Medicinal Mushroom Growth as Affected by Non-Axenic Casing Soil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to screen plant extracts and compounds as natural anthelmintics for veterinary use

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The use of biodiversity as source of new chemical entities against defined molecular targets for treatment of malaria, tuberculosis, and T-cell mediated diseases: a review

The modern approach to the development of new chemical entities against complex diseases, especially the neglected endemic diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, is based on the use of defined molecular targets. Among the advantages, this approach allows (i) the search and identification of lead compounds with defined molecular mechanisms against a defined target (e.g. enzymes from defined pathways), (ii) the analysis of a great number of compounds with a favorable cost/benefit ratio, (iii) the development even in the initial stages of compounds with selective toxicity (the fundamental principle of chemotherapy), (iv) the evaluation of plant extracts as well as of pure substances. The current use of such technology, unfortunately, is concentrated in developed countries, especially in the big pharma. This fact contributes in a significant way to hamper the development of innovative new compounds to treat neglected diseases. The large biodiversity within the territory of Brazil puts the country in a strategic position to develop the rational and sustained exploration of new metabolites of therapeutic value. The extension of the country covers a wide range of climates, soil types, and altitudes, providing a unique set of selective pressures for the adaptation of plant life in these scenarios. Chemical diversity is also driven by these forces, in an attempt to best fit the plant communities to the particular abiotic stresses, fauna, and microbes that co-exist with them. Certain areas of vegetation (Amazonian Forest, Atlantic Forest, Araucaria Forest, Cerrado-Brazilian Savanna, and Caatinga) are rich in species and types of environments to be used to search for natural compounds active against tuberculosis, malaria, and chronic-degenerative diseases. The present review describes some strategies to search for natural compounds, whose choice can be based on ethnobotanical and chemotaxonomical studies, and screen for their ability to bind to immobilized drug targets and to inhibit their activities. Molecular cloning, gene knockout, protein expression and purification, N-terminal sequencing, and mass spectrometry are the methods of choice to provide homogeneous drug targets for immobilization by optimized chemical reactions. Plant extract preparations, fractionation of promising plant extracts, propagation protocols and definition of in planta studies to maximize product yield of plant species producing active compounds have to be performed to provide a continuing supply of bioactive materials. Chemical characterization of natural compounds, determination of mode of action by kinetics and other spectroscopic methods (MS, X-ray, NMR), as well as in vitro and in vivo biological assays, chemical derivatization, and structure-activity relationships have to be carried out to provide a thorough knowledge on which to base the search for natural compounds or their derivatives with biological activity.

Phylogenetic relationships in genus Arachis based on ITS and 5.8S rDNA sequences

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

Soil profile, relief features and their relation to structure and distribution of Brazilian Atlantic rain forest trees

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

Floristic relationships among inland swamp forests of Southeastern and Central-Western Brazil

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

The influence of landscape characteristics and home-range size on the quantification of landscape-genetics relationships

A common approach used to estimate landscape resistance involves comparing correlations of ecological and genetic distances calculated among individuals of a species. However, the location of sampled individuals may contain some degree of spatial uncertainty due to the natural variation of animals moving through their home range or measurement error in plant or animal locations. In this study, we evaluate the ways that spatial uncertainty, landscape characteristics, and genetic stochasticity interact to influence the strength and variability of conclusions about landscape-genetics relationships. We used a neutral landscape model to generate 45 landscapes composed of habitat and non-habitat, varying in percent habitat, aggregation, and structural connectivity (patch cohesion). We created true and alternate locations for 500 individuals, calculated ecological distances (least-cost paths), and simulated genetic distances among individuals. We compared correlations between ecological distances for true and alternate locations. We then simulated genotypes at 15 neutral loci and investigated whether the same influences could be detected in simple Mantel tests and while controlling for the effects of isolation-by distance using the partial Mantel test. Spatial uncertainty interacted with the percentage of habitat in the landscape, but led to only small reductions in correlations. Furthermore, the strongest correlations occurred with low percent habitat, high aggregation, and low to intermediate levels of cohesion. Overall genetic stochasticity was relatively low and was influenced by landscape characteristics.

Spatial variability of the physical and mineralogical properties of the soil from the areas with variation in landscape shapes

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a influência das formas do relevo na variabilidade espacial de atributos físicos e suas relações com a mineralogia da argila de um Latossolo Vermelho eutroférrico, utilizando a técnica da geoestatística. Os solos foram amostrados nos pontos de cruzamento de uma malha, com intervalos regulares de 10 m, nas profundidades de 0,0-0,2 m, 0,2-0,4 m e 0,4-0,6 m para os atributos físicos e 0,6-0,8 m para os atributos mineralógicos. Os valores médios para a densidade do solo e resistência do solo à penetração são maiores no compartimento I onde a relação Ct/Ct+Gb é relativamente maior, indicando a presença de maior teor de caulinita. No compartimento II a condutividade hidráulica e a macroporsidade são maiores, influenciados provavelmente pelo predomínio da gibbsita. Portanto, conclui-se que a identificação das pedoformas é muito eficiente para compreender a variabilidade espacial de propriedades do solo. Sendo que, as variações na forma da paisagem promovem variabilidade espacial diferenciada das propriedades físicas e mineralógicas do solo.

The effects of soil fumigation on the growth and mineral nutrition of weeds and crops

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Spatial and linear correlations between soil and corn

O conjunto de tecnologias aplicadas ao sistema de produção agrícola tem como características principais a verticalização da produtividade, diminuição de custos, melhoria nas características físicas, químicas e biológicas do solo para proporcionarem o crescimento sustentável do meio de produção. Desta forma, o trabalho teve como objetivo determinar a variabilidade e as correlações lineares e especiais entre os atributos da planta e do solo, visando selecionar um indicador da qualidade física do solo de boa representatividade para produção de forragem. No ano agrícola de 2006, na Fazenda Bonança, município de Pereira Barreto (SP), foram analisados a produtividade de forragem do milho outonal (FDM) em sistema plantio direto irrigado e os atributos físicos do solo, num Latossolo Vermelho distrófico. O objetivo foi estudar a variabilidade e as correlações lineares e espaciais entre os atributos da planta e os do solo, visando selecionar um indicador da qualidade física do solo de boa representatividade para a produtividade da forragem. Foi instalada a malha geoestatística, para coleta de dados do solo e planta, contendo 125 pontos amostrais, numa área de 2.500 m². Os atributos estudados, além de não terem variado aleatoriamente, apresentaram variabilidade dos dados entre baixa e muito alta e seguiram padrões espaciais bem definidos, com alcances entre 7,8 e 38,0 m. Por outro lado, a correlação linear entre os atributos da planta com o do solo foi baixa e extremamente significativa. Os pares Massa Seca de forragem versus Microporosidade e Diâmetro do colmo versus Densidade do Solo foram melhor correlacionados na camