Lethal and inhibitory activities of natural products and biopesticide formulations against Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acarina: Tetranychidae)

Natural products namely; cow urine, Darekastra, fermented buttermilk, Jeevamrit, Panchgavya, Tamarlassi, vermiwash, and biopesticide formulations; Eupatorium 5EC, Melia 5EC and Neem baan 0.15EC were evaluated for toxic, ovicidal activity, repellence, feeding, and oviposition deterrence using leaf dip method of bioassay against Tetranychus urticae Koch. The LC50 for natural products ranged from 1.09% to 15.15%, minimum and maximum corresponding to fermented buttermilk and Panchgavya, respectively, whereas it ranged from 0.00007% to 0.03% for biopesticide formulations, maximum for Melia 5EC and minimum for Neem baan 0.15EC. At recommended field dose, toxicity varied from 18.5% to 90.0% and the ovicidal activity ranged from 5.61% to 54.48%, maximum being for Neem baan 0.15EC. All natural products exhibited moderate level of repellence and oviposition deterrence but Neem baan 0.15EC was ranked highest for both the properties. Feeding deterrence was at low levels for the natural products while Neem baan 0.15EC exhibited 100% of feeding deterrence. An exception was observed for leaf treatment with Panchgavya which acted as an oviposition inducer for the red spider mites. Based on arbitrary rank score, fermented buttermilk, Tamarlassi, and Neem baan 0.15EC possessed high toxic properties to spider mites.