Abstract
The ovicidal activity of certain organic insecticides and three mineral oils against the egg stage of Spodoptera littoralis was studied under laboratory and field conditions. Data proved that the evaluated compounds varied tremendously in their potencies. Cyper-methrin seemed to be the most effective insecticide, but thiodicarb was the least. The mineral oil KZ 4 showed the highest efficiency against the eggs. Most of the tested preparations gave promising ovicidal effect under laboratory conditions, while the efficiency was drastically decreased under the field conditions. The mineral oils tested potentiated the activity of the insecticides in varying degrees in their mixture with the insecticides. Generally, KZ 2 oil was the most strong potentiating agent. The same pattern of potentiation was found under field conditions. Currently, chlorpyrifos/KZ 2 was the most promising mixture as an ovicide against S. littoralis.
