Biological efficacy of the ecotoxically favourable insecticides and their mixture in the control of gypsy moth

Abstract

Forest certification is one of the ways of adapting forestry to modern ideas of “sustainable management“, by meeting demands of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard. By joining this process, Serbia obligated to follow FSC pesticides policy. Almost all insecticides registered in Serbia and applied for control of the most dangerous outbreaking defoliating species in forests, are on the list of prohibited ones. In certificated forest ecosystems in Serbia, microbiological insecticides (active ingredient: Spores and protein-crystals of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. kurstaki) are most widely used pesticides for the control of one of the most important economically harmful defoliators – gypsy moths, in progragation phase, when the number of pests is relatively small. When the number is greater, it is assumed that the so-called “soft“ ecotoxicologically favourable preparations Avaunt^®, Alverde^®, Coragen^®, registered for application in agriculture, but not in forestry can be used for inhibition of multiplication. Studies of biological efficacy of the aforementioned preparations and their mixtures with biological insecticide Foray^® showed that they have preconditions for application in forest ecosystems. The high biologic efficacy, mechanism of action, resistance to water rinsing, high selectivity, and small quantities of application, anticipated a bright future for them. Since results of researches of biological efficacy of insecticides in laboratory and field conditions are statistically different, studies done in natural conditions should be favored.

Key words: Insecticides, gypsy moth larvae, efficacy, validity of different research methods.