The effect of the covered and conventional cultivation of grapevine (cv. Superior Seedless) on the aerial dispersion of pathogen inoculum and dynamic of diseases was investigated in two-year (2009 and 2010) and period similar to the year. The experiment was conducted at the experimental station of Embrapa semiarid. The traps were maintained at 0.5 meters above the canopy of the grapevine, and the samples taken every 24 hours with the exchange of slides 9:00 a.m. Greater dispersion of pathogens (Plasmopara viticola, Phakopsora euvitis, Alternaria alternata) and intensity of diseases (downy mildew, rust, and bacterial canker) were detected in grapevines under conventional cultivation. The aerial dispersal of the fungus Lasiodiplodia theobromae was similar under grapevine covered and uncovered.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance and the adaptive profile of de 25 steers ¶ Angus x μ Nelore (RED) and 25 steers ´ Angus x ´ Nelore (NEL), during the milking and the fattening phas-es, in an intensive system, at Rio Grande do Norte state. The body weights, anterior and posterior high, as well as the thoracic perimeter, were monthly measured to evaluate the growth pattern. As adaptive responses were registered rectal temperature and hair coat traits. The statistical analyzes were based in the minimum square method, utilized mixed models. At the beginning of the trial both of genetic groups presented the same body weight (103,03kg) and from the second sampling on the animals RED were superior in comparison with the NEL and showed higher body weight at the weaning (181,60kg RED e 158,57kg NEL) and the 13th months. On the other hand, there was no difference between the genetic groups for the final weight (slaughter body weight). There were differences in all the performance characteristics analyzed. The RED group was superior in relation to the NEL group. The hair coat characteristics didn't differ between the genetic groups, except the hair coat length, which was higher in the RED animals. We concluded that both of genetic groups were adapted to tropical weather conditions, nevertheless, despite the better performance showed by the animals RED during the suckling and the fattening phases, the NEL animal may be indicated because of the similar slaughter body weight.

The development of vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides L.) has been evaluated under differ-ent levels of phosphorus on slopes of the right-side bank of the San Francisco River, in the municipality of Am-paro do São Francisco, SE. Techniques of soil bioengineering were used, characterized by the combination of vegetated riprap with stakes, seedlings of vetiver grass and sediment retainers. The experimental design was randomized blocks with five doses (0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 g pit-1 of simple superphosphate) and five replicates. The growth of vetiver seedlings were observed in periods of 30, 60, 90, e 180 days, carrying out the following pa-rameters: number of roots, external root surface, root density, root length, root length density, root and shoot dry weight, root and shoot fresh weight, and shoot length, at each evaluation period. The phosphorus doses and periods of morphological development interacted in all variables of plant biomass mentioned above. Higher superphosphate doses than 9.0 g pit-1 did not offer advantages in terms of cost-benefit for the production of vetiver seedings.

The study aimed to model the drying curves of cowpea beans (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) in different temperatures determine the coefficient of effective diffusion and the activation energy. For this, we used seeds of beans-cowpea cultivar BRS Guariba, harvested manually, with a water content of 21% (wet basis), dried until the water content 11% (wet basis). Drying was performed in the experimental dryer under controlled temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C ± 1 °C, and relative humidity of the air drying between 14 and 59%. 12 models of non-linear regression were tested and for selection the best model was considered to: the significance of the regression coefficient t test, the magnitude of the adjusted coefficient of determination (R²), the average relative error (P) and the estimated average error (SE). It was observed that the drying time for of the beans-cowpea seeds was 10,4 ; 5,6 ; and 2,1 h to the temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C, respectively; among the number tested, the mathematical model the Midilli was the best fit to experimental data. The coefficient of diffusion increases with temperature, with values between 5,047 x 10-11 to 12,011 x 10-11 m² s -1 for the temperature range from 30 to 50 °C. The relationship between the coefficient of diffusion effective and the drying temperature can be described by Arrhenius equation, which presents activation energy of 35,04 kJ mol-1 for spreading the liquid in the drying process of the of beans-cowpea seeds.

The aim of this study was to report for the first time Pratylenchus brachyurus population asso- ciated to mango cv. Tommy Atkins seedling roots, on naturally infested soil, on Assú municipality, Rio Grande do Norte State. The population of nematode was characterized based on a morphometric study that was done using 20 females collected from the roots. The morphometric data were compared to other data published by different authors in studies concerning to reporters of this species of root - lesion nematode, and it was possible to identify the population as P. brachyurus.

