Assessment of Repellency and Acaricidal Potential of Nigella sativa Essential Oil Using Rhipicephalus microplus Ticks

Abstract

Owing to the development of resistance in ticks, the presence of drug residues in food products and the non-target toxicity associated with synthetic acaricides, the scientists are forced to discover some other effective tick control alternatives like botanicals. Hence, in this perspective, the current study was focused on the investigation of repellent and acaricidal potential of Nigella (N.) sativa essential oil against the Rhipicephalus (R.) microplus ticks. Moreover, this research also included the phytochemical analysis of N. sativa essential oil through GC-FID procedure which indicated nerol to be its major constituent. Both the repellent and the acaricidal experiments were conducted using the N. sativa essential oil at 1, 2.5, 5, 10 and 20% v/v dilutions. The results of these experiments indicated the N. sativa essential oil to exert repellent, acaricidal and reproductive effects in terms of various parameters with dose-dependent responses. Thus, the N. sativa essential oil may serve as an effective alternative for the control of R. microplus tick infestation.