Investigations were conducted during 2015-2016, in major jasmine growing districts of Tamil Nadu, for assessing the distribution, infestation level and the relative importance of two spotted mite of jasmine, Tetranychus urticae. The mite population was more observed in Madurai (10.25 mites/2 cm2 leaf area) followed by Coimbatore (9.47 mites/2 cm2 leaf area), Tirunelveli (9.36 mites/2 cm2 leaf area) and Ramanathapuram (8.65 mites/2 cm2 leaf area) districts. Seventy-four per cent respondents were aware of jasmine mite as a pest, but only nine PER CENT respondents ranked it as the most important pest. The technological gap indices (TGI) were high in adopting right frequency in spraying of chemicals (91%), usage of biological control agents (87%) and effective cultural practices viz., collection and destruction of infested leaves and buds (82%) and planting inter/border crops (87%). A majority of respondents (45.45%) had high level of technological gap, whereas, only 18.18 per cent were in low level of technology gap. Thus, efforts should be taken to create awareness among jasmine growers for the use of eco-friendly bio-control methods against two spotted mite of jasmine as well as other pests of jasmine.

Keyword: Jasmine; Two spotted mite; Webbings; IPM; Technological gap index