COMPOSTOS ORGÂNICOS VOLÁTEIS PRODUZIDOS POR FUNGOS ENTOMOPATOGÊNICOS ISOLADOS DE Rhynchophorus Palmarum (LINNAEUS 1764) (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE)

Rhynchophorus palmarum (Linnaeus, 1764), known as South American Palm Weevil, belongs to the order Coleoptera and Curculionidae Family. This pest feed and oviposit on plants of the Arecaceae family. This insect is a main pest in coconut (Cocos nucifera) and African oil palm (Elaes Guinea) plantations in Central and South America. Current strategies for pest control include cultural, mechanical, behavioral and biological practices. In order to analyze the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by native entomopathogenic fungi that parasitize R. palmarum in field. Adult insects were captured with atractive traps containing rincoforol® (aggregation pheromone) on farms located in the municipality of Coruripe in Alagoas state, Brazil. From 814 insects captured, 50 females and 50 males were kept in chamber at 25±1° C and 12 hour photoperiod to analyze mortality and fungal growth. After 20 days of incubation, 10 insects presented fungal growth. The spores from the infected insects were cultivated in Petri dishes in P.D.A. (Potato Dextrose Agar) and incubated at 25 ° C for strains isolation. After 14 days, they were separated into 2 groups of fungal isolates according to the morphological characteristic. Samples of native entomopathogenic fungi were inoculated in amber vials and incubated for 7 days. The VOCs were extracted for 2 hours, kept at 60 ° C in a thermostatic plate, using Solid Phase Microextraction technique (HS-SPME). The VOCs were identified using Gas chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The VOCs were characterized as a blend of hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes.