Effect of host plants on the biology of predatory mite, Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans) cultured on two spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch

Study on the effect of selected host plants viz., brinjal, bhendi, french bean and butter bean on the biology of predatory mite, Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans) revealed that there was faster development of the predatory mite on bhendi (4.33 ± 0.52 days) as compared to other host plants. Total development period was 4.68 ± 0.90, 4.71 ± 0.78 and 5.02 ± 0.70 days on french bean, butter bean and brinjal respectively. There were no significant differences in adult longevity and fecundity of N. longispinosus when it cultured on bhendi and butter bean. Further, study on influence of leaf morphological characters indicated the negative effect of trichome density, trichome length and leaf thickness on the development of N. longispinosus.