The physical conditions of the soil are directly related to management practices and relief for- mat. Lack of proper management can lead to soil erosion and consequent degradation of these areas. Currently, studies of spatial variability analysis to enable better decisions and resolutions of such problems. The present study aimed to evaluate the spatial variability of soil water infiltration, soil density and texture in the hilly area of the degradation process. The survey was conducted in the hilly area cultivated with grassland, located be- tween Areia and Remigio, two towns from Paraíba state. The soil was sampled at the regular grid with mesh (20x20m) between sample points, making a total of 49 points, into two depths, 0 - 10 cm, 10 - 20 cm, totaling 98 samples. The analyze of spatial variability was doing by semivariogram geostatistical analysis, with data inter- polation by kriging and make maps. All of them physical attributes analyzed presents spatial dependence since no one showed pure nugget effect. It was verified through the maps that there was a very clear relationship be- tween infiltration and other soil physical characteristics, observing this correlation mainly in the upper south- west slope.

The largest production of castor bean ( Ricinus communis L .) focuses on Bahia savanna, where the change of land use to their cultivation has been considered a strategy of degraded areas recovery. However, changes in the native soil can arise environmental impacts as greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. We have assumed that higher GHG emissions come from a change of land use for castor bean cultivation and their sub - products contribute to GHG emissions. The objective of this study was to make the inventory of the emission of GHG resulting from the castor bean cultivation and their sub - products. It was done a study in the municipality of Irecê - BA and were evaluated: changes in carbon (C) soil stocks in cultivated areas with castor bean and Lo- cal native forest; a number of senescent leaves and the biomass produced epigeal; GHG emissions from the sub - products of castor bean. The results showed that the sum of senescent leaves and epigeal biomass obtained by castor bean pruning is more than 1.6 Mg ha - 1 ano - 1 and the castor bean residues used in this soil presented N 2 O emissions close to 600 μg m - 2 . The emissions from the use of castor oil biodiesel represented less than 10% of the emissions. The change in land use handled high emissions of greenhouse gases, accounting for 87% of the total in CO 2 eq. Compared to emissions estimated for sugarcane ethanol, castor biodiesel showed emissions 32% lower.

The objective of this st udy was to prepare drinks type soursop nectars sweetened with honey from Apis mellifera , by use of experimental planning, varying the concentrations of pulp and soluble solids content and evaluate the effect of these in the physical and chemical characteristics of processed drinks. Were used a factorial planning 2 2 with three experiments in central point resulting in seven experiments. The soursop pulp was diluted with potable water to obtain products in the concentrations of 25, 30 and 35% (w/w) of pulp. The correction of soluble solids to 11, 12 and 13 °Brix was made using honey from A. mellifera . It was ob- served that all formulations of drinks type soursop nectar sweetened with honey were in accordance with bra- zilian legislation. The mathematical equations fitted to the data of titratable acidity, total sugar, ratio, brightness and intensity of yellow were significant, and only the models fitted to the values of titratable acidity, total sug- ars and ratio were predictive. The responses of titratable acidity, total sugar, ratio, brightness and yellow color intensity were influenced by factors pulp concentration and total soluble solids content, wherein the concentra- tion of soursop pulp had greater influence on the acidity and the ratio and the content final total soluble solids of the beverages, modified by the addition of honey, showed greater influence on the content of total sugars and lightness values. The yellow intensity response showed influences of both factors.

The cowpea considered one of the main dietary sources of tropical and subtropical regions. To population of the regions North and Northeast of Brazil represents an important socioeconomic activity. The objective of this study was to evaluate growth characteristics of cowpea under the residual effect of phosphorus fertilization. Research conducted on the screened greenhouse of the Department of Soil Science and Agricul- tural Engineering, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Paraiba, Areia-PB. The substrates used were materials Oxisol textures of sandy clay and sandy clay franc that we fertilized with levels of 0, 40, 80, 120, and 160 kg ha-1 of P2O5. After fertilization, the cultures we performed with sunflower, corn and beans, respectively. Were analyzed the stem diameter, main branch length, leaf area, shoot dry weight and water con- sumption. The effect of residual phosphorus was significant for leaf area, dry weight of shoots and water con- sumption. The effect of soil was significant for all variables evaluated, except for the consumption of water. Phosphorus fertilization in sunflower, followed by maize cultivation has a positive effect on growth and water use by cowpea, third culture. The Oxisol of sandy clay loam texture led to the highest in diameter at ground level, main branch length and leaf area of cowpea.

