Efficacy of two predatory phytoseiid mites in controlling the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on cherry tomato grown in a hydroponic system

Abstract

Thrips is one of the most harmful insect groups attacking many field and vegetable crops. Predatory mites, especially those in family Phytoseiidae, are considered as good bioagents to control thrips where application of chemical pesticides can be decreased. This work was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the two phytoseiid mites, Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) and Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans), in controlling the western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis, Pergande) on cherry tomato plants in a hydroponic system. The results indicated that both predatory mites were effective in decreasing populations of adults and larvae of F. occidentalis at all of the chosen periods. The mixed effect of A. swirskii plus N. cucumeris (AS + NC) was higher in reducing thrips populations than that when each of them was used alone. Larvae of F. occidentalis were decreased on leaves of tomato plants from 11.2 and 14.5/leaf in the control treatment (no predatory mites) to 4.27 and 3.73/leaf due to the combination of AS and NC after 7 and 15 days, respectively. On the other hand, larvae of F. occidentalis attained levels of 8.75 and 12.83/ five flowers when no predatory mites were applied compared to 2.46 and 1.20/five flowers when adults of AS plus NC were used after 50 and 60 days of releasing, respectively. This study demonstrated that the combination of AS and NC resulted in higher reductions in F. occidentalis without any competition between them.

Advancements in Lily Viruses Management: Challenges and Solutions in Elimination and Detection

“…Notably, macrobials like anthocorid bugs (Orius spp. ), green lacewing species, predatory phytoseiid mites, and predaceous laelapid mites have shown significant efficacy in combating thrips infestation at different life stages [70][71][72][73][74][75]. These biological control agents specifically target first instar thrips on foliage and thrips pupae in soil, offering promising potential for managing plant viruses and their vectors [76].…”

A global invasion by the thrip, Frankliniella occidentalis: Current virus vector status and its management

“…The macrobials currently being widely and effectively used are anthocorid bugs ( Orius spp.) (Mo et al ., ; Aragón‐Sánchez et al ., ), green lacewing species (Sarkar et al ., ) and predatory phytoseiid mites (Messelink et al ., ; Ahmed & Lou, ), which predominantly attack 1st instar thrips on foliage, and soil‐dwelling predaceous laelapid mites (Berndt et al ., ; Wu et al ., ), which consume thrip pupae in soil.…”

Field Releases of Neoseiulus barkeri: Effects on Megalurothrips usitatus Abundance and Arthropod Diversity

“…In recent years, the misuse and overuse of pesticides has resulted in resistance in many small piercing-sucking pests, such as mites, thrips, whiteflies, and aphids (Meng et al, 2016;Xu et al, 2013). Also, frequent or large scale use of chemical pesticides is destructive to native natural enemies, potentially leading to pest outbreaks (Ahmed et al, 2018). Releases of predatory mites can be effective in controlling some pests due to these predators' small size, rapid development, strong reproductive ability, good predatory effect, and the similarity of their ecological niche with small sucking insect or mite pests (Duso et al, 2016;Howell et al, 2016).…”