Desempenho e saúde de frangos de corte não são prejudicados em função do teor de metanol da glicerina incluída em dietas

RESUMO: Em função da grande variabilidade na composição da glicerina oriunda do biodiesel, torna-se imprescindível a busca por informações que contribuam estabelecê-la com uma alternativa na alimentação de aves. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito da inclusão de glicerina com alto de teor de metanol em dietas para frangos de corte sobre o desempenho e parâmetros sanguíneos. Foram utilizados 90 pintos de corte machos da linhagem Cobb, com 8 dias de idade, distribuídos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado com três tratamentos (níveis de inclusão de 0, 6 e 12% de glicerina) e seis repetições de cinco aves cada, totalizando 18 unidades experimentais. As dietas foram formuladas a base de milho e farelo de soja para atender as exigências nutricionais e a glicerina utilizada continha 1,4% de metanol e 3158Kcal/kg de energia metabolizável. Aos 21, 33 e 42 dias de idade as sobras de ração e as aves foram pesadas para determinação do consumo de ração, peso médio, ganho de peso e conversão alimentar. Foram colhidos de 1 a 3mL de sangue venoso das aves, nos últimos dias de cada fase de criação (19-21, 31-33 e 40-42 dias de idade), para determinação do hematócrito, concentração de hemoglobina, reticulócitos, proteínas plasmáticas totais e fibrinogênio. Para avaliação da bioquímica sérica foram colhidos sangue venoso das aves sem anticoagulante, apenas na fase final da criação (40-42 dias). Os dados de desempenho, parâmetros hematológicos e bioquímicos obtidos foram submetidos à análise de variância. Utilizou-se o teste de Tukey com α=0,05 de probabilidade, para comparação das médias. Não foram observadas diferença estatística dos tratamentos sobre as variáveis de desempenho, parâmetros sanguíneos e bioquímicos, exceto para as proteínas plasmáticas entre 19 e 21, que aumentaram com a inclusão de glicerina, e para os reticulócitos que reduziram com a inclusão de glicerina. A inclusão de até 12% de glicerina com 1,4% de metanol residual em dietas de frangos de corte de 8 a 42 pode ser realizada sem prejuízos no desempenho e saúde dos mesmos

Hedging with futures contracts in the Brazilian soybean complex: BM&F vs. CBOT

This article analyzes the effectiveness of hedging Brazilian soy oil, soy meal, and soybeans in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and in the Brazilian Commodities and Futures Exchange (BM&F) to reduce the risk of financial loss due to commodity price fluctuations. The econometric results show that a cross-hedging strategy using the BM&F soybean futures contract is an instrument of low effectiveness for managing soy oil and soy meal price risk. Despite low effectiveness, the estimates demonstrate total advantage for soy meal hedging operations using CBOT soy meal futures contracts rather than cross-hedging using BM&F soybean futures contracts. With some exceptions, the results are also more favorable for hedging soy oil with soy oil futures contracts at the CBOT rather than cross hedging with soybeans at the BM&F. Conversely, Brazilian traders hedging soybeans receive more effective risk protection by trading soybean futures contracts at the BM&F than by trading soybean futures contracts at the CBOT

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora

Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil

Abstract An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country's biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and 23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes: trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa, and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique and diverse flora