Studying the Biology of Carpoglyphus lactis (L.) Reared on Dried Apricots and Its Control Using Plant Oil Extracts

Abstract

Carpoglyphus lactis(L.) has been documented as one of the most important pest contaminants of dried fruits during storage. Dried apricots are especially sensitive to the mite infestation, although data concerning bionomics and control of the mite on this subject is rare. In this study, the biological aspects of C.lactis fed on dried apricots were examined under laboratory conditions at 25±2 o C and 85±5% RH in complete darkness. Eggs required an average of 15.2 and 12.2 days to develop into adult females and males, respectively. The oviposition period averaged 10.2 days during which females deposited an average of 31.8 eggs with a daily rate of 3.18 eggs per female. Mean life span of females was longer than that of males being 29.33 and 22.0 days, respectively. The hatch rate was 78.83% and the female to male ratio was 1:0.87. The deutonymph (hypopus) stage was not found in the entire C.lactis life cycle. On the other hand, the acaricidal activity of the three plant oils extracts, cinnamon, chrysanthemum, and eucalyptus oils against C.lactis adults was bio-assayed after a 24h period via direct contact application. As measured by LC50 values, the most toxic oil was cinnamon (LC50 = 5.6 ppm) followed by chrysanthemum (LC50 = 13.9 ppm), and eucalyptus (LC50= 89.2ppm).