Eficiencia del hongo Cladosporium sp. para el control del ácaro Tetranychus urticae en el cultivo de fresa (Fragaria ananassa), en la Granja Experimental Querochaca de la Universidad Técnica de Ambato

Abstract

Tetranychus urticae, also known as red spider mite, is a pest that greatly affects strawberry plantations in Ecuador since it causes 80% of losses, so farmers choose to make frequent applications of agrochemicals. In the present investigation, the pathogenic activity of the fungus Cladosporium sp as a controller of Tetranychus urticae was evaluated by formulating different concentrations 2x103 conidia/ml, 2x104 conidia/ml2 , 2x105 conidia/ml, 2x106 conidia/ml, the application was carried out in two phases, the first phase in laboratory conditions, where plant samples contaminated with mites were collected for the preparation and incubation of the rearing units. Once this procedure was carried out, new rearing units were made to transfer 10 adult female mites of approximately 19 days of life, the application of the different doses was carried out with 5 repetitions each one including the control, observations were made during 12 days, which showed that the doses 2x105 conidia/ml, 2x106 conidia/ml were the ones with the highest mortality of mites. The second phase was the application of the doses 2x105 conidia/ml, 2x106 conidia/ml, in field conditions. For this application, 10 plants were used for each treatment including the control and observations were made for 15 days and it was determined that the dose 2x106 conidia/ml is the one with the highest percentage of mite mortality, however, it was established that the concentration 2x106 conidia/ml has a higher percentage of mortality 58% in laboratory conditions and in field conditions its percentage of mortality decreases to 50%.