Fontes de matéria orgânica para a formulação de fertilizantes organominerais peletizados no desenvolvimento da cultura do sorgo

Organo-mineral fertilizers have been used to both meet plants’ nutritional needs and reduce producers’ reliance on mineral fertilizers. This practice improves both the use of nutrients by plants and the soil structure due to the organic matter in these fertilizers. This study aimed to determine the effect of organic matter sources in the composition of organomineral fertilizers and compare it to the effect of traditional mineral fertilizers when it comes to the initial development of sorghum. Research was carried out in a greenhouse at the Federal University of Uberlandia, in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Sorghum seeds of grain-bearing simple hybrid 1G100 were used in the seeding process. The experiment followed a randomized complete block design in a 4 x 3 + 2 factorial arrangement. Factors included four levels (50, 75, 100 and 125% of 450 kg ha-1, which is the recommended dose for sorghum crops), three organic matter sources in the composition of the organomineral fertilizers (sewage sludge, filter cake, and peat), a control (100% mineral fertilizer), and an untreated check (no fertilizers). Each experimental plot consisted of four plants divided into two pots. Oxisol was used in all pots. Analyses were performed at 30 and 60 days after seeding (DAS) and targeted: plant height, stem diameter, chlorophyll A, chlorophyll B, and leaf area. After this period, plants were removed from the soil, and had their aerial parts isolated to be dried in an air-forced oven before measurement of their dry mass. Means of the organomineral fertilizers outperformed those of both control and untreated check plots in almost all variables at 30 DAS. The only exception was variable stem diameter, in which organomineral fertilizers outperformed untreated check plots only. Sorghum fertilized with organomineral fertilizers also showed positive results in the variables analyzed at 60 DAS: even with dose reduction, their means were similar to those found in control plots. Organomineral fertilizers had higher means in some variables, such as diameter and dry mass of the aerial part, than both control and untreated check plots. In the conditions set in this study and considering the variables herein reported, organomineral fertilizers can substitute mineral fertilizers in the initial development of sorghum, even with some dose reductions.

Avaliação de sustentabilidade ambiental do sistema de abastecimento de água e esgotamento sanitário de Uberaba - MG

This paper analyses the sustainability under the environmental (ecological) perspective of Water Supply and Sanitary Sewers Systems from Uberaba city, MG. It was accomplished in this analysis, An Environmental Sustainability Assessment of those systems, by the means of specific sustainability indicators proposed for Uberaba, but which may be used for other simi-lar cities. To the characterization of the systems, visitations were made to the main units as well as a documental was elaborated. The definition of the level or stage of the sustainability by the indicators was made based on a literature review, on interviews with the technicians and managers of the systems and based on the characterization and observation of the system reality, being attributed to them the following classification: Non Sustainable, Low Sustaina-bility, Medium Sustainability and High Sustainability. It was verified that the indicators that have lower compatibility to the process of sustainability to the studied systems are those rela-ted to the water physical losses, to the water per capita consumption, to the electricity con-sumption and to the sludge from the water treatment plants disposal untreated into a water body, for the Water Supply System. And those ones related to the attendance with sewage treatment, to the electricity consumption and to the usage of the treated sewage, for the Sani-tary Sewers, all of them classified as Non Sustainable.

Ajustes de coeficientes integrantes de processos físicos e bioquímicos na autedepuração em curso de água de médio porte

The mathematical modeling in the simulation of self-purification capacity in lotic environment is an important tool in the planning and management of hydric resources in hydrographic basin scale. It satisfactorily deals with the self-purification process when the coefficients of physical and biochemical processes are calibrated from monitorated water quality data, which was the main focus of this study. The present study was conducted to simulate the behavior of the parameters OD, BOD5, total phosphorus, E. coli, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and the total metals cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and zinc in the Uberabinha’s lower course (with an approximate annual growth flow between 4-35 m3/s), in a stretch of 19 km downstream of the treated effluent release by the WWTP of the city. The modelings, on the present study, show the importance of constant water quality parameters monitoration over the water course, based on the comparison of the simulations from calibrated coefficients and coefficients obtained in the literature for the period of June until November 2015. After coefficients calibration, there were good adjustments between simulated and measured data for the parameters OD, BOD, Ptotal, ammonia and nitrate and unsatisfactory adjust for the parameters nitrite and E. coli. About the total metals, the adjustments were not satisfactory on the reservoir’s vicinity of the Small Hydropower Plant Martins, due the considerable increase of the bottom sediment in lentic region. The greatest scientific contribution of this study was to calibrate the decay coefficient K and the quantification of the release by the fund S of total metals in watercourse midsize WWTP pollutant load receptor, justified by the lack of studies in the literature about the subject. For the metals cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and zinc, the borderline for K and S calibrated were: 0.0 to 13.0 day-1 and 0.0 to 1.7 g/m3.day; 0.0 to 0.9 day-1 and 0.0 to 7.3 g/m3.day; 0.0 to 25.0 day-1 and 0.0 to 1.8 g/m3.day; 0.0 to 7.0 day-1 and 0.0 to 40.3 g/m3.day; 0.0 to 30.0 day-1 and 0.0 to 70.1 g/m3.day.