The use of granular fertilizers as a vehicle for seeding forage species has become a simple and very useful operation. However, the data is contradictory about how much time the seeds can be mixed with urea without reducing the germination percentage. The aim was to study the effect of mixing periods of urea with seeds of Brachiaria ruziziensis on physiological quality. The treatments consisted of seed mixed times of B. ruziziensis (0; 4; 8; 16; 24; 48; 96 and 192 hours) with urea, besides control treatment. It was used a completely randomized design with four replications. Moreover, with the passage of time in contact with urea, water content and electrical conductivity of seed increased, while there was decrease in percentage of germination, first count, the emergence and emergence speed index. Thus, it is concluded as feasible to mix the seeds with urea, since the seeding is performed at intervals shorter than 8 hours, reducing damage to the seed physiological quality of forage.

In desalination process, besides the potable water, highly salty and pollutant water (brine) is generated, which can be used for producing crops since it is carefully monitored. In order to test this hypothesis, bell pepper plants, cv. 'Margarita', were grown in coconut fiber substrate under greenhouse and were irrigated with nutrient solutions prepared with tap water, brine from desalination plant, and its dilution with tap water at 75, 50 and 25%, giving a range of electrical conductivities of the nutrient solution (ECs) of 2.6, 3.1, 6.6, 10.0 and 12.2 dS m-1 after the dilutions and fertilizers addition. Completely randomized blocks design was used with 5 treatments (salinity levels of the nutrient solutions) and six replications. Leaf area, number of marketable fruit, total and marketable yield were reduced with ECs increase. The marketable yield of bell pepper 'Margarita' reduced 6.3% for each unitary increase of ECs above 2.6 dS m-1 (threshold salinity) and the results suggest that in hydroponic system, the reduction of marketable yield with increasing ECs is promoted by reduction of the number of fruits per plant instead of a reduction of fruit mean weight.

The production of jelly is an alternative to the use of fruits that did not meet the classification standard, helping to reduce post harvest losses of up to 40% of total production. This study aimed to evaluate the sensory quality of jelllies produced mixed with watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Schrad.) and tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.). Six jelly formulations were prepared using pulp from watermelon and tamarind in different proportions: F1 (100% watermelon pulp), F2 (87.5% watermelon pulp and 12.5% tamarind pulp), F3 (75% watermelon pulp and 25% tamarind pulp), F4 (12.5% tamarind pulp and 87.5% water), F5 (25% tamarind pulp and 75% water) and F6 (37.5% tamarind pulp and 62.5% water). All jellies containing pulp and sucrose in the ratio 1: 0.6 and the final soluble solids was 67 ºBrix. The attributes of color, texture, taste and preference of the jellies were evaluated by 50 untrained panelists using a hedonic scale of nine points (ranging from "like extremely" to "dislike extremely"). The worst consistency was found in F4 and the largest concentration of tamarind in jelly impaired color impacting negatively on the product acceptance. The jelly mixed F2 had the best score for taste and preference attributes that jelly F6.

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the performance of lactating 5/8 cross-breed Holstein/ Zebu cows, and digestibility of diets with different levels (0%; 5.5%; 13.0%; 20.5% and 26.0%) of melon (Cucumis melo L.) fruits in replacement to wheat bran, on dry matter basis. Five cows averaging 380 kg and 10 kg of daily milk production were used. The experiment was conducted in a 5x5 latin square design, including five animals, five experimental periods and five levels of melon fruits addition. The length of each period of evaluation was 14 days (seven for the adaptation of the animals to the diets and seven for data collection). The intake of dry matter (DM) (kg/day, %BW and g/kg0.75), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total carbohydrates (TCH), ether extract (EE) was unaffected (P>0,05) by the levels of melon fruits (12.52; 3.20; 142.42; 11.62; 1.29; 8.15; 10.21 and 0.41, respectively). Crude protein (CPD) and neutral detergent fiber (NDFD) digestibilities decreased linearly, and the digestibility of non-fiber carbohydrates (NFCD) increased linearly. The estimative for total digestible nutrients (TDN) presented a quadratic response with the addition of increasing levels of melon fruits in the diet. Milk production and fat corrected milk production, averaging 9.09 and 9.78 kg/day respectively, increased linearly with the increment of melon fruits participation in the diets, which points out a possibility for utilization of this co-product to feed dairy cows.

"Caatinga", dominant vegetation in Brazilian semiarid, has suffered severe degradation process, triggered, among other reasons, by the traditional agricultural and extractive activities. The need to conserve the environment and natural resources in agricultural and forestry activities, led to search for alternatives to conventional production. In this context, agroforestry systems, that integrate trees with crops and livestock, are an alternative operating sustainably. With the aim of studying the potential for preservation tree species of the "Caatinga" in an agrosilvopasture system in semiarid, in Sobral-CE, was evaluated the relatives density, frequency and dominance, the importance value index and the Shannon e Wiener index, of the woody component of this system. It was found that the vegetation management practices of trees and shrubs used in the system decrease density, and interfered in height and diameter distribution of individuals in relation to the original vegetation of the Caatinga. However, these practices were effective in preserving the wealth of flora species of trees and shrubs, similar to the area of native vegetation reserve. Cordia oncocalyx was the species with the highest number of individuals in the system, also showing highest importance value, followed by Mimosa caesalpiniifolia. The family Leguminosae was the most representative. The Shannon index shows that this agrosilvopasture system has the potential to promote an intermediate level of conservation among the "Caatinga" vegetation remnants and disturbed areas in this biome.

