Further epidemiolgical studies on the chicken tick ”argas persicus ”its role in transmitting some poultry diseases and its control

The present study has dealt with the effect of different hosts on feeding capacity of A. nersicus during the four seasons of the year. The hosts usedin this study were the chickens (as natural host); the herons (as wild host); the rabbits, the guinea pigsand the rats (as laboratory mammalian hosts). It has also dealt with the relations1:;l.ip b e twean the imbibedblood from those hosts on oviposition patterns of females A. persicus at varying temperatures. It hasbeen noticed that the percentage of feeding of’ adults1l. nersicus was higher among those fed on chicken than those fed on herons. Among both birds, the feedingpercentages was much higher during Spring and Summer than the other seasons. In case of feeding A.persicus,few ticks have succeeded to suck blood. The trialsof feeding ticks on guinea pigs, showed that only a very low percentages of females and males have sucked bloodduring the four seasons. Rats appeared to be unsuitable hosts for feeding of A.persicus adults as not a singletick tried to feed or even attach on that animal during the seasons of the year. Moreover, the weight of bloodmeal ingested by female !.persicus from chickens was much higher than that obtained from herons, rabbits andguinea pigs, during the four seasons. The blood meal