Studies on ovicidal activities of selected acaricides against Oligonychus coffeae Nietner on tea

Tea red spider mite, Oligonychus coffeae is one of the most serious acarine pest of tea, causing considerable loss to the tea industry. Acaricides are the first choice to manage this pest particularly in case of severe incidence. In spite of regular application of acaricides, red spider mite is still a year round menace in tea gardens. Under this situation, tea gardeners usually prefer acaricides having ovicidal action because it controls the pest at very initial stage i.e egg stage. There are very few research reports on ovicidal activity of acaricides against tea red spider mites. So an experiment was conducted to evaluate the ovicidal activity of nine selected acaricides against tea red spider mite. It was found that fenazaquin 10 EC, propargite 57 EC, Hexythiazox 5.45 EC, Etoxazole 10 SC, cyflumetofen 20SC and spiromesifen 22.9 SC exhibited cent per cent ovicidal activity. Sulphur 80WDG found to have almost no ovicidal action (0.67%).