paper aimed to evaluate the growth and accumulation of pigments in leaves of cowpea plants kept under two light conditions. The experimental design was carried out by using two randomized blocks with two treatments and twenty-two repetitions. The tested treatments were: natural environment (full sun) and artificial environment (50% light). The evaluated variety of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) was the Vinegar, which has indeterminate growth habit. For growth analysis samples were taken at 10, 20, 30 and 40 days after emergence (DAE) and 50 DAE for determining the levels of a, b, and total chlorophyll and carotenoids content. Significant interaction was observed for the characteristics of the main stem length, leaf area, fresh weight and a, b, and total chlorophyll and carotenoids from plants grown in artificial environment. The studied type showed plasticity when subjected to low light, such as morphological changes in the length of main stem and leaf area, as well as changes in the amount of leaf pigments.

A identificação das similaridades na qualidade das águas subterrâneas pode ajudar a reduzir o número de postos de monitoramento utilizados nos corpos hídricos. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar similaridades na qualidade da água subterrânea usando a técnica de estatística multivariada conhecida como análise de agrupamento, no Distrito de Irrigação do Baixo Acaraú (DIBAU), no estado do Ceará. Dez poços rasos distribuídos aleatoriamente no DIBAU foram monitorados regularmente por um período de 27 meses (dez/2003 a nov/2005, nov/2006, mar e abr/2007). Para cada amostra foram analisados pH, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Cl-, CO3 2-, HCO3 -, SO4 2-, PO4 3-, NH4 +, NO3 -, condutividade elétrica (CE) e razão de adsorção de sódio (RAS). A estatística descritiva, a análise de agrupamento hierárquica e o t-test (1%) foram avaliados utilizando o software SPSS 16.0. No geral, com exceção de dois poços, a água foi classificada como ácida e o pH médio foi menor do que cinco. A concentração de fósforo foi sempre acima do limite recomendado para o consume humano (0,1 mg L-1). Além disso, a qualidade da água subterrânea foi utilizada para definir quatro agrupamentos que foram independentes da posição geográfica dos poços. Os valores de CE e as concentrações de sódio e cloreto distinguiram dois poços (P1 e P7) dos demais, e o pH, o Mg2+ e a RAS determinaram a dissimilaridade dos dois poços entre si.

This work aimed to evaluate the effects of the fertilization with silica and its effect compared with limestone and interaction with the phosphorus in an Oxissol in tomato. A 5 x 2 factorial randomized block experimental design was adopted with four replication being five levels of metasilicate, five levels of limestone and two of phosphorus. In absence of phosphorus and in the presence limestone negative correlation was observed between stem diameter and content of Al in the soil and positive among stem diameter, root growth and content of P in the plant with the pH soil and the content of Ca in the soil. In the presence of phosphorus, positive correlation was verified among content of P in the plant and fresh matter of root with electrical conductivity of soil and root growth and content of Al in the soil. Using metasilicate of calcium in the absence of phosphorus, significant and positive correlation was observed for root growth with pH soil, Ca and sum of bases sum and content of P in the root with electrical conductivity of soil; in the presence of phosphorus, negative correlation was observed among Na and Al in soil. In the presence of phosphorus, was observed negative correlation among the stem diameter with pH, Ca, sum of bases and electrical conductivity of soil. For the leaf area, plant height, fresh matter in shoot and content of phosphorus in the root was verified significant and positive correlation with Na and the K in soil.

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of five nitrogen doses (50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg ha-1) on yield components and yield of watermelon cv. Crimson Sweet. The experiment was carried out under field conditions at Boa Vista, RR, on January to April 2010, under yellow oxisol. The experimental design was randomized blocks with four replications. The length of the stems and leaf number were significantly affected by treatments at, 45 days after emergence (DAE), affecting also the dry matter total in the end of cycle. The estimated maximum yield of watermelon (40.428 kg ha-1) was obtained with 144.7 kg N ha-1, while for fruit fresh mass was 9.45 kg with the application of 248,5 kg ha-1 N. The pH of the fruits were not affected by treatments, while the sugar content of the watermelon, measured in degrees Brix, was affected by the depths of nitrogen.

Due the fast growing in flowers and ornamental plants production and their high export potential, it is important to identify the insects species associated with Alpinia purpurata (Vieill.) K. Schum crops and to establish their role in this agroecosystem/production system The insects were collected from A. purpurata cv. Pink Ginger and Red Ginger plants cultivated in two farmswith different agroecological characteristics, located in two recognized tropical flower production areas/regions, Maceió and Río Largo cities/localities, Alagoas state, during one year. They were identified and its frequency analyzed according with a numerical scale. According to the results was collected 790 insects of which 69 were identified to specific level, belonging to 59 families of 9 ordens. Results showed Hymenoptera individuals as the most frequent, mainly predator ants and/or associated with phytophagous insects (sucking), besides natural enemies, followed by Hemiptera and Lepidoptera orders, which involved recognized agricultural pests. Insects belonging to the order Odonata and Orthoptera were found less frequently.