Annona Species Monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

Chapter 10. Agronomy
118
Common Name Specific Name Affected Plant Country/Region
Parts
Leaf larvae Several genera and species Leaves and
stems
American tropics,
Brazil
Leaf miners Leucoptera spp. and Leaves
Cuba and Ecuador
Phyllocnistis spp.
Root grubs Anomala Roots Philippines
Ants ("saúvas") Atta spp. and Acromyrmex
spp.
Leaves and
petioles
Universal
There are three important groups of borer insects attacking annona species:
the trunk borer, the fruit borer and the seed borer. Trunk borers are
coleopterons, generally weevils, and three species are the most common:
Cratosomus bombina bombina (Plate 6), Euripages pennatus and Heillipus
catagraphus (Oliveira et al., 1992). These insects are 2-4 cm long and they
perforate the trunk, causing plant decline and finally death. The external
symptom of the attack is a black oxidized sap exudation from the small holes
where the insects entered the trunk. Injection of liquid pesticides, such as D-
aletrina and D-tetrametrina into the trunk holes is an effective method of
control (Oliveira et al., 2001). In the Brazilian Cerrados brushing of the tree
trunk with a 1% solution of a pesticide, commercially named Creolina,
together with lime at 10%, has prevented fruit borer attack on soursop.
The annona moth (Cerconota annonella), commonly known as the 'fruit
borer', is the most important of the insect pests attacking Annona species
(Plate 5). Although it is known as the soursop moth in many areas, it has
been recorded attacking and damaging fruits of several other annonas as well,
including sugar apple and custard apple (Coronel, 1994; Oliveira et al., 1992;
Torres and Sánchez, 1992), but has not been reported on cherimoya fruits
(Bustillo and Peña, 1992). The soursop fruit borer moth has a life cycle from
egg to adult emergence averaging 36 days. The adult moth is attracted to
black-light traps, which is an important method for monitoring this insect
pest (Bustillo and Peña, 1992). The removal of rotted and damaged fruits
from the ground is also an important cultural control method. Bagging the
fruits with chemically treated bags (a common type is the chlorpyriphos bag)
can keep 92% of the fruits totally undamaged before harvesting (Bustillo and
Peña, 1992). Biological control using two braconids, which parasitize larvae
of C. annonella, has been successful in Colombia and Ecuador (Bustillo and
Peña, 1992). In the Cerrado ecosystem of central Brazil, the soursop ecotype
Morada is less susceptible to the attack of the soursop moth than any other
ecotypes (Junqueira et al., 1996; Pinto and Silva, 1996), suggesting that
appropriate cultivar selection can help to minimize the problem. Chemical
control with triclorphon or fenthion at 0.1%, every 15 days can help to