Fundecitrus, with the participation of a MasterCitrus student and in partnership with a private company, has developed a new generation of citrus fruit borer traps. The trap is resistant to rain and includes guidelines to assist growers.
Fundecitrus researcher Haroldo Volpe explained that the new product is an advance in the fight against citrus fruit borers. “We had a high-tech tool to control the insect, but this trap deteriorated with the rain. You lost monitoring because this trap was lost in the field,” Volpe said. He added that the new trap “has high quality and guarantees good effectiveness.”
Volpe said the technology that has always been present in the trap continues in the second generation. “It is certainly a product that is full of technology, the result of a lot of study,” Volpe said. “In the early 2000s, a partnership between Fundecitrus, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, Federal University of Viçosa and University of California Davis developed a pheromone that attracts males, which was synthesized in the form of a releaser. A Japanese company developed this product on a commercial scale, and later, this product was registered in Brazil by Coopercitrus.”
The citrus fruit borer moth, Gymnandrosoma aurantianum, directly affects fruits, causing them to rot and fall, leaving them unviable for both fresh consumption and the juice industry. The greatest losses occur in warmer regions, close to forests, in places with inadequate management and in areas where there are harvest delays or deficiencies.
The pest has been reported in Argentina, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Brazil, where it has been known since 1915. Since the 1990s, it has become one of the main pests in citrus farming. Fruit losses reached one to two boxes per tree.
Source: Fundecitrus
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