In vitro assessment of the acaricidal properties of aqueous extract of Cassia sieberiana DC (Caesalpiniaceae) stem bark on Boophilus (Curticei 1891) larvae

¹Biu, A. A., ²Abdulkadir, M.A., ³Luka, J. ⁴Konto, M. and ⁵Hamza, J.

^1,3,4 Department of Veterinary Microbiology & Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri Nigeria

^2&5Department of Biological Sciences University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri Nigeria

E-mail Address:  joshuadiriki@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to evaluate the ‘acaricidal effect’ of aqueous extractof Cassia sieberiana stem bark on the larvae of Boophilus ticks, using the In vitro immersion method (IIM). Freshly hatched larvae were divided into 4 replicates of 20 each and exposed to five graded concentrations of the aqueous extract (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) for 1 hour and mortality rates recorded post inoculation for each concentration. The mean ± standard deviation (range) larval mortality varied between 4.25±4.1 (2-12) (at 5%) and 11.63±5.3 (6-19) (at 25%) compared with distilled water 1.88±1.3 (0-4) and untreated (normal controls) 0.0±0.0 (p < 0.05). Mean mortality rates also ranged between 31.3% (at 5% concentration) to 58.1% (at 25%) compared with 9.4% for distilled water and 0.0% for untreated control (p < 0.05).This study has observed a positive correlation between graded concentrations of aqueous extract of Cassia sieberiana stem bark and duration of larval immersion In vitro.