The post-harvest of floral stems is one of the main features observed in the production of flowers for cutting, becoming a prerequisite for product quality and successful marketing. In this sense, the objective was to evaluate the conservation of heliconias inflorescences with or without renewal of the water maintenance, previously fertilized with increasing doses of nitrogen and potassium. Inflorescences of Heliconia psittacorum x H. spathocircinata cultivar Golden Torch were used and grown in open conditions in the Floriculture area at UFPI, city of Bom Jesus, Piauí State under increasing doses of fertilization with N and K. The stems were harvested in the morning, standardized and placed in containers with 500 mL of water. The design was a randomized block in factorial 4 x 4 x 2, corresponding to: i) N doses (0, 120, 180, and 240 g N hole-1 ), ii) K doses (0, 120, 180, and 240 g K2O hole-1 ), and iii) renewing the water maintenance in vase (with and without renewal) with three replicates of three stems each. Some evaluations were observed during the Study, such as: the water uptake by the flower stems; loss of fresh weight of the flower stems, dry weight of the flower stems and post-harvest longevity. The dose of 180 g hole-1 both as N and K provided the longevity of the flower stems with quality maintenance. The absorption of water by the flower stems and its dry mass after harvesting are influenced by previous fertilizer N and K. The renewal of the water maintenance also positively influence the longevity of flower stems and its a management indicated to maintain quality post-harvest.

Most banana plantations are still made using traditional clones per type horn and rhizomes. Oth- er propagation methods such as micropropagation have been developed and perfected to raise the rate of multi- plication in a short time and improve the health status of the seedlings. However, contamination by bacteria and fungi is one of the biggest problems of this technique. The aim was to evaluate the in vitro disinfestation using active chlorine concentrations of banana explants ‘Farta Velhaco’. The experimental design used was com- pletely randomized consisting of five treatments and five repetition, each replicate represented by five explants in different concentrations of active chlorine for twenty minutes: T1 - without active chlorine, T2 - 0.5% active chlorine, T3 - 1.0% of active chlorine, T4 - 1.5% active chlorine and T5 - 2% active chlorine. The percentages of contamination by bacteria and fungi as well as the percentage of oxidation of the explants were evaluated. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and regression analysis. The results showed that the highest effi- ciency among the tested treatments was the immersion of explants in 1% of active chlorine that caused a reduc- tion in 95% and 90% respectively for bacteria and fungi and 60% of explants oxidation. It was concluded that this concentration can be used to control contamination for micropropagation of banana 'Farta Velhaco'.

The Caatinga is one of the least known biomes in terms of structure and floristic composition, worrying aspect because it undergoes an intense process of human disturbance. With this assumption, we car- ried out a phytosociological survey of adult vegetation and natural regeneration in areas with different histories of disturbance. For a sampling of the shrub/adult tree and natural regeneration, settled in a systematic, 18 sam- pling units in each area (Habitat I and Habitat II), with dimensions of 10 x 25 m and 10 x 5 m respectively. Individuals were surveyed adults with CAP ≥ 6.0 cm, and natural regeneration measured the individuals taller than 0.5 m and CNB <6.0 cm. Habitat II in the were sampled 1155 individuals belonging to 6 families and 12 species, and the habitat I was sampled 286 individuals belonging to three families and six species. The diversity index was 1.5 and 0.23 for Nats.individual - 1 Habitat II and habitat I respectively. We sampled 636 individuals in natural regeneration, being habitat I in 360 and 276 in the Habitat II. The diversity index of natural regenera- tion for the Habitat II and habitat I were 1.21 and 0.8 Nats.individual - 1 . It was concluded that human activities were able to change the vegetation structure and species diversity in both habitats significantly.

This study aimed to identify the relationship between morphological variables and production variables in bell pepper plants derived from seeds of different physiological levels. The experiments were car-ried out in a randomized block design with eight replications in a protected setting at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Treatments included three lots of hybrid Tiberius seeds and one lot of Rubi Giant seeds during Spring-Winter and Autumn-Winter season with different levels of physiological quality as shown by vigor and germination tests. The following characters (variables) were measured: plant height, first fork height, stem di-ameter, and stem diameter below the first fork after 50 days, 70 days and 90 days of transplanting, average weight of fruits, average production per harvest, total production, average fruit length, and average width of fruits. Next, for each level of vigor was estimated the correlation matrixes, multicollinearity diagnosis, and then path analysis, considering the total production as the main variable.Plants derived from high-, low- and medium vigor seeds whose first fork diameters were greater after 50 days and 70 days of transplanting are more produc-tive during Spring-Winter seeding. Coefficients of correlation and effect of low magnitude were identified in vigor levels (being high, low, medium, and extremely low) during Autumn-Winter season, indicating a weak relationship between cause and effect of explanatory variables measured on total fruit production of bell pepper.

The objective was to evaluate the performance of growth and productivity of three cactus for-age clones, resistant to Cochineal Carmine, grown under irrigated conditions in the Brazilian semi-arid region. The clones evaluated were: IPA Sertânia (IPA), Miúda (MIU) and the Orelha Elefante Mexicana (OEM), be-tween February 2010 and February 2012, in Serra Talhada, State of Pernambuco. To the end of the crop cycle morphological data were obtained from plants (canopy height and width, cladode total number, cladode number by order of emergence and cladode area index) and cladode (length, width, thickness, perimeter and area), and crop productive parameters (crop fresh and dry matter yield, and final density of plants per hectare). Path anal-ysis was applied to evaluate the influence of meteorological variables (global solar radiation, air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed and rain) on the growth of cactus forage. It was found that the OEM and IPA were those who stood out most of the morphological characteristics. But, in terms of cladode number, the MIU is the clone of greater emission (> 35 units), however it has been demonstrated as the clone less productive in terms of fresh mass (117.5 t ha-1), along with the IPA. The OEM stood out as the most productive clone (163.0 t ha-1). However, there was no difference in productivity in dry basis between the clones (12.6 ± 2.0 t ha-1). The IPA has the highest mortality of plants (10.4%). Meteorological variables showed effect lower on the evolution of crop growth (< 33.1%).

