Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, H; MONTOYA, A; PEREZ-MADRUGA, Yanebis  and  RAMOS, Mayra. Mass rearing of phytoseiidae predatory mites: challenges and perspectives in Cuba. Rev. Protección Veg. [online]. 2013, vol.28, n.1, pp. 12-22. ISSN 1010-2752.

Mites of the family Phytoseiidae are the most common predators of the phytophagous mites on most plant species. The study of this family in Cuba began in the years 70 of the last century, when Cuban specialists started its taxonomic identification. Twenty genera and more than 60 species have been reported up today. In a chronological order, population studies in several crops of economic interest, such as citrus, banana, potato and rice, have followed making evident their impact on the regulation of phytophagous mite populations. In the decade of the 90's, the determination of the biological parameters of Phytoseiulus macropilis (Banks) was initiated. This phytoseiid mite showed its efficacy as a biological control agent of Tetranychus tumidus Banks and Panonychus citri (McGregor) in nurseries of banana and citrus, respectively. In the first years of the present century, the biological characterization of Amblyseius largoensis (Muma) on Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) was carried out evidencing its high predatory ability on broad mites in the protected production of pepper. The use of these predatory mites in inoculation strategies in the agricultural practice in Cuba have been limited by the scarce availability of these biological control agents, although different alternatives for their mass rearing with promising results have been evaluated. With the present review, it is intended to tackle the international tendencies in the commercial reproduction of predatory mites, to summarize the principal results obtained in Cuba, and finally, to examine the challenges and perspectives that the development of these biological control agents represent to our country.

Keywords : mass rearing methods; biological control; Phytoseiulus macropilis; Amblyseius largoensis.

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