| Date palm pollen acts as an alternative diet for long-term rearing of the predatory mite Neoseiulus cucumeris (Acari: Phytoseiidae) |
| Paper ID : 1095-IPCA4 |
| Authors |
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Shima Yazdanpanah *1, Yaghoub Fathipour2, Elham Riahi2 1Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran 2Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran |
| Abstract |
| Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) is a generalist phytoseiid predator, which is well-known because of its success in the control of a wide range of pests in greenhouses. The ability to feed, develop and reproduce on pollen diet is an important characteristic of this predatory mite, which facilitate cost effectively produce large numbers of this predator (mass rearing). Since, its performance is conditioned by long-term rearing, the predator mite was reared for 20 generations (G) on date palm pollen, and its population growth potential was evaluated by comparing the life table parameters at different generations (G1-G20) in laboratory at 25±1°C, 60±5% RH, and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L: D) h. Some important parameters such as development time, oviposition days, total life span and fecundity of the reared predators on date palm pollen had no significant difference between G1 and G20. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) of N. cucumeris in G1, G10 and G20 was 0.152, 0.208 and 0.180 day-1, respectively; whereas there was no significant difference between G1 and G20. The net reproductive rate (R0) of the predator in G20 (28.13 eggs) was significantly higher than that in G1 (14.93 eggs). Our results indicated that feeding of the predator on the mentioned diet led to stable performance during several generations. Overall, we found that date palm pollen is a suitable diet for large scale rearing of N. cucumeris. |
| Keywords |
| Phytoseiidae, Neoseiulus cucumeris, alternative food, life table, mass rearing |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Poster Presentation) |