Population Dynamics, Life History and Efficacy of Acaricides Against European Red Mite,Panonychus ulmi(Koch), on Almond and Apple

European red mite (ERM), Panonychus ulmi (Koch) is a major pest of fruit crops (apple and almond) in Kashmir Valley, India. Investigations were carried out at ICAR-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar,Jammuand Kashmir to study the population dynamics, biology and efficacy of acaricides against P. ulmi on almond and apple. In both the crops highest population (31.56 and 6.46 mites/leaf), respectively, was observed in the 29th standard week (SW) and significantly correlated with the temperature. Biology of ERM was also studied on almond: eggs hatched in 6.50 ± 0.29 days; larval development took 2.00 ± 0.00 days; protonymphal and deutonymphal stages lasted for 1.75±0.25 days each. Longevity of adult males and females was 4.25 ± 0.25 and 8.25 ± 0.48 days, respectively. The efficacies of some of the acaricides were evaluated against ERM on almond. Among these, fenazaquin 10 EC (0.004 %) was found to be excellent with 94.92 % mortality of ERM on almond.