Factorial Economic Planning Applied to Agricultural Experimentation

Innovation may be limited by the scarceness of resources, such as financial, homogeneous area, skilled labor or other research needs, for example the difficulty in experimental control of large areas in the field. In research areas such as chemistry and physics, designs are used in such a way that when compared to the agronomic designs, they result in a reduced number of experimental units, which in this work are called economic designs. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify significant factors and effects (p-valu

Extração do óleo da semente da ameixa amarela (Eriobotrya japonica)

A ameixa amarela (Eriobotrya japonica) é uma fruta cítrica de origem asiática, cultivada no sul e sudeste do Brasil. As frutas contêm de 3 a 5 sementes que são consideradas resíduos industriais e o óleo presente nestas sementes apresenta elevados níveis de polifenóis, que ajudam a combater radicais livres, podendo se tornar uma possível aplicação na área alimentícia e química. Neste sentido, este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar diferentes condições de extração do óleo presente na semente da ameixa amarela. A fruta madura foi colhida no município de Chapecó/Santa Catarina e as sementes foram retiradas manualmente e a extração foi realizada pelo método de Soxhlet. Através de um planejamento fatorial completo 2², em duplicata, variou-se o tipo de solvente (hexano e etanol) e o tempo de extração (60 e 120 min). Os resultados mostraram que apenas o tipo de solvente foi significativo, sendo que, o solvente mais eficaz foi o etanol extraindo 15% de óleo. O modelo matemático obtido foi preditivo e explica 99,16% das respostas obtidas por ele. O solvente etanol, por ser oriundo de recursos renováveis, abre portas para futuras pesquisas na área de extração, em comparação com o solvente hexano, que pode deixar resíduos tóxicos nos óleos

Adsorption and incorporation of the zinc oxide nanoparticles in seeds of corn: germination performance and antimicrobial protection

The treatments of the seeds are important procedures applied by the agronomical area to improve the culture yield. From these procedures the micronutrients are available for the seeds before and during the germination stages. One high challenge is make efficient these treatment processes and to ensure the adsorption and the incorporation of these micronutrients in the seeds and to improve its performance in the germination phase. In this work studies explored the optimization of the incorporation process and the characteristics of the zinc oxide clusters adsorbed on the surface of the seed. The results were associated with the agronomic responses during the germinations stages of the seeds of corn. The seeds were treated in suspensions containing different concentrations of nanoparticles of zinc oxide and during different treatment times. The adsorptions in the corn surface and the absorption of the nanoparticles for the inner of the seeds were studied together with its antibacterial characteristics and correlated with the germinations indicators. The results showed that is possible to incorporate nanoparticles of zinc oxide in inner of the seeds of corn and improve the germinations indicators. Antibacterial protection was aggregated on the seeds of corn. It´s possible to incorporate 0.280 mg of zinc oxide nanoparticle per seed mass in inner of seeds with the optimal treatment conditions with nanoparticle concentration of 50 mg/L in the suspension and with treatment time of 180 minutes. With the optimal treatment concentration the normal plant percentage increase of 2.70% in relationship to the seeds not treated

POLÍMERO BIODEGRADÁVEL ANTIMICROBIANO ATRAVÉS DA ADITIVAÇÃO COM COMPOSTOS À BASE DE ZINCO

Antimicrobial packaging is a promising type of active packaging, which has an antimicrobial agent incorporated into the polymer matrix, capable to eliminate or inhibit deteriorating and/or pathogenic microorganisms. The zinc compounds are antimicrobial agents commonly used to confer this feature. The objective of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of biodegradable Ecoflex® films with 1% and 2% (w/w) zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and 1% and 2% (w/w) glass microparticles doped with ionic zinc (Zn MCs), against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The sample’s biodegradation in soil also were studied. Microbiological results showed that biodegradable polymeric films obtained were effective to inhibit and/or kill S. aureus and E. coli at the initial concentration of 104 CFU.mL-1 after 24 h of contact. When evaluated the biodegradation of the polymers containing the additives, the results showed that the addition of zinc compounds to the biodegradable polymer did not affect its biodegradability characteristic. The antimicrobial biodegradable films developed have potential application to the food packaging industry

ANTIMICROBIAL BIODEGRADABLE POLYMER THROUGH ADDITIVATION WITH ZINC BASED COMPOUNDS

<p></p><p>Antimicrobial packaging is a promising type of active packaging, which has an antimicrobial agent incorporated into the polymer matrix, capable to eliminate or inhibit deteriorating and/or pathogenic microorganisms. The zinc compounds are antimicrobial agents commonly used to confer this feature. The objective of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of biodegradable Ecoflex® films with 1% and 2% (w/w) zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and 1% and 2% (w/w) glass microparticles doped with ionic zinc (Zn MCs), against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The sample’s biodegradation in soil also were studied. Microbiological results showed that biodegradable polymeric films obtained were effective to inhibit and/or kill S. aureus and E. coli at the initial concentration of 104 CFU.mL-1 after 24 h of contact. When evaluated the biodegradation of the polymers containing the additives, the results showed that the addition of zinc compounds to the biodegradable polymer did not affect its biodegradability characteristic. The antimicrobial biodegradable films developed have potential application to the food packaging industry.</p><p></p