THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF SEEDS FOR AGRICULTURE

Seeds present a fundamental role since the beginnings of agriculture, propelling the agricultural development of different people in different ages of human history. Its importance has been linked to the possibility of domesticating the most diverse plants in the past and, nowadays, of providing many biotechnological advancements represented by the most diverse cultivars and hybrids introduced into the market. However, the expression of all its capacities depends on the quality of this supply represented by the sum of physical, genetic, sanitary, and physiological attributes. This review shows how the physiological component of the quality of seeds has influenced the agricultural process for the most diverse crops, notedly, for major crops, forages, or vegetables. It is highlighted its central role in fulfilling the growing demands of a growing world population. We emphasize the preoccupation of research, development, and innovation actions in the sense of recognizing the factors that influence the physiological quality of seeds, developing and enhancing methods to estimate, preserve, and increase it, and how the adoption of high physiological quality seeds has influenced the development of the major crops.As sementes representam papel fundamental desde os primórdios da agricultura, impulsionando o desenvolvimento agrícola dos diferentes povos, em diferentes épocas da História da humanidade. Sua importância esteve ligada à possibilidade de domesticação dos mais diversos cultivos, no passado, e, atualmente, são portadoras de inúmeros avanços biotecnológicos, representados pelas mais diversas cultivares e híbridos lançados no mercado. A expressão de todas as suas potencialidades, porém, depende da qualidade desse insumo, representada pelo somatório de atributos, físicos, genéticos, sanitários e fisiológicos. A presente revisão pretende evidenciar como o componente fisiológico da qualidade de sementes tem influenciado o progresso da agricultura para os mais diferentes cultivos, notadamente, para as espécies de grandes culturas, forrageiras e hortaliças, ressaltando seu protagonismo para o atendimento das crescentes demandas de uma população mundial em constante crescimento. Destaca-se a preocupação das ações de pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação no sentido de conhecer os fatores que influenciam a qualidade fisiológica das sementes, desenvolver e aprimorar métodos para estimá-la, preservá-la ou incrementá-la e como a adoção de sementes de elevada qualidade fisiológica tem impactado o desenvolvimento dos principais cultivos

PHOSPHATE FERTILIZATION AND INTER-RELATIONSHIPS OF THE AGRONOMIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF AMARANTH SEEDS

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of different doses of phosphorus in the growth and development of plants and in the physiological quality of the seeds produced, as well as to identify the interrelationships between the morphological and physiological attributes. The experiment was carried out in the agricultural crop 2016/2017 in Federal University of Pelotas. The experimental design was a randomized block in which the treatments were arranged in five replications. The analysis of variance revealed a significance of 5% probability through the characters, plant height, dry mass of the plant shoot, seed yield, germination and accelerated aging these results demonstrate that these attributes are influenced by the P2O5 doses, in contrast, the chlorophyll index. The Amaranthuscruentus species expresses variability to the morphological attributes, yield components and seed quality produced in relation to the use of phosphate fertilization. Doses comprising 100 to 200 kg ha-1 of P2O5 tend to potentiate plant height, dry biomass accumulation, yield, germination and vigor of the seeds produced. Plants with greater stature and accumulation of biomass increase the proportion of photosynthetic pigments, being these determinants for the production and quality of seeds produced of amaranth in the extreme south of Brazil

Neotropical freshwater fisheries : A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)