The total soluble solids content (TSSC) shows high positive correlation with sugars content, and therefore is generally accepted as an important quality trait of fruits. In melon, this evaluation is usually done by grinding a slice of the fruit's pulp in a household food processor, straining the ground material and then proceeding the TSSC determination in the resulting juice. This evaluation is labor-intensive and takes a long time to complete. An alternative process was delineated for obtaining the juice: the pulp of the fruit slice would be transversally cut one or more times, and longitudinally pressed by hand to obtain the juice. The objective of this work was to compare processes for obtaining juice to evaluate TSSC in melons. Fifty, 15, and 15 fruits of the Galia, Yellow, and Cantaloupe type melons were evaluated, respectively. Each fruit was considered as a block, and was longitudinally split into six fractions with similar sizes, which corresponded to the plots. The following treatments were evaluated: fraction without cuts, fractions with one, three, five, or seven transversal cuts, and the fraction treated by the conventional process. It was concluded that the procedure by which the melon slices of Galia, Yellow and Cantaloupe types are pressed for obtaining the juice to evaluate TSSC can overestimate this content. This would probably be due to the fact that the most internal section of the mesocarp presents greater TSSC than the portions closer to the epicarp.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of cut-time on lemon grass essential oil yield and on its constituent citral contents. A completely randomized design with four replications was used. Six cuttimes were studied: 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00 AM, 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 PM. The analyzed variables were essential oil yield and relative citral contents. The highest essential oil yield was obtained when cut occurred at 7:00 AM. The highest citral contents was obtained when cut occurred at 1:00 PM, but was not statistically different from those obtained at 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00 AM, and 3:00 PM. Lemon-grass must be harvested between 9:00 and 11:00 AM in order to obtain maximum essential oil yield and maximum citral contents.

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 residual effect of natural insecticides was evaluated on adults of Sitophilus zeamais Mots. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on stored corn grains. Clove (Syzygium aromaticum L.), white pepper (Piper nigrum L.), neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) and silica dioxide powders were tested as well as neem, eucalyptus (Eucaliptus globulus Labill and Eucaliptus citriodora Hook.), eugenol, andiroba (Carapa guianensis Aubl.), rosemary (Lippia gracillis HBK.), cedar (Cedrela fissilis Vell.) and pequi (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.) oils. Powders were tested at concentration of 1kg/t in 50g-corn-plot and the oils at dosage of 50¿L in 20g-corn-plot. The plots infestation was accomplished using 20 and 8 adults (males and females) of S. zeamais being 0 to 15 days old, respectively, in the experiments with powders and oils. Silica dioxide caused 46.7, 38.3 and 37.5% of mortality, respectively, in the initial (soon after the treatment with the powders or oils) and at 60 and 120 days of storage periods, but the mortality induced by the other powders was inexpressive. In the three studied storage periods, silica dioxide was the more efficient in reducing adults emergency. At the initial storage period, all the oils caused mortality above 79%, however, after 60 and 120 days, mortality was lower than 2.5%. The adult emergency increased as stored period increased, although at 120 days the best performance was obtained using neem, followed by andiroba, cedar, rosemary and E. globulus oils.

The withdrawal of the natural vegetation in order to implement an agriculturist system provokes disequilibrium in the soil. This study had as objective: evaluate changes in the chemical and physical characteristics of the ground and in the total organic carbon level of a ground that has experienced different systems of use: remainder of Atlantic Bush, cacao (Theobroma cacao), and pasture (Brachiaria decumbens). For each use, samples were collected, in the depths of 0 - 10 and 10 - 20 cm. The chemical and physical analyses had been proceeded, and the determination of the total organic carbon, nitrogen and match in the soil. The substitution of the natural vegetation for the cacao and pasture systems caused changes in the level of clay in the layer of 0 ¿ 10 cm and in the levels of clay and silte in the second layer 10 - 20 cm. To the chemical characteristics evaluated (0-10 cm), it was observed that the levels of Ca+2, Mg+2 and P were higher, and in the cacao system, while the pasture showed higher pH and levels of K+ and lower CTC. The attributes Al+3 and m decreased and V increased. 10-20cm the cacao and pasture systems showed changes just related to the level of Ca+2, and for the cacao system,higher P level. The TOC and chemical attributes in the second layer showed significant correlations just for the pasture area.

