This study had the objective of surveying the occurrence of tubers in native imbu (Spondias tuberosa) trees in the Northeast of Brazil. It was carried out in 36 native trees in the Caatinga area of the communities of Sitio Papagaio (Juazeiro-BA), Saco Farm (Jaguarari-BA) and Alto do Angico (Petrolina-PE), from August 2000 to November 2002. In each community, twelve plants were randomly selected for tuber extraction. The following variables were analyzed: plant height, trunk diameter at soil level, canopy diameter, as well as number and total weight of tubers per tree. In the community of Sitio Papagaio, in average, 978.42 tubers per tree were collected, with a total weight of 1731.2 kg. In the community of Saco Farm, in average, 1011.58 tubers were collected, with a total weight of 1820.13 kg. In the community of Alto do Angico, in average, 731.58 tubers per tree were collected, with a total weight of 1370.09 kg. The occurrence of tubers per tree in the communities was, in average, 907.19, with a total weight of 1352.12 kg per tree.

The objective of this work was to study the influence of the seeds storage period of the Imbu Tree (Spondias tuberosa Arruda) in the germination percentage and germination velocity index. The study was carried out from January to December 2004 in a greenhouse with 50% shadowing screen, under room temperature, at Embrapa Tropical Semi-Arid, Petrolina, Pernambuco State, Brazil, in a randomized complete block design, with six treatments and four replications. The treatments consisted of seeds harvested in six different crops. The germination percentage and germination velocity index were evaluated at 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after sowing through daily counts. The seeds of 2001 and 2002 crops had the best performance in terms of emergence and germination velocity index.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the synthetic compound Thiazolidines-2,4- dione on the ¿in vitro¿ development of Monosporascus cannonballus, the causal agent of the melon sudden wilt (vine decline) and Trichoderma sp., the biocontroller agent of the referred pathogen. The work was done through two experiments. In the first experiment the following concentrations of the composition were used: 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175 ìg.mL-1, combined with four isolates of M. cannonballus. The evaluated variables were mycelial growth inhibition (MGI), mycelial growth rate (MGR) and area below mycelial growth curve (ABMGC). In the second experiment the effect of the same concentrations of the synthetic compound were analyzed regarding a Trichoderma sp isolate. In the first experiment, there was a significant interaction between concentrations andisolates. High correlation coefficients confirmed the agreement of combination among the variables. The progress curves of the variables, according to compound concentrations, were adjusted by polynomial models. The most efficient concentration was 75 ìg.mL-1,, for inhibiting the mycelia growth until the experiment end, except for the Mc4 that showed TCM of 5.07. Regarding other isolates, Mc 3 was the least resistant, as with concentration of 50 g.mL- 1showed TCM of 2.36, while Mc1, Mc2 and Mc4 presented a higher growth rate, being 8.48; 8.08 and 8.97, respectively. The recommended dosage of the compound for the inhibition of M. cannonballus development when measured in vitro is 153 ug.mL .Neither concentrations influenced the mycelial development of Trichoderma sp.,as it didn¿t differ from control (P=0,05), demonstrating the potential of this synthetic compound as a complementary form of Monosporascus cannonballus control, together to the Trichoderma spp.

The predatory mite Euseius alatus DeLeon has been reported in several economic crops in Brazil, with certified importance in fruit trees and coffee. In order to establish an integrated pest management program it is important to determine the efficient pesticides in pests control, but presenting low impact to predators. This work had the objective of evaluating the toxicity of acaricides (abamectin, azocyclotin, diafenthiuron, dicofol, sulphur, fenpropathrin, fenpyroximate, propargite, tetradifon) to eggs and adult females of E. alatus. Leaf discs of "feijão de porco" (Canavalia ensiformes L.) containing 10 eggs of E. alatus were immersed into the acaricides dilutions, during five seconds, and dried for 30 minutes under room temperature. Treated eggs were observed up to 72h to determine egg survival. The residual effect of the same acaricides to adult females of E. alatus was studied using arena constituted by treated leaf disc. Ten adult females were confined per arena, 30 minutes, 24h and 72h after immersing the discs into the acaricides dilutions. Mortality was measured 24, 48 and 72h after confining the females on the treated leaf discs. All tested acaricides showed low impact on egg survival, except for fenpropathrin that caused reduction of egg survival at rate of 66%. The acaricides azocyclotin, diafenthiuron, tetradifon and abamectin caused 100% of mortality to adult females. Otherwise, diafenthiuron (500g de a.i./Kg), fenpyroximate (50g de a.i./L), propargite (720g de a.i./L) and tetradifon (80g de a.i./L) caused lower impact to adult females of E. alatus and, therefore, being of potential recommendation into an integrated pest management.

