and the mixture could be used as an alternative solution in the fight against ticks.