Susceptibility of some Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Varieties to Red Spider Mite (Tetranychus SPP.) and their host plants

Abstract

Red Spider mite, (Tetranychus spp.) is an economically important pest which causes considerable damage and threaten agricultural crops and horticultural crops. The study was carried out at wad madani at the University of Gezira experimental farm. The aim of this study is to evaluate the susceptibility of some tomato varieties (Amani, Peto 86, Castlerock and Salama) to red spider mite, also to investigate red spider mite infestation on the main vegetables crops, fields crops, trees and  weeds .This  method was used to determine the infestation  The number  of spider  mite was statistically analyzed and the results showed that the highest number of spider mite  infestation was  recorded in Amani variety  (6.20) and the lowest  in Salama  variety (4.05). The highest spider mite (Tetranychus spp.) population densities in third week (58 days) and the number of spider mites decreased steadily at the end of the season. From these results, spider mite was recorded on 11 host plants viz Eggplant, Milk weed, Gubbien, Okra, Sider, Dahasser,  Higlig,   Sunflower,   Dura,   Soy bean,   Cotton. The results also showed that eggplant was highly infested (145 mites) by spider mites compared to  Higlig (100 mites) The result also  showed the Okra was lowest infested (9 mites) by spider mite  The highly yield was recorded on Amani variety (6.295) ton/ha, but, the lowest yield was recorded in Salama variety (0.0734) ton/ha As general the Salama variety showed the lowest  infested by the red spider mites (6.20), as well as,  the lowest number of severity percentage was recorded on Amani  (8.4).Whereas, Amani variety showed the standard number of red spider mites (4.05), as well as, the number of severity percentage. Amani variety showed tolerance so recommended in IPM option besides removing Gubbein from Tomato grown areas.