EFFECT OF TIME IN THE MOISTURE CHAMBER ON THE ANTHRACNOSIS SEVERITY IN Annona squamosa L. AND A. muricata L. LEAVES

 Edaphoclimatic conditions exert great influence on the development of pathogens; therefore, knowledge about pathogen, host and environment interaction for disease prevention systems and to define control actions is required. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of time in moisture chamber on the anthracnose severity in sugar apple and soursop leaves. Two times of two and five days in moisture chamber at temperatures of 20, 25 and 30 ºC were used. The experimental design was completely randomized in a triple factorial arrangement (2x5x3), represented by two times in moisture chamber, five Colletotrichum species (C. fructicola, C. theobromicola, C. karstii, C. siamense and C. tropicale) three temperatures, with four replicates / leaf. The diameter of lesions was determined by measuring each lesion in two perpendicular directions on the second and fifth days. It was observed that in the time of 2 days of inoculation, there were no anthracnose symptoms in soursop and sugar apple leaves at any of temperatures tested. After times of 5 days, there was appearance of dark brown to black spots. Temperature of 25 ºC and time of 5 days favored the appearance of anthracnose symptoms in sugar apple (Annona squamosa L.) and soursop leaves (Annona muricata L.).