The Effect of Different Factors on Mass Rearing of Predatory Mite Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) (Acari:Phytoseiidae)

The predatory mite, Neoseiulus californicus preys on phytophagous mites and small insect pests. Different methods were investigated for studying of mass rearing methods of this predatory mite. We used different host plants (lima bean leaves, strawberry leaves, mulberry leaves, cucumber leaves) and artificial plates as arena and different diets (Tetranychus urticae Koch eggs, Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank) nymphs and adults, and Anagasta kuehniella (Zeller) eggs), plant pollens (walnut pollen, sun flower pollen, bee pollen, corn pollen and date pollen). In each rearing container, 15 female predatory on exciseted sponge used. The number of predatory mites were counted after 5, 10 and 14 days. In another test, we investigated the survival and fecundity rate with removeing the eggs of predatory mite in each container. The best choice for mass rearing of this predatory mite is agar beds with feeding on Tyrophagus mite. The longevity (18.50 days) and fecundity (34.10 eggs per female) of the predatory mite on agar were more than other treatments (P