Persian J. Acarol., 2021, Vol. 10, No. 23, pp. 321–334. https://doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i3.66952 Journal homepage: http://www.biotaxa.org/pja How to cite: Kadkhodazedeh, F., Asadi, M. & Khanamani, M. (2021) Suitability of different pollen grains and Tetranychus urticae as food for the predatory mite, Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae). Persian Journal of Acarology, 10(3): 321–334. Article Suitability of different pollen grains and Tetranychus urticae as food for the predatory mite, Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae) Fatemeh Kadkhodazadeh 1 , Mahdieh Asadi 1* and Mostafa Khanamani 2 1. Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran; E-mails: fatemeh_kadkhodazadeh@yahoo.com, m.asadi@uk.ac.ir 2. Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran; E-mail: m.khanamani@ ujiroft.ac.ir * Corresponding author ABSTRACT The suitability of eight pollen diets (wild almond, date palm, oak, pomegranate, pistachio, peach, damask rose, and walnut) and also Tetranychus urticae Koch as natural diet on life table of the Amblyseius swirskii (Phytoseiidae) was determined at 25 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 5% relative humidity and photoperiod of 16:8 h (L: D). Results showed that damask rose pollen was not accepted as food and did not support the development of A. swirskii beyond the protonymphal and deutonymphal stage. The highest and lowest values of the intrinsic rate of increase (r) and finite rate of increase (λ) belonged to the pistachio (0.192 and 1.212 day −1 ) and peach (0.022 and 1.023 day −1 ) pollen, respectively. The net reproductive rate (R 0 ) values varied from 1.4 offspring for the peach pollen to 29.54 offspring for the pistachio. Furthermore, the highest and lowest fecundity rate was recorded on the pistachio (36.65 eggs/female) and peach (3.23 eggs/female) pollen, respectively. Measured life table parameters of A. swirskii reared on different diets revealed pistachio, and after that, date palm and pomegranate pollen grains to be the most suitable diets. These findings may introduce more suitable pollen diets for the rearing of this predatory mite. KEY WORDS: Alternative diet; biological control; life table; pistachio; predatory mites. PAPER INFO.: Received: 3 February 2021, Accepted: 26 May 2021, Published: 15 July 2021 INTRODUCTION The use of predatory mites as a safe tool in pest management programs has been increased due to the growing demand for alternatives to chemical pesticides (Gerson and Weintraub 2007). Among predatory mites, the family Phytoseiidae is well known to include predators, which have proved their efficacy against several mite and insect pests in different crops under both protected crops and field conditions (McMurtry et al. 2013). Currently many species of this family have been introduced for use in classical biological control programs. At least 20 species of this family have been commercially available and primarily applied to greenhouse plants (Zhang 2003). Some of these species are as follows: Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot), Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans), Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes, Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor), Neoseiulus fallacis (German), Iphiseius degenerans (Berlese), and Galendromus occidentalis (Nesbitt).