review · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
A review of 231 plants reveals diverse bioactive properties against ticks, including toxicity, repellence, antifeedant effects, antioviposition activity, and the ability to immobilise target species. These ethnobotanical resources offer potential for sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally sound tick control tailored to rural livestock producers. Following the withdrawal of state subsidies for tick management across many African regions since the mid-1980s, individual livestock owners have become central to managing infestations. Plant-based solutions suit local conditions and community-led practices well. However, widespread adoption relies on rigorous scientific validation of their efficacy and the development of convenient formulations that local communities can readily handle. Maximum effectiveness is expected when these traditional botanical practices are combined with conventional tick control technologies.
Ticks severely harm livestock health and rural agricultural livelihoods, particularly where public subsidies for pest control have lapsed. Utilising indigenous plant knowledge provides an accessible, eco-friendly way for farmers to protect their herds using local resources. Confirming these treatments scientifically helps bridge community traditions with formal veterinary care to secure animal productivity.
The research highlights opportunities to develop affordable, plant-derived antitick formulations for rural livestock keepers. Intended users are smallholder and pastoral livestock farmers seeking alternatives or supplements to conventional chemical acaricides. The work remains at an early to translational stage, as widespread commercial adoption depends on scientific validation of active plant compounds and the design of stable, easily handled product packaging.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Antitick plants and related ethnoknowledge/ethnopractices with potential for integrated tick control and management strategies to improve livestock production are reviewed. About 231 plants reviewed showed a variety of bioactive properties, namely, being toxic, repellent, antifeedant, and antiovipositant and ability to immobilize target tick species. These ethnobotanical substances are potentially useful in developing sustainable, efficient, and effective antitick agents suitable for rural livestock farmers. Majority of these plants are holistic in action, economically affordable, user friendly, easily adaptable and accessible, and environmentally friendly and help develop community-driven tick control interventions well suited to local conditions and specific to different livestock communities. Such a multipurpose intervention best fits the recent ascendancy of individual livestock owners as the key players in tick control programmes, particularly following the withdrawal of subsidies accorded to tick control programmes by most African government agencies since mid-1980s. However, scientific validation of antitick ethnobotanicals on their efficacy and formulation of packages easily handled by local communities is necessary to achieve a significantly increased use of such remedies. It is envisaged that the results of validation may lead to the discovery of effective and affordable antitick products. The effectiveness of these "best bets" ethnopractices can be greatest, if they are appropriately blended with conventional technologies.
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DOI: 10.1155/2017/8647919
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