Riad Tofik Zidan(1) Mohammad Ahmad Ahmad(2) and Alisar Nadim Shaabow*(1)
(1). Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria.
(2). Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, latakia, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Eng. Alisar Shaabow. E-Mail: alisar.nadeem@yahoo.com).
Received: 19/11/2018 Accepted: 19/12/2018
Abstract
The study was carried out at a greenhouse in latakia center for rearing natural enemies during 2017 and 2018, in order to study the effect of the biological control of the two spotted spider mites Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) by using the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henroit (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on growth and productivity of five cultivars of climbing beans: Kentucky wonder white, Blue lake, Fatima, Purple Queen, and Zilioni Gigant. The results showed that releasing the predatory mite increased leaf area to 10294 cm2 compared with the prey treatment 5983 cm2, the net assimilation rate increased from 0.15 to 0.36 mg/cm2/day, and the productivity increased from 0.27 kg/m2 to 1.25 kg/m2, for both prey and predator treatments respectively. The results also showed that Kentucky Wonder White cultivar had the highest leaf area (9499 cm2) and productivity (1.18 kg/m2) with the existence of the predator.
Key words: Climbing bean, growth, Biological control, Tetranychus urticae Koc, Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henroit.
Full Paper in Arabic: PDF