Defoliation percentage in two soybean cultivars at different growth stages

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic variables due to the effects of different levels of defoliation in the phenological phases of two soybean cultivars. The experiment was conducted during the 2011/2012 season, in a randomized block design with three replicates, in a 2 x 4 x 5 factorial scheme. Two cultivars were exposed to defoliations of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% at the stages of V4, V9, R3 and R5. The cultivar 'NK 7059RR' showed less sensitivity to defoliation than the cultivar 'IN 4990RG'. 25% defoliation levels reduced the yield of the cultivar 'IN 4990RG', while levels of 75 and 100% reduce the number of grains per pod in both cultivars. The defoliation performed in the V4 stage lead to lower grain yield than defoliation in V9. The most sensitive stages to defoliation are R3 and R5, where there is a greater reduction in the production potential of soybeans

Características agronômicas de seis cultivares de amendoim cultivadas em sistema convencional e de semeadura direta

Objetivou-se no presente trabalho avaliar o desempenho agronômico de seis cultivares de amendoim em sistema convencional e de semeadura direta nos municípios de Marechal Cândido Rondon e Tupãssi, PR, na safra 2011/2012. O delineamento experimental adotado foi de blocos ao acaso com quatro repetições num esquema de parcelas subdivididas. Foram utilizados, nas parcelas, dois sistemas de manejo de solo, o sistema convencional e sistema de semeadura direta e seis cultivares de amendoim de hábito de crescimento contrastante, um de porte ereto e cinco de porte rasteiro, nas subparcelas. Não houve diferença entre os sistemas de manejo conservacionista e convencional no rendimento de vagens e grãos, no número de estruturas reprodutivas nem no índice de rendimento de grãos do amendoim, nos dois locais avaliados. No município de Marechal Cândido Rondon as maiores produtividades foram obtidas pelos cultivares IAC 503, IAC Caiapó, IAC 213, Runner IAC 886 e Cavalo, respectivamente, independentemente do sistema de manejo de solo. Em Tupãssi a produtividade de grãos variou apenas entre os tipos de ramificação dos materiais cujos maiores valores foram observados para cultivares de ramificação alternada (Virgínia)

Anisotropy, geometric structure and frustration effects in molecule-based nanomagnets

In this paper we review our results of comprehensive study of molecular nanomagnets recently synthesized in the form of the chromium-based molecules and bimetallic copper-containing chains as well as we present some new findings. We focus on effects of anisotropy, geometry and frustration appearing in various thermodynamic properties of the nanoscale magnets which are described by Heisenberg-like spin models and simulated by accurate numerical methods. We show that bond-dependent exchange anisotropy is needed to model magnetic torque in the Cd-doped chromium ring. We argue that only in the limit of infinite rings (n -> infinity) frustration can be considered as the opposite to bipartiteness in the odd numbered (3 <= n <= 9) s = 3/2 quantum spin rings. We analyse the influence of exchange interactions and anisotropy on magnetic susceptibility of bimetallic (S = 3/2, s = 1/2) chains composed of Cu ions linked to different 3d ions by fitting experimental data. We reach the remarkable consistency of the density functional theory estimates of the magnetic couplings in Crs molecule and provide strong support to the spin models exploited in the literature

Food law compliance of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) food packaging materials

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is widely used as a packaging material for all kinds of foodstuff. Low diffusivity of the polymer combined with the limited number of additives and their low concentrations lead to very limited mass transfer (migration) of monomers, catalysts, or impurities from the PET polymer into food. This mass transfer (migration) for monomers, oligomers, catalysts, additives and non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) is discussed within this study. Based on the data given in the scientific literature it could be concluded that overall migration tests as well as specific migration tests for monomers and catalysts, like ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, terephthalic acid, iso-phthalic acid and antimony are superfluous, because their migration limits cannot be exceeded, even if worst case conditions and swelling simulants like 95% ethanol are applied. A more suitable procedure for evaluation of the food law compliance of PET is the determination of migration relevant substances in PET and calculation of their migration by use of migration models. In addition, the analytical screening for low molecular weight migrants (like NIAS) gives an additional safety factor, because such NIAS were not determined using the conventional migration testing procedures