Pulse treatments to extend the postharvest life of Ctenanthe setosa cut foliage

Marantaceae leaves have a contrasting color pattern and a decorative design which are interesting traits for its use as cut foliage. No postharvest research has been carried out on the potential as cut foliage for species of Ctenanthe, a member of the Marantaceae. Grey-maranta (Ctenathe setosa) is an herbaceous ornamental plant native of Brazil whose cut foliage has potential to be used as new crop product for local and international ornamental markets. The objective of this study was to evaluate pulse treatments to extend the longevity of foliage. The experiment was conducted in a complete randomized design with three replications and eight treatments: distilled water; pulsing cut petioles-ends in citric acid (pH = 2.8/1h); 2% sucrose (4h); 1% sucrose plus 200 mg L-1 citric acid (4h); 0.01% Tween® 20 (4h); 100 mg L -1 benzyladenine plus 0.01% Tween® 20 (4h); 100 mg L-1 gibberellic acid plus 0.01% Tween® 20 (4h); and maintenance of cut petiole in holding solution with commercial sodium hypochlorite (0.5 mL L-1). The senescence symptoms were mainly characterized by leaf rolling and by a decrease in the angle formed between leaf and petiole as a response to water deficit stress. Gibberellic acid or benzyladenine pulse treatments significantly extended longevity (6 days compared to control) and maintained leaves' green coloration and brightness for a longer time compared to control. However, only the benzyladenine plus Tween® 20 pulse maintained leaves in an erect form for a longer time, showing a significantly higher angle between leaf and petiole compared to control. Also, foliage pulsed with benzyladenine plus Tween® 20 showed a significant smallest loss of accumulated fresh mass percentage compared to control by the T test as to parallelism of treatments lines.

Postharvest characteristics and treatments to overcome latex exuded from cut flowers of lotus

Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) is a perennial herbaceous aquatic ornamental plant with potential to be used as a new cut flower for the Brazilian ornamental market. It shows exotic and attractive flowers and has a strong market appeal, once it is known as a symbol of purity, holiness and immortality. However, flowers have a short-vase life. Lotus flower stem exudes a large quantity of sticky milky sap from the cut surface, which is produced in laticifers, spatially associated with both xylem and phloem. It has been reported that latex coagulates on the cut surface preventing or reducing water absorption and reducing flowers' vaselife, requiring treatments to stop the flow of latex. The objective of this study was to report observations of lotus postharvest characteristics and evaluate treatments to overcome latex flow. The experiment was conducted as a complete randomized design with three replications of four stems in each vase and eight treatments; a control (distilled water), pretreatment of cut stem-ends with hot water (40° C/1 minute), boiling water (3 seconds), isopropyl alcohol 90% (10 minutes) or citric acid (pH = 2.8/1h) and, maintenance of stems in a holding solution of Tween® 20 (0.01%), citric acid (200 mg L-1) or Tween® 20 (0.01%) plus citric acid (200 mg L-1). Treatments had no significant effect on flowers vaselife which was only about three days, although isopropyl alcohol, hot and boiling water completely stopped latex flow. Cut stem-ends pretreated with citric acid (pH = 2.8/1 h) showed a significantly higher relative water content of petals compared to others treatments. The senescence symptom of lotus cut flowers was mainly characterized by abscission of turgid petals and dehiscence of stamens without any visual change of petal color and brightness.

Influence of natural polymer derived from starch as a sensory modifier in sunscreen formulations

Background: Nowadays, there has been increased incidence of skin cancer, which is mainly related to increased sun exposure. Although sunscreen products may prevent the appearing of this disease, consumers may not use them due to some factors, including the sensory properties. The Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate (Dry-Flo® Pure, Akzo Nobel), an aluminum salt produced by the reaction of anhydride octenylsuccinic with starch, is able to improve the spreadability on the skin and reduce the oiliness of the formulation. Objective: To verify volunteers' acceptance for sunscreen formulation with natural polymer, compared with a control formulation (without polymer). Methods: To carry out the sensory analysis a formulation with or without 2. 0% Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate was prepared. Formulations had FPS 15, with critical wavelength of 353 nm, determined by testing in silico using the BASF® Sunscreen Simulator. Sensory analysis was performed on 60 students of both sexes, aged between 18 and 25 years, regular users of sunscreen products. Results: The results suggested that the polymer was able to promote a very soft and velvety feel on the skin when used in a sunscreen formulation, and it was able to mitigate and noticeably reduce the oiliness of the skin. Of the 60 volunteers who participated in the study, 45 volunteers (75%) considered that the polymer formulation provides little brightness or did not notice the difference in brightness of the skin after application. Conclusions: It was able to improve the sensory of the product, contributing to greater volunteers' acceptance.

Estimates of hourly diffuse radiation on tilted surfaces in southeast of brazil

The global radiation incident on a tilted surfaces consists of components direct, diffuse and reflected from the ground. On a hourly database, the direct radiation can be calculated by geometric projections (ratio of the incidence angle to the solar zenith angle). The reflected radiation has a small effect on calculations and may be calculated with an isotropic model. Both components presents dependence of measures in incidence or horizontal surface. The great difficulty is to evaluate the diffuse radiation by variations of circumsolar, brightness horizontal, isotropic and anisotropic subcomponents. This study evaluated twenty models to estimate hourly diffuse radiation incident on tilted surfaces at 12.85° (latitude - 10°), 22.85° (latitude) and 32.85° (latitude + 10°) facing to North, under different cloudiness sky conditions, in Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil (22°53' S, 48°26' W and 786 m above the mean sea level). In contrast, models for estimating the diffuse component show major differences, which justify the validation for local calibrations. There is a decrease of the maximum total radiation scattered with increasing atmospheric transmissivity and inclination angle. The best results are obtained by anisotropic models: Ma and Iqbal, Hay, Reindl et al. and Willmott; isotropic: Badescu and Koronakis, and the Circumsolar model. The increase of the inclination angle allows for a reduction in the performance of statistical parametric models for estimating the hourly diffuse radiation.

Sensibilidade dolorosa e efetividade do clareamento dental de consultório

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Potencialidades da mandioquinha-salsa (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Brancroft) para processamento industrial

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Composição dos tubérculos, extração e caracterização de amidos de diferentes cultivares de batata

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

Desempenho e composição morfológica de duas cultivares de Brachiaria brizantha submetidas a intensidades luminosas

Pós-graduação em Zootecnia - FMVZ

Parâmetros genéticos de características de carcaça e de qualidade da carne de aves oriundas de cruzamento recíproco

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Influência das propriedades petrográficas na qualidade do polimento de rochas ornamentais

Pós-graduação em Geologia Regional - IGCE

Alimento inerte e vivo no desempenho do mato grosso, (Hyphessobrycon eques)

Pós-graduação em Aquicultura - FCAV

Efeito de reagentes de branqueamento nas propriedaes físicas e mecânicas da polpa de celulose Kraft de eucalipto

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

Análise das influências do branqueamento na retenção de caulim e nas propriedades do papel

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O efeito da redução de água na lavagem da polpa Kraft no branqueamento ECF

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Sombreamento e aplicação de nitrogênio em plantas jovens de Jatropha curcas L

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