Studies on chicken acquired resistance to argas [persicargas] persicus latereille [acari: argasidae] due to repeated infestation

ABSTRACT

Spring chickens were used for feeding Argus persicus [females] daily over one week during both winter and summer seasons. Acquired resistance to ticks was monitored by the failure of ticks to replenish a blood meal from chickens bitten repeatedly by the infesting ticks during winter and summer seasons, measurements of anti-tick activity in the chicken sera and detection of changes in their serum proteins. Chickens were bled after the 4th feeding, during the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks post-feeding. The titer of anti-tick antibody was determined in the chicken sera by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] technique. The change in sera protein bands after Argas persicus female repeated feeding was studied by the use of 10% SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The results showed that the non- feeding percentage in A. persicus was significant in both winter and summer seasons. The highest concentration of antibodies against A. persicus was detected after the fourth feeding and the lowest titer was reported in sera collected after the fourth week in both seasons. Infested chicken serum proteins electrophoresis showed different patterns of separation from the non-infested chickens. The protein bands of the non-infested chicken sera had 5 and 10 bands in the winter and summer seasons; but in infested chicken sera, it ranged between 12-17 and 14-18 bands in winter and summer seasons, respectively