THE COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF SPINOSAD, LUFENURON AND HEXYTHIAZOX ON SOME STRAWBERRY PESTS UNDER LABORATORY AND FIELD CONDITIONS

The comparative efficacy of spinosad, lufenuron and hexythiazox on Spodoptera littoralis, thrips and aphidsunder laboratory and field conditions was carried out during this study. The toxicity and time-mortality relationship were investigated through testing a serious of prepared concentrations or recommended field rates. Data of mortality under laboratory conditions indicated that spinosad and lufenuron efficacy was highly similar in killing 90% of the tested instars while when compared at their corresponding LC50, spinosad showed 5.2 times lower in concentration than that of lufenuron after 72 h of treatment. Patterns of time-mortality showed generally that spinosad caused the highest mortality either with time or with concentrations followed by lufenuron taking time around 16 h to kill 50% of the tested 2nd instar. Results of field experiments showed that spinosad and lufenuron caused more than 50 % reduction in thrips and aphid numbers after 10 days of treatment This show that both spinosad and lufenuron have almost the same effect against cotton leafworm, thrips and aphids and can be used wisely in IPM programs for pest control of pests infesting strawberry.