Relationships and influences between Boophilus microplus characteristics in tick-naive or repeatedly infested cattle

Six tick-naive male Hereford calves were infested once a month for 6 months with 18 000 Boophilus microplus larvae on the back and with 400 larvae in a cloth bag glued on the lumbar region. Working with the bag ticks, 12 tick characteristics were recorded for each infestation. Each tick attribute was analyzed for significant differences with those of the first infestation (analysis of variance), and for similarity (clustering), degree of relationship (correlation), and concomitant variation (regression) against all the other attributes during the first, third, and sixth infestations. Some attributes were affected maximally by host immunity about the third infestation but recovered later (length of feeding, detachment weight, egg weigth, start of oviposition, fertility efficiency index), whereas others continued to be affected until the last infestation (length of oviposition, corpse weight, start of hatching, feeding efficiency index). All analyses showed that weight at detachment and egg weight were closely related, and corpse weight was partially related to these two. All other natural characteristics were largely independent. Length of feeding showed no significant relation with weight at detachment nor length of oviposition with egg weight. These findings suggest that different tick functions are independently affected by host immunity and recommends against estimating general anti-tick resistance by the evaluation of only a few tick characteristics.