E.M. El Banhawy, N. Carter and I.R. Wynne, 1993. Prelimina~' observations on the tx)pulation development of anystid and flee-living mesostigmatic mites in a cereal field in southern England. Exp. Appl. Acarol.. 17: 541-549.The effect of manipulating cereal aphid population development, by either adding aphids or spraying with an aphid-specific insecticide, on the predatory mite fauna was investigated. Populations of the anystid mite, Anystis baccarum (L.), were very small until late June when numbers built up rapidly at the time of the aphid population decline. There was however, no signilicant relationship between aphids and numbers of mites over the whole season. Preliminary eleetrophoretic analysis of two enzymes in the gut of anystid mites indicated that they may have been feeding on thrips, Limothrips cerealium Haliday. The free-living soil Mesostigmata had two population peaks, each related, the first tx)sitively and the second negatively to aphid populations.

Tea agro ecosystems are least disturbed in comparison to other crop systems due to the plant canopy type. A survey on predacious mites’ abundance and impact on leaf yield in different tea production areas was carried out in 2014-2015 in Kenya. Major pest species were the red spider mite Oligonychus coffeae and the yellow thrip, Scirtothrips dorsalis. The red crevice mite, Brevipalpus phoenicis was found in few areas and in low numbers. Predacious mites of Phytoseiidae Family were highest at 5.8 and 6.8 mites per sample during dry and wet seasons, respectively. Phytoseiid abundance during the dry and wet seasons did not differ much within most sample sites. Presence of phytoseiid mites in combination with NPK-fertilizer-high altitude led to the strongest correlation to leaf yield than any other combination variable. High phytoseiid density- high altitude was third with positive impact to yield increase after high altitude combined with NPK-fertilizer. The findings here show contributory positive impact of phytoseiids in tea leaf yield in an agro eco-system.

No abstract