Abstract：
Beef cattle production in Portugal is an important sector of national agricultural production, with half of the herd being in the Alentejo region. Despite this, animal health is essential for its productivity, which may be compromised by ticks and tick-borne diseases. So far, no study has been conducted in Portugal to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on ticks and tick-borne diseases in cattle, which the authors are aware of. This type of questionnaire is a very useful tool in the development and application of effective and sustainable prevention and control measures. Therefore, a KAP questionnaire was applied to 44 cattle breeders of autochthonous Portuguese breeds, namely 14 breeders of the Alentejana breed and 30 of the Mertolenga breed, between January 1 and May 9, 2023. Based on the analysis criteria of these surveys, 64% of the Alentejana breeders and 63% of the Mertolenga breeders have an average level of knowledge about ticks and tick-borne diseases, and 21% of the Alentejana breeders and 33% of the Mertolenga breeders have a high level of knowledge. Although only 21.4% of the Alentejana and 36.7% of the Mertolenga breeders consider tick infestation as a major animal health problem, 71.4% of the Alentejana and 63.3% of breeders of the Mertolenga state that one of the main reasons for veterinary consultations on their farm is deworming of animals, and 92.9% of breeders of the Alentejana and 96.7% of breeders of the Mertolenga refer the use of dewormers as a strategy to control tick infestation. The results of this study contribute to highlighting the importance of correcting some identified knowledge gaps and improving knowledge, especially on the life cycle of this parasite, its local distribution and seasonality, resistance to acaricides, and alternative control strategies.
摘要：
葡萄牙的肉牛生产是国家农业生产的重要部门，一半的牛群在阿连特霍地区。尽管如此,动物健康对其生产力至关重要，可能会受到蜱和蜱传播疾病的影响。到目前为止,在葡萄牙没有进行过评估知识的研究，态度，牛蜱和蜱传疾病的实践(KAP)，作者都知道。这种类型的问卷是制定和应用有效和可持续的预防和控制措施的非常有用的工具。因此,KAP问卷被应用于44个葡萄牙本土品种的牛饲养员，即阿伦特贾纳品种的14名育种者和默托伦加品种的30名育种者，2023年1月1日至5月9日。根据这些调查的分析标准，64％的Alentejana育种者和63％的Mertolenga育种者对蜱和蜱传播疾病的知识具有平均水平，21％的Alentejana育种者和33％的Mertolenga育种者具有很高的知识水平。尽管只有21.4％的Alentejana和36.7％的Mertolenga饲养员认为蜱虫侵扰是主要的动物健康问题，Alentejana的71.4％和Mertolenga的63.3％的育种者表示，在其农场进行兽医咨询的主要原因之一是驱虫动物，Alentejana的92.9％的育种者和Mertolenga的96.7％的育种者将使用驱虫作为控制tick虫侵扰的策略。这项研究的结果有助于突出纠正一些已确定的知识差距和提高知识的重要性，尤其是这种寄生虫的生命周期，它的本地分布和季节性，对杀螨剂的抗性，和替代控制策略。
