Development of alternative methods for pest management is needed with the increased concern for adverse effects of pesticides for human health and the environment. The main goal of our study was to test the oil from seeds of sugar apple (Annona squamosa), an edible tropical fruit for pest control. The oil pressed out of seeds was as effective in controlling the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), infesting leaves of tomato plants in greenhouse conditions as the recommended insecticide, with the advantage of not being phytotoxic. When observed with a scanning electron microscope, the seed oil caused whitefly nymphs to shrink and detach from the leaf surface. Sugar apple seed oil was also very effective in controlling the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididae), on melon leaves and the Kanzawa spider mite, Tetranychus kanzawai Kishida (Acari: Tetranychidae), on soybean leaves. The study revealed the possibility of developing the oil from sugar apple seeds, an agricultural waste, into a broad spectrum product friendly to the environment and human health for crop pest management.
Pest management; non-pesticide control; Annona
