Tropical Flowers Research Articles

Enhancement of postharvest chilling tolerance of anthurium cut flowers by γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) treatments

Anthurium cut flowers, originally a tropical flower, cannot easily be stored at low temperatures, due to the risk of chilling injury (CI). In response to chilling stress, increment of phospholipase D (PLD) enzyme activity leads to releasing unsaturated fatty acids, which under peroxidation by lipoxygenase (LOX) results to declining membrane fluidity and manifesting chilling symptoms. In this study, the effects of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) treatment applied by preharvest spraying (1mM) or postharvest stem-end dipping (5mM, 15min at 20°C) on CI of anthurium cut flowers (cv. Sirion) stored at 4°C for 21 days were investigated. GABA treatment at 1 and 5mM by pre and postharvest treatment, respectively, significantly delayed spathe browning. The GABA treated anthurium cut flowers exhibited significantly lower PLD and LOX activities, which coincided with a higher unsaturated fatty acids/saturated fatty acids (unSFA/SFA) ratio. Also, anthurium cut flowers treated with GABA showed lower H2O2 accumulation, which results from higher antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) activity. These results suggest that GABA treatment can be used as a useful procedure for enhancing tolerance of anthurium cut flowers to postharvest chilling injury by decreasing PLD and LOX activities coincide with enhancing antioxidant system activity, which lead to lowering ROS accumulation and promoting higher unSFA/SFA ratio and ultimately maintaining membrane integrity.

Flower metabolomics: volatile compound profile, antioxidant capacity and LC-MS-TOF identification of flavonoids in various tropical flowers

Flower metabolomics: volatile compound profile, antioxidant capacity and LC-MS-TOF identification of flavonoids in various tropical flowers

Flowering stem storage of Heliconia psittacorumL. f. cv. Trópica

Heliconia psittacorum L. f. is a tropical flower species with high economic potential due to its diversity of shapes, colours and its long vase life. However, storage conditions (temperature and relative humidity; RH) for flower stems during transport is a particular issue to each cultivar determining duration of vase life. Flowering stems were obtained from a commercial plantation in Campo Grande, Iztaczoquitlán, Veracruz, Mexico. The variables evaluated over a 10 day storage period were: fresh weight, colour using the CIE model (L*, a*, b*), peroxidase activity (POX), respiratory intensity and ethylene. The temperature was in the range of 12–26°C, RH between 37 and 90% and light between 0 and 150μmolm−2s−1. A repeated measures experimental design for non-destructive variables was used and a completely randomized design for destructive variables. The conditions which best preserved the quality characteristics during the stem storage (α=0.05) were: 15°C, 63% RH and 0μmolm−2s−1; 16°C, 60% RH and 150μmolm−2s−1 and 12°C, 90% RH and 26μmolm−2s−1. The average vase life (VL) was 6.6 days with 15°C, 63% RH and 0μmolm−2s−1 and total postharvest longevity (TPL) was 16.6 days. In contrast the control treatment had a VL of 2.5 days and a TPL of 12.5 days (24±2°C, 60±5% RH and 10μmolm−2s−1). The presence of leaves increased the respiration, but there was no significant release of ethylene, hence, storage treatments did not affect the ethylene production.

