The Calotropis procera has been an alternative feed for the ruminants in the brasilian semiarid region, presenting fast establishment and constant availability of fitomassa, until 3.0 t of DM/cut, in the dry season. On the aspect biochemical studies have detected various active substances as cardiac glycosides, non enzymatic proteins and enzimatics proteins, that can cause toxicity in animals when inserted in their diet. In nutritional terms, this species provides important nutrients with emphasis on protein, average value of 20%, and in vitro digestibility above 70%. It researches they showed that the intake of C. procera by goats and sheep in the form in nature can cause deaths, however, to make the process of hay and silage the toxicological effects are reduced. The utilization of C. procera is promissing, needing studies for maximize of the productivity; biochemical evaluation for identification of active substances, their mechanisms and local action in the animal, as well as testing to obtain the safe levels for inclusion in various forms of supply (in natura, hay and silage).

The purpose of this work was to verify soil respiration kinetics in two sites in the semi-arid region of Paraíba, Northeast of Brazil. The first was a Mimosa hostilis Benth (jurema preta) colonized site, and the other was a degraded area without vegetation. Soil respiration was estimated every hour during a period of 12 hrs. Absorption of the liberated soil CO2 was obtained using a KOH 0.5 N solution. The amount of absorbed CO2 was determined through titration with a HCl 0.1 N solution. Temperature was measured at the surface and 10 cm deep in the soil in both areas. It was observed that the highest level of microbial activity, at the jurema preta site, occurred from 10:00 to 12:00 o¿clock AM. The lowest level of microbial activity was observed when temperature reached 50 oC. In the degraded area, microbial activity reached a maximum at 14:00 o¿clock PM due to the reduction of soil temperature.

Aiming at to characterize a population of angry bean (Capparis flefluosa) they were appraised 30 plants of each category (trees, adult pruned and regeneration), disposed to the case in a palm area. They were appraised the height of the plant, diameter of the height of the chest, diameter of the height of the base, presence of floral buttons, florescimento, fructification in you hoist. For interpretation of the results one was used analyzes of variance, with randomized designe consting. The medium height of the appraised plants was of 5,1 m, diameter of the height of the chest of 16,8 cm, diameter of the height of the base 18,6 cm and diameter of the cup 5,3 m. you hoist presented Them floral buttons between January and February, they bloomed between January and March and they fructified between February and March. The chemical composition among the categories presented a medium tenor for dry matter (MS), crude protein (PB), fiber in neutral detergent (FDN), fiber in acid detergent (FDA), mineral matter (MM), organic matter (OM), hemicelulose (HEM), cellulose (CEL) and lignin (LIG), of 49,5%; 15,4%; 54,1%; 35,6%; 8,9%; 91,1%; 18,4%; 27,6% and 7,2%, respectively. The obtained results indicated that the angry bean possesses similar chemical composition the legumes herbage, being considered an alternative for the exploration in consortium systems seeking to the animal feeding in periods of shortage of forage of the area.

Objetivou nesta pesquisa testar o efeito da poda de topo no rebaixamento da copa e poda da saia na recuperação da tangerineira 'Ponkan' com 12 anos de idade, altura de 4 metros, espaçadas de 6 x 4 m e enxertadas sobre limoeiro 'Cravo'. O experimento foi conduzido na Fazenda Vito Crincoli localizada no município de Perdões, MG. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos ao acaso, em esquema fatorial 4 x 2, sendo poda do topo (sem poda, poda a 3,0; 2,5 e 2,0m) e poda da saia (sem e com a poda) com quatro repetições. A parcelaútil foi constituída de três plantas. As podas drásticas de topo prejudicaram a primeira produção, contudo a partir do segundo ano da poda, as plantas apresentaram boa recuperação. Essa afirmativa foi confirmada na terceira colheita, quando os diferentes tipos de podas do topo não se diferenciaram na produtividade, sendo que o tratamento com poda da saia foi superior ao sem poda. Os diferentes tipos de poda não prejudicaram a qualidade de frutos de tangerineira 'Ponkan' nas três safras subsequente as podas. Após o terceiro ano as plantas que sofreram podas mais severas produziram frutos com peso superiores, demonstrando a viabilidade da poda na recuperação da qualidade dos frutos.

An experiment in greenhouse with maize culture was carried through to evaluate the performance of Acithiobacillus inoculated in biofertilizer, with natural fosfato and sulphur. The biofertilizer was used as phosphorus fertilization in one argisoil degraded. The plants had been fertilized with four concentration of the biofertilizer during 50 days in two successive cultive. The soil fertility was evaluated, after the cultive as well as nutrition and development of the plants. The increase in the concentration of P-soluble in soil induced for the fertilization with the biofertilizer occurred in the second cultive. The application of the biofertilizer did not promote acidification of the soil however it increased the sulphur concentration. The rate of application of the biofertilizer for supply of 160 kg of P ha-1 revealed as of better performance in the supply of phosphorus and development of the plant.

