Relative resistance of six cattle breeds to the tick Boophilus decoloratus in South Africa.

Abstract

Adult females of the tick Boophilus decoloratus were removed from 6 breeds of cattle on 2 farms in the Northern Transvaal. Highest numbers of female ticks were collected from Simmentaler, followed by Santa Gertrudis, Bonsmara, Afrikaner, Brahman and Nguni. Resistance levels of each breed to B. decoloratus was positively correlated with the amount of Bos indicus genes in the breed, with the exception of Nguni, which is a sanga type but not pure B. indicus.