The aim of this paper was to evaluate economical viability and steers performance in grazing receiving supplements with increasing levels of crude protein in the rainy season and its correlation with the pasture's composition. The test animals were 21 not castrated steers supplemented with mineral supplement and multiple supplements with 20% and 40% of crude protein and heavy at the beginning and the end of the experiment, after being submitted to fasting from liquids and solids for 14 hours. For analysis of the economic viability was used the difference between the Total Revenue and Total Cost. The protein supplementation didn't influence of the animals performance in grazing. The average daily gain of animals was 0.849 kg. The content of crude protein in the cell wall was negatively correlated with animal performance, and the structural characteristics of the pasture just the mass of forage showed a strong and positive correlation. This activity in the studied period presented economic viability when considered return on capital of 8% a year.

Faced with the need for conservation of water resources it is necessary to better irrigation management. The objective of this research was to analyse the water requirement in Pernambuco State, Brazil, represented by the evapotranspiration reference (ET0), in diferents regimes annuals of precipitation: rainfall, regular and dry. The ET0 values were estimated through the Thornthwaite e Mather (1955) method starting from data originated by the registration of 45 climatological stations of the SUDENE (Superintendence of Northeast Development). In general, the results showed that the ET0 were variable on the three Mesoregion, reaching medium values from 915 to 1.549 mm year-¹. The Pernambuco State presents an annual water deficit in approximately 70% of its total area. The months that presented the greatest and smallest water requirements in the State were January and July, respectively. The knowledge of spacial and temporal distribuition of ETo on Mesoregions of Pernambuco bring benefits to producers who can make water management more suited to local crops.

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the vegetative growth, the chemical composition, the rain use efficiency and to determine the green and dry matter production of cactus forage cv. Italian (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill.), depending on planting spacing. The research was carried out at (EMEPA), in Soledade- Pb, from April 2007 to June 2008. The experimental design was in randomized blocks, with four repetitions. In order to evaluate crop under the four planting spacing (1 x 1; 1 x 0.5; 2 x 1; 2 x 0.5 m ) we measured plant height, number of cladodes per plant, and the order, length, width, perimeter, thickness and area of cladodes. There were no treatment effects (P > 0.05 ) on any of the growth variables evaluated, except for plant height and cladode width. The cactus pear showed low levels of fibrous carbohydrates, and planting spacing influenced levels of neutral detergent fiber. The phytomass production per area and rain use efficiency by cactus pear increased with increases in planting densities, with higher values observed for the spacing of 1 x 0.5 m; resulting in a greater quantity of forage produced per area and per unit of rain.

In response to defense against herbivores, plants produce one versatile bioactive molecules synthesized in plant secondary metabolism. This paper aimed to evaluate the efficiency of plant extracts on the population level of whitefly nymphs on tomato cv. IPA 6, assess the number of fruits per treatment, fruit weight, ripeness and irregular pith. The experiment was installed in the field with the tomato crop IPA 6, block design, making use of substances extracted from plants, etanolic extract straw (Ipomoea carnea subsp. Fistulosa), etanolic extract castor (Ricinus communis L.), aqueous extract tingui (Mascagnia rigida Griseb ), aqueous extract Mexican poppy (Argemone mexicana L.) and neem oil (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) for the control of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci biotype B). The spraying was carried out by spraying, between 16 and 18 h, with an interval of seven days. Statistical analysis performed by WinStat and percentage of treatment efficiency calculated by Abbott (1925). The straw (72.41%) and neem oil (67.26%) were the most effective on nymphs. The number and weight of tomato fruits did not differ significantly between treatments. In relation to irregular maturation, extracts of I. carnea and M. rigida were significant. The extracts of I. carnea, M. rigida and A. Mexicana shown to be effective in controlling the pith. All plant extracts used in this experiment show efficiency on nymphs of B. tabaci.

The cowpea is a leguminous of great importance for human consumption, providing a source of protein for most of urban population of northern Brazil, therefore the aim of this paper was to evaluate the efficiency of strains of Bradyrhizobium out in association with phosphate and potassium fertilization (PK) in cowpea at the field level in the municipality of Capitão Poço - PA. Two experiments were carried out in randomized blocks with four replications, consisting of five treatments, being two strains of Bradyrhizobium - BR 3262 and BR 3267, a treatment only with PK, another one with NPK in the formulation (10-28-20) and a control. It was evaluated the grain yield, the number of pods and weight of 100 seeds. Fertilization with phosphorus and potassium represented a significant increase in the yield of cowpea, however inoculation with both strains did not increase production.

