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.

This experiment was carried out in the greenhouse of the Departament of Animal Production/ UFRPE, from november of 2002 to may of 2003. The work objective was to evaluate the chemical composition of different Panicum maximum Jacq. cultivars submitted to different levels of nitrogen fertilization. It was used a complete randomized experimental design and the treatments were represented by the factorial arragement of the cultivars Massai, Atlas and Tobiatã and the nitrogen fertilization (0, 80, 160 and 320 kg of N.ha-1.year-1), with four replications. The plants were cut 60 days after-seeding for uniformization and three cuts were carried out with intervals of 35 days and intensity of 10 cm. It was determined concentration of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Massai presented lesser crude CP (12,7%) and greater NDF concentration (60,8%) than the other cultivars. There was significant effect of the nitrogen fertilization for the CP and NDF. The increase in the nitrogen level raised the CP concentration and reduced the FDN concentration of the studied plants. The Atlas may be considered the cultivar that presented the best chemical composition because its satisfactory CP concentration (15,3%) associate to the lesser NDF concentration (58,8%).

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the growth and nodulation of Leucaena and Prosopis seedlings in soil plus tannery sludge. The study was conducted in a greenhouse, using bags containing soil plus tannery sludge. Seedlings of Leucaena and Prosopis inoculated with Bradyrhizobium sp were used. Results were evaluated 90 days after plant emergency. The application of tannery sludge, in the rate of 11.250 kg per hectare significantly increased plant height, stem diameter, and above ground dry mass ofLeucaena. Regarding Prosopis, there were no significant increases in these variables with tannery sludge application, except for aerial dry mass. No significant differences were seen between the treatments with sludge and inoculated with Bradyrhizobium sp. as to nodule number and dry mass. Tannery sludge evaluated in this work did not affect nodulation, besides favoring Leucaena and Prosopis seedling growth.

Natural regeneration depends on a series of environmental factors, which determine seed and seedling bank composition, and plant community structure of a site. Jurema preta (Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd) Poiret) is a pioneer legume tree that colonizes degraded sites of the Caatinga and produces a great number of seeds in several months of the year. In despite of its abundance, there is little information on the dynamics of jurema preta natural regeneration. Thus, a study was carried out to find out if seed germination and plantule survivorship under jurema preta canopy are affected by the annual April or July pruning of fine branches of a few jurema preta plants in a native Caatinga thicket submitted to continuous cattle browsing. Data analyses show that seed germination occurs in the beginning of the rainy season, and that in this period of moisture availability, plantule bank is composed by 17 to 58 thousand seedlings/ha. This number decreases during the rainy season, until it reaches a minimum of 3.7 to 7.5 thousand seedlings/ha, at the end of the dry season, in an ecological strategy of recurrent annual colonization. April or July pruning shows no consistent effect on jurema preta natural regeneration in areas submitted to bovine browsing, although plantule number was temporary and positively affected by pruning in one of the experimental site at the peak of the rainy season.

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.

Oils of andiroba (Carapa guianensis Aubl.), copaiba (Copaifera sp.), Eucaliptus globulus Labill. and Eucaliptus citriodora Hook., neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss), eugenol, souari nut (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.), rosemary (Lippia gracillis HBK.), and cedar (Cedrela fissilis Vell.) were evaluated in adults of Sitophilus zeamais Mots. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). In the non-choice test, 20 g of corn grains per plot were treated with 50¿L of each oil and homogenized for two minutes. The plot was infested with eight 0 to 15 days-old S. zeamais adults. The E. globulus, eugenol, rosemary, and neem oils caused 100% mortality in S. zeamais adults. Except for copaiba, all oils caused mortality above 87% and the reduction in emergence of 100%. In the free-choice tests, arenas consisting of two plastic containers symmetrically interconnected to a central box by two plastic tubes were used. Twenty grams of non-treated corn (control) were placed in one of the boxes and the same amount of grain treated with 50¿L of each oil comprised the other treatment. Sixteen non-sexed S. zeamais adults (0-15 days old) were released in the central box. The rosemary, E. citriodora, eugenol and copaiba oils were the most repellent for S. zeamais adults, with repellence percentage varying from 97.3 to 87.7. Rosemary, andiroba, neem, and cedar reduced S. zeamais emergence in 100%, while the reduction caused by the other oils ranged from 72.7 to 97.9%.

Seedling production is an important step for the tomato (L. esculentum) production system, being sometimes limited by cost and quality of the substrates used for this purpose. Use of agro-industrial residues, alone or in mixtures, may help reduce this problem. The potential of different mixtures of substrate including coconut dust treated with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (PC), commercial substrate TropstratoÒ and organic compound (CO) were evaluated in order to obtain the best source and combinations of substrates. These materials were used alone or in volumetric basis mixtures at the proportions of PC+SC (1:1); PC+CO (1:1) and PC+SC+CO (1:1:1), for seedling production of tomato cv. Salada. The randomized block design was used, with six treatments and six replications. Obtained data were aerial dry matter (MS), emergence speed index (IVE), colon diameter (DC), leaf number (NF) and seedling height (AP). The best results were obtained for CO and PC+CO. CO performance probably is due to its higher nutritional value, once its physical characteristics do not differ from the remaining treatments, especially when compared to SC and PC. CO was the best substrate for tomato seedling production, and its addition to PC enhanced the performance. The use of organic residues for tomato seedling substrate composition is an economic option which may reduce production costs, and represents an alternative for recycling and subproduct usage in agro-industry.

Eight domestic felines (Felis domestica), males, adults, healthy, without a defined breed, with variable weights and ages, were randomly divided into two groups of four animals and submitted to the enteral feeding techniques: nasoesophageal intubation and esophagostomy, aiming to compare clinically and surgically both techniques. The average time required for the nasoesophageal intubation (1min 15sec) was significantly smaller than for the esophagostomy (5min 25sec) according to Fisher¿s test. In the nasoesophageal intubation technique, an easiness in the positioning of the feeding tube was observed when compared to the esophagostomy technique, being accomplished only with local topical anesthetics. All the animals submitted to the nasoesophageal intubation technique presented sneezes and uneasiness during the feeding supply, compared to those submitted to the esophagostomy technique. Conclusions were that the nasoesophageal intubation technique allows smaller surgical and, consequently, anesthetic time; it is less traumatic; the animals submitted to the esophagostomy technique have accepted the tube better; the techniques are easily accomplished and allow the nutritional maintenance of the animals.

The insects of the Chrysopidae family are very important for biological pest control. The present work had the objective of determine the consumption capacity of eggs of three moths species by Chrysoperla externa larvae, besides to verify the larvae-adult period viability, duration of the larval period, and the total mass (g) of consumed eggs. The experiment was accomplished in laboratory conditions, under controlled temperature (25 + 2 ºC), UR (75 + 10%) and photoperiod (14:00 H). Insects of the first generation (F1) were used, being three treatments with 30 replications, under DIC. The obtained results showed that the eggs of S. cerealella and A. kuehniella provided higher viability for the larvae-adult period of C. externa; the duration of the larval period of C. externa was smaller when the eggs of A. kuehniella were used as food; and the larvae of C. externa, preferentially consume the eggs of A. kuehniella, being the higher consumption in the third ínstar.