Major diseases of annonaceae in Brazil: Description and control

Abstract

Several diseases can infect leaves, stem, roots, flowers and fruits of soursop, custard apple and atemoya on different stage of their development. Generally, the most important diseases are caused by fungi during the flowering and fruit set. Rot root diseases and wilts caused by nematodes and soil pathogens also can induce expressive losses. Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides), wilt or rot root (Rhizoctonia solani, Cylindrocladium clavatum, Phytophthora sp., Pythium sp., Phytophthora nicotianae var. parasitica), canker disease (Albonectria rigidiuscula) and rot fruit (Botryodiplodia theobromae, sin. Lasiodiplodia theobromae) are the most important. Moreover, the fruit brown rot (Rhizopus stolonifer) cause expressive losses in soursop production. Following it will be described the major diseases affecting these Annonaceae species, their main causal agents and control measures.