Modelos duplo sigmoidais para o crescimento de frutos do cafeeiro

Coffee is one of the main products of Brazilian agriculture, the country is currently the largest producer and exporter. Knowing the growth pattern of a fruit can assist in the development of culture indicating for example, the times of increased fruit weight and its optimum harvest, essential to improve the management and quality of coffee. Some authors indicate that the growth curve of the coffee fruit has a double sigmoid shape. However, it consists of just a visual observation without exploring the use of regression models. The aims of this study were: i) determine if the growth pattern of the coffee fruit is really double sigmoidal; ii) to propose a new approach in weighted importance re-sampling to estimate the parameters of regression models and select the most suitable double sigmoidal model to describe the growth of coffee fruits; iii) to study the spatial distribution effect of the crop in the growth curve of coffee fruits. In the first article the aim was determine if the growth pattern of the coffee fruit is really double sigmoidal. The models double Gompertz and double Logistic showed significantly superior fit to models of simple sigmoid confirming that the standard of coffee fruits growth is really double sigmoidal. In the second article we propose to consider an approximation of the likelihood as the candidate distribution of the weighted importance resampling, aiming to facilitate the process of obtaining samples of marginal distributions of each parameter. This technique was effective since it provided parameters with practical interpretation and low computational effort, therefore, it can be used to estimate parameters of double sigmoidal growth curves. The nonlinear model double Logistic was the most appropriate to describe the growth curve of coffee fruits. In the third article aimed to verify the influence of different planting alignments and sun exposure faces in the fruits growth curve. A difference between the growth rates in the two stages of fruit development was identified, regardless the side. Although it has been proven differences in productivity and quality of coffee, there was no difference between the growth curves in the different planting alignments herein studied.

Modelagem do crescimento e produção em povoamentos desbastados de Eucalyptus grandis

The aim of the study was to develop a system of growth and yield models for thinned stands of Eucalyptus spp.; and to assess the behavior of the growth in scenarios with 10% decrease or increase in rainfall. The probability distribution functions Weibull 2 and 3 parameters and Johnson SB for different methods were fitted. Correlation between the fitted parameters with age was evaluated. Dominant height growth behavior was evaluated to check if thinned stand changes its growth when compared to a non-thinned stands. The stand variables dominant height and basal area were projected and simultaneously predicted and projected, respectively. Individual tree equations were fitted, which were fitted as functions of stand level variables in order to decrease the error propagation. R software was used to fit all the proposed models and consequently all the fitted models were evaluated by their parameters significance (F-test) and graphs of predicted values in relation to the observed values around the 1:1 line. Thus, the prognosis system was made by two ways, first one using the full data set, and for the second one the dataset was restricted at age 7.5. Increase and decrease in 20% of rainfall were assessed by updating the site index function. Method of moments was the most precise to describe the diameter distribution for every age in eucalyptus stands for Johnson SB and Weibull 2 parameters pdfs. When observed for each pdf the correlation for their fitted parameters with age, we noticed that shape parameters for a thinned stand were no longer correlated with age, differently of non-thinned stands. Thus, thinning effect was accounted in the basal area prediction and projection modeling. This result emphasized the necessity of applying the Parameter Recovery method in order to assess differences and capture the right pattern for thinned and non-thinned stands in the future. Dominant height was not influenced by thinning intensity. Therefore the fitted Chapman-Richards model did not account for a stand being thinned or not. All the fitted equations behaved with good precision, no matter using full or precocious dataset. The prognosis system using full and/or precocious date set was evaluated for when using Parameter Recovery method for Sb and Weibull pdfs, and by then, graphical analysis and precision statistics showed appropriated results. Finally, the increase or decrease in rainfall regime were observed for eucalyptus stand yields and we may notice how important is to observe this effect, since the growth pattern is strictly affected by water.

Compartimentos de K, Ca e Mg em solos e sua relação com o crescimento inicial, fisiologia e produtividade do eucalipto

Forestry has grown in a continuous and accelerated manner in Brazil, constituting a strategic activity for the generation of employment, income and tributes, favoring social and economic development of Brazilian agribusiness. The objectives of this study were: (1) evaluate the contents of K, Ca and Mg in the reserve compartments, non-interchangeable, interchangeable, available and the speed of its release, its correlations and its effects over productivity (annual average increment – AAI) of eucalyptus plantations, in forest sites cultivated in soils of the state of Rio Grande do Sul; (2) evaluate the initial growth, nutrition and physiological aspects of eucalyptus plants, cultivated with and without the addition of mineral sources of potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (MG), in soils obtained from forest sites in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In the first study, contents of K, Ca and Mg were evaluated in sulfuric digestion extract, boiling nitric acid, ammonium chloride, Mehlich-1 (only K), potassium chloride (Ca and Mg), as well as the release speed of these nutrients in the soil. In the second study, growth variables, nutritional aspects, photosynthetic rate (A) and transpiration rate of the plants (E) grown in distinct soils were evaluated under controlled conditions. The contents of K, Ca and Mg varied between compartments and depths in the studied soil classes, with the highest proportions found in the reserve compartment, indicating the importance of this compartment for the supplement of these nutrients at average and long terms. The great majority of K, Ca and Mg compartments presented significant correlations between each other, showing the dependence between them and the importance of evaluating the contents of these nutrients in the different compartments to adapt the nutritional management of the plants to each soil class, and to obtain continuous productions, minimizing the negative effects to the environment. Plants cultivated in soils that present larger reserves, availability and K, Ca and Mg release kinetics, presented similar height (H), stem diameter (SD) and shoot dry mass (SDM), with or without fertilization with K, Ca and Mg. The plants presented higher leaf content and accumulation of K in all soils fertilized with K, Ca and Mg.