Evaluation of Acaricides for their Safety to the Predatory Mites

Field studies were undertaken on brinjal crop during summer to evaluate bioefficacy of four newer selective acaricides and NSKE, as a botanical pesticide against the red spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisd) and simultaneously to study their safety to field prevailing predatory mites; In respect of the safety to field prevailing predatory mites, dicofol and NSKE were noticed to be harmful and harmless, respectively. Spiromesifen and abamectin were observed to be relatively safe, while bifenazate and fenazaquin were moderately safe. The studies indicated that spiromesifen and abamectin were more suitable and ecofriendly for the management of the target mite.