Among ten valid species within Rotylenchulus genus, R. reniformis is the economically most important. Polyfagous, the reniform nematode has been detected associated to high value crops in Brazil. However, variability among or within Rotylenchulus spp. populations has been poorly understood and studied. Identification of Rotylenchulus species is based on morphological characters of immature females and presence of males, but there is a lack of biochemical researches. The objectives of this study were to morphometrically characterize one R. reniformis population associated to commercial melon (Cucumis melo) crop grown in Baraúnas municipality, Rio Grande do Norte State; to compare L, V and s mean values to the other populations characterized as R. reniformis, from different Brazilian and North American states, and African countries; to identify the parasitic race and to develop a protocol to define the a-esterase phenotype. The results confirmed the specific population identification focused in this research which confidence interval mean values of L, V and s enclosed mean values from the other populations. The Baraúnas-RN population was characterized as race A. The used protocols did not allow to characterize an a-esterase phenotype for R. reniformis.

Studies on availability of suitable and economic diets for adults and larvae of the South American fruit fly Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann, 1830) were carried out at the Entomology Unit of the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria with the aim to find the best diets to fit in a large scale mass rearing production. The best diet for adult was the combination of Hydrolysate Corn Protein + Yeast Hydrolysate Enzymatic + Sugar (3:1:3). This diet resulted in the highest numbers of egg/female/day, spermatozoid in the spermathecae, percentages of egg hatch, the lowest mortality rate of adults and the highest average mating duration compared with the standard adult diet based on Yeast Hydrolysate Enzymatic + Sugar (1:3). Among eleven larval diets tested, diets based on sugarcane and sugarbeet bagases plus 7% brewer yeast, 8% sugar, 0.2% sodium benzoate, 0.8% of hydrochloric acid and 60% water (adjusted), yielded the highest percentages of egg hatching, pupal recovery, pupal weight and adult emergence. There was no statistical difference with the standard larval diet based on wheat germ 3%, corncob 15%, corn flower 8%, brewer yeast 6%, sugar 8%, sodium benzoate 0.23%, hydrochloric acid 0.63%, nipagin 0.14% and water 59% (adjusted). The significant performance of these adult and larval diets open discussion for future researches on improvement of rearing techniques required for the establishment of sterile insect technique (SIT) program focused on the South American fruit fly.

Aiming to evaluate crisp head lettuce cultivars adapted to summer, showing tip burn¿s tolerance caused by calcium deficiency, an experiment was conducted in Santana da Vargem, MG, comprising the Lucy Brown, PSR 1114, PSR 1115, PSR 0110, PSR 5338, PSR 1530, PSR 0398 and Raider cultivars. A randomized complete blocks design with three replications was used. Total and commercial fresh mass, stem length and tip burn¿s tolerance caused by calcium deficiency were evaluated. The total fresh mass ranged between 538.8 and 894.4 g.plant-1, being PSR 1114; PSR 1115; PSR 5338 and Lucy Brown superior to the others, with 822.2; 833.3; 850.0 and 894.4 g plant-1, respectively. For commercial fresh mass and stem length there were no significant differences among the evaluated cultivars. Regarding tip burn¿s tolerance significant differences were observed. The Lucy Brown cultivar showed the highest incidence of this physiological disorder.

This study had the objective of surveying the apicultural potential in the municipality of Petrolina flora (9o9'S; 40o22'W), aiming at identifying the nectariferous or polliniferous species visited by Apis mellifera. The observations were carried out from January 2004 to May 2005, in areas of hyperxerophilous Caatinga native vegetation and of irrigated fruit crops of Embrapa Tropical Semi-Arid. Fifty one species were observed, belonging to 42 genera and 25 botanic families. The families Leguminosae, Anacardiaceae, Convolvulaceae, Rubiaceae and Sterculiaceae were the most visited species by Apis mellifera, including 47.08% of the total visited plants. Among the species visited by Apis mellifera, 41.17% are herbaceous, showing the importance of this stratum as an apicultural source. Regarding the flora resource used as food source by the bees, it was found that A. mellifera made several visits for exclusive nectar extraction to 72.55% of the plants considered nectariferous. Among the remaining plants, it was found that in 19.60% the bee collecte pollen, being these species considered polliniferous, and in 7.85% there was pollen and nectar withdrawal. Among the herbaceous species, Borreria verticillata (L.) G.Mey., Diodia teres Walter (Rubiaceae), Waltheria rotundifolia Schrank (Sterculiaceae), Merremia aegyptia (L.) Hallier, Jacquemontia confusa Meisn. (Convolvulaceae), Hypenia salzmanni (Benth.) Hanley (Lamiaceae) distinguished as nectariferous source during the raining season, while the arboreal species Schinopsis brasiliensis Engl. and Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão. are considered apicultural source for the dry season.

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.