EFFECTIVNESS OF PURE DIATOMACEUS EARTH AND DIFFERENT MIXTURES OF DIATOMACEUS EARTH WITH PYRETHRINS

This study shows results of laboratory experiments on stored soft white wheat infested with two stored pest species: rice weevil - Sitophilus oryzae (L.), and red flour beetle - Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), treated with different mixtures of Diatomaceus earth (DE) and pyrethrins (Diatect V, Diatect II, Bug-B-Gon, Perma-Guard D-20 ), and DE without pyrethrins (Protect-It, Perma-Guard and DE from Croatia). The obtained results confirmed that the mixture of DE and pyrethrin and PBO is useful against test-insects and generated significantly higher effectiveness when compared with the results obtained with DE without pyrethrins. Due to the fact that Croatia has the sources of good DE and indigenous Dalmatian pyrethrum, it is possible to develop and produce safe, natural and ecologically acceptable Croatian insecticide by using mixture of DE and pyrethrins, for domestic market and export.