[Investigation of Acaroid mites breeding in stored dry fruits]

To study the species and density of Acaroid mites breeding in stored dry fruits.

The samples from the dried fruit stores and warehouses were collected, and the mites breeding in them were separated, then the slides with mites were prepared and observed by a light microscope for species identification and counting. The indexes such as the breeding density, species richness index, diversity index and evenness index were calculated.

Totally 12 species of Acaroid mites belonging to 6 families and 10 genera were obtained from the total 49 samples. The dominant mite species were Carpoglyphus lactis, Tyrophagus putrescentiae, Acarus siro, and Caloglyphus berlesei. The breeding densities of mites in longans, filberts and plum candies were 79.78, 48.91, 35.73 mites/g, respectively, which were higher than those in other dry fruits. The seasonal variation experiment of mites found that the average breeding density of acaroid mites was higher in July and October, the richness index and diversity index reached the highest value in July, and the evenness index was higher in January and April. The observation of the growth and decline of Acaroid mites under the artificial condition found the number of Caloglyphus berlesei declined sharply and Tyrophagus putrescentiae first increased and then decreased.

The pollution of Acaroid mites is serious in the stored dried fruits, for which the positive prevention and control measures to the mite breeding should be taken to reduce the harm.