BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF DATE PALM RED MITE RAOIELLA INDICA USING ORGANIC MITICIDE

Abstract

The red palm mite Raoiella indica Hirst is spread throughout the Caribbean islands, Florida, northern South America, and Mexico, and it negatively impacts palm and banana species. Different acaricides were used to control R. indica infestations of date palms in the UAE, but the majority of these acaricides are strong chemicals with high toxicity to non- target pests. The present study was conducted in the UAE on the red palm mite R. indica on infected date palms. One of the commercial botanical acaricides, namely M Impact, was tested for the control of R. indica in comparison with a market product containing abamectin. Raoiella indica mortality was 79.40% after the first spray and 70.23% after the second spray in the treatment of M Impact, with a 58.4% reduction in eggs. In the market product containing 3.5% w/v abamectin, mortality was 46.53% after the first spray and 41.22% after the second spray, with a 34.2% reduction in egg mortality. In this study, it was demonstrated that the organic miticide M Impact outperformed its chemical counterpart, abamectin. Organic miticides have provided significant and long-term control of the date palm red mite, R. indica.