The use of cashew apple bagasse for bioethanol production aimed at taking advantage of a re-gional culture that has about 85% of waste. Due to the complex structure of the material, it is necessary to sub-mit it to physical pretreatments and/or chemicals such as acid prehydrolysis, alkali, steam explosion, CO2 ex-plosion, hot water treatment, pretreatment with microwave, among others, before hydrolysis process for ethanol production. The aim of this paper was to study the prehydrolysis and acid hydrolysis in the cashew bagasse peduncle (Anarcadium occidentale L.), and the removal of toxic compounds from the hydrolyzate liquor using the residual lignin as adsorbent and alcoholic fermentation of liquors for the production of the second genera-tion bioethanol. The cashew bagasse, based on its chemical characterization and physical chemistry, presented itself as a promising source in order to produce bioethanol. The prehydrolysis, is effective in the removal of hemicelluloses mainly in the extraction of arabinose, the temperature being the major variable influencing the process. For the acid hydrolysis done with the following hydrolysis conditions: temperature at 200 °C, acid concentration equal to 6% and ratio of 1:6 has presented the combination of the highest concentration of sugars with a minimum concentration of toxic compounds. During the study of the alcoholic fermentation of liquors with hydrolyzed yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, presented yield and efficiency of production of ethanol from cellulosic pulp of processing stalk cashew maximum dry were respectively 0.445 g ethanol/g of pulp and 87.1% hydrolyzed liquor with the addition of cashew apple juice.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of increasing pollen supply to honey bees (Apis mellifera) during the dry season in Caatinga (shrub vegetation of NE Brazil) by inducing Mimosa tenui-flora to bloom. The work was carried out from August to December 2012 in Altamira Apícola Apiaries, situat-ed at Limoeiro do Norte – Ceará, Brazil. The experiment comprised three phases: Phase 1 – the amount of wa-ter needed to induce the blooming of Mimosa tenuiflora (T0L, T250L, T500L, T750L and T1000L); Phase 2 – Floral biology and flower visitors; Phase 3 – pollen harvested by the colonies and percentage of M. tenuiflora in the honey bee diet by sampling and comparing pollen loads from colonies placed 20m with those more than 3km away from the induced plants. Results of the Phase 1 showed that the treatments 3, 4 and 5 induced blooming, and T1000L produced a greater number of inflorescences (p <0.05). Blooming reached its peak eight days after induction. Hymenoptera represented more than 95% of floral visitors with Apis mellifera, Trigona spinipes and Melipona subnitida as the most frequent bee species. Palynological analyses carried out in phase 3 showed a significant (p<0,05) increment in pollen collection and the participation of M. tenuiflora pollen in the diet of colonies situated 20 meters from the induced plants. Induction of flowering Mimosa tenuiflora increased the supply and collection of pollen by bees in the critical period of the year, minimizing the effect of drought on the colonies.

The culture of coffee is quite important on the national scene and in the country's economy. Though, the crop response to salt stress is not well known. The objective of this paper was to evaluate compar-atively the initial growth of seedlings of two Conilon coffee cultivars under different conditions of soil salinity, and low water availability in the soil. The experiment followed a randomized block design in factorial arrange-ment with two Conilon cultivars (clones 120 and 14), two levels of water in the soil (50% and 70% of available soil water) and four levels of soil salinity (0; 2.0; 4.0 and 6.0 dS m-1). The physiological characteristics of growth: leaf area (Area F), stem height (Height. C), Stem diameter (Dia. C), reproductive branches numbers, shoot biomass and root were evaluated. Among the growth variables, leaf area and leaf dry mass and root are the best indicators of the presence of saline-hydric stress. The cultivar clone 120 is moderately tolerant of soil salinity, with less reduction in leaf area and leaf dry mass when subjected to salt stress.

The treated domestic wastewater use in agricultural production has increased in research pro-jects, because providing nutritional qualities available to the plants. However, studying the challenges that this water source can cause to the this irrigation system located, is an important result to the sustainability of pro-duction. The current study has to evaluate the hydraulic performance of emitters under time exposure of drip-pers in the domestic sewage. With the performance evaluation system hydraulic prepared on a bench was car-ried out two experiments in a completely randomized design (CRD). In the first experiment, the treatments were three pressures (kPa) supplied to the system and in the second the treatments were made by operating time in interval of 60 h (composing seven intervals) with 28 drippers as repetitions. The system performance was evaluated for each treatment by the coefficient of distribution uniformity (CUD) and Christiansen's uni-formity coefficient (CUC). There was no statistical significance was set at a 5% for the different pressures, but there will be 1% for different times. When the CUD and CUC fell to 60 and 70 %, respectively, was cleaned with sodium hypochlorite. The system showed uniformity acceptable in the first 120 hours of operation with no need for cleaning. According to the coefficients evaluated this cleaning must occur before the 180 h, however, suggests that to maintain good uniformity this procedure should be done every 60 h.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the kinetics of ruminal fermentation dry matter and car-bohydrates of two varieties of sugar cane ensiled with different additives using a semiautomatic technique in vitro gas production. We used a completely randomized design with a factorial 2 x 5, two varieties of cane sug-ar (RB 86 7515 and IAC 86 2480) and five additives (urea, NaOH, CaO, corn and L. buchneri) and without additive treatments, with the opening of the silos being made at 60 days after ensiling. Pressure readings were performed on days 0; 2; 4; 6; 8; 10; 12; 15; 19; 24; 30; 36; 48; 72 and 96 h. The pressure caused by organic matter was recorded in a pressure transducer universal and for adjusting the parameters kinetic model was used bicompartmental. The technique of in vitro gas production satisfactorily estimated the volume of gases from silage and sugarcane raw. The higher gas volume fraction of fiber was not in IAC 86 2480, with the additive NaOH. In the fiber fraction only difference between varieties with the additive urea, and the IAC 86 2480 that had the highest volume. The cane silage IAC 86 2480, showed the best values for most of the evaluated kinetic parameters. The best results for the parameters of degradability were in silages with NaOH and CaO.

