Cerconota anonella (Sepp., 1830) (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae): estado da arte e controle biológico em pomar de Annona squamosa L. (Annonaceae)

Abstract

Agribusiness provides approximately a quarter of Brazil's GDP. In this amount, fruit growing contributes with approximately 33 billion reais, generated as a gross value inserted in agricultural production. The fruit growing sector in Brazil, even with positive rates, still faces phytosanitary challenges, since the fruits produced are susceptible to attack by several pest species, which can cause losses during the production, harvesting and commercialization processes. The most used method to suppress pests is still chemical control, but there is a growing demand for safe foods, with low concentrations or even free of insecticides, which makes it essential to search for other control methods, such as bagging fruits and biological control. As for fruit production, Brazil has stood out in the production of annonaceae, with the Southeast and Northeast regions leading this ranking. In this sense, Bahia (Northeast) has been standing out in the production of sugar apple (Annona squamosa), with 7,100 ha of this crop planted. The production of this annonaceae has been limited due to the lack of technical scientific information about general management in the field, and the main obstacle to the success of this species in the fruit sector is the existence of a complex of pests, with emphasis on Cerconota anonella (Sepp., 1830) fruit borer, (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) considered a key pest of the genus Annona, which prevents its large-scale production, in addition to the export of these fruits to countries in Europe and North America. In this context, the study of C. anonella was divided into three chapters. In Chapter 1, a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications was carried out, aiming to identify the main control methods of C. anonella in A. squamosa orchards, as well as to determine the profile of the articles found, highlighting those of greater relevance for the scientific community. Overall, 14 articles met all criteria and were selected for this analysis. In these articles, the most cited control methods for C. anonella were: chemical and physical control, which shows that biological control is still little used in A. squamosa orchards. In addition, the bibliometric analysis identified that the publication languages of the articles were Portuguese, English and Spanish and the most relevant scientific journals were classified as Qualis A2 and Qualis A3 in the area of Biodiversity In Chapter 2, the identification of natural enemies of larvae and pupae of C. anonella, aiming to identify genera of parasitoids of C. anonella in fruits collected in an organic sugar apple orchard in the city of Dourados, MS. The natural enemies of C. anonella recorded in this work were Rhysipolis sp. and Apanteles sp., being the first record of these parasitoids for the sugar apple crop in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which could become an alternative in integrated pest management programs to control C. anonella in the production of A. squamosa in this region. In Chapter 3, the biological control of C. anonella with entomopathogens was evaluated in an organic sugar apple orchard in Dourados - MS. The objective of this work was to evaluate the action of two bioinsecticides (Metarril® - Metarhizium anisopliae and Boveril® - Beauveria bassiana), in the control of C. anonella in an organic orchard of A. squamosa. The two products used were pathogenic for C. anonella. The bioinsecticide Metarril® was considered an economically viable phytosanitary product for the biological control of C. anonella in A. squamosa orchards, as it reached more than 80% efficiency in a single application, being potentially viable for use in Integrated Management programs against the annonaceae fruit borer. Still, the identification of control methods can act both on the health of the final consumer of the fruits, who will be consuming organic food, free of toxic compounds, and on the technical-scientific support to family farming, guiding fruit producers on the management of pests key to sugar apple culture using techniques for the use of biological control agents in orchards.