Table 4.

Control of R. microplus infestation in cattle vaccinated with recombinant salivary antigens selected from the comparative transcriptome of ticks fed on susceptible or resistant hosts

	Parameters of parasitism
Experimental groupa	Percent reduction in tick burden (no. of adult females)b	Percent reduction in tick weight (adult female weight in mg)b	Percent reduction in oviposition (egg masses weight in mg per survived tick)b	Percent reduction in egg fertility (larvae weight in grams of per gram of eggs)b	Efficacy (%)c
Vaccinated	52.5 (587 ± 189)**	55.2 (151 ± 51)**	18% (88 ± 20)	27.2 (0.016 ± 0.006)	72
Adjuvant/saline control	1,233 ± 51	338 ± 29	107.5 ± 8.7	0.022 ± 0.014	–

After 2 weeks of last immunization dose calves were challenged with 10,000 larvae. Because R. microplus is a monoxenic tick, infestations are evaluated by counting of engorged females and their reproductive efficiency

^aHolstein calves with kinship were separated in different groups (vaccinated group, n = 4; control group, n = 3)

^bPercent reduction was determined in relation to the control group. Mean ± SE values are in parentheses. Student’s t-test was used to compare vaccinated and control groups (**P < 0.05)

^cVaccine efficacy based on the reduction in the number of female ticks (CRT), oviposition (CRO) and egg fertility (CRF) compared with the control group using the formula 100 [1-(CRT × CRO × CRF)]