EFFECT OF HOST PLANTS AND PESTICIDES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans) AGAINST Tetranychus urticae Koch
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Date
2023-04
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present study entitled “Effect of host plants and pesticides on the performance of Neoseiulus
longispinosus (Evans) against Tetranychus urticae Koch” was conducted during the year 2019-2022 in the
Department of Entomology, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal
Pradesh. The predatory potential of N. longispinosus was evaluated on five host plants with and without the
effect of recommended insecticides. The biology and demographic parameters were highest on bean followed by
cucumber and the least on tomato and brinjal. The highest fecundity of the predatory mite was observed when T.
urticae protonymphs were provided as prey on bean leaves (48.78 eggs/ female), followed by eggs (48.3 eggs/
female) and deutonymph (41.12 eggs/ female). The feeding potential of predatory mite was higher on prey eggs
than proto- and deutonymphs. During the lifetime highest feeding was recorded for adult female predatory mite
against prey egg on bean, brinjal, cucumber, okra and tomato were 139.50, 37.22, 62.90, 50.78 and 31.63 eggs,
respectively. The predatory mite exhibited a type II functional response to all stage of prey mite on each tested
host plant with or without the influence of insecticides. Mutual interference was observed when the number of
foraging predators per arena increased from 2 to 8; as a result, more prey was consumed overall, but per-capita
predation rate and searching efficiency declined with the increase in predator density. Among evaluated
insecticides, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam and lambda-cyhalothrin reduced the predatory potential of N.
longispinosus. The release rate of predatory mite, N. longispinosus, was found to be effective against T. urticae
when released twice at predator: prey ratio of 1:7.5. Among host plants, bean proved to be better than the other
tested hosts to raise T. urticae for mass production of N. longispinosus. Overall, N. longispinosus is a promising
biocontrol agent of T. urticae, and can be integrated with insecticides like, chlorantranilirole on the day of
application. However, a gap of 3-5 days is required between the application of the other tested insecticides and
the predator release.