IMPRINT OF S. PRZYBYSZEWSKI’S PROSE ON M. BULGAKOV’S LAST NOVEL

Stanislaw Przybyszewski’s and Mikhail Bulgakov’s prose has similar features due to common sources, as well as the influence of the Polish decadency on this great Russian novel, namely, its themes, characters, vocabulary, syntax and intonation pattern. This similarity is not absolute but it can be traced in quotes and allusions. Certainly, the demonology of these two authors has a lot in common (not including Loci communes of the Common Slavic folklore). Furthermore, millennial heretic traditions kindled people’s interest in the first third of the 20 th century. As a result, authors favoured such anthologies as «Satanism» which had been written by F. Sologub, V. Bryusov, Th. Mann, A. France and S. Przybyszewski. Therefore, Bulgakov’s idea to create the «novel about the Devil» was not new, however its religious and philosophical essence, aesthetic and moral focus, artistic representation were unmatched. The Master and Margarita’s love story is described in accordance with the «fin de siecle la belle epoque» traditions and referred to S. Przybyszewski’s most significant works. The novels of the Polish and Russian authors are focused upon creative process which is a way of life, premonition, new opportunity and the representation of love. As it is often shown in the decadent literature, an unrecognised genius can find solace only in the embrace of a loving woman. S. Przybyszewski and his friend, sculptor G. Vigeland, associated this female figure with death that reminds the sweetest of dreams. M. Bulgakov followed their suit in his creative works. First the Polish author and then the Russian writer created the image of a white road which leads to a strange paradise where European medieval bridges are surrounded by tropical flowers and palms. The loving couple gets there riding winged horses. The «Prince of Darkness» send them to «the kingdom of eternal spring where love makes its magic and fills the Master’s soul with a creative power; to the kingdom of golden sand which covers feet and erases all memories». While on earth the Polish author and his beloved«who protects his soul from any danger and represents his sole inspiration» choose Tom to be their successor. This artist revives beauty and suffers in the moonlit nights when «it seems that a shadowy and mysterious park hosts a solemn mass and the whole world is sacrificed to it as a being of flesh and blood».

Diversity and population dynamics of Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) in tropical flowers in Brazil.

Cultivation of tropical flowers has expanded considerably in Brazil, justifying efforts to determine the arthropods associated with it. Heliconia species are some of the most important tropical flowers in Brazil. Mites of the families Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae are commonly found on those plants. They disperse from flower to flower on hummingbirds. The objective of this study was to identify the diversity of mites of this group in tropical flowers, with emphasis on Heliconia species, in Brazil and to determine the fluctuation of the population of these mites in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo state. Specimens from Amazonas, Bahia, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and São Paulo States were examined. Mites of the genera Asca and Iphidozercon (Ascidae), Cheiroseius and Lasioseius (Blattisociidae), and Proctolaelaps and Tropicoseius (Melicharidae) were collected in flowers of four plant families, with Lasioseius being the most diverse genus. Overall, most specimens found belonged to Tropicoseius, especially Tropicoseius venezuelensis Baker & Yunker; this was the dominant species on five of 13 Heliconia species/hybrids considered in this study. Samples of panicles of Heliconia rostrata Ruiz & Pavón were collected every 2weeks, in Piracicaba. Six species of those mite families were found, among which Tropicoseius heliconiae Baker & Yunker and T. venezuelensis were the most numerous. The highest population levels of mites of those three families occurred at the beginning and at the end of the year, coinciding with the highest levels of rainfall, relative humidity and temperature, when plant flowers were most numerous and vigorous. Along each panicle, the highest mite densities were found in inflorescences of the three distal eighths of the panicles, where nectar and pollen were probably most abundant.

Comparative transcriptome analysis of Anthurium "Albama" and its anthocyanin-loss mutant.

Anthurium is one of the most important tropical ornamental plants in the world. The traded value of anthurium is second only to that of tropical orchids among the tropical flowers. The spathe is the main ornamental organ and its color variation mainly arises from anthocyanin contents. Understanding the molecular regulation of spathe color will accelerate new variety creation of anthurium. To announce gene expression differences between Anthurium andraeanum ‘Albama’ and its one unique anthocyanin-loss mutant, we collected spathes of the wild-type and the mutant from two stages in spathe development (the flower separates protrude from the sheath and the spathe is fully expanded) and extracted total RNAs for transcriptome profiling. Using short read sequencing technology (Illumina), 51,955,564, 53,822,224, 54,221,990 and 52,276,418 sequencing raw reads, respectively, for wild-type and mutant in the two stages were assembled de novo into 111,268 unique sequences (unigenes) with a mean length of 652 bp. 47,563 unigenes had significant hits to the sequences in the Nr database, and 32,768 unigenes showed significant similarity to known proteins in the Swiss-Prot database. 28,350 and 19,293 unigenes had significant similarity to existing sequences in the KEGG and COG databases, respectively. Further, analysis of differentially expressed genes in the comparison between wild-type and mutant and between the two different developmental stages was carried out, indicating that the expression of an extensive set of genes changed as the result of mutation. Taken together, these data demonstrated that the Illumina sequencing allowed de novo transcriptome assembly and could obtain differentially expressed genes between A. andraeanum wild-type and the anthocyanin-loss mutant. The expression differences of AN2 and UFGT might cause the anthocyanin-loss mutation.

