Corresponding author " Development of Amblyseius largoensis as biological control agent of the broad mites (Polyphagotarsonemus latus) " Héctor Rodríguez 1,2 , Mayra Ramos 3 , Adrián Montoya 4 , Yaritza Rodríguez 5 , Reynaldo Chico 1 , Ileana Miranda 1 , Tomás L Depestre 5 1 Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria, CENSA Carretera de Jamaica y Autopista Nacional, Apdo. 10, CP 32 700, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba 2 Departamento Biología-Sanidad Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Agraria de La Habana, UNAH Carretera de Tapaste, CP 32 700, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba 3 Departamento de Medio Ambiente, Facultad de Gestión de la Ciencia, la Tecnología y el Medio Ambiente, Instituto Superior de Tecnologías y Ciencias Aplicadas, InSTEC Carlos III y Luaces, Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba 4 Facultad Agroforestal de Montaña, FAM Centro Universitario de Guantánamo, CUG, El Salvador, Guantánamo, Cuba 5 Instituto de Investigaciones Hortícolas “Liliana Dimitrova, Quivicán, Mayabeque, Cuba E-mail: morell_66@isch.edu.cu ABSTRACT The broad mites, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) (Acari: Tarsonemidae) is a cosmopolitan pest of many important crops as potatoes, beans, peppers, and citrus which lives in tropical, subtropical regions and greenhouses worldwide. Acording to its biological and ethological characteristics its control is complex by traditional methods of plant protection. For this reason, the use of the predatory mites of the Phytoseiidae family is an adequate and efficient management alternative. The present paper comprises the characterization of the potentiality of Amblyseius largoensis (Muma) (Acari: Phtyoseiidae) as biological control agent of P. latus integrating, for the first time, the predator’s biological characteristics; feeding behavior and the numeric and functional responses; development of methodologies for mass rearing of the biological agent and parameters for quality control processes; the study of pest behavior in the pro- tected production of Cuban hybrids of pepper, adapting the sampling methodology and determining the thresholds to estimate the population levels in these conditions. The compatibility of this predator with the principal chemicals and biological products used in the protected production and their effectiveness as biological control agent of P. latus in different conditions were evaluated. The results obtained demonstrated that A. largoensis is a new biological alternative for the management of broad mite populations in the protected production of peppers, which could be used in other agroecosystems; those that P. latus constitutes a problem, prior validation. Keywords: Polyphagotarsonemus latus, Amblyseius largoensis, Capsicum annuum, biological control Gerson U. Biology and control of the 1. broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) (Acari: Tarsonemidae). Exp Appl Acarol. 1992;13:163-78. Almaguel L. Ácaros de importancia 2. económica en Cuba. Bol Téc INISAV. 1996; (2):1-43. Casanova AS, Gómez O, Hernández 3. M, Chailloux M, Depestre T, Pupo FR, et al. Manual para la producción protegida de hortalizas. 2nd ed. La Habana: Editorial Liliana; 2007. Pena JE. Chemical control of broad 4. mites (Acarina: Tarsonemidae) in limes (Citrus latifolia). Proc Fla State Hort Soc. 1988;101:247-9. Weintraub PG, Kleitman S, Mori R, 5. Shapira N, Palevsky E. Control of the broad mite (Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks)) on organic greenhouse sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) with the predatory mite, Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans). Biol Control. 2003;27:300-9. Introduction The broad mites, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) (Acari: Tarsonemidae) is a serious cosmopolitan pest in tropical and subtropical regions and in greenhouses worldwide [1]. In Cuba, it is considered as one of the most harmful pest mite, due to their polyphagy and the negative impact in crops of economical interest as: citrus, beans, pepper and potato [2]. In the pro- tected production systems of recent development in the country, it provokes serious affectation in pepper, tomato, cucumber and other horticultural crops [3]. With few exceptions, P. latus is controlled exclusive- ly with chemicals acaricides [4]. In Cuba, the strain LBt-13 of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner has been used with favorable results for several years. How- ever, the expected results are not always achieved, because this mite develops on the undersides of leaf surfaces, that is, it goes unnoticed in crops, confus- ing their symptoms with diseases. This means that applications are not being carried out in an adequate moment. The use of the biological control, through the phy- toseiid mites, constitutes a new form for managing the populations of P. latus, which have the advantages of achieving an efficient control in any site of the leaf; further reducing the import of chemicals products and protecting the natural enemies present in the agroeco- system, contributing to the preservation of the envi- ronment [5, 6]. To develop an efficient strategy, the development of a group of researches is required in order to demon- strate the feasibility of using these organisms, which is achieved only carrying out the basic and applied studies, and determining their potentiality as biologi- cal control agents. In answer to the necessity of finding new manage- ment strategies of broad mite populations, the present paper aims at determining the most important bio- logical parameters of Amblyseius largoensis (Muma) (Acari: Phytoseiidae), characterizing their feeding behavior, establishing a mass rearing method, de- scribing the populational behavior of P. latus in the protected production of pepper and estimating the effectiveness of A. largoensis as a biological control agent of P. latus. REPORT