Strategy of specification of management areas: rice grain yield as related to soil fertility

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The distribution of agricultural land and the question of agrarian reform in Brazil

Agrarian reform has long been an acute issue in Brazil, where the distribution of cultivable land is extremely unequal. The Land Statute adopted by the military in 1964 constituted a genuine reform programme, which, however, was never implemented as the government chose to modernize agriculture and expand cultivated areas. This has prevented the poorest from having access to the land.-from English summary

ENCORE: Enhanced code Galileo receiver for land management applications in Brazil

Taking benefit of the new Galileo ranging signals, the ENCORE (Enhanced Code Galileo Receiver) project aims to develop a low-cost Land Management Application to cover needs of the Brazilian market in terms of geo-referencing and rural/urban cadastre, using a low-cost Enhanced Galileo Code Receiver as baseline. Land management applications require precision and accuracy levels from a few to several decimetres that are under-met with current pseudorange-based receiver and over-met with phase observations. This situation leads either to a waste of resources, or to lack of accuracy. In this project, it is proposed to fill this gap using the new possibilities of the Galileo ranging signals, in particular E5 AltBOC and E1 CBOC. This approach reduces the cost of the end-user solution, helping the rapid penetration of Galileo technology outside Europe. ©2010 IEEE.

The contribution of multiple use forest management to small farmers' annual incomes in the Eastern Amazon

Small-scale farmers in the Brazilian Amazon collectively hold tenure over more than 12 million ha of permanent forest reserves, as required by the Forest Code. The trade-off between forest conservation and other land uses entails opportunity costs for them and for the country, which have not been sufficiently studied. We assessed the potential income generated by multiple use forest management for farmers and compared it to the income potentially derived from six other agricultural land uses. Income from the forest was from (i) logging, carried out by a logging company in partnership with farmers' associations; and (ii) harvesting the seeds of Carapa guianensis (local name andiroba) for the production of oil. We then compared the income generated by multiple-use forest management with the income from different types of agrarian systems. According to our calculations in this study, the mean annual economic benefits from multiple forest use are the same as the least productive agrarian system, but only 25% of the annual income generated by the most productive system. Although the income generated by logging may be considered low when calculated on an annual basis and compared to incomes generated by agriculture, the one-time payment after logging is significant (US$5,800 to US$33,508) and could be used to implement more intensive and productive cropping systems such as planting black pepper. The income from forest management could also be used to establish permanent fields in deforested areas for highly productive annual crops using conservation agriculture techniques. These techniques are alternatives to the traditional land use based on periodic clearing of the forest. Nevertheless, the shift in current practices towards adoption of more sustainable conservation agriculture techniques will also require the technical and legal support of the State to help small farmers apply these alternatives, which aim to integrate forest management in sustainable agricultural production systems.

Atributos de qualidade de solos sob dois diferentes tipos de manejo no município de Ibiúna/SP, Brazil

Agricultural activity has direct consequences on the soil and water quality. Thus, assessing environmental impacts of this vital economic activity, through soil attribute analysis, is essential to the proposal of alternatives. The aim of this study was to analyze soil quality under different land management practices, conventional and organic. The study was carried out in a watershed of the Ibiuna municipality, SP, Brazil, an important supplier of agricultural products for the São Paulo metropolitan area. A hundred samples were collected, 20 in each type of land use: reforested areas, native vegetation, pasture, conventional cultivation and organic cultivation. The soil resistance to penetration, its pH (in water and KO), electrical conductivity, bulk density, particle density, porosity, soil color, soil texture and the percentages of carbon and nitrogen were analyzed. The data were statistically analyzed, searching for significant differences. The results of soil analysis showed great similarity between the organic and conventional culture, with no statistical differences. However, organic cultivation showed greater similarity to the soil of native vegetation in the percentage of carbon and nitrogen in soils compared to conventional culture. Thus, the discussion begins on a topic very little explored so far, and the results obtained should be further studied.

Quantificação das classes de erosão por tipo de uso do solo no município de Franca - SP

Impactos ambientais causados pelas atividades agropecuárias sobre o meio rural podem ser constatados quando são analisadas as paisagens da região. Vários estudos demonstraram que informações da paisagem obtidas a partir de imagens fotográficas são indispensáveis para o diagnóstico do processo erosivo do solo, aspecto indispensável no planejamento conservacionista. Neste trabalho, utilizando-se de técnicas de fotointerpretação, foi realizada a quantificação das classes de erosão acelerada no município de Franca - SP, relacionando-as com os tipos de cobertura vegetal. A coleção de fotografias aéreas empregadas foi produzida pela Base Aerofotogrametria e Projetos S.A., com escala aproximada 1:35.000, em outubro de 1990. Elaboraram-se cartas temáticas do uso/ocupação do solo e dos estados erosivos presentes em cada tipo de cobertura vegetal do solo, estabelecendo-se, em seguida, as relações entre a erosão acelerada e os tipos de comunidades vegetais do município de Franca. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que, nesse município, o solo agrícola encontra-se relativamente conservado, apresentando 74,23% da área com erosão laminar ligeira/moderada. Os diferentes usos/ocupações do solo influenciaram de modos distintos na manifestação do processo erosivo.

