The most used means in the struggle against harmful insects are chemical products. They have, nevertheless, led to the deterioration of both the environment and the human health. The use of an electric approach in the field of agriculture can be one of the solutions in order to control harmful flying insects since it is considered both bio and selective. The adoption of electrical device consists in determining beforehand the most efficient value of insect’s sensitivity to current passing through their bodies. To discover the insect’s behaviour to the current, an experimental study is conducted on live locusts taking into account certain electrical parameters (voltage and frequency). For that reason, the design of experiments (DOE) method was applied to optimize current sensitivity in accordance to the selected levels for each parameter. The result showed that the insects exhibit stimulations ranging from sensitive reaction to immobilization. These results are obtained, analyzed and discussed by using calculation software called jmp (statistical software in which apart is devoted to the design of experiments version 07), it allows the evaluation of factors ‘effect and to identify the optimum point. The following provides clearly the influence of frequency and voltage simultaneously on the current.

Keywords: Harmful insects, Chemical insecticides, Bioelectrical approach, Design of experiments (DOE) method, Current sensitivity, Electric discharge.