Behavioral response of Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae) to synthetic chemicals and oils

Muhammad Asif Qayyoum; Zi-Wei Song; Bao-Xin Zhang; Dun-Song Li; Bilal Saeed Khan

doi:10.7717/peerj.10899

Behavioral response of Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae) to synthetic chemicals and oils

PeerJ. 2021 Apr 5:9:e10899. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10899. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Muhammad Asif Qayyoum^#^{1

2}, Zi-Wei Song^#¹, Bao-Xin Zhang¹, Dun-Song Li¹, Bilal Saeed Khan³

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection/Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou City, Guangdong, China.
² Department of Plant Protection, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan.
³ Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae) population outbreaks after the citrus plantation's chemical application is a common observation. Dispersal behavior is an essential tool to understand the secondary outbreak of P. citri population. Therefore, in the current study, the dispersal activity of P. citri was observed on the leaf surfaces of Citrus reticulata (Rutaceae) treated with SYP-9625, abamectin, vegetable oil, and EnSpray 99.

Method: Mites were released on the first (apex) leaf of the plant (adaxial surface) and data were recorded after 24 h. The treated, untreated, and half-treated data were analyzed by combining the leaf surfaces (adaxial right, adaxial left, abaxial right, and abaxial left). All experiments were performed in open-air environmental conditions.

Results: The maximum number of mites was captured on the un-treated or half-treated surfaces due to chemicals repellency. Chemical bioassays of the free-choice test showed that all treatments significantly increased the mortality of P. citri depending on application method and concentration. A significant number of mites repelled away from treated surfaces and within treated surfaces except adaxial left and abaxial right surfaces at LC₃₀. In the no-choice test, SYP-9625 gave maximum mortality and dispersal by oils than others. No significant differences were observed within the adaxial and abaxial except abaxial surface at LC₃₀. Therefore, the presence of tested acaricides interferes with P. citri dispersal within leaf surfaces of plantations depending on the mites released point and a preferred site for feeding.

Keywords: Colonization; Dispersal pattern; Leaf surfaces; Lethal concentration; Sub-lethal concentration.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFD0202000), Dean fund of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (BZ201906), China Postdoctoral Research Foundation supported the research (229807), China Litchi and Longan Research System Foundation (CARS-32-12), and Discipline team-building projects of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the 13th Five-year period were the support funding agencies for this research work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.