Comparison of natural prey Tetranychus turkestani, date palm pollen, and bee pollen diets on development, reproduction, and life table parameters of the predator Amblyseius swirskii

Abstract

The predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae) is produced commercially for biological control of insects and mites on crop plants around the world. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of a diet of natural prey, Tetranychus turkestani Ugarov and Nikolskii (Acari: Tetranychidae), date palm pollen, or bee-collected pollen on A. swirskii development, reproduction, and life table parameters. Completely randomized, no-choice experiments were conducted in replicated experimental units, i.e., 3 x 3 cm plastic sheets inside Petri dishes. A life table analysis was also conducted. Results indicated that diet type did not affect A. swirskii preimaginal survival; it ranged from 97-100% on T. turkestani and both pollen diets. However, total development time was significantly shorter for A. swirskii females fed date palm pollen than T. turkestani or bee pollen. Adult females fed T. turkestani lived longer, had longer oviposition periods, and produced more eggs. The intrinsic rate of natural increase (0.396 d<sup>-1</sup>) was higher for A. swirskii fed date palm pollen than T. turkestani or bee pollen. The finite rate of increase, net reproductive rate, and gross reproductive rate did not differ significantly between A. swirskii fed date palm pollen or T. turkestani. Mean generation time (7.56 d) and population doubling time (1.043 d) were shorter for A. swirskii fed date palm pollen than T. turkestani or bee pollen. This study suggests that the T. turkestani diet or date palm pollen diet is suitable for A. swirskii. Date palm pollen has great potential as a cost effective diet to mass produce A. swirskii in the absence of natural prey. Future research could determine whether long-term rearing on date palm pollen reduces the ability of A. swirskii to locate, capture, and consume T. turkestani or other Tetranychus species on crop plants.

Development, survival, and reproduction of Amblyseius swirskii (Athias- Henriot) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) feeding on different pollen grains

“…Therefore, the quality of pollen nutrients is the most effective factor that results in changing the immature development of A. swirskii. In contrast to Riahi et al (2017a) and Rahmai Piyani et al (2021), who mentioned that 7.3 and 4.20 days are needed to develop into the adult stage on date palm pollen, respectively, the present study showed that 5.96 days are required. The difference between our study and Riahi's might be related to the difference in the type of experimental substrate, artificial substrate versus leaf substrate.…”

Life history traits and population parameters of the predatory mite Euseius scutalis (Acari: Phytoseiidae) fed on Tetranychus turkestani (Acari: Tetranychidae) and pollen from three different plants

“…In another study, cattail and date palm pollen were introduced as the most appropriate alternative diet origins for straightforward and cost-effective rearing of E. scutalis (Shishehbor et al 2022). This pollen has also been recommended as the best food source for other phytoseiid species, Typhlodromips swirskii (Athias-Henriot) (Ali & Zaher 2007; Abou-Elella et al 2013, and Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot (Rahmani Piyani et al 2021).…”

Biological characteristics, functional and numerical responses of the predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii feeding on cotton whitefly, Bemisia tabaci

“…Amblyseius swirskii individuals were purchased from Abadagrico, Hamedan, and reared at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in rearing units and fed with date palm pollen. Our previous experiment indicated that date palm pollen is a suitable diet to maintain A. swirskii population in laboratory conditions (Rahmani Piyani et al, 2021). The rearing units consisted of Petri dishes (90 mm dia.)…”

“…Other laboratory studies with a sufficient amount of prey have reported a variety of fecundity values for this species. At 25 °C, the fecundity of A. swirskii was reported to be 17.9 eggs on Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein) (Metwally et al, 1984), 38.1 eggs on Aculops lycopersici (Massee) (Park et al, 2010), 54.90 eggs on Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Ji et al, 2013), 40.85 eggs on Tetranychus urticae Koch (Riahi et al, 2017), 34.69 eggs on Eotetranychus frosti (McGregor) (Bazgir et al, 2018), 82.17 eggs on Carpoglyphus lactis (L.) (Asgari et al, 2020), and 45.52 eggs on T. turkestani (Rahmani Piyani et al, 2021).…”