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the cutting frequency and levels of the manure on cactus for-age productivity. The research was conducted at Pendencia Station – The State Agribusiness Reaserch Compa-ny of Paraíba, Soledade – PB –Brazil, from August 2008 to August 2010. It was utilized a factorial arrenge-ment 4x5, 4 crop managements (M1= cactus forage harvested at 12 months after establishment; M2= cactus forage harvested at 12 months after the first regrowth; M3= harvested of the accumulated production in 24 months and M4= sum of the first production and regrowth) and five levels of goat manure: 0; 5; 10; 15 e 20 Mg ha-1. It was evaluated the fresh matter production (FMP) and dry matter production (DMP), water accumula-tion, rainfall use efficiency (RUE) and percentage of the water accumulation in the plant. The largest level of organic fertilizer promoted an increase in FMP of 275, 171, 184, 203% and DMP: 305, 175, 223, 218%, re-spectively, when comparing the highest level of fertilizer with the unfertilized treatment, and an increase in water accumulation 115.60, 102.93, 166.95, 218.53 kg of water ha-1 when comparing the highest level with the unfertilized treatment. The organic fertilization in M1, M2, M3 and M4 managements, despite of the levels, promoted a linear increase in the RUE. Fertilization increases the cactus forage productivity, and its rainfall use efficiency. The annual cut can be employed as a practice in the management of cactus forage.

The irrigation frequency to meet the water requirement for the production of passion fruit seed-lings can cause nutrients leaching, reducing the fertilization efficiency. Thus, the work was carried out to evalu-ate the effect of hydro-absorbent polymer in reducing losses of leached nutrients during the production of yel-low passion fruit seedlings. The factorial design 5 x 2 was used, distributed in a completely randomized design, being the factors represented by five doses of polymer (Hidroplan®-EB/HyB-M): 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 g L-1 of substrate and two types of substrates: Bioplant® and Provaso® with four replications and 10 plants per plot. The polymer was incorporated into the substrates, making up the homogenization of the mixture at the time of planting. Irrigation was carried out daily sufficient to keep the substrate moisture control treatment at field ca-pacity, programmed by a system of automated irrigation sprinkler type. Collection of the leachate was carried out at 30 and 60 days after emergence of seed, which was submitted to laboratory analysis to determine the amount of nutrients leached. In the last evaluation determined the seedlings size and nutrient content in leaf dry mass. The incorporation of hydro-absorbent polymer to substrate reduced nutrient losses by leaching in the substrates. The losses reduction of leached nutrients favored the growth and increase of leaf nutrients in passion fruit seedlings with the polymer.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of corn plant harvested in diferente ma-turity stages on the chemical composition, digestibility and aerobic stability of silages. The corn used in the study was the hybrid BM3061 harvested after 114, 121, 126, 133 and 140 days of sowing at five maturity stag-es based on the advancement of the grain milk line (early dent (ED), 1/3 of milk line (ML), 1/2 ML, 2/3 ML and black layer (BL)). A variation from 242.7 to 377.4 g of dry matter (DM) kg-1as fed was observed between the ED and BL stages; however, the measurements performed in this study did not exhibited major changes in the composition of these silages. The silages produced with plants that were harvested at the 1/2 ML, 2/3 ML and BL stages showed lower DM loss during the fermentative process. The silages produced with plants that were harvested at the ED and 1/3 ML stages showed higher in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) (0.584 and 0.631 g g-1 of OM, respectively). The corn silages produced at the maturity stage of 2/3 ML showed a higher aerobic stability (104 hours) during the aerobic exposure. The 1/3 and 2/3 ML maturity stages seem to be the best harvest stages for the production of corn silage in tropical climates.

The goal of this paper was to select among the attributes surveyed soil, one with better repre-sentation to explain the variability of the technological components of sugar cane. The study was conducted at ETH Eldorado Plant in Rio Brilhante, MS, in the agricultural year 2011/2012, in a Oxisol, which was installed a geostatistical grid for data collection of soil and plant, with 80 sampling points, a 80 ha area. From the stand-point of linear and spatial TCH has been explained as a function of volumetric moisture. The volumetric mois-ture collected at a depth of 0.00 to 0.20 m, which had values between 0,24 to 0,270 m3 m-3, resulted in sites with the highest productivity of sugar cane per hectare from 64 to 70 t ha-1. To aid future studies aimed at preci-sion agriculture, which will use the same attributes as those of the future works, the values of ranges of spatial dependence to be used should be between 81 and 487 meters.