Development of a pheromone trap for the control of the cattle tick Ripicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

• Grant number: 15/01110-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: November 01, 2015
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Juca Abramo Barrera San Martin
• Grantee: Juca Abramo Barrera San Martin
• Company: Decoy Tecnologia em Controle de Pragas S/A
• City: Ribeirão Preto
• Associated researchers: Norberto Peporine Lopes ; Pablo Henrique Nunes ; Túlio Marcos Nunes
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/16922-2 - Development of a pheromon trap for the control of the tick Ripicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, BP.PIPE; 15/23188-0 - Development of a pheromon trap for the control of the tick Ripicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, BP.PIPE

Abstract

The cattle tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, is the major problem for Brazilian cattle breeders. This small parasite is responsible for R$ 9 billion loss per year. Synthetic acaricides, represented by a large range of active toxins available in the market, are the main weapon to decrease the tick infestations, as well as its resultant diseases. The current control method has a high cost to the cattle holder, contaminating the meat, milk and the soil by chemical residues and the long-term use of such toxins results in resistant tick lineages. For these reasons, the search for alternative control methods has been recently intensified. In this context, the use of pheromone traps for the control of ticks represents an enormous advance for the Brazilian cattle raising activity. Pheromone traps have been used for the control of many agricultural pests in Brazil. It consists on the combination of an attractant pheromone and small quantities of toxins. This type of trap showed highly effective for the control of different species of ticks. However, the gap in the chemical ecology knowledge of the cattle tick R. (B.) microplus prevents the development of an attractant trap for this specie at the moment. Thus, the present project aims to develop an alternative method of control to the cattle tick through pheromone traps. Therefore, the volatile compounds of R. (B.) microplus will be acquired, quantified and identified through known chemical analytical tools. Further, the compounds will be tested in order to verify which compounds trigger the desired biological response. In this way, at the end of this project we expect to discover which pheromones are responsible for attracting the individuals of R. (B.) microplus and can, therefore, be used to develop a pheromone trap for the species. The results obtained in this project has the potential to produce a significative impact in the cattle raising activity in Brazil, increasing the productivity and adding value to the Brazilian livestock. (AU)