Fruit fly infestation on native hosts in the Alto Vale do Rio do Peixe region, Santa Catarina

Abstract

– In Southern Brazil, the size of fruit flies populations that colonize commercial orchards is influenced by the fruiting of native hosts. The objective of this work was to evaluate the infestation of fruit flies of the genus Anastrepha on fruits of Eugenia involucrata (‘cerejeira-do-mato’); Eugenia pyriformis (‘uvaieira’); Acca selowiana (‘goiabeira-serrana’); Psidium cattleianum (yellow and red ‘araçazeiro’); Campomanesia xanthocarpa (‘guabirobeira’) and Campomanesia guazumifolia (‘sete-capotes’), aiming to obtain information for the formulation of management strategies in temperate climate fruit commercial orchards. The study was carried out in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 crop seasons, in agricultural areas of municipalities in the Alto Vale do Rio do Peixe region, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Fruit flies infestation rates were obtained from the number of puparia per fruit and the number of puparia per fruit weight. In the 2019/2020 crop season, samples of 150 fruits of each fruit species were collected in each municipality and, in the 2020/2021, the samples contained 200 fruits of each fruit species. The Anastrepha highest infestation rates were recorded in P. cattleianum, varying among sample places, followed by Acca sellowiana. Campomanesia guazumifolia, Eugenia involucrata, and E. pyriformis had intermediate infestation rates and the lowest rates occurred in C. xanthocarpa. In temperate climate fruit commercial orchards, it is recommended that fruit growers combine monitoring of fruit flies in traps containing food attractants with the evaluation of fruits in native hosts surrounding the orchards.