Abstract
Rhizoglyphus robini Claparède (Acari: Acaridae) is a pest of bulbs, corms and tubers of several economically important crops. The biological control of R. robini has yet to be fully explored as an alternative to chemical pesticides. Entomopathogenic fungi in the genera Metarhizium (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) are used for the biological control of several agricultural pests. The soil-dwelling predatory mite, Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Womersley) (Acari: Acaridae) is also frequently used alone or in combination with other biological control agents. There are few reports on the use of M. brunneum or S. scimutus against R. robini. The objectives of this research were to investigate the in vitro effect of different predatory mite ratios of S. scimitus on R. robini mortality and the combined use of a M. brunneum-based granule with S. scimitus as potential strategies to manage this pest. Mortality of R. robini in Petri dishes containing predators was significantly higher than without predators. When soil-filled containers containing R. robini were treated with both M. brunneum granules and S. scimitus, the lower densities of the bulb mite were obtained with the highest ratio of predator/prey mites. The number of bulb mites in the containers treated with only M. brunneum was significantly lower than the untreated control. These results demonstrate the potential for releasing of S. scimitus alone and in combination with M. brunneum granules to manage R. robini.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported with funds from the University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life Sciences through a US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, multi-state Hatch project (#W4185, VT-H02405MS). The authors thank Brian Spencer from Applied Bio-nomics, Ltd. for providing the predatory mites and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on this manuscript. Any findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Department of Agriculture.
Funding
This research was supported with funds from the US Department of Agriculture Hatch program (Project VT-HO2405MS) and the University of Vermont Experiment Station. It is part of the USDA Regional Project W4185, Biological Control in Pest Management Systems of Plants.
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Ghalehgolabbehbahani, A., Sullivan, C.F., Davari, A. et al. Evaluation of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum and the predatory mite Stratiolaelaps scimitus against Rhizoglyphus robini under laboratory conditions. Exp Appl Acarol 87, 19–29 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-022-00719-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-022-00719-6