The population density is one of the factors that affect the final yield of crops, being easily ma-nipulated by man. The objective was to evaluate the growth of castor bean plants cv BRS Energia in dense pop-ulations through primary data and non-destructive analysis of growth and identify which period greater vegeta-tive growth occurs. We adopted a randomized block design with five treatments and four replications, totaling 20 experimental units. Each experimental unit contained 4 m wide and 6 m in length, representing 24 m². Treatments involving five populations of plants 10.000; 16.666; 25.000; 50.000; 100.000 plants ha-1, with a spacing of 1 m between rows and 1; 0.6; 0.4; 0.2 and 0.1 m between plants, respectively. It was determined: stem diameter, plant height, leaf area, leaf area index and rates absolute and relative leaf growth, of stem diam-eter, of plant height and of fresh biomass epigeal. The castor bean BRS Energia has the highest rates of vegeta-tive increase between 15 and 45 days after emergence. Therefore, it is of great importance, in this period, pro-vide the plant water and nutrient conditions appropriate so that does not compromise on plant development.

This study aimed at determining the best irrigation frequency and main cultivar associated with the production of strawberry according to the irrigation management used. The experiment was carried out at the FEMO, linked to the URENM of the EPAMIG. The experiment was installed in split plots, with cultivars Camarosa, Dover, Oso Grande and Tudla on subplot and frequencies FR1, FR2 and FR3 in the plots in ran-domized block with four replications, totaling 48 experimental units. The fruits were harvested, quantified and classified as fruits commercial and non-commercial. Higher commercial fruit yield was observed in cultivar Oso Grande, mainly associated with characteristic fruit that fruit weight is equal or superior to 10g. The culti-var Dover was sole with a higher yield of commercial fruit when subjected to FR2. Regarding the number of commercial fruits, the cultivar Oso Grande showed yield higher than the 'Tudla'. The FR2 showed a better per-formance for all variables compared to FR3. Therefore, the cultivar Oso Grande showed better productive per-formance. Taking into consideration the irrigation’s frequency, and for higher strawberry yields, the frequen-cies FR1 and FR2 can be used.

The scarcity of the water resources has been becoming an aggravating factor in irrigation of agricultural crops, with that the utilization of treated wastewater arises as a viable alternative to meeting that demand. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the use of wastewater, on growth vari-ables and yield of cotton plants. The research was conducted at Experimental Station of Biological Treatments Sanitary Sewage – EXTRABES, in the city of Campina Grande – PB, in completely randomized design with five treatments and four repetitions. When the treatment 1 (T1) – consisted of irrigation with water refueling coming from CAGEPA; the treatment 2 (T2) – irrigation with effluent coming from the UASB reactor; the treatment 3 (T3) – irrigated with effluent coming from the series of filter; the treatment 4 (T4) – irrigated with effluent coming from the anaerobic filter; the treatment 5 (T5) – irrigated with effluent coming from the ponds of macrophytes. The incremented sodium content in soil at the end of the experiment was 812.9% afforded by irrigation with wastewater coming from the UASB reactor. The application of wastewater through irrigation in cotton culture coming from the UASB reactor and filter in series have increased the concentrations of phospho-rus, potash and organic matter in surface soil layer.

The goal of this paper was to select among the attributes surveyed soil, one with better repre-sentation to explain the variability of the technological components of sugar cane. The study was conducted at ETH Eldorado Plant in Rio Brilhante, MS, in the agricultural year 2011/2012, in a Oxisol, which was installed a geostatistical grid for data collection of soil and plant, with 80 sampling points, a 80 ha area. From the stand-point of linear and spatial TCH has been explained as a function of volumetric moisture. The volumetric mois-ture collected at a depth of 0.00 to 0.20 m, which had values between 0,24 to 0,270 m3 m-3, resulted in sites with the highest productivity of sugar cane per hectare from 64 to 70 t ha-1. To aid future studies aimed at preci-sion agriculture, which will use the same attributes as those of the future works, the values of ranges of spatial dependence to be used should be between 81 and 487 meters.

Deficiency of micronutrients is increasing in the recent years in cropping systems in many parts of the world and cover crops are important components of cropping systems. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) use efficiency in 14 tropical leg-ume cover crops grown on an Oxisol. The P levels used were low (0 mg kg-1), medium (100 mg kg-1) and high (200 mg kg-1). The P X cover crops interactions were significant for Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn use efficiency (tops dry weight/unit nutrient uptake). Hence, cover crop species varied in nutrient use efficiency with change in P levels. The micronutrient use efficiency was in the order of Cu > Zn > Mn > Fe. Higher Cu use efficiency was associated with lower uptake of this element, in the cover crop tops compared to other micronutrients. Similar-ly, lower efficiency of Fe and Mn was associated with their higher uptake in the tops of cover crops. Overall, Cu and Mn use efficiency was decreased when P level was raised from low to medium level and then it was constant. Iron use efficiency was increased with increasing P level but Zn use efficiency was constant with the addition of P fertilizer