The knowledge of hemoglobin types may help in near future the selection of animals, serving as a genetic marker. The present work aimed to determine the types of hemoglobin in Santa Ines crossbreed sheep, and verify whether it has correlation with the erythron. It were collected 49 blood samples from different healthy Santa Ines crossbreed sheep, from Mossoró city, RN, Brazil. These samples were used for determination of packed cell volume, red blood cells counts, hemoglobin concentration, hematimetric indices (mean corpuscular volume - MCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin - MCH, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration - MCHC), and electrophoretic separation of hemoglobin. The electrophoresis revealed a slow band characterized as hemoglobin A (HbAA), a fast band characterized as hemoglobin B (HbBB) and both bands in the heterozygous hemoglobin A and B (HbAB). The type HbAB was the most frequently found, but all found types were present at representative amounts. The statistical analysis for comparison between the hemoglobin parameters and each parameter of the erythron revealed significant difference only for MCH; the other measurement were not statistically different. Thus, the hemoglobin types (HbAA, HbBB e HbAB) did not influence the erythron of sheep.

The postharvest shelflife of Galia Solarking melons was evaluated at the Postharvest Study Center, Escola Superior de Agricultura de Mossoró, RN, Brazil. The treatments consisted of submitting the hybrid to the experimental temperature at 5, 7, 9 and 11ºC under 90 ± 5% relative humidity, with or without modified atmosphere (MAP), with evaluations in nine days intervals (7 days under cold storage plus 2 days at room temperature), with the determination of weight loss, external and internal appearances, flesh firmness and total soluble solids content. A 4 x 2 x 5 (temperature x presence or absence of plastic film x time of storage) factorial scheme in a completely randomized design with three repetitions and one fruit per plot was utilized. Weight loss was smaller for the fruits under modified atmosphere. Larger values of flesh firmness were verified for fruits stored under modified atmosphere stored at 5ºC. Based on the external appearance, the postharvest shelflife of Solarking melons were 27 days for 5, 7 and 9ºC storage temperatures and 18 days for 11ºC.

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of different pruning time of Prosopis juliflora (Sw) DC root system on seedlings growth. The experiment was carried out in the nursery of ESAM, Mossoró-RN. The prunings were carried out at 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 days after germination. The completely randomized block experimental design was used, with four replications and eight plants per plot. Evaluations for shoot height, stem diameter, shoot height/stem diameter ratio, shoot dry matter weight, total dry matter weight and roots percentage were done. Statistical difference was observed only for root percentages, and the best means were obtained for prunings carried out at 50, 60, and 70 days after germination.

The present work was realized with the objective to evaluate the percentage of emergenceand the emergence velocity index (EVI) of bacuripari seeds, being accomplished of lath house conditions, with 50% of luminosity, using plants that came from the Germplasm Bank of the Department of Vegetable Production, of Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias - UNESP - Campus of Jaboticabal, São Paulo state, Brazil. The fruits were picked totally ripe, the seeds were extracted, washed, placed to dry and conditionedin plastic boxes, having vermiculite as substrate. The treatments was characterized by the size of the seeds: very big, big, medium and small, determined by the medium weight of the 50 seeds (in grams), being 63,634; 42,787; 25,631 and 9,508g respectively. The values of the percentage of emergence were transformed in arc sen . The averages were compared by the Test of Tukey, with 5% of probability. Analyzing the results was possible to observe that the smallest values, so of the percentage of the emergence (2,30%) and for the GVI (0,002) were obtained for the seeds with a small size, differing significantly of the other treatments, where was verified values of percentage of emergence of 83,33; 86,25 and 77,00% and GVI values of 0,102; 0,107 and 0,105 for the very big, big and medium, respectively. Can be concluded that there is interference of the seed's size-weight in emergence of this specie.

The red pitaya is a cactacea that has been more and more demanded both for theproducers and for the consumers. Nevertheless, there are still several aspects about its cultivation that need to be elucidated, in order to provide a good culture development and profitability to the producer. This work was done aiming to study the effect of substrate in the vegetative propagation of this fruit, commonly done through cutting. The experiment was carried out in a lath house from the Departamento de Produção Vegetal of FCAV - UNESP. Cuttings of adult plant were used and placed in different substrates for rooting, composing the following treatments: (1) soil, sand and manure of tanned corral mixture, in the proportion of 3:1:1; (2) coconut fiber (Amafibra); (3) sand and (4) commercial substrate (Plantmax). For each treatment, 4 replications with 10 cuttings were done. Fresh and dry mass of roots (grams) and volume (mL) were evaluated. A completely randomized design was used, and data evaluated by Tukey test at 5% probability. In the conditions in which the experiment was accomplished, one can conclude that there was influence of the substrate in the fresh mass and volume of the roots, being the substrate (1) the most appropriate for seedlings formation of this species.

The objective of this work was to verify the usage level and the occurrence of the papaya (Jacaratia corumbensis O. kuntze) in a caatinga area of 112 ha, located in eight communities of small farmers in the semi-arid region of Bahia State. The work was accomplished with 149 farmers, in the period from August to December 2000. In each community, interviews with the farmers were done in order to verify those that used the papaya (mamãozinho-de-veado) to feed the animals in the dry season, and also to verify a rise in the density of plants per hectare. The data analysis showed that the papaya was used in all the studied communities as an alternative for alimentary supplement for the animals in the dry season. The papaya plant density of natural occurrence in the communities was of 10.38 plants /ha, in average, indicating that this plant is well disseminated in the area, being an alimentary supplement source for the animals in the semi-arid conditions.