The pineapple disease caused by Ceratocystis paradoxa (De Seynes) Moreau has been recognized as the main cause of poor germination of sugar cane fields in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, associated with rottening of the sugar cane cuttings. In 1983 in the counties of Promissão, Penápolis and Araçatuba and again in 1984 in Araçatuba for the first time was observed the occurrence of the pineapple disease associated with high populations of the nitidulid beetle Carpophilus humeralis (Fabricius). The authors ignore previous records of occurrence of this nitidulid species in Brazil. An experiment with three factors, fungicide treatment, variety and position of the buds in the cutting was performed. The treated cuttings were immersed in a solution of Benomil at 1% a.i. Two varieties of sugarcane, NA56-79 and IAC64-257 were used. Two positions of the buds in the cuttings were considered, middle and lateral. A split split plot design was used with 8 treatments and 16 replications. The presence or absence of fungicide treatment was the main plot. Varieties were sub plots and position of the buds within the cuttings constituted the sub sub plots. The treatment of the cutting for 1 minute in the fungicide solution improved the germination of the variety NA56-79 but had no effect in the variety IAC64-257. There was no difference between the percent germination of the two varieties in the absence of the fungicide treatment. In general the buds from the middle of the cuttings germinated better than lateral ones what is explained by the entrance of the fungi through the cut tissue, more distant from the middle bud.
Carpophilus humeralis; Ceratocystis paradoxa; sugarcane; pineapple disease; Saccharum spp.