Effects of botanical acaricides on Raoiella indica and Oligonychus sp. and their toxicity on two species of phytoseiid predatory mites

Abstract

In this study, three commercial botanical acaricides (BA) were evaluated on two species of phytophagous mites, the red palm mite (Raiella indica) and the papaya mite (Oligonychus sp.). The toxicity of the BA on the predatory mites Neoseiulus californicus and Phytoseiulus persimilis was also assessed. For R. indica, CinnAcar and EPA-90 caused more than 90% decrease in the population density in the laboratory. In field trial, CinnAcar was the most effective in suppressing the mite population density. For Oligonychus sp., CinnAcar and EPA-90 caused up to 88.5 and 95.2% mortality in the laboratory. In greenhouse trial, EPA-90 caused more than 90% decrease in the population density of motile stages. Residual exposure showed that EPA-90 had moderate toxicity to the phytoseiid predators, causing 48% mortality in N. californicus and 55% mortality in P. persimilis, whereas CinnAcar and NeemAcar produced 22 to 32% mortality.