Protected Environment Conditions Research Articles

Seletividade de herbicidas a genótipos de cana-de-açúcar

A cultura da cana-de-açúcar, por ter desenvolvimento inicial lento até 60 dias após a emergência, apresenta pouca capacidade competitiva com as plantas daninhas. Por isso, o uso de herbicidas nesse período é prática comum no canavial. No entanto, há variação entre genótipos de cana-de-açúcar na tolerância a herbicidas. Os genótipos pouco tolerantes podem ser intoxicados e, em alguns casos, ocorre redução da produtividade da cana-deaçúcar. Neste trabalho, avaliou-se a tolerância de três genótipos aos herbicidas ametryn, trifloxysulfuron-sodium e à mistura comercial desses, em 0,0, 0,5, 1,0 e 3,0 vezes a dose comercial recomendada. O experimento foi realizado em ambiente protegido. Foi empregado o delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos constaram dos genótipos SP80-1816, RB855113 e RB867515, combinados aos herbicidas ametryn, trifloxysulfuron-sodium e ametryn + trifloxysulfuron-sodium, nas doses de 0, 0,5, 1,0 e 3,0 vezes a dose comercial recomendada pelo fabricante. A intoxicação das plantas (%) foi avaliada aos 14, 28 e 42 dias após a aplicação dos herbicidas (DAT). As outras variáveis aferidas aos 80 dias após a brotação das gemas foram: área foliar e massa da matéria seca da parte aérea. Em geral, os genótipos SP80-1816 e RB85513 foram menos tolerantes aos herbicidas ametryn, trifloxysulfuron-sodium e à mistura formulada de ametryn + trifloxysulfuron-sodium do que o RB867515 em todas as doses. Eles apresentaram elevados índices de intoxicação aos 14, 28 e 42 dias após a aplicação dos herbicidas. Concluiu-se que o genótipo RB855113 foi o mais sensível aos herbicidas, seguido pelo SP80-1816, sendo o RB867515 o mais tolerante.

Soilless cultivation of some medicinal and aromatic herb plants under the conditions of Arabian Gulf region

Production of medicinal/aromatic (MA) herb plants to meet the ever increasing demand for these plants is a major challenge facing countries in arid and semiarid regions which are characterized by limited water and land resources. Recently, soilless cultivation of medicinal plants has gained a great attention in both protected environment and outdoor conditions, due to many advantages like potential for higher yields and quality, cleaner products, year round production, with minimized use of water in comparison to conventional soil-based cultivation. The objectives of this study were to introduce five highly valued MA crops (sage, German chamomile, Jordanian chamomile, thyme and mint) into Arabian Gulf region. As the region is characterized by harsh environment, fragile ecosystems and limited water resources and arable lands, and these crops are native to Mediterranean climates and are not being grown in Gulf region, therefore, these crops were cultivated using re-circulating soilless system, and their growth was evaluated and yield was compared to soil-based yields. Results of this research showed that all studied crops were well adapted to the soilless system and outyielded the soil cultivated by 264, 313, 220, 247, and 243%, of herbal biomass for sage, German and Jordanian chamomiles, thyme and mint, respectively with much less water use (up to 70% save). Flower yields of soilless grown German and Jordanian chamomile outyielded the soil cultivated by 199 and 334%m respectively. Results suggest that introduction of these crops into Gulf region was successful especially with using soilless technology with high water saving as well as a variety of other important herbaceous medicinal plants.

Comportamento de cultivares de manga (Mangifera indica L.) em relação à malformação

A malformação da mangueira causada pelo fungo Fusarium subglutinans Wollenweb & Reinking é provavelmente a doença que mais causa prejuízos à produção de manga no Brasil e em outros países produtores. Esse fungo foi isolado de uma planta-matriz da cultivar Tommy Atkins com avançados sintomas da doença, purificado e preparado para ser inoculado em 15 cultivares de manga nacionais e importadas. Inicialmente, foram inoculadas, em julho de 2000, 10 cultivares: Bourbon IAC - 100, Coração-de-Boi, Keitt, Parvin, Primor de Amoreira, Sensation, Smith, Surpresa, Tommy Atkins e Van Dyke. O segundo grupo foi inoculado em dezembro de 2000, com as cultivares: Adams, Bhadauran, Palmer, Princesa e Zill, e repetiu-se a inoculação com outras mudas das cultivares Primor de Amoreira, Sensation e Tommy Atkins, com a finalidade de se compararem as duas épocas de inoculação. Através dos dados obtidos com as plantas avaliadas nas duas épocas de inoculação, após 11 meses de observações, realizou-se o teste de médias Z para comparar a proporção de plantas doentes entre as cultivares, podendo-se concluir, com os resultados obtidos, que as cultivares Bhadauran, Palmer, Parvin, Sensation, Surpresa, Van Dyke e Zill apresentam menor porcentagem de plantas com sintomas de malformação ou menor progressão de sintomas em relação às outras cultivares inoculadas, para as condições de ambiente protegido em que foram realizados os ensaios.

