Coffee cultivation is vital to the global economy, but faces significant challenges with diseases such as rust, miner, phoma, and cercospora, which impact production and sustainable crop management. In this scenario, deep learning techniques have shown promise for the early identification of these diseases, enabling more efficient monitoring. This paper proposes an approach for detecting diseases and pests on coffee leaves using an efficient single-shot object-detection algorithm. The experiments were conducted using the YOLOv8, YOLOv9, YOLOv10 and YOLOv11 versions, including their variations. The BRACOL dataset, annotated by an expert, was used in the experiments to guarantee the quality of the annotations and the reliability of the trained models. The evaluation of the models included quantitative and qualitative analyses, considering the mAP, F1-Score, and recall metrics. In the analyses, YOLOv8s stands out as the most effective, with a mAP of 54.5%, an inference time of 11.4 ms and the best qualitative predictions, making it ideal for real-time applications.

A cultura da erva-mate está exposta a doenças que prejudicam o desenvolvimento da planta, reduzindo a produtividade. Dentre essas doenças têm-se a podridão-de-raízes causada por Fusarium spp. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a ação antagonista in vitro de Trichoderma spp. sobre Fusarium oxysporum, agente causal da podridão-de-raízes em erva-mate. Foram utilizados quatro isolados de Trichoderma spp. e um isolado de Fusarium oxysporum. A ação antagônica de Trichoderma spp. sobre F. oxysporum foi avaliada por meio do teste de pareamento de culturas e de metabólitos voláteis. No teste de pareamento de culturas, os isolados de Trichoderma spp. inibiram o crescimento micelial de Fusarium oxysporum, com percentual de inibição que variou de 13,06% a 14,24%. No teste de metabólitos voláteis, T. tomentosum e T. harzianum apresentaram os melhores resultados de inibição, com 27,70% e 24,46%, respectivamente. Assim, pode-se concluir que Trichoderma spp. apresenta ação antagonista in vitro contra F. oxysporum, agente causal da podridão-de-raízes em erva-mate.

The cultivation of yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) has been intensified in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, as result of the valuation of the price paid to the producer. However, studies related to Fusarium pathosystem vs. yerba-mate are still insufficient, so that many producers have faced significant losses in herbal production due to the occurrence of the roots rotting. Considering the above, the objectives of this study were: a) morphologically characterize the Fusarium spp. isolates collected in sick plants of yerba-mate; b) select efficient morphological characters on separating the Fusarium spp. isolates in similarity groups; c) identify the Fusarium spp. isolates to species level through the sequencing of the genomic region of elongation factor 1-α (TEF-1α); and d) testing the pathogenicity of the Fusarium spp. isolates selected based on the morphological characterization. For such, collections for the pathogen isolates were made in five cities and the collection points were georeferenced. Thirty-nine isolates were morphologically characterized by variables as mycelial growth, sporulation, macroconidia length and width, microconid format, colonies pigmentation and formation of chlamydospore, and tested for pathogenicity by substrate inoculation. The variables used in the morphological characterization were efficient in discriminating the isolates in seven groups, especially length of macronidia associated to sporulation. Seven pathogenic isolates of Fusarium spp. were identified, also through molecular sequencing of the TEF-1α gene region. The sequencing of the TEF-1α region consolidated the identification of pathogenic isolates as F. solani and F. oxysporum.

Pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] belongs to the Juglandaceae family and is an economically valuable crop in southern Brazil. For years, cankers have been observed in pecan orchards in...

Pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh) C. Koch] is an important nut crop and contributes a large portion of farmers income, in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) State, Brazil. Since 2015, wilt symptoms were obs...