Soil mites inhabiting chamomile and marigold plants under two different cultivations at Fayoum governorate

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in two localities at Fayoum governorate to observe soil mites inhabiting two important medicinal and aromatic plants namely; chamomile(Matricaria chamomilla L.) and marigold (Calendula officinalis L.). Samples were collected biweekly from December 2016 to April 2017. After mite samples extraction, specimens were mounted in Hoyer’s medium on microscope slides for later examination.The results revealed the occurrence of 43 species from 36 genera and 24 families. This included four species from both families,Cunaxidae and Rhodacaridae which were recorded for the first time in Egypt. Total soil mites were 1466individuals, from which 793individuals in chamomile and 673 individuals marigold. The total number of mites collected from each cultivated system reached respectively 484 & 309 individualsin organic and conventional chamomile and 449 & 224individualsin organic and conventional marigold. From 24 families: 10 & 7 families were not found in organic and conventional chamomile, and 5 & 9 families in organic and conventional marigold. The highest numbers presented in the families Euopodidae about 175 individuals (in organic chamomile), Acaridae about 135 & 110 individuals (in conventional chamomile & marigold), 130 individuals (in organic marigold). The highest number of soil mites was presented by the families Oribatulidae and Eupodidae in chamomile,while in marigold were the families Acaridae and Oribatulidae. Shannon-Wiener "H" Indexindicated that organic marigold reached the highest value (2.31) of 30 species from 19 families,while Simpson Index, demonstrated that it recorded the lowest number of dominant species. For speciessimilarity,the community of organic almost resembled that of conventionalone by 50% in chamomile and 51.06% in marigold.