New record of mites occurring on medicinal plants and bioefficacy of Green Pesticides for management of Tetranychus ludeni zacher on Rauwolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz.

A survey on medicinal plants of south West Bengal for mites yielded 29 species of mites under 11 families that included both phytophagous and predatory groups. Among those, four species of mites were found to be most injurious and 22 new hosts of mites were recorded. For the bio-efficacy study of botanical pesticides, five leaf extracts were employed namely, neem, nishindha, bhat, palash and karanja. Nishindha registered highest mortality (98.33%) followed by palash (93.33%), neem (75.00%), bhat (73.33%) and karanja (70.00%) against Tetranychus ludeni infesting Rauwolfia serpentina. In the repellency test also, nishinda leaf extract was better than neem against T. ludeni.