Biological Behaviour of Murrah Water Buffaloes

Modest but constant and progressive is the importance that buffaloes are achieving at the scientific’s, producer’s and consumer’s societies. Feeding behaviour is a continuous act in animals. Motivation is a reversible process of the brain induced by external factors. So, consumption tends to be continuous until another stimulus such as satiation becomes dominant. The majority of large domestic animals is fed “ad libitum”. This originates different situations when they are over or underfed. That is the situation that makes the cyrcadian rithm an important tool to be used in order to achieve maximum gains in rangelands. For half a year, 3 groups of 10 animals each (2 males and 8 females) were observed recording their biological behaviour. Data analysis showed that grazing activity occurred from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. setting the maximum grazing period of six hours per day as long as forage is available. The informations allow to adopt strategies for further feeding studies

Efeitos do ataque de fungos de podridão nas características da madeira de eucalipto.

Resumo - Os fungos de podridão são conhecidos por degradarem a parte estrutural da madeira, porém poucos estudos existem sobre sua influência na madeira. Os fungos de podridão branca degradam a lignina deixando a madeira com uma coloração clara e os fungos de podridão parda, degradam a holocelulose, deixando mais escura. Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar alterações nas características da madeira após ter sofrido ataque fúngico em laboratório. Para este estudo, amostras de E. dunnii foram submetidas ao ataque de fungos de podridão branca (Pleurotus ostreatus), parda (Lentinula edodes) além de uma testemunha. As amostras foram autoclavadas e foram colocadas em vidros previamente inoculados com o fungo em solução ágar. Estas amostras permaneceram em incubadora a 25±2 ºC para o desenvolvimento dos fungos sem adição de água. Foram realizadas coletas aos 65, 131 e 219 dias após a implantação do experimento para análise de poder calorífico (PCS), teor de umidade (TU), teores de lignina (LIG), holocelulose (HOL) e extrativos totais (EXT), perda de massa (PM). Os dados foram submetidos à ANOVA e teste de Tukey. O ataque dos fungos não influenciou no PCS, LIG E HOL. Os fungos afetaram EXT, PM e TU. O resultado mais expressivo foi no TU, onde o teor médio nas amostras atacadas pelos fungos foi 66% superior à umidade das amostras sem ataque. Este resultado demonstra que a madeira submetida a longo período de secagem ao ar livre pode perder qualidade e diminuir a eficiência energética da queima devido ao elevado TU

The Critical Behaviour of the Spin-3/2 Blume-Capel Model in Two Dimensions

The phase diagram of the spin-3/2 Blume-Capel model in two dimensions is explored by conventional finite-size scaling, conformal invariance and Monte Carlo simulations. The model in its $\tau$-continuum Hamiltonian version is also considered and compared with others spin-3/2 quantum chains. Our results indicate that differently from the standard spin-1 Blume-Capel model there is no multicritical point along the order-disorder transition line. This is in qualitative agreement with mean field prediction but in disagreement with previous approximate renormalization group calculations. We also presented new results for the spin-1 Blume-Capel model.Comment: latex 18 pages, 4 figure

Procedimentos operacionais padrão gerenciais da Unidade de Garantia de Qualidade da Embrapa Hortaliças.

Procedimento Gerencial de Elaboração de Documentos; Procedimento Gerencial de Controle de Documentos; Procedimento Gerencial de Formação e Avaliação de Auditores Internos; Procedimento Gerencial de Execução de Auditoria Interna; Procedimento Gerencial de Controle de Registros; Procedimento Gerencial de Treinamento; Procedimento Gerencial de Verificação de Balança Analítica.bitstream/item/102927/1/doc-122.pd

Land-use change and carbon stocks: regional assessment of sugarcane areas in Brazil.

Abstract: In agricultural product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), emissions or removals of carbon (C) from land-use change can highly affect the global warming. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of biomass C values and stock change factors on land use change (LUC) emissions in areas of sugarcane expansion in Brazil. In this study, we used stratified random sample in order to estimate changes in land cover through geotechnologies and associated C stocks from literature data. For that, the total area was stratified by three criteria: soil type, % of native vegetation in 1998 and age of sugarcane plantation in 2018. The sample size represented 12.8% of the studied area (172,000 ha). To this end, a matrix of primary combinations was combined with spatial data such as land cover in 1998, soil types, biomes and Köppen climate classification. Estimates of C stock changes in soil and biomass were calculated the Stock-Difference Method, according to IPCC Guidelines and specialized literature. Respecting the uncertainties, this approach allowed to have an estimate of C balance in sugarcane fields at the regional level in Brazil. Three main recommendations: (i) values of FMG> 1.0 (FMG, stock change factor for management regime), should be used for sugarcane, but future research ratification is necessary; (ii) biomass C values of sugarcane biomass above 5 tonnes C ha-1 should be used, especially when sugarcane is harvested without burning; and (iii) as there is still no relationship between level of pasture degradation and C content in soil, biomass C values and pasture FMG should be carefully chosen in pasture conversion to sugarcane

Spatio-Temporal Tracking and Phylodynamics of an Urban Dengue 3 Outbreak in São Paulo, Brazil

The dengue virus has a single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome of ∼10.700 nucleotides with a single open reading frame that encodes three structural (C, prM, and E) and seven nonstructural (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5) proteins. It possesses four antigenically distinct serotypes (DENV 1–4). Many phylogenetic studies address particularities of the different serotypes using convenience samples that are not conducive to a spatio-temporal analysis in a single urban setting. We describe the pattern of spread of distinct lineages of DENV-3 circulating in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil, during 2006. Blood samples from patients presenting dengue-like symptoms were collected for DENV testing. We performed M-N-PCR using primers based on NS5 for virus detection and identification. The fragments were purified from PCR mixtures and sequenced. The positive dengue cases were geo-coded. To type the sequenced samples, 52 reference sequences were aligned. The dataset generated was used for iterative phylogenetic reconstruction with the maximum likelihood criterion. The best demographic model, the rate of growth, rate of evolutionary change, and Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) were estimated. The basic reproductive rate during the epidemics was estimated. We obtained sequences from 82 patients among 174 blood samples. We were able to geo-code 46 sequences. The alignment generated a 399-nucleotide-long dataset with 134 taxa. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that all samples were of DENV-3 and related to strains circulating on the isle of Martinique in 2000–2001. Sixty DENV-3 from São José do Rio Preto formed a monophyletic group (lineage 1), closely related to the remaining 22 isolates (lineage 2). We assumed that these lineages appeared before 2006 in different occasions. By transforming the inferred exponential growth rates into the basic reproductive rate, we obtained values for lineage 1 of R0 = 1.53 and values for lineage 2 of R0 = 1.13. Under the exponential model, TMRCA of lineage 1 dated 1 year and lineage 2 dated 3.4 years before the last sampling. The possibility of inferring the spatio-temporal dynamics from genetic data has been generally little explored, and it may shed light on DENV circulation. The use of both geographic and temporally structured phylogenetic data provided a detailed view on the spread of at least two dengue viral strains in a populated urban area