Host resistance to ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in different breeds of cattle at Bako, Ethiopia.

European cattle breeds are being introduced into Ethiopia in an effort to improve the productivity of indigenous breeds. The Ethiopian cattle breeds Horro and Boran were compared for tick burdens with their crosses with Friesian, Jersey and Simmental. Horro animals had the lowest tick burdens and the Horro x Friesian the highest. Adaptation to their environment and long-term natural selection for tick resistance in Horro cattle is the most likely explanation. Repeatability of tick burdens in all animals considered as one herd were only statistically significant for Boophilus decoloratus, the most abundant tick species. Statistically significant correlations between burdens of female B. decoloratus, Amblyomma cohaerens and Rhipicephalus praetextatus were observed and the addition of the males resulted in all inter-species correlations becoming significant. Care should be taken when crossing Ethiopian with more productive European cattle breeds in order not to lower their tick and disease resistance.