Cladistics of Rhipicephalus microplus and laboratory assessment of acaricidal efficacy of different Cassia fistula extracts against R. microplus larvae

• Published in: Experimental & applied acarology Vol. 93; no. 3; pp. 645 - 663
• Main Authors: Moudgil, Aman D., Sharma, Dinesh, Nehra, Anil K., Singh, Damanpreet, Daundkar, Prashant S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-10-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acaricides; Acaricides - pharmacology; Animal Ecology; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animal sciences; Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Animals; Arachnids; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Buffalo; Buffaloes; Cassia - chemistry; Cassia fistula; Cladistics; Cytochrome; Cytochrome-c oxidase; Effectiveness; Electron Transport Complex IV - genetics; Entomology; Flowers; Gene flow; Haplotypes; Homology; Humidity; India; Ivermectin; Larva - drug effects; Larva - growth & development; Larvae; Life Sciences; Molecular structure; Nucleotides; Phylogenetics; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Population genetics; Population structure; Population studies; Rhipicephalus - drug effects; Rhipicephalus - growth & development; Rhipicephalus microplus; Structural analysis; Tick Infestations - drug therapy; Tick Infestations - parasitology; Tick Infestations - prevention & control; Tick Infestations - veterinary; Ticks; India; Phylogenetics; Acaricide; Ivermectin; Cassia fistula; Rhipicephalus microplus
• ISSN: 0168-8162; 1572-9702; 1572-9702
• DOI: 10.1007/s10493-024-00947-y

The present study aimed to analyze the cladistics and population structure analysis of
Rhipicephalus microplus
ticks infesting buffaloes in Haryana, India, as well as the assessment of the anti-tick efficacy of the ethanolic extracts of
Cassia fistula
(bark, pod pulp, and flowers) against
R. microplus
larvae. The molecular characterization and population structure analysis were performed by targeting the amplification of the partial mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (
cox1
) gene, whereas anti-tick efficacy was evaluated using a larval packet test. The sequences generated herein revealed a homology of 98.26–100% to the GenBank-archived
R. microplus
sequences. In population structure analysis, high haplotype (0.500 ± 0.265) and low nucleotide (0.002 ± 0.001) diversities were recorded for the sequences generated in this study. Significantly negative neutrality indices were recorded for the overall dataset. The extracts were found to significantly affect mortality rates in a dose-dependent manner, and the ethanolic extracts of the bark, pod pulp, and flowers of
C. fistula
exhibited median lethal concentration (LC
50
) values of 27.989, 40.457, and 49.43 mg/mL, respectively. The LC
50
value recorded for the combination of the ethanolic extracts of the bark, flower, and pod pulp of
C. fistula
was 19.724 mg/mL, whereas the synthetic acaricide ivermectin had an LC
50
value of 351.56 mg/mL. In conclusion,
R. microplus
populations infesting cattle and buffalo hosts in India exhibited negligible genetic differentiation and high gene flow between them. Additionally, the combination of all
C. fistula
extracts could serve as a potential substitute for the synthetic acaricide.