This study aimed to evaluate the potential for milk production (MP), lactation length (LL) and calv- ing interval (CI), analyze the environmental component affecting these traits, and to estimate the heritability and repeatability for milk production in crossbreds of Murrah buffalo cows in the state of Alagoas, Brazil. Data was composed of 487 observations of MP from 136 lactations recorded between the years of 2000 and 2010. In the analysis of variance for PL, the fixed effects were season (1- October to March, 2 -April to September) and year of the beginning of lactation, calving order and the LL (covariate). For the analysis of LL only the fixed effect of year of the beginning of lactation was included, and finally for the CI analysis, year of the beginning of lactation and calving order. The estimates of covariance were obtained using unicharacteristic analysis by Bayesian inference method, applyingan animal model, through Gibbs sampling. The additive genetic, perma- nent environment and residual effects were included as random effects in the model. The averages (sd) of MP, LL and CI were 2,218.03 kg (408.18), 282.59 days (39.48) e 422.49 days (91.05), respectively. All the effects included in the models were important (P<0.01). The estimates of heritability and repeatability for PL were 0.29 and 0.69, respectively. The results suggest that there is a moderate genetic variability among individuals for PL, indicating the possibility to obtain gain using selection.

Fueron conducidos dos experimentos individuales en el municipio de Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Se empleó dos cultivares de melón, ‘Olimpic express’ (del tipo Cantaloupo) e ‘Iracema’ (del tipo Amarillo), para evaluar el crecimiento y la acumulación de macronutrientes, bajo el diseño de bloques al azar con siete tratamientos (épocas de muestreo) y tres repeticiones. Los muestreos de plantas fueron realizados a los 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49 y 56 días después del trasplante (DDT). El crecimiento fue lento hasta 28 DDT en ambos cultivares evaluados, intensificándose en el periodo siguiente, alcanzando a los 56 DDT, 246.4g planta-1, en ‘Olimpic express’,y 266.9 g planta-1, en ‘Iracema’, siendo la materia seca (MS) de los frutos correspondientes a 60% y 64% de la MS total, respectivamente. Mayores acumulaciones de N, P y K fueron obtenidos en los frutos, mientras de Ca, Mg y S en las hojas. Al final del ciclo, en ‘Olimpic express’, cuya productividad fue de 32 t ha-1, fueron acumulados 173.4, 110.1, 101.1, 26.9, 15.6 y 13.5 kg ha-1 de K, Ca, N, Mg, S y P, respectivamente, y en ‘Iracema’, cuya productividad fue de 38 t ha-1, fueron acumulados 136.0, 93.9, 84.1, 22.6, 15.4 y 9.5 kg ha-1 de K, N, Ca, Mg, S y P, respectivamente. En relación al total acumulado, las exportaciones de N, P, K, Ca, Mg y S en los frutos fueron de 61, 73, 66, 9, 35 y 39% (‘Olimpic express’)y 58, 70, 55, 6, 33 y 41% (‘Iracema’). Con una menor producción de frutos y una mayor acumulación de nutrientes, ‘Olimpic express’ ha demostrado ser menos eficiente en el uso de nutrientes que ‘Iracema’.

The objective of this work was to evaluate management systems for the control of Black Siga- toka in the cultivation of banana D'Angola cultivar. The experiment was installed and carried out at Embrapa Acre, Rio Branco - AC with the treatments distributed in randomized complete blocks with six replications consisting of different planting densities, corresponding to T1 - (1.111 plants ha-1; T2 - 1.666 plants ha-1; T3 - 2.000 plants ha-1; T4 - 1.333 plants ha-1; T5 - 2.500 plants ha-1 and; T6 - 1.111 plants ha-1 under rubber trees. The evaluations were carried out during two cycles of production. Plants of cv. D'Angola (AAB) cultivated in 3.0 x 3.0 m, shaded by the rubber trees, presented higher plant height, higher number of functional leaves at flowering and harvest, higher average bunch weight, greater weight of the bunches, longer cycle production and reduced severity of black sigatoka. Highest yields were obtained when we adopted higher densities. The banana intercropping with rubber trees proved to be a good alternative to permit cultivation of cv. D'Angola (long banana).

