اثر گیاهان میزبان بر رفتار کاوشگری کنه شکارگر Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) (Acari:Phytoseiidae)

The predatory mite, Neoseiulus californicus )McGregor( is one of important and effective predator of phytoseiid mites to contol of spider mites. Surface structures of leaves such as, trichomes affected on foraging behaviour and stopping time of the predator. In this research, the foraging behavior of the predatory mite on different commercial strawberry cultivars (‘Camarosa’, ‘Gaviota’, ‘Aliso’, ‘Yalova’, ‘Seqouia’, ‘Marak’ and ‘Chandler’)were studied in presence of two-spotted spider mite as prey. Leaflets of each strawberry cultivar (1×1 cm2) were placed on plastic substrates on wet sponge under a stereomicroscope attached to a camera and patches of the predatory mite were recorded a video. The pedestrian speed of each predatory mite was analyzed by use the software ‘Ethovision version, 1.70’. Distance traveled on tested patches (different strawberry cultivars leaves) showed significant difference. Distance traveled on cultivar ‘Chandler’ was higher than the other cultivars (22.10±0.82 mm) and the lowest distance were observed on cultivar ‘Gaviota’ (9.25±0.16 mm) and ‘Yalova’ (7.60±0.51 mm). The speed of the predatory mite movement on different strawberry cultivars was significant different. The highest speed of the predatory mite was recorded for the predatory mite on cultivar ‘Chandler’ (0.73±0.02 mm/s) and the lowest were observed on cultivar ‘Marak’ (0.33±0.01 mm/s), cultivar ‘Gaviota’ (0.30±0.01 mm/s) and cultivar ‘Yalova’ (0.25±0.02 mm/s).The speed of movement of predatory mite N. californicus on cultivar ‘Chandler’ leaves were more than the other tested strawberry cultivars leaves due to trichomes density. It was reported that the faster movement of predatory mite on ‘Chandler’ leaves due to this cultivar had low trichomes density.