AgroPragas Maracujá

Passion Fruit Identification and Control Guide

The passion fruit crop can be attacked by several pests that affect the production and marketing of fresh fruits. These include viruses, wilt or fusariosis caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. passiflorae or Fusarium solani, bed bugs (Diactor bilineatus, Holhymenia clavigera, Leptoglossus gonagra, Anisoscelis spp.), and caterpillars (Dione juno juno and Agraulis vanillae vanillae). The early diagnosis of these pests is often hampered by the lack of information regarding the correct identification of the pest, the knowledge of its epidemiology and the main control methods. To assist the producer in this diagnosis, Embrapa Cassava and Fruit, in partnership with Embrapa Cerrados, Embrapa Semi-arid and Universities, Federal Recôncavo da Bahia and State of Southwest Bahia, developed in 2019 a free mobile application that brings information of the main crop pests and diseases and their forms of control. The main advantage of the app is that it can be used offline. It also allows the producer to compare photos of a pest or symptom of an illness taken by him in his orchard with the images available in the app. The application replaces the query of printed content, which saves time and paper, simplifying and speeding up quick diagnosis, and in turn, promoting more efficient control of each pest of interest.