Differential Susceptibility of Tetranychus urticae and its Predator, Phytoseiulus persimilis (Acari: Tetranychidae, Phytoseiidae) against Individual and Combined Treatments of Plant Extracts
The differential susceptibility of the two spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae and its predator, Phytoseiulus persimilis against extracts of Gleditsia japonica var. koraiensis, Camellia sinensis, Cinnamomum cassia, Lantana camara and their mixtures was evaluated. The plant extracts tested were much less toxic to P. persimilis than to T. urticae. The plant extracts tested had little effect on the survival of P. persimilis adult females. Moreover, reproduction of P. persimilis adult females and eclosion of eggs deposited by treated predators were not seriously affected. The treatments of the plant extracts tested showed no serious toxic effect on P. persimilis eggs and exhibited 84∼100% hatchability. The treatments with mixtures 3 and 1 were effective against the adult females of T. urticae and yielded 76.0% and 72.7% adulticidal activity at 7 days after treatment, respectively. The treatment of mixture 2 revealed 63.3% adulticidal activity. Generally, the acaricidal activity of the individual treatment of each plant extract was lower than the mixtures. The adult females of T. urticae treated with mixtures 3 and 1 produced only 29.5∼31.3% as many eggs as the control females did. All the plant extracts tested exhibited no noticeable toxic effect to the eggs of T. urticae. These results suggest that mixtures 3 and 1 might be used for the control of T. urticae, and expected to be promising candidates for use in integrated mite management program with P. persimilis.