Morphological and molecular characterization of ticks infesting cattle and buffaloes in different agro-climatic zones in Andhra Pradesh, India, and factors associated with high tick prevalence

A study was carried out to characterize the hard tick species and risk factors associated with tick prevalence in bovines in Andhra Pradesh, India on 3720 animals (1942 cattle and 1778 water buffaloes) in 344 livestock farms covering the tropical wet and dry zone and the tropical semi-arid zone . Overall, 10,371 ticks were collected from 947 animals reared on 216 farms. Analysis of morphology, 16S r RNA, andCOI gene sequences identified four tick species, namely <i>Haemaphysalis bispinosa, Rhipicephalus</i> (<i>Boophilus) microplus</i> (clade C), <i>Hyalomma anatolicum,</i> and <i>Hyalomma isaaci. Haemaphysalis bispinosa</i> was the predominant species in two zones, and the occurrence of <i>Hy. anatolicum</i> was restricted to the semi-arid zone. The overall prevalence of tick infestation was 25.5% and was 25.8% and 25.0% in cattle and buffaloes, respectively. The prevalence of tick infestation did not vary (P&gt;0.05) between the two zones. The overall median tick burden per animal differed (P&lt;0.01) between the two zones; but not among cattle and buffaloes. Age, sex, and breed (P&lt;0.001) the overall prevalence of tick infestation. The conventional housing system, absence of rural poultry, soft floor, presence of a boundary wall, and rearing multiple ruminant species were observed to be potential risk factors associated with higher tick prevalence in livestock farms.