The present study had as objective evaluates the physiologic behavior of different genetic groups of sheep created in the semi-arid paraibano in the dry and rainy times. Forty sheep were used, eight of each genetic group, distributed entirely in a randomized design. There was shift effect, for all the environmental variables and studied physiologic parameters. There were significant interactions of the factors genotypes, time and hour for the parameters, rectal temperature and breathing frequency. With relationship to the Index of tolerance to the heat (ITC) significant effect of the studied factors was not verified. With these results it can be ended that the races Santa Inês, Cariri and the products, resultants of crossings of the animals ½Dorper and ½Damara with sheep without defined race (SRD) they resemble each other in the adaptation aspect to the conditions of the semi-arid.

The Caatinga is one of the richest Brazilian biomes, however its biodiversity is constantly threatened by human activities, especially the use of fire for cleaning and/or increase areas for agricultural activities. In this study, it's determined the months and the days with highest risk of forest fires in the Seridó Ecological Station in Serra Negra do Norte-RN and was developed with daily data of precipitation and relative humidity of the years 1999-2004, collected in the Climatological Station, through Monte Alegre Formula. The results show that in January, February, March, April and May, the rainy season in the region, are the months with the lowest fire danger, are classified as null to very high risk, while August, September, October, November and December, dry season in the region, reached the highest degree of danger, being classified as high to very high risk. During the study period almost 75% of days had high to very high fire hazard while the levels null and small together reached more than 13%, more occurring in the months January to April.

The irregular offer of cupuaçu pulp in the harvest time, the high endable of the fruits and the form of conservation by freezing, are factors that cause difficulties in the offer of this product in the market of Rio Branco/AC. The purpose of this work was to dehydrate the cupuaçu pulp and evaluate the shelf life in a period of 90 days. The experiment was conducted in the Unity of Technology and Foods (UTAL) of Federal University of Acre (UFAC). Cupuaçu fruits came broked, despolped and sanitized. Portions of 300 g of pulp were submitted in the process of dehydration in oven with air circulation by a temperature of 60 °C for 46, 52 e 58 hours. After the dehydration, the samples were submitted to the following analysis titratable acidity, pH, totals solids soluble (oBrix), moisture determination, ascorbic acid and water activity (aw). The microbiologycal analysis involved of Salmonella, thermotholerant coliforms at 45 °C, mesophilic bacteria and yeasts and moulds, all for triplicats. The results showed significant effect of interaction between dehydration time and storage to variables ºBrix and ascorbic acid. The water activity and the pH kept stable during all the period of storage, while the level of ascorbic acid reduces by the dehydration time and storage. The dehydration of in natura cupuaçu pulp in conventional oven is a practicable method of conservation and storage for 90 days.

The red rice in Brazil is cultivated mainly in the Northwester region and practically unknown for major of the Brazilian population. This culture have a great importance for small farmers, but needs more studies. The objective of this research was evaluate agronomics traits, the seed physiological quality and the crude protein content of selected cultivars of red rice, Vermelho Pequeno and Vermelho Virgínia, from cultivation and selection in the UFRRJ, contrasting with the commercial cultivars, Caiapó and BRS Primavera, of white rice. The experiment was installed in November of 2004, in Seropédica, RJ, in the experimental design of randomized blocks with four repetitions. It was evaluated: plant height; harvest index; number of viable tillers/ m²; number of spikiest/panicle; percentage of fertile spikelets/panicle; weight of a thousand spikelets; seed water content; weight of 1000 spikelets; productivity; germination; first counting of the germination test and crude protein content. The Vermelho Pequeno cultivar presented higher productivity of grain, higher tillering capacity, higher spikelets production, medium size, index of harvest, crude protein content and quality seed to similar to that of commercial cultivars.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the utilization effects of two native cacti named mandacaru (Cereus jamacaru DC.) and xiquexique [Pilosocereus gounellei (A. Weber ex K. Schum.) Bly ex Rowl.] associated with sabiá (Mimosa caesalpinifolia Benth.) and flor de seda (Calotropis procera (Ait.) R.Br.) shrub hays on nutrient intake, milk production and composition of Saanen dairy goats¿. Eight goats averaging 43.4 kg were used in two 4x4 latin square experimental design. The experimental treatments consisted of four diets (30% native cacti + 30% shrub hay + 40% concentrate, on dry matter basis): xiquexique + flor de seda hay; xiquexique + sabiá hay; mandacaru + flor de seda hay and mandacaru + sabiá hay. The ingredients proportion of the concentrate in the diet was 57.5% algaroba (Prosopis juliflora (Sw) DC); 37.5% soybean meal and 5% mineral mixture. Significant differences were observed for voluntary intakes of dry matter, organic matter, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber, acidy detergent fiber, total carbohydrates, nonfiber carbohydrates and total digestible nutrients in relation to g/day and g/kg0.75. No significant differences were observed for milk production (averaged 1,294.39 g/day), and milk composition.