AN ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACH TO CONTROL RHIPICEPHALUS SANGUINEUS BY USING SUSTAINED RELEASE POROUS CALCIUM ALGINATE BEADS CONTAINING ASSEMBLY PHEROMONE

A novel attempt was made to encapsulate assembly pheromone of ticks in porous calcium alginate beads. The study was carried out using test beads containing assembly pheromone and acaricides and three control beads- plain alginate beads, pheromone control and acaricide control respectively. In-vitro trials were carried out by petridish bioassay and the unfed larvae, unfed nymph and unfed adult of Rhipicephalus sanguineus were utilized for the assay. Cent percent mortality was recorded with test beads amongst all the three unfed stages in in-vitro bioassay. Field trials were carried out in kennels with the test and control beads suspended in specially designed lures to assess their efficacy in attracting and killing pre-parasitic environmental stages of R. sanguineus.