The lettuce is a leafy vegetable and when it is cultivated in regions of intense solar radiation it can¿t develop it's full genetic potential. In this direction this work had the objective of evaluating the productivity of the Butterhead lettuce cultivar using different types of screens in the region of the Submédio São Francisco. The experiment was carried out in raised planting beds, using black screens with 30 and 50% of shading, white screens and in the open sun. The statistical design was the factorial 2x4 and the means were compared by the Turkey test at 5% of probability. In each treatment a termohigrometre and temometers at 40 cm from the ground were coupled with a black globe to get the radiant thermal load, the temperature of the air and the humidity index. At the end of the trial chlorophyll, the diameter of the head, plant height, the number of leaves per plant, the leaf area, fresh and dry weight of plants were collected. The screens affected the parameters analyzed and the treatment PS and TB of shading were the best for commercial parameters.

The study area covers all the territory of the municipality of Boa Vista, located in the Microrregião Homogênia dos Cariris Velhos, semi-arid region of the State of Paraíba. The main objective of this study was to elaborate space-temporal thematic maps of the land degradation expansion in the municipality of Boa Vista for the period 1987/2004, based on TM/Landsat-5 image analysis and field work data. The Landsat images digital processing was carried on the SPRING, v.4.2. The results had shown that in the study area are presented degradation levels varying from low to the very serious. The degradation levels very low, low, moderate and serious had their occurrence diminished in 2.59%, 11.80%, 12.86% and 0.88%, respectively during the period since 1987 to 2004. In opposing way, the areas of moderate serious and very serious degradation levels had increased in the period, with increments of 20.14% and 7.65%, respectively. The process of land degradation is more present in the neighborhoods of the rural houses and along the rivers, where the humidity of the ustifluvents soils guarantees better security for dry land agriculture and for the fodder plants for feeding live stocks in dry period. In the municipality the land degradation is resultant of a lack of conservation practical in the use of agricultural soils by the farmers, of a lack of an infrastructure for mitigating the drought effects and of a lack of public polices for a sustainable life in the semi-arid region.

The green fertilizing has been used to improve the physical-chemical properties of soil, to help the benefic microorganisms, to increase the organic matter and essentially to put the nutrients available to the plants. The objective of this work was to evaluate the production of fitomassa and the macronutrients contents of scarlet starglory in different phonological stages. An experiment was carried out in the agricultural year of 2005, in a completely randomized design with eight treatments and five replications. The treatments consisted of following phenological stages: 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 and 120 days after seed germination of scarlet starglory. Plants of scarlet starglory were taken randomly, with a quadrate of 1.0 m x 1.0 m, and cut at 0.10 m from the soil level. The highest production of fitomass was obtained from 112 days after seed germination of scarlet starglory, with mean weight of fresh mass of 32.69 t ha-1. However, the content of dry matter was 11.07% of the fresh mass at 120 days after germination. The highest contents of N, P and K were obtained of plants with 15 days. Based on these results, it may be possible to use the scarlet starglory as a green fertilizer in the semi-arid condition of Rio Grande do Norte state.

Spodoptera frugiperda is a species polyphagous that attacks several cultures economically important in various countries. It is known in the larval phases as fall armyworm and it is to main curse of the culture of the corn in Brazil.It was found recently fed her in plantings of cassava in São Luís and Itapecuru Mirim (MA). As the knowledge of the biology of the insect is of fundamental importance for the development of handling strategies, inside of the integrated handling of curses, the work aimed at to study the biology and the behavior of S. frugiperda in cassava leaves, maids in laboratory conditions. 60 coming caterpillars of the creation were used in articial diet. After the appearance the larvas were individualized in disposable plastic glasses with capacity for 100 ml and fed with cassava leaves, that they were changed every other day, or according to need. The experiment was led in climate chamber, regulated for temperature of 25°C, relative humidity of 60 + 10% and fotofase of 14 hours. The appraised biological parameters demonstrated the medium duration of the total cycle of 39,93 days, distributed in 6 or 7 you urge, where the species presented larval viability, pupal and of superior adult to 75% and, percentile of of 4% and 22,97% in pupas and adults, respectively. The fecundity was of 70,84% and the adults' of 77,08% viability. Being ended that the culture of the cassava assists to the demands nutricionais of S. frugiperda.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of Litopenaeus vannamei postlarva submitted to different substitution levels of fish meal protein by meat and bone meal protein. A completely randomized design, in a 4x2 factorial arrangement was used. The first factor was substitution levels of fish meal protein by meat and bone meal protein (0, 25, 50 and 75%); and the second factor was the use of a commercial attractant (with and without). The system consisted of 40 plastic boxes with 50 L each, provided with aeration, biofilter and shelter for the shrimps, with water from a low salinity well combined with 1% of effluent from low salt water dessalinization. It was evaluated shrimp final weight, weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion rate and survive. It was observed that shrimp performance decreased with the increasing on substitution levels of fish meal protein by meat and bone meal protein; and the presence of commercial attractant on feeds resulted on higher final weight and weight gain, in relation to feeds without commercial attractant.