Evaluation of Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Acari: Laelapidae) for controlling the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita (Tylenchida: Heteroderidae)

Root-knot nematodes are one of the most harmful plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs). In this paper, the predation of Stratiolaelaps scimitus against Meloidogyne incognita was tested in an individual arena, and the control efficiency of the mite on the nematode in the water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) rhizosphere was studied with a pot experiment. The results showed that S. scimitus could develop normally and complete its life cycle by feeding on second-stage juveniles of M. incognita (Mi-J2). The consumption rate of a 24 h starving female mite on Mi-J2 increased with the increase of prey density at 25 °C. Among the starvation treatments, the nematode consumption rate of a female mite starved for 96 h at 25 °C was highest; and among temperature treatments, the maximum consumption rate of a 24 h starving female mite on Mi-J2 was at 28 °C. The number of M. incognita in the spinach rhizosphere could be reduced effectively by releasing S. scimitus into rhizosphere soil, and 400 mites per pot was the optimum releasing density in which the numbers of root knots and egg masses decreased by 50.9% and 62.8%, respectively. Though we have gained a greater understanding of S. scimitus as a predator of M. incognita, the biocontrol of M. incognita using S. scimitus under field conditions remains unknown and requires further study.