MANGO CULTIVARS BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO FUSARIUM SUBGLUTINANS

The mango malformation, caused by the fungus Fusarium subglutinans Wollenweb & Reinking, is probably one of the diseases that causes more damages in the mangoes production in Brazil and other producing countries. This fungus was isolated of a Tommy Atkins plant with advanced symptoms of malformation, purified and prepared to be inoculated in 15 cultivars of national and imported mangoes. Initially, 10 cultivars had been inoculated in July/2000: Bourbon IAC -100, Coracao de Boi, Keitt, Parvin, Primor de Amoreira, Sensation, Smith, Surpresa, Tommy Atkins and Van Dyke. Another group was inoculated in December/2000, on the cultivars: Adams, Bhadauran, Palmer, Princesa and Zill, and with others cultivars Primor de Amoreira, Sensation and Tommy Atkins, that were inoculated in the first time, with the purpose to compare the two times of inoculation. Throughout the evaluated data at the two times of inoculation, after 11 months of evaluation, were maden the analysis of the variance in function of the involved sources of variation and the test of Duncan to compare the averages of inoculated cultivars. With the results obtained, the cultivars Bhadauran, Palmer, Parvin, Sensation, Van Dyke and Zill presents less percentage of plants with malformation symptoms or less progression of symptoms in relation to the others inoculated cultivars, under protected environmental conditions, where the assays were carried out.

Environmental effects on age-dependent mortality: a test with a perennial plant species under natural and protected conditions.

Most experimental studies of senescence have been done with short-lived organisms under controlled laboratory conditions and it is not clear whether the insights gained from these studies can be broadly generalized. This study was designed to detect senescence in a natural population and to compare the patterns of mortality for a single species in natural and protected conditions. It was done with Plantago lanceolata, a perennial plant for which the demography of a large population of individuals in their natural environment is relatively straightforward. An initial cohort of 10,000 individuals was established in the natural field environment. In order to separate the effects of environment- and age-dependent factors on mortality, an additional cohort was planted in the field one year later. To study the demography of mortality under protected conditions, a population of 1000 individuals was established in the greenhouse. The results of the comparative analysis of two different-aged cohorts in the field and of the field and greenhouse populations show that senescence patterns can be very plastic. The results show that senescence in the natural environment is caused by an increased vulnerability of older individuals to environmental stress. Under the protected environmental conditions of the greenhouse senescence was negligible.

Non-parametric statistical formulas for factors of safety of plant stems

A previously proposed statistical approach for computing factors of safety (i.e. numerical measures of mechanical reliability) for any load bearing structure, like a vertical plant stem, is here extended to cope with organic structures whose morphological or mechanical properties have Weibull frequency distributions. This approach is illustrated using the actual length L and critical buckling length Lerof flower stalks (peduncles) collected from isogenic garlic (Allium sativum) populations grown under windy field and protected glasshouse conditions. Our analyses of the data indicate that L and Lerof peduncles harvested from both populations have Weibull frequency distributions, that the factor of safety for glasshouse grown peduncles is very near unity (i.e. S=1.03), and that the factor of safety of field grown peduncles is 73% higher than that of glasshouse grown plants (i.e. S=1.73). Comparisons between the S -values computed on the basis of our formulas and on the basis of the quotient of the mean values of Lerand L for each of the two populations indicate that the statistical method gives biologically realistic S -values and that the difference in the S -values for stems grown under protected and unprotected environmental conditions likely reflects the effects of chronic mechanical perturbation (due to wind-induced drag) on normal stem growth and development. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.