Abstract: Stored products get heavily infested with Fusarium species, if poorly managed after harvesting. These are considered as pre-harvest fungi. These fungi produce mycotoxins. Poor post-harvest management of stored products cause these fungi continue to grow and hence, the stored products become heavily populated with them. Such stored products infested with heavily populations of Fusarium species and their produced mycotoxins as well as occasional association of various mite species with them deteriorates the quality of such stored products. Such products become unfit for eating. Since mites are adapted to diverse feeding habits due to an evolutionary plasticity. So, some mites are exclusively while others are inclusively fungivorous. So, mites feeding on fungi, interact with both fungi and their mycotoxins, so are adapted to live in the presence of mycotoxins. Mite species, well adapted to feed on fungi species and in turn causing the dissemination of fungal spores, are having a mutualistic relationship with fungi. Both together enhance the occurrence and abundance of each other’s populations in a synergistic and cooperative way. In this study, a total of 60 samples of various stored products collected and investigated were only those samples already infested with Fusarium species. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the differential occurrence and abundance of populations of three Astigmatid mite species (Acarus siro, Lepidoglyphus destructor and Tyrophagus putrescentiae) in stored product samples infested with Fusarium species. Among the three Astigmatid mite species studied, only the Tyrophagous putrescentiae was found to be associated with all ten species of Fusarium infested samples, followed by Acarus siro with six and Lepidoglyphus destructor with two Fusarium species. The ten species of Fusarium were categorized according to their suitability/association effect on the occurrence and abundance of three astigmatid mite populations as: (1) Highly suitable (F. oxysporum, F. verticilloides (2) Suitable (F. culmorum, F. solani and F. avenaceum) and (3) Lowly suitable (F. subglutinas, F. sporotrichioides, F. poae and F. graminearum).
Keywords: Fusarium; Astigmatid mites; Grain; Storage; Feeding.
Title: Occurrence and Abundance of Populations of Three Astigmatid Mite Species In Stored Products Infested With Fusarium Species
Author: Navpreet Kaur Gill, Mohd Yousuf Paray, Parminder Singh Dehar
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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