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Chemistry develops innovative method for controlling pests in coconut trees

Technique minimizes environmental impacts and frees water and pulp from contamination

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The coconut tree is the palm tree of greatest economic, social and environmental importance in tropical and subtropical ecosystems due to the variety of uses it offers, generating jobs, income and contributing to food with its fruit. From this comes the appreciated coconut water and from the solid albumen (pulp) grated coconut is obtained and sugar, milk and oil are extracted, products that are increasingly introduced into cooking due to their flavor, nutritional qualities and low glycemic index. Due to its multiple uses, from crafts to housing construction, the plant is called “Tree of Life”.

However, coconut cultivation is subject to attack by pests and diseases that cause damage to production and affect the quality of the fruits. To control these diseases, one of the most used practices is spraying the plant with pesticides, given the precariousness of other resources, with immediate results. Therefore, it is necessary to check and determine pesticide residues in the fruit to avoid risks to consumer health.

Photo: Antoninho Perri
Professor Carla Beatriz Grespan Bottoli, advisor, and Jordana Alves Ferreira, author of the thesis

Chemist Jordana Alves Ferreira proposed this in research whose main objective was to evaluate the performance in translocation efficiency (movement) of pesticides applied by endotherapy to the coconut tree and determine possible contamination of water and solid coconut albumen. The work, supervised by professor Carla Beatriz Grespan Bottoli, from the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry (IQ) at Unicamp and financed by Fapesp and the National Institute of Science and Technology in Bioanalytics (INCTBio), included the collaboration of researchers Joana Ferreira and Viviane Talamini, from Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros, in Aracaju, Sergipe, which carries out research related to coconut farming.

Embrapa was interested in an analytical method that could prove the translocation of the pesticide through the plant. The project was made possible with the support of Sococo Agroindústria da Amazônia, which maintains partnerships with Embrapa, and provided an experimental area for research at Fazenda Sococo, in Moju, Pará, where the largest coconut plantation in the world is located, with more of one million copies.

endotherapy

Although traditionally the fight against pests and diseases of coconut trees is done by spraying pesticides, Jordana used an alternative method called endotherapy, which consists of injecting or infusing pesticides into the stem (coconut tree stem). During injection, the stem is punctured and the pesticide dosage is applied to the hole with a syringe. During infusion, the equipment itself performs the perforation and introduces the pesticide, minimizing damage to the stem.

 

Photo: Disclosure
Farm in the municipality of Mojú, Pará, where the research was carried out

 

The treatment used offers advantages over conventional treatments: it reduces environmental contamination; it is safer for the applicator; reaches the desired target with fewer losses; does not need equipment to reach coconut tree leaves that can exceed ten meters; allows localized treatment in situations of lethal and persistent attacks by pests and microorganisms; It is more efficient when foliar or soil treatments are difficult or ineffective; and prevents the pesticide from being washed away by rainwater or eventually degraded by the sun. But it requires application to each plant.

In the thesis, the researcher evaluates the translocation of different pesticides applied by infusion and injection endotherapy, with a view to understanding some phenomena related to the physical-chemical properties of pesticides, which have not yet been properly explored in the scientific literature, and also focuses mainly on , in evaluating the fruits of treated plants. To this end, the work proposes analytical methods in the stipe to evaluate the translocation of pesticides and their possible presence in the fruits, analyzing the solid albumen and coconut water, separately. The proposed methods were developed, validated and applied, proving to be viable in terms of detection and quantification.

 

Photo: Disclosure
Procedure using endotherapeutic injection treatment. (a) Drilling the stipe with the aid of a drill; (b) introducing the pesticide into the hole with a syringe; (c) hole after pesticide application; (d) closing the hole with a green dowel.

 

Results

The results of the analyzes made it possible to verify, both during injection and infusion, the translocation of pesticides from the stem to the crown of the treated plants. In the fruits, collected up to 120 days after treatments, no contamination was detected, both in the solid albumen and in the coconut water, proving that the endotherapeutic method can be effective in controlling stem and foliar diseases and pests in coconut trees and does not pose any risk. in relation to coconut contamination.

 

Both ripened fruits intended for water extraction and dried fruits, used in the production of grated coconut and in the extraction of milk and oil, were analyzed. The project developed at IQ and Fazenda Sococo, using hybrid coconut trees, with plants averaging 2,30 m in height, is unprecedented due to the fact that it uses large plants in pesticide translocation studies.

Photo: Disclosure
Procedure using endotherapeutic injection treatment. (a) Application of the pesticide with the equipment Bite Infusion®; (b) the result of the hole after application.

Endotherapy is an alternative method for combating localized outbreaks or a preventive measure for persistent pests. The researchers emphasize that this is an embryonic study that also requires the verification of other parameters such as the selection of pesticides, determination of dosages, application intervals, among others, so that it becomes an efficient routine method that allows you to safely assess risks to human health and the environment. 

 

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Photo: Antoninho Perri

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