Development of Amblyseius largoensis as biological control agent of the broad mites (Polyphagotarsonemus latus)

the broad mites, polyphagotarsonemus latus (banks) (acari: tarsonemidae) is a cosmopolitan pest of many important crops as potatoes, beans, peppers, and citrus which lives in tropical, subtropical regions and greenhouses worldwide. acording to its biological and ethological characteristics its control is complex by traditional methods of plant protection. for this reason, the use of the predatory mites of the phytoseiidae family is an adequate and efficient management alternative. the present paper comprises the characterization of the potentiality of amblyseius largoensis (muma)(acari: phtyoseiidae) as biological control agent of p. latus integrating, for the first time, the predator's biological characteristics; feeding behavior and the numeric and functional responses; development of methodologies for mass rearing of the biological agent and parameters for quality control processes; the study of pest behavior in the protected production of cuban hybrids of pepper, adapting the sampling methodology and determining the thresholds to estimate the population levels in these conditions. the compatibility of this predator with the principal chemicals and biological products used in the protected production and their effectiveness as biological control agent of p. latus in different conditions were evaluated. the results obtained demonstrated that a. largoensis is a new biological alternative for the management of broad mite populations in the protected production of peppers, which could be used in other agroecosystems; those that p. latus constitutes a problem, prior validation.