Investigações preliminares sobre a sesibilidade parasitária de duas raças de coelhos a Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae)

Abstract

The natural sensitivity of two breeds of rabbit, White New Zealand (WNZ) e California (CA), and their crossbreeds (CB) to Rhipicephalus sanguineus were compared under experimental conditions. Three rabbits of each breed, without previously tick exposure, were infested once with 2300 larvae, 100 nymphs and 40 adults (20 males + 20 females). The experiment with the parasitic phase was conducted in the environment while the free-living phase was conducted under 27 ± 1º C, 80 ± 10 % relative humidity and scotophase. The dynamic of the sensitivity had in the larvae phase a variation statistically significant (p<0.05) in the préecdise period, with the best performance in the CB group. However, the percentage of recovery was greater in the treatment of WNZ. In the adult phase, females of the WNZ group presented a greater mean weight (p<0.0) e did not differ from the Nutritional Efficiency Index(NEI) from CB, which had the best performance. For larvae of the females in the three treatments the only statistic variation (p<0.05) was with the period hatching, where the CA group presented the smallest period, the CB group presented the greatest and the WNZ group did not change statistically in the both. The life cycle in all three groups was very close, without great differences according to the treatment received.