Considering that milk is susceptible to fraud, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of sodium citrate and fortifier in density and freezing point of milk. The addition of citrate in 0.1%, the maximum regulated by Brazilian legislation, was sufficient to decrease the average freezing point for 0.021 °H and increase the density average in 0.0008 g cm - 3 . In these samples was possible to add up to 5.6% water without exceeding the Brazilian standards density and freezing point. The fortifier added to milk in con- centrations higher than 0.05% decreased the average freezing point 0.0024°H compared to the control treat- ment. The average density difference only in the group with addition of 0.44% of tonic, an increase of 0.0034 g cm - 3 compared to the control treatment. However, the dilution recommended by the manufacturer (0.007%) not changed density and freezing point average of milk. The results showed that the addition of citrate in percent- ages permitted by Brazilians law was able to change the freezing point and the density of milk. It should be pointed that in direct UHT process the evaporation of water excess from milk with 0.1% of citrate is based on - 0.530 o H, it is possible that the removal of the incorporated water in UHT process could be incomplete, and can be present in percentages higher than 5%. Thus, the manufacturer recommended concentration of fortifier did not change the density and the freezing point of milk.

The cowpea bean (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is often attacked by defoliator insects. There are a great number of species of these defoliator insects and they cause huge damage to the plants. The most important being: Diabrotica speciosa e Cerotoma arcuata (both Coleóptera), Spodoptera frugiperda, Mocis latipes e Spodoptera cosmioides (both Lepidoptera). Understanding the relationship between the plague infestation and the productivity of the culture is one of the keys to the success of the integrate management of the cowpea bean. Studying the artificial defoliation process in order to simulate similar insect damages to the plants is useful. There are few research studies about the artificial defoliation in the cowpea bean plant. So, this study was developed to determine the level of economical damage inflicted by defoliator insects in cowpea bean plants in the Cultivar BR-17 Gurguéia. The experiments were conducted in the do Departamento de Fitotecnia do Centro de Ciências Agrárias da Universidade Federal do Piauí. The defoliation were in the order of 0%; 25%; 50%; 75% and 100%. The experiment was taken 25 days and 40 days after planting the cowpea bean plants. The production loss threshold of the cowpea bean in local condition in Teresina-PI is R$ 61.00.ha-1, which allows, through regression analysis, the following conclusion: the level of control of defoliator insects during the vegetative state is about 60% of defoliation; while in the reproductive state it is about 47%.

This study evaluated the effects fungicides with or without association with potassium phosphite on the control of the Asian rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi) of soybean. Two field tests (‘Coodetec- 219RR’ and ‘Emgopa-313’) were conducted (12/2005-4/2006) in Cristalina (Goiás, Brazil), in a complete ran- domized block design (Nine treatments; five replications). The treatments were with one and two applications of phosphite-K (1192 g a.i. ha-1 P2O5 + 596 g a.i. ha-1 K2O) + vegetable oil (VO - 0.5% v v-1), two applications of traditional fungicides (TF) [pyraclostrobin+epoxyconazole (66.5 + 25 g a.i. ha-1); methyl- thiophanate+flutriafol (300+60 g a.i. ha-1); tebuconazole (100 g a.i. ha-1)], and, one application of TF+phosphite and a second application of phosphite+VO. For ‘Emgopa-313’, product applications were made on V8 and R2 soybean growth stage, while for Coodetec-219RR on R1 and R5. Evaluations of disease severity (%DS) were made each seven days after product applications. After the first product application, all treatments significantly reduced DS. At the end of evaluations only treatments with TF significantly reduced DS. Yield and mass of 1000 seeds were significantly higher for treatments with TF. Phosphite-K applications decreased DS, but did not increase yield and mass of 1000 soybean-seeds.