Genetic evaluation of Jatropha curcas: an important oilseed for biodiesel production

Jatropha curcas, internationally and locally known, respectively, as physic nut and pinhão manso, is a highly promising species for biodiesel production in Brazil and other countries in the tropics. It is rustic, grows in warm regions and is easily cultivated. These characteristics and high-quality oil yields from the seeds have made this plant a priority for biodiesel programs in Brazil. Consequently, this species merits genetic investigations aimed at improving yields. Some studies have detected genetic variability in accessions in Africa and Asia. We have made the first genetic evaluation of J. curcas collected from Brazil. Our objective was to quantify genetic diversity and to estimate genetic parameters for growth and production traits and seed oil content. We evaluated 75 J. curcas progenies collected from Brazil and three from Cambodia. The mean oil content in the seeds was 31%, ranging from 16 to 45%. No genetic correlation between growth traits and seed oil content was found. However, high coefficients of genetic variation were found for plant height, number of branches, height of branches, and stem diameter. The highest individual narrow-sense heritabilities were found for leaf length (0.35) and width (0.34), stem diameter (0.24) and height of branches (0.21). We used a clustering algorithm to genetically identify the closest and most distant progenies, to assist in the development of new cultivars. Geographical diversity did not necessarily represent the genetic diversity among the accessions collected. These results are important for the continuity of breeding programs, aimed at obtaining cultivars with high grain yield and high oil content in seeds

Produção e valor nutritivo da forragem de capim-elefante em dois sistemas de produção.

Esta pesquisa foi realizada com o objetivo de avaliar a produção e o valor nutritivo da forragem de capimelefante cultivado em sistemas convencional e agroecológico. No sistema convencional, o capim-elefante foi estabelecido em cultivo exclusivo, em linhas com espaçamento de 1,4 m e, no sistema agroecológico, em linhas afastadas 3 m. Nas entrelinhas, estabeleceu-se azevém no período hibernal para desenvolvimento de espécies de crescimento espontâneo no período estival. Avaliaram-se a massa, a produção e a composição botânica e estrutural da forragem e a carga animal. Amostras de simulação de pastejo foram coletadas para determinação dos teores de proteína bruta e fibra em detergente neutro e da digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca e matéria orgânica. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado com dois tratamentos (sistemas convencional e agroecológico) e duas repetições (piquetes). Valores mais elevados para massa de forragem, produção de forragem, taxa de acúmulo diário e carga animal foram observados no sistema convencional. A relação folha:colmo foi similar entre os sistemas. Valor mais elevado de proteína bruta foi observado no sistema agroecológico. O capim-elefante sob manejo convencional apresenta maior produção de forragem, com menores teores de proteína bruta. O sistema agroecológico apresenta melhor distribuição da produção de forragem no decorrer do ano

Search for the Zγ decay mode of new high-mass resonances in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter presents a search for narrow, high-mass resonances in the Zγ final state with the Z boson decaying into a pair of electrons or muons. The √s = 13 TeV pp collision data were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and have an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. The data are found to be in agreement with the Standard Model background expectation. Upper limits are set on the resonance production cross section times the decay branching ratio into Zγ. For spin-0 resonances produced via gluon–gluon fusion, the observed limits at 95% confidence level vary between 65.5 fb and 0.6 fb, while for spin-2 resonances produced via gluon–gluon fusion (or quark–antiquark initial states) limits vary between 77.4 (76.1) fb and 0.6 (0.5) fb, for the mass range from 220 GeV to 3400 GeV

Search for lepton-favour violation in high-mass dilepton final states using 139 fb−1 of pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is performed for a heavy particle decaying into different-flavour, dilepton final states, using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at √s = 13 TeV collected in 2015–2018 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Final states with electrons, muons and hadronically decaying tau leptons are considered (eμ, eτ or μτ). No significant excess over the Standard Model predictions is observed. Upper limits on the production cross-section are set as a function of the mass of a Z′ boson, a supersymmetric τ-sneutrino, and a quantum black-hole. The observed 95% CL lower mass limits obtained on a typical benchmark model Z′ boson are 5.0 TeV (eμ), 4.0 TeV (eτ), and 3.9 TeV (μτ), respectively

Inclusive-photon production and its dependence on photon isolation in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV using 139 fb−1 of ATLAS data

Measurements of differential cross sections are presented for inclusive isolated-photon production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV provided by the LHC and using 139 fb−1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment. The cross sections are measured as functions of the photon transverse energy in different regions of photon pseudorapidity. The photons are required to be isolated by means of a fixed-cone method with two different cone radii. The dependence of the inclusive-photon production on the photon isolation is investigated by measuring the fiducial cross sections as functions of the isolation-cone radius and the ratios of the differential cross sections with different radii in different regions of photon pseudorapidity. The results presented in this paper constitute an improvement with respect to those published by ATLAS earlier: the measurements are provided for different isolation radii and with a more granular segmentation in photon pseudorapidity that can be exploited in improving the determination of the proton parton distribution functions. These improvements provide a more in-depth test of the theoretical predictions. Next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from JETPHOX and SHERPA and next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from NNLOJET are compared to the measurements, using several parameterisations of the proton parton distribution functions. The measured cross sections are well described by the fixed-order QCD predictions within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties in most of the investigated phase-space region

Measurements of Zγ+jets differential cross sections in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Differential cross-section measurements of Zγ production in association with hadronic jets are presented, using the full 139 fb−1 dataset of s√ = 13 TeV proton–proton collisions collected by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the LHC. Distributions are measured using events in which the Z boson decays leptonically and the photon is usually radiated from an initial-state quark. Measurements are made in both one and two observables, including those sensitive to the hard scattering in the event and others which probe additional soft and collinear radiation. Different Standard Model predictions, from both parton-shower Monte Carlo simulation and fixed-order QCD calculations, are compared with the measurements. In general, good agreement is observed between data and predictions from MATRIX and MiNNLOPS, as well as next-to-leading-order predictions from MADGRAPH5_AMC@NLO and SHERPA

Search for non-resonant production of semi-visible jets using Run 2 data in ATLAS

Semi-visible jets, with a significant contribution to the event's missing transverse momentum, can arise in strongly interacting dark sectors. This results in an event topology where one of the jets can be aligned with the direction of the missing transverse momentum. The first search for semi-visible jets produced via a t-channel mediator exchange is presented. The analysis uses proton-proton collisions with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 and a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the ATLAS detector during the Run 2 of the LHC. No excess over Standard Model predictions is observed. Assuming a coupling strength of unity between the mediator, a Standard Model quark and a dark quark, mediator masses up to 2.7 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. Upper limits on the coupling strength are also derived