POSTHARVEST DURABILITY OF HELICONIA BIHAI FLOWER STEM TREATED WITH ESSENTIAL OILS FOR INSECT CONTROL

The Heliconia species are among the most cultivated tropical cut flower plants. The bracts accumulate exudates, water and floral parts favoring the insects. The main practices to control insects are the immersion in insecticides solutions and the cleaning processes, and removing the floral parts. This research aimed to identify the insect stage, order and families associated to Heliconia bihai inflorescences, evaluate the insecticidal potential of essential oils from Piper marginatum, Piper aduncum and Eucalyptus citriodora, and the effect of these oils in postharvest durability. The oils were used at 1% concentration and Diazinon (2 g/L), Natuneem (1%) and water as control treatments. Inflorescences were dipped individually in plastic trays with 10 L of the treatments solutions. Insect mortality from the Hemiptera order was 100% in bracts immersed in the P. aducum solution. There was no significant difference in Diptera larvae percentage removed comparing the oil treatments and the commercial controls. There was no effect on the inflorescences durability in all treatments tested. It is necessary to develop further experiments using higher oil concentrations to establish the most suitable concentration for the insect control in H. bihai inflorescences that does not reduce the postharvest durability.

EFFECT OF ESSENTIAL OILS AND VEGETABLE EXTRACTS IN THE POSTHARVEST CONTROL OF PATHOGENS ON TAPEINOCHILUS ANANASSAE

Tropical flowers are widely grown in Brazil. Among the problems related to the cultivation of these plants, phytopathogens usually stand out because they cause losses in the production and postharvest. The present work had the aim of identifying the inflorescence spot disease pathogens in Tapeinochilus ananassae, and evaluating their in vitro and in vivo control using essential oils and vegetable extracts in the postharvest. Fusarium semitectum, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Curvularia eragrostidis and C. lunata were identified as causal agents of T. ananassae inflorescences spot disease. An in vitro test was done to select the best control treatment: 5, 10, 15 and 20% of three vegetal extracts (garlic, onion and Serjania lethalis); 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% of a commercial product (Ecolife®) and 1.25, 2.5, 3.75 and 5% of two essentials oils (citronella and Eucalyptus citriodora). The in vivo test to spot disease control was done making pulverizations on the inflorescences 21 and 3 days before the harvest, with garlic (5%), Ecolife® (1%), Citronella and Eucalyptus citriodora (1.25%). After the harvest, the inflorescences were inoculated with the pathogens and kept on a wet chamber for 48 h, in a maintenance solution (water and calcium sulfate 50 mM), before evaluation. In the in vivo control, all of the extracts and oils tested decrease significantly the disease incidence, except for F. semitectum, however, the inflorescences treated with oils showed phytotoxicity by the eighth day after the pulverization. Nevertheless, in the in vivo control with 0.25% oil concentration, there was no phytotoxicity and in spite of showing incidence decrease, only C. gloeosporioides, demonstrated significant difference to 5% of probability.

Coevolution: Puff Pollination in Tropical Flowers

A new study shows that birds plucking anthers of the Melastome, Axinaea, demonstrate a novel bird pollination mechanism. Each stamen of Axinaea offers a nutrient-rich, berry-like food body that, when bitten, releases a puff of pollen allowing transfer to stigmas by wind or the pollen-dusted bird.

English

Post-harvest treatment and proper handling is essential so that the flowers can maintain their quality during marketing and exporting. This review aims to gives information on the storage temperature used in postharvest handling of tropical flowers of Brazil. This review provides detailed specifications and recommendations for storing the six main Brazilian tropical flowers. Keywords: Floriculture, refrigeration, quality assurance, conservation African Journal of Biotechnology , Vol 13(11), 1198-1201

De novo characterization of the Anthuriumtranscriptome and analysis of its digital gene expression under cold stress

