Neotropical Annonaceae-derived bioinsecticides have shown promising control of insect pest species. In order to develop
an alternative tool for control
Zaprionus indianus (Gupta, 1970), an important invasive pest of Brazilian orchards, this
study investigated the insecticidal activity of a formulation prepared from ethanolic seed extract of different
Annona
species (
Annona mucosa
Jacq.,
Annona muricata
L., and
Annona sylvatica
A. St.-Hil.) at discriminatory concentration of 2000 mg L
-1 in comparison with a limonoid-based bioinsecticide and a synthetic insecticide (spinetoram) as positive controls. In an ingestion and topical application bioassay, the formulation based on
A. mucosa caused more than 95% mortality, which was equivalent to the mortality caused by the synthetic insecticide spinetoram. In a free-choice bioassay,
A. mucosa (83%), bioinsecticide (88%) and synthetic insecticide (98%) produced a significant reduction in the number of eggs per fruit. In addition, formulations based on
A. mucosa,
A. sylvatica,
A. muricata and bioinsecticide resulted in a 50% reduction in egg viability. In the field,
A. mucosa and bioinsecticide negatively influenced the infestation by
Z. indianus in figs, producing a significant reduction in the number of larvae per fruit (3.6 and 2.29 larvae per fruit, respectively) in relation to the control treatment (11 larvae per fruit). However, they were significantly inferior to the synthetic insecticide (0.71 larvae per fruit). Thus,
A. mucosa, bioinsecticide and spinetoram have the potential to be used in the framework of
Z. indianus management.