Abstract
In this paper, we report the first evidence for the suppression of coconut mite Aceria guerreronis Keifer (Acari: Eriophyidae) populations by augmenting the natural population of the predatory mite, Neoseiulus baraki (Athias-Henriot) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) by an inundative release with laboratory-bred N. baraki. On each of five coconut mite infested palms in two plantations in the same agro-climatic zone of Sri Lanka, 10,000 laboratory-bred N. baraki was released once and the numbers of both N. baraki and coconut mite were assessed over a period of 6 months. Irrespective of the plantation, release of N. baraki resulted in a significant increase in its population on released palms during the post-release period of 6 months with a mean number of 8.99 ± 1.03 per fruit compared to 6.19 ± 0.80 per fruit on unreleased palms. A single release of N. baraki showed a highly significant positive impact on the coconut mite population in the released palms in both plantations. The mean numbers of coconut mites per fruit were 1264.77 ± 139.07 and 1815 ± 46 in the released and unreleased palms, respectively, during the sampling period.
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