Abstract
The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of two insecticides (deltamethrin and acetamiprid), and an acaricide (fenbutatin oxide) on diversity and abundance of mite fauna in replicate experiments carried out in an openeggplant field in Latakia, Syria. Each pesticide was applied three times with an interval of three weeks between two consecutive applications. Two phytophagous mites were observed in all treatments: Tetranychus urticae and olyphagotarsonemus latus. However, the number of predatory mite species (in particular Phytoseiidae) was different according to the pesticide applied and the lowest number observed was in the fenbutatin oxide treatment. This acaricide caused high mortality of T. urticae, decreased the abundance of P. latus, and negatively affected Phytoseiidae. Acetamiprid and deltamethrin induced the resurgences of T. urticae (3.5-fold and 1.5-fold for the former and the latter respectively). The abundance of P. latus was not affected by acetamiprid but by deltamethrin. The results clarified also that these insecticides seemed harmless to Phytoseiidae [i.e. Phytoseiulus persimilis, Phytoseius finitimus and Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) recki]. Data obtained here are interesting for integrated management programs of the major eggplant phytophagous mites, although the generalization of these results requires some caution and additional experiments are needed.
Highlights
Eggplant, Solanum melongena L. is the main vegetable crop in open fields in Latakia province, Syria
For mites abundances and regarding to the results obtained, two ways were performed to evaluate the effect of the pesticides on phytophagous mites and their predatory mites: (1) during experiment, the results revealed that T. urticae was approximately the unique mite species on the crop for several weeks after the first application and the reduction of its populations was only observed in plots where fenbutatin oxide was applied
Two phytophagous mite species were collected in all treatments: the two spotted spider mite T. urticae being dominant and the broad mite P. latus (Table 1)
Summary
Solanum melongena L. is the main vegetable crop in open fields in Latakia province, Syria. The major pests of this crop include several species of lepidopteran insects, whitefly, thrips, aphid and phytophagous mites, causing severe damages and substantial losses in crop yield (Srinivasan, 2009; Reddy and Miller, 2014). ISSN 2107-7207 (electronic) of these pests has been based generally on broadspectrum pesticides in numerous Latakian fields and the number of sprays performed varied according to eggplant growers. The great indiscriminate use of these compounds has negative environmental impacts and can impair the performance of natural enemies, causing the emergence of other population pests as tetranychid mites (Reddy, 2001; Kumral and Kovanci, 2005; Van Driesche et al, 2009; Marcicet al., 2012)
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