Identification of spider mites from Moringa oleifera using molecular techniques
2015
Dube, Z.P. | Mashela, P.W. | Abdelgadir, A.H.
Moringa oleifera plants are highly nutritious and had since attracted much attention for serving as alternative crops in marginal communities in developing countries. Generally, claims abound that moringa plants are pest-free, with ISO precluding the use of unregistered products. However, moringa seedlings are often attacked by an unidentified aggressive spider mite (Tetranychus species) under humid greenhouse conditions, resulting in outright withering of seedlings, with the potential of decimating an entire moringa orchard. Thus, molecular techniques were used to identify the spider mites on moringa to the species level in order to allow for the development of management strategies. Spider mite strains from moringa and adjacent sweet stem sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) seedlings were collected and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene used for molecular identification. DNA sequences were generated and subjected to Blastn search on the National Center for Biotechnology Information database, with the neighbour-joining method used to establish the relative closeness of the test strains to Tetranychus species. Phylogenetically, the test spider mite was, Tetranychus urticae , closely related to T. urticae strains in Lineage I, which is dominated by the Mediterranean haplotypes. The derived information would allow for the development of appropriate management strategies of this pest on moringa seedlings using various products for eventual registration.
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