Efeito de biodefensivos e sua frequência de aplicação no manejo da traça-das-castanhas em cajueiro-anão

Abstract

The cashew nut moth (Anacampsis phytomiella Busck) is the main pest during the fruiting period of the cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale L.). However, there is a limited number of registered products available for its control. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of alternative products on the control of the cashew nut moth in dwarf cashew cultivation, as well as to analyze the application frequency of the treatments that demonstrated efficacy. The experiments were conducted at the Embrapa experimental field in Pacajus, Ceará, using the CCP 76 clone. In the first trial, the following products were tested: Dipel (Bacillus thuringiensis), Delegate (Spinetoram), NatBeauveria (Beauveria bassiana), Azanat (Azadirachta indica), Allium (Allium sativum oil), NatZB (a blend of oils from Lippia sidoides, Cymbopogon winterianus, and Azadirachta indica), NatFix (Lippia sidoides oil), Agr'óleo (Glycine max oil), and an untreated control. In the second trial, the following products were used: Allium, Agr'óleo, Azanat, Delegate, and the untreated control. Additionally, the effect of application frequency—weekly or biweekly—on control efficacy was evaluated. Efficacy was assessed based on the percentage of damaged cashew nuts, with 20 nuts evaluated per plant. The results indicated that the products Allium, Agr'óleo, Azanat, and Delegate were effective in controlling the cashew nut moth over two years of experimentation, maintaining damage levels below 15% and showing statistically significant differences from the untreated control, which had damage levels above 20%. Moreover, there was no significant difference between application frequencies. It is concluded that the validated effective products can be recommended for cashew nut moth control and can be applied biweekly, thereby reducing management costs.