BackgroundAnthurium andraeanum is one of the most popular tropical flowers. In temperate and cold zones, a much greater risk of cold stress occurs in the supply of Anthurium plants. Unlike the freeze-tolerant model plants, Anthurium plants are particularly sensitive to low temperatures. Improvement of chilling tolerance in Anthurium may significantly increase its production and extend its shelf-life. To date, no previous genomic information has been reported in Anthurium plants.ResultsUsing Illumina sequencing technology, we generated over two billion base of high-quality sequence in Anthurium, and demonstrated de novo assembly and annotation of genes without prior genome information. These reads were assembled into 44,382 unigenes (mean length = 560 bp). Based on similarity search with known protein in the non-redundant (nr) protein database, 27396 unigenes (62%) were functionally annotated with a cut-off E-value of 10-5. Further, DGE tags were mapped to the assembled transcriptome for gene expression analysis under cold stress. In total, 4363 differentially expressed genes were identified. Among these genes, 292, 805 and 708 genes were up-regulated after 1-h, 5-h and 24-h cold treatment, respectively. Then we mapped these cold-induced genes to the KEGG database. Specific enrichment was observed in photosynthesis pathway, metabolic pathways and oxidative phosphorylation pathway in 1-h cold-treated plants. After a 5-h cold treatment, the metabolic pathways and oxidative phosphorylation pathway were significantly identified as the top two pathways. After 24-h cold treatment, mRNA surveillance pathway, RNA transport pathway and plant-pathogen interaction pathway were significantly enriched. Together, a total of 39 cold-inducible transcription factors were identified, including subsets of AP2/ERF, Zinc figure, NAC, MYB and bZIP family members.ConclusionOur study is the first to provide the transcriptome sequence resource for Anthurium plants, and demonstrate its digital gene expression profiling under cold conditions using the assembled transcriptome data for reference. These data provides a valuable resource for genetic and genomic studies under abiotic conditions for Anthurium plants.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-14-827) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Reflections and Musings on a Life Well Lived!

Reflections and Musings on a Life Well Lived! Patrick Bellegarde-Smith The contributions found herein from diverse scholars on Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s life and work are like a variegated bouquet of tropical (non-Western) flowers and fruits left at the feet of a master—I prefer the Haitian expression maître! Rolph’s scholarly production was hefty, done by a man who died too young. But this is just the beginning, as younger scholars still reflect upon, interpret, and reinterpret Trouillot’s oeuvre, his role and his presence in the academic corpus. More emanations of this presence will come later, after time and more maturation, after the dust settles further. Just as it was with those who came before him—C. L. R. James, Eric Williams, Walter Rodney, Oliver Cromwell Cox, and, of course, Jean Price-Mars, a long line of sophisticates whom I described in my own writings as passionate and objective—Rolph dared to reassess the position of a small and ignored but prominent state, Haiti, within prevailing historico-socio-economic constructions of the Western mainstream. His was a cri du coeur, coming as it did from an artist-cum-social scientist. In this respect, he reflected other Haitian writers who had given us trenchant analyses of our realities through the bias of literary production. And these two parts of his personality, fully integrated in his persona, made him an attractive figure and propelled him to prominence. He left us young, but accomplished a lifetime of work! I met Rolph on a number of occasions, surrounded by the adoring young men and women to whom he gave permission to think other thoughts about the world in which they lived, particularly those of us who, to cite José Martí, lived “in the belly of the monster.” But I envied those who knew him ‘before,’ in the years before he became famous and adulated. I yearned for that youngster the songster who felt everything intensely, the poet, the creole bard who suffered alongside us all. The Rolph that intrigues me thus is the one that existed before ‘the transformation’ into an anthropologist who left his mark beyond anthropology. That’s the Rolph I want, but can’t recover. I suspect that this link would connect me [End Page 168] to his antecedents and to his ancestry, to the family—his—I had come to cherish over several decades. I credit his father and his uncle for giving me the sweet bitter taste of my own country’s history, leaving me wanting more. Ernst Trouillot was my history teacher at College Saint-Martial. What an incubation this must have been for Rolph, surrounded by elders and contemporaries in a family that had given and continues to give unstintingly to Haiti as artists, poets, and novelists. I had a glimpse of that younger man when, over Rhum Barbancourt, he became the storyteller I knew him to be, surrounded by contemporaries—the youngsters having been banished to nearby bars. His lodyans, hilariously funny at times, were always on point, and I felt often that he was voye pwent; his arrows fell where they were intended. On a steamy night in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, he launched into a funny and perspicacious analysis of then-President Aristide that left me wanting more. . . . I was reminded of the lodyans of my childhood, in the humid nights of Port-au-Prince in full black-out mode, that culminated in the retelling of jokes about Tonton Nord Alexis and all others who had quickly climbed the heights of Haitian political power and fallen as abruptly. This funny side of Rolph made perfect sense, but he retained the deft touch of an artist. He was “real.” I was especially sensitive to the fact that both of us had reached similar conclusions about the stress and the struggle between state and nation. As early as 1970, I had argued that democracy would exist in Haiti only when the structures of the state found concordance with the cultural institutions of the nation. He also reached that conclusion. I was hopeful that he would go further, and follow me in my prescription for resolving the crisis when I wrote that...

