<strong>Mites (Acari) important in different agroecosystems and their control in Romania*</strong>

Abstract

Mite problems in different agroecosystems in Romania are presented. Of all phytophagousmites known in the country, four species are found on a wide range of crops, with the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, and the broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks), being the most important. The broad mite is difficult to control, but acaricides registered in Romania have provided effective control of this species. Reduction of highly toxic pesticide residues in the environment has been considered important in the country. That could be approached by first reducing the amount of pesticides applied on agricultural land, and second, by finding new pesticides with less toxic active ingredients. This has resulted in reduced numbers of the main groups of pesticides, commercial products and number of active substances. The number of available commercial products varied from12 in 1972–1979 to five in 1980–1989, ten in 1990–1996, four in 1997–2004 and six in 2010, based on five active ingredients. The causes of the decreasing numbers of acaricide products or active ingredients were the reduced availability of several active ingredients due to toxicological or environmental reasons and the high registration cost. Only three acaricides (Envidor 240 SC, Nissorun 10WP and Omite 570 EC) and one insecticide/acaricide (Seizer 10 EC) are at present commonly used in Romanian agriculture.At the same time, from the economic point of view, biological control is impractical if not impossible to be applied in commercial crop production under Romanian economical conditions of farmers in absence of subsidies. EU and Romanian policies are discussed.