The use of cashew apple bagasse for bioethanol production aimed at taking advantage of a re-gional culture that has about 85% of waste. Due to the complex structure of the material, it is necessary to sub-mit it to physical pretreatments and/or chemicals such as acid prehydrolysis, alkali, steam explosion, CO2 ex-plosion, hot water treatment, pretreatment with microwave, among others, before hydrolysis process for ethanol production. The aim of this paper was to study the prehydrolysis and acid hydrolysis in the cashew bagasse peduncle (Anarcadium occidentale L.), and the removal of toxic compounds from the hydrolyzate liquor using the residual lignin as adsorbent and alcoholic fermentation of liquors for the production of the second genera-tion bioethanol. The cashew bagasse, based on its chemical characterization and physical chemistry, presented itself as a promising source in order to produce bioethanol. The prehydrolysis, is effective in the removal of hemicelluloses mainly in the extraction of arabinose, the temperature being the major variable influencing the process. For the acid hydrolysis done with the following hydrolysis conditions: temperature at 200 °C, acid concentration equal to 6% and ratio of 1:6 has presented the combination of the highest concentration of sugars with a minimum concentration of toxic compounds. During the study of the alcoholic fermentation of liquors with hydrolyzed yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, presented yield and efficiency of production of ethanol from cellulosic pulp of processing stalk cashew maximum dry were respectively 0.445 g ethanol/g of pulp and 87.1% hydrolyzed liquor with the addition of cashew apple juice.

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina in dairy cattle from São Luis Island in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. A total of 281 blood samples were collected. In total, 275 (97.9%) animals were B. bovis-reactive and B. bigemina reactive in the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The microscopy examination detected 22 (7.8%) animals that were positive for Babesia sp. and the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis showed that 91 animals (32.38%) and 23 animals (8.18%) were positive for B. bovis and B. bigemina, respectively, while 17 animals (6.04%) were co-infected. There is a high level of transmission of these protozoa in Maranhão, and the animals were naturally exposed. Therefore, it is possible to characterize the island as enzootic stability for babesiosis, indicat-ing a risk of financial losses when susceptible animals are introduced from areas of enzootic instability or free regions of B. bovis and B. bigemina.

The current work had the objective to characterize the visual symptoms of nutrient deficiencies, single and multiple, in castor bean cultivar Guarani, as well as their effects on dry matter and biometrical index. The experiment was carried out in culture solution with randomized blocks with six treatments and four repli-cations. The treatments were represented by control, then the Hoagland and Arnon (1950) control, omission of iron (-Fe); multiple omission of iron and zinc (-FeZn), omission of manganese (-Mn), multiple omission of manganese and zinc (-MnZn) and omission of zinc (-Zn). Castor bean plants under single Zn omissions did not show visual symptoms, however multiple omission of this nutrient increased the symptoms intensity and re-duced the plant height. In such results, the symptoms of Zn deficiency were observed. The nutrients content, in leaves, were more affected by the treatment -FeZn, while the stem contents were affected under Zn omissions. The nutrient omission, single or multiple, in culture solution caused morphological changes and turn into a vis-ual symptoms, altered the dry matter, biometrical index and nutrient contents in castor bean plants.

The aim of this study was to provide information on the ecology and floristic composition of vascular epiphytes on specimens of licurizeiro (Syagrus coronata), palm tree native to the Brazilian Backlands, whose individuals were isolated in pasture areas in the municipality of Várzea da Roça - BA. The epiphytic species were classified according to their ecological category and dispersion forms. The vascular epiphytes were represented by 26 species, 21 genera and seven families, and Bromeliaceae (8 spp.), Cactaceae (7 spp.), Polypodiaceae (4 spp.) and Orchidaceae (3 spp.) the most representative. The true holoepiphytes and accidental epiphytes were the most frequent categories, gathering, respectively, 42.31% and 30.76% of the species inven-toried. Regarding the dispersion forms, it is observed the predominant of zoochoric species (14 spp.) while anemochoric were represented by 12 species. The results show the importance of licurizeiro in the maintenance of the epiphytic community in areas of Caatinga and show its role as maintainer of biological diversity in an-thropogenic environments.

This study aimed at determining the best irrigation frequency and main cultivar associated with the production of strawberry according to the irrigation management used. The experiment was carried out at the FEMO, linked to the URENM of the EPAMIG. The experiment was installed in split plots, with cultivars Camarosa, Dover, Oso Grande and Tudla on subplot and frequencies FR1, FR2 and FR3 in the plots in ran-domized block with four replications, totaling 48 experimental units. The fruits were harvested, quantified and classified as fruits commercial and non-commercial. Higher commercial fruit yield was observed in cultivar Oso Grande, mainly associated with characteristic fruit that fruit weight is equal or superior to 10g. The culti-var Dover was sole with a higher yield of commercial fruit when subjected to FR2. Regarding the number of commercial fruits, the cultivar Oso Grande showed yield higher than the 'Tudla'. The FR2 showed a better per-formance for all variables compared to FR3. Therefore, the cultivar Oso Grande showed better productive per-formance. Taking into consideration the irrigation’s frequency, and for higher strawberry yields, the frequen-cies FR1 and FR2 can be used.