ATTRACTION OF Cerconota anonella FEMALES BY DIFFERENT STAGES OF Annona squamosa

Abstract

Custard apple (Annona squamosa) stand out in fruit farming in several parts of the world and have great commercial acceptance. The production of these fruits constitutes an important factor of economic impact; however, one of the main obstacles to the economic exploitation of these fruit trees is the existence of a complex of pests that attack these cultures, such as the fruit borer (Cerconota anonella), which is the main pest causing this problem. Thus, this work aimed to study the attractiveness of C. anonella females to the volatile compounds of A. squamosa plants at different maturation stages (vegetative, flowering and fruiting) that attract the insect borer and to identify the volatile compounds of A. squamosa in the preferred stage. Infested fruits Bored (with holes) were collected from orchards in the municipality of Coruripe, Alagoas State, Brazil, to obtain caterpillars, which were kept in the laboratory, under artificial diet, until adulthood. The volatile compounds emitted by the studied plants were collected through dynamic headspace technique. 5 days-old mated females C. anonella, were used in behavioral bioassays, which were performed using a Y-shaped glass olfactometer using the plant extracts collected by headspace. Subsequently were performed GC-MS analyses.The bioassays showed that the control treatment elicited no attraction in females when compared to the treatments tested. Females were attracted to plants even before fruiting, including the flowering, and the fruiting was the preferred stage. Terpenes, esters, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes were the classes of compounds identified by GC-MS. This finding suggests that the pest may be in the field before fruiting.