Clouds and temperature drive dynamic changes in tropical flower production

Competing influences on tropical forest productivity, such as changes in temperature, light and precipitation, can be difficult to disentangle. Now, analysis of how clouds, temperature and precipitation affect flower production in two contrasting tropical forests indicates that temperature is a critically important variable for tropical forest flower production.

The socioeconomic and technical status of cut flower producers in Tabasco, Mexico

AbstractM.I. Saldana y Hernandez, R. Gomez, J.M. Pat, J.D. Alvarez, J. Perez, and C.F. Ortiz. 2013. The socioeconomic and technical status of cut flower producers in Tabasco, Mexico. Cien. Inv. Agr. 40(1):5-15. Floriculture in Tabasco, Mexico is part of a diversification and increasing agricultural income, which has the potential for outstanding growth. To determine the socioeconomic status as well as the technical advancement of this sector, surveys were conducted of cut flower producers and combined with official statistics. Socioeconomic and technological indicators showed that 38% of the producers had a high standard of living and 69% of farmers had three or more years of experience in flower cultivation. Most farmers owned their land (66%), and their educational attainment was above the national average. Most of the producers did not depend exclusively on their revenues from flowers. The average income for a cultivated area was $936.33 USD ha -1 ·yr.The technological level and management of the plantations was very different among farms. The yield and quality of the production could be improved through improved handling of weeds, watering and drainage. Plant diseases and pests are not restricting growth at this time. Currently, only 11% of the production is marketed, which means that a national and international market needs to be developed. In addition, it was found that the infrastructure for watering, production and post-harvest is insufficient to develop the activity for the export market.Key words: Florists, socioeconomic levels, technological usage, tropical flowers.

Aclimatização de mudas micropropagadas de Bastão do Imperador em diferentes volumes de recipientes

É crescente o mercado de flores tropicais no Brasil. No nordeste, por causa do clima, torna-se difícil a aclimatização dessas plantas. Portanto, este trabalho tem por objetivo determinar o recipiente mais adequado para aclimatizar mudas micropropagadas de bastão do imperador cv. Porcelana, em ambiente protegido. O experimento foi realizado em estufa e as mudas utilizadas foram obtidas por micropropagação. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi de blocos ao acaso, com quatro tratamentos (volumes) e cinco repetições. Os volumes dos recipientes testados foram: V1 - 50 cm³ (Copo pequeno - CP); V2 - 150 cm³ (Tubete pequeno - TP); V3 - 300 cm³ (Tubete grande - TG); V4 - 450 cm³(Vaso pequeno - VP). Foram coletados dados correspondentes ao número de folhas (NF), altura da muda (AM), diâmetro do pseudocaule (DP), massa fresca da parte aérea (MFPA), massa fresca do sistema radicular (MFSR), massa seca da parte aérea (MSPA) e massa seca do sistema radicular (MSSR). Foi realizada a análise de variância e os resultados de natureza qualitativa foram submetidos ao teste de média. O vaso de 450 cm³ é o recipiente mais adequado para aclimatização de bastão do imperador, pois proporcionou melhor desenvolvimento das mudas.

