Biological Control of Tetranychidae by Considering the Effect of Insecticides

Spider mites (family Tetranychidae) are important pests of many agricultural, medicinal and ornamental plants worldwide. They possess needle-like chelicerae which pierce plant cells, often feeding on chloroplasts on the under surface of the leaf and cause upper leaf surfaces develop whitish or yellowish stippling. Additionally spider mites produce silk webbing which covers the leaves. In this chapter we present common control methods of these mites including biological control with emphasizing on the prey preference, switching behavior and mutual interference of a biological control agent, Phytoseius plumifer (Canestrini and Fanzago). Additionally the side effects of two acaricides, abamectin and fenpyroxymate, on this predator will be discussed.

Biological effects of three bacterial species on Tetranychus urticae (Acari: Tetranychidae) infesting eggplant under laboratory and greenhouse conditions

This study evaluated the efficacy of three bacterial species. Acinetobacter sp. (concentration 2.237×108 cfu/ml), Bacillus subtilis (concentration 2.470×108 cfu/ml) and Bacillus qassimus (concentration 3.320×108 cfu/ml) were tested against the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, infesting eggplants under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. In addition, we studied their side effects on the predatory mite, Phytoseius plumifer. The highest efficiency rate on T. urticae was observed with Acinetobacter sp. sprays. Three days after treatment, mite mortality reached 87.15 and 77.29 % under laboratory and greenhouse conditions, respectively. Moreover, the mortality rates were significantly lower (72.22 and 67.11 % and 70.74 and 65.19 %) using B. subtilis and B. qassimus under lab and greenhouse conditions, seven days after treatment. The predatory mite, P. plumifer, showed higher tolerance than T. urticae to the three bacterial preparations. The results of this study indicated that Acinetobacter sp. has a strong efficacy on T. urticae and slightly affected the predatory species herein tested. This study introduces a potentially new strategy for biological control of phytophagous mites.

Effect of temperature on life table parameters of Phytoseius plumifer (Phytoseiidae) fed on Eotetranychus hirsti (Tetranychidae)

Eotetranychus hirsti Pritchard & Baker (Tetranychidae) is one of the important pests of fig trees that is widely distributed in fig orchards of Iran. The predatory mite Phytoseius plumifer Canestrini & Fanzago is a phytoseiid mite on fig that can feed and reproduce on E. hirsti. The effect of four constant temperatures (20, 25, 30 and 35°C) on demographic parameters of P. plumifer fed on nymphal stages of E. hirstiwas determined under laboratory conditions at 50 ± 5% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (L: D). The total developmental time of immature stages of this predator decreased with increasing temperature from 20°C to 35°C, and varied from 17.13±0.23 to 6.55±0.19 days for females. The lower temperature threshold (Tmin) and thermal constant (K) for the total immature stages of this predator was estimated 10.33˚C and 166.67 degree-days by the ordinary linear model, 11.17˚C and 147.87 degree-days by the Ikemoto linear model, respectively. Female longevity was 67.79, 47.00, 35.11, and 27.42 days at 20, 25, 30 and 35°C, respectively. The highest values of total fecundity and daily fecundity were obtained at 25˚C (35.71±1.73 eggs) and 30˚C (1.57±0.02 eggs), respectively. The value of the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) increased as increasing temperature from 20°C (0.064±0.0012 day−1) to 30°C (0.180±0.0023 day−1), and then decreased at 35°C (0.153±0.0037 day−1). The highest and lowest values of the mean generation time (T) were 32.75±0.95 and 14.18±0.51 days, which were obtained at 20°C and 35°C, respectively. The results of this study revealed that of P. plumifer is effective predator of the fig spider mite and develops effectively at a broad range of temperatures.