Biological Aspects of Date Palm Dust Mite, Oligonychus afrasiaticus (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae) on Fronds of Three Date Palm Cultivars

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Fruit Trees Mites Department, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

2 Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

For several years the palm dust mite, Oligonychus afrasiaticus (McGregor) has been an economically important pest of date palm. Biology and life table parameters of the date dust mite, O. afrasiaticus were studied on fronds of three date palm cultivars: Bartamoda (dry), Sewi (semi dry) and Zaghlol (soft) at laboratory conditions of 30 and 35°C & 60 ±5% R.H. and 16L. The results revealed that, the longest and shortest oviposition period and total longevity of O. afrasiaticus females were recorded at 30°C (22.5 & 26.90 days) on Sewi and 35°C (6.9 & 10.0 days) on Zaghlol variety, respectively. The fecundity increased as temperature decreased from 30.5, 37.45 and 25.5 eggs at 30°C to 27.8, 29.15 and 15.94 eggs at 35°C on Bartamoda, Sewi and Zaghlol varieties, respectively. The lowest and highest values of the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) were 0.107 and 0.229 individuals/female/day that obtained at 30 and 35°C on Zaghlol and Sewi varieties, respectively. The mean generation time (T) significantly decreased from 23.6, 22.4 and 22.76 days to 13.08, 11.90 and 12.26 days with increasing temperature from 30°C to 35°C, on Bartamoda, Sewi and Zaghlol varieties, respectively. The results of this study indicate that O. afrasiaticus could increase rapidly when Sewi and Bartamoda fronds serve as a food source more than Zaghlol date palm variety.

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