In conventional agriculture, mites were not considered pests of economic importance, but nowadays they have exceeded the damage compared to other insect pests and are one of the main limiting factors in fruit production in most tropical countries.
▶ Fruit production occupies an important place in agricultural production in tropical countries, so it is of vital importance to work on the development of pest control methods that allow good plant development and production of commercial quality.
There are many pests that limit fruit agriculture, for example in recent decades it has been detected that mites feed on the chlorophyll of the leaves limiting the process of photosynthesis, it has also been found damaging open flowers causing their detachment from the plants or fruit growth with poor aesthetics.
The control of this pest is mainly based on the use of chemical substances, however, strawberries must be free of pesticide residues or below the maximum limit allowed for export and trade. Therefore, it is important to know the chemical ecology of this mite in order to develop specific, environmentally friendly control alternatives that do not compromise the quality of the fruit and human health.
The attack of phytophagous mites can induce plants to produce volatile compounds, which in turn can attract natural enemies. Volatile chemical compounds are emitted from the host-mite complex that act as a kairomone for mite predators. This kairomone is a by-product of a physiological process in the plant and also has a role in the biology of the mite.
Further studies on how they use chemical signals under natural conditions and examine the behavior of predators against plant extracts and mites are needed to focus studies not only on the chemical ecology of mites after they have colonized a crop, but also on the early interactions present in the primary colonization of the pest.