Hunting spiders of woodland fragments and agricultural habitats in the Atlantic rain forest region of Brazil

The hunting spider communities of the Dionycha clade were studied 1986 through 1988 in fragmented woodlands and secondary agricultural habitats of the Botucatu area in São Paulo state, Brazil. The original vegetation of mainly tropical Atlantic rain forest (Mata Atlantica) was cleared already 70 years ago. In a total sample of over 1000 adult spiders, 247 species belonging to 12 families Mere determined. A decreasing frequency and diversity of spiders rc as found if forest remnants were compared with sugar cane fields and cattle pasture. The specific composition of the spider fauna as surveyed in different habitats is discussed under ecological aspects and in relation to the history of land use.

The Importance of Bees for Eggplant Cultivations (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação por fotointerpretação das áreas de abrangência dos diferentes estados da erosão acelerada do solo em canaviais e pomares de citros

Este estudo foi realizado com o objetivo de avaliar os estados de erosão acelerada do solo presente em áreas com canaviais e pomares de citros localizados na região administrativa de Ribeirão Preto - SP. Foram empregadas fotografias aéreas verticais, na escala aproximada de 1:40.000, do vôo da cobertura aerofotográfica da região citrícola do Estado de 1988. O estudo foi realizado identificando-se e delimitando-se todas as áreas de abrangência de cinco estados da erosão acelerada do solo presentes nos canaviais e pomares de citros. A presença da erosão acelerada severa a extremamente severa foi constatada tanto nos canaviais como nos pomares de citros, nas quatro unidades de solos de ocorrências principais na área de estudo. Os valores da extensão total das áreas de abrangência dos estados da erosão 2 a 5 (processos erosivos intensos a extremamente intensos) revelaram forte impacto sobre o desenvolvimento das culturas, degradando o solo agrícola e afetando a qualidade da água. As principais diferenças, quanto à extensão total das áreas de abrangência dos diferentes estados da erosão presente, foram identificadas principalmente entre os Argissolos e os Latossolos, e entre os dois estágios de desenvolvimento das culturas. As condições de solo exposto foram verificadas nas áreas recentemente plantadas com cana-de-açúcar ou citros, explicitando-se a grande necessidade de empregar, nessas condições, práticas conservacionistas.

Historical land-cover/use in different slope and riparian buffer zones in watersheds of the state of São Paulo, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Situação da agricultura irrigada no Brasil de acordo com o censo agropecuário 2006

Knowledge about irrigated agricultural area and its geographical distribution are of great importance to water resources management. Evolution of irrigated area according to the irrigation method allows an identification of rational water technologies. The aim of this work was to analyze the information presented in the agricultural census of 1995/1996 and of 2006. Brazil has an area of 4.45 million cultivated hectares with irrigation. It is noticed that according to the 1995/1996 census, the irrigated area increased 1.3 million hectares, a growth of 42%. The Southeast region surpasses the South region which had, in 1995/96, the largest irrigated area. The Northeast region is the third irrigated agricultural area with 22.12 %, while the Central-west and the Northern region together sum 14.7%. According to the agricultural census 2006 classification, sprinkler irrigation (without center pivot) method is the most used,followed by flood, center pivot, other methods, drip and furrow, representing 35.3%, 24.4%, 18.9%, 8.3%, 7.4% and 5.8%, respectively.

Clastogenicity of landfarming soil treated with sugar cane vinasse

The addition of nutrients and/or soil bulking agents is used in bioremediation to increase microbial activity in contaminated soils. For this purpose, some studies have assessed the effectiveness of vinasse in the bioremediation of soils contaminated with petroleum waste. The present study was aimed at investigating the clastogenic/aneugenic potential of landfarming soil from a petroleum refinery before and after addition of sugar cane vinasse using the Allium cepa bioassay. Our results show that the addition of sugar cane vinasse to landfarming soil potentiates the clastogenic effects of the latter probably due the release of metals that were previously adsorbed into the organic matter. These metals may have interacted synergistically with petroleum hydrocarbons present in the landfarming soil treated with sugar cane vinasse. We recommend further tests to monitor the effects of sugar cane vinasse on soils contaminated with organic wastes. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Geotecnologias aplicadas à estimativa de perdas de solo por erosão hídrica na sub-bacia do Ribeirão das Perobas, Município de Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo-SP

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

Proposta para o uso e manejo sustentável da bacia hidrográfica do Ribeirão Guaratinguetá, SP

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Modelagem de séries de monitoramento de nível freático em área de afloramento do sistema aquífero guarani (sag) sob influência de diferentes usos agrícolas da terra

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) - FCA