FLIES - The Natural History and Diversity of Diptera

Human knowledge will be erased from the world’s archives before we possess the last word that a gnat has to say to us. -Henri Fabre- The new book, FLIES, tells us a lot about what gnats and their relatives have to tell us about nature, would we but listen attentively. The author, Stephen Marshall, began his biological interests in beetles and then somehow went to the dark side, FLIES. This reviewer began his career in beetles and stayed put; that is what qualifies him as a reviewer of this simply superb book Steve Marshall has produced both in text and images. Why? It’s in the subtitle: the Natural History and Diversity of Diptera, the key word being diversity by which Marshall means many different kinds. Beetles and parasitic wasps are universally touted as the hyper-diverse and divergent groups of insects, so why does Marshall claim that Flies also exhibit such diversity in the natural world? In doing so, he sets himself apart from what more focused Dipterists have usually done, that is stay the course, look at one genus, one family, one region at a time; not much diversity displayed on their watch, for sure. Marshall, on the other hand, took on the entire dipteran Order, globally, with hundreds of superb photos (adults and immatures) that he took in the field over years of searching out fly species richness. He added an up-to-date text covering all taxa of the entire Order at the subfamily and tribal levels with hundreds of examples and images named at the genus and/or species level. Marshall’s FLIES is written and imaged for both the academic and the enthusiastic layperson. It contains some 2000 color images of flies in their natural environment, nearly all taken by the author. He has selected (out of some 160,000 named species of flies), those that he finds especially fascinating and those essential for demonstrating global dipteran diversity in form and function. The latter, form and function, speak directly to the astounding diversity and divergence of dipterans and justify including them along with the celebrated richness and abundance of beetles and parasitic wasps. Marshall, in FLIES, has justified that leap with his broad coverage and excellent story telling about flies’ lives. Such dipteran diversity is a mixed blessing for the public and for scientists alike. Who wants to see a blow fly from your neighbor’s garbage bin walking around on your chocolate cake, or a dozen mosquitos landing on you when you are trying patiently to photograph a hummingbird at a tropical flower in an Amazonian Heliconia patch? On the other hand, colorful hover flies on a yellow flower (Marshall’s book cover jacket) are part of nature’s exquisite beauty. While many groups of flies are vectors of devastating human and animal diseases and pests of crops and forests, others are important pollinators, recyclers, and beneficial control agents of insect pests. Marshall’s text tells compelling stories about all these kinds of flies that are easily read by citizen naturalists and high-schoolers in science class, as well as professional biologists of all walks of study. While Marshall’s introduction claims that “flies rule!” and his book sets out to prove that claim, Coleopterists and Hymenopterists certainly will argue that point. However, this reviewer has to agree that in the Amazon Basin during the rainy season there is more fly abundance by far in the rain forest canopy than any other group of insects (except relatively species-poor but abundant ants). This is thanks to one family of dipterans, the fungus gnats, Mycetophilidae (see Marshall’s pages 139-140) that emerge by the multimillions, as fungi reach their fruiting peak. While flies might not truly “rule,” gnats do have a lot to say about temperate and tropical fly abundance, something that Henri Fabre would appreciate. Without a doubt, Marshall sets high standards with this and his previous book, Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity, (also, Firefly Books). These treatments offer a challenge to entomologists of other ordinal taxa to produce similar books. Should that come to pass, and considering that insect and their relatives constitute three-fourths of life on earth, we humans would have a far better understanding of the natural world and our place in it.

Potential geographical distribution of the red palm mite in South America

Among pests that have recently been introduced into the Americas, the red palm mite, Raoiella indica Hirst (Prostigmata: Tenuipalpidae), is the most invasive. This mite has spread rapidly to several Caribbean countries, United States of America, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. The potential dispersion of R. indica to other regions of South America could seriously impact the cultivation of coconuts, bananas, exotic and native palms and tropical flowers such as the Heliconiaceae. To facilitate the development of efficacious R. indica management techniques such as the adoption of phytosanitary measures to prevent or delay the dispersion of this pest, the objective of this paper was to estimate the potential geographical distribution of R. indica in South America using a maximum entropy model. The R. indica occurrence data used in this model were obtained from extant literature, online databases and field sampling data. The model predicted potential suitable areas for R. indica in northern Colombia, central and northern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, east French Guiana and many parts of Brazil, including Roraima, the eastern Amazonas, northern Pará, Amapá and the coastal zones, from Pará to north of Rio de Janeiro. These results indicate the potential for significant R. indica related economic and social impacts in all of these countries, particularly in Brazil, because the suitable habitat regions overlap with agricultural areas for R. indica host plants such as coconuts and bananas.

Soluções conservantes e pulsing na pós-colheita de Zingiber spectabile

Os aspectos pós-colheita de flores tropicais ainda são pouco conhecidos, não havendo uma metodologia estabelecida para esta etapa do processo produtivo. Assim, objetivou-se avaliar o efeito de soluções conservantes e sacarose na conservação pós-colheita de sorvetão (Zingiber spectabile Griff.). Hastes florais de, aproximadamente, 40,0 cm, com brácteas túrgidas e coloração característica, foram colhidas e submetidas a um processo de limpeza, em laboratório da Universidade Federal de Lavras, em Lavras (MG), em 2010. Posteriormente, foram dispostas em recipientes plásticos, contendo 1,0 L de solução correspondente a diferentes tratamentos: água pura (controle); conservante comercial Crystal Clear® (7,5 mL L-1); hipoclorito de cálcio (5%); conservante comercial Florissant® (1 pastilha L-1); e pulsing com Hydraflor-100® (16,0 mL L-1) e com solução de sacarose (10%). O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, com seis tratamentos e quatro repetições, utilizando-se três inflorescências por repetição (parcela). Os tratamentos foram mantidos em sala com temperatura de 18ºC e umidade relativa de 70%. A qualidade visual foi avaliada com base em uma escala de notas, sendo, diariamente, avaliados o volume absorvido e a massa fresca das hastes florais. O uso de pulsing com Hydraflor-100® proporcionou maior massa de hastes florais e maior período de comercialização de sorvetão.

Adubação orgânica, mineral e organomineral e sua influencia no crescimento da helicônia em Garanhuns-PE

As helicônias se destacam pela beleza e variedade de formas e cores e estão entre as flores tropicais mais comercializadas no mundo. Foi avaliado o crescimento e o desenvolvimento de Heliconia psittacorum x H. spathocircinata, cv. Golden Torch, quanto à adubação orgânica e mineral. O experimento foi conduzido em campo, em delineamento inteiramente casualizado. Os tratamentos foram constituídos por quatro dosagens de adubo (testemunha (T1) solo local; esterco de boi (T2); adubo mineral NPK (T3) e esterco de boi + NPK (T4)), em dez repetições. Foram avaliados a altura da planta, número de brotações, época do florescimento, número, tamanho e peso das inflorescências. A combinação da adubação mineral (NPK) e orgânica (esterco) (organomineral) afetou significativamente a altura das plantas, apresentando um aumento de mais de 23% quando comparada com o controle aos 330 dias após o plantio. Aos seis meses de cultivo, todas as plantas exibiam um crescimento bastante homogêneo e vigoroso, sem sintomas visuais de deficiência nutricional, evidenciando que a adubação química associada ao esterco bovino (organomineral) é a mais recomendada para o cultivo de helicônia cv. Golden Torch. Essa cultivar pode ser bem adaptada às condições de Garanhuns.

Perfil da produção de flores tropicais no estado do Rio de Janeiro

<p>Este trabalho teve como objetivos caracterizar o sistema produtivo e identificar as principais limitações da produção e comercialização de <em>Heliconia, Alpinia, Etlingera </em>e <em>Anthurium </em>no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Os dados da pesquisa foram gerados mediante a aplicação de questionário, por meio de visitas e entrevistas pessoais com onze dos quatorze produtores do Estado. A maioria dos produtores está na atividade há cinco anos ou menos (73%). A atividade é desenvolvida por um pequeno número de produtores, sendo de caráter econômico secundário. O cultivo é feito a pleno-sol (<em>Heliconia, Alpinia </em>e <em>Etlingera</em>) e sob cultivo protegido (<em>Anthurium</em>) predominantemente, com manejo integrado de adubação numa floricultura irrigada, cujas principais limitações são, em ordem decrescente de importância: deficiência na divulgação do produto, no escoamento da produção, na assistência técnica especializada, na estrutura inadequada da Cadeg (Centro de Abastecimento do Estado da Guanabara) e no preço do produto. O mercado de flores tropicais no Rio de Janeiro é um ambiente comercial ainda não consolidado e exigente em ações mercadológicas para o seu desenvolvimento.</p>