Verification of Efficacy of Bitoxybacillin/ Bacillus thuringiensis on Red Spider Mite, Tetranychusurticae on Cut Roses

Cut roses industries, new income resource in Ethiopia, most of flower industries are established near and around to Addis Ababa city, especially in west and east Shewa zones, most of flower enterprise established by foreigner, which is enhance global economy and creates jobs opportunity. Red spider mite, Tetranychusurticae is the major obstacles for flower production here in Ethiopia, in order to increase the quality and quantity of flower production need to plan different control strategies. Objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of these naturally occurring bacteria in controlling the red spider mite in rose flower farms. This experiment was donning on Menagesh, Gallica flower farm and the variety was Limbo flower, the application time was at flowering stage. Two rounds at the rate of 7ml/l by using Motorized knapsack sprayer for four consecutive months. The analysis of variance on mite count data after the application of Bitoxybacillin (Bt) and Abamectin 1.8%EC showed no significant difference (p>0.05) even after 21 days after the second spray (Table 1). However, the population density of the spider mite in Bt treated plots was very low in all sampling dates compared to the untreated check and Abamectin. The pest population (original data) after three weeks of the Bitoxybacillin applications was 68.1 per stem compared to Abamectin 1.8%EC (125.1) and control (110.57) indicating the registered miticide failed to suppress the mite population in roses. Bitoxybacill, would be advisable to have it registered in Ethiopia as alternative synthetic miticides for the control of red spider mite in Integrated Pest Management program.