Are some cattle resistant to tsetse and/or trypanosomiasis?
While no cattle are completely resistant to trypanosomiasis, some taurine breeds from West Africa have an innate tolerance to trypanosomes. The two most important trypanotolerant breeds are N’Dama and Baoule breeds. Indigenous breeds found in East Africa, such as the Orma Boran, also show some trypanotolerant characterstics. No particular breeds of cattle seem to be repellent to tsetse. There are however, very marked differences in the attractiveness of individual cattle. The general trend is that bigger and older animals are more attractive to tsetse and more tolerant of being bitten. Thus the number of tsetse biting a 400 kg ox will be about ten times greater than the number biting a 50 kg calf (Torr & Mangwiro, 2000). And if the two animals are next to each other, then virtually all the tsetse will bite the ox (Torr et al., 2001). We can take advantage of this phenomenon by treating only the older and bigger animals in a herd with insecticide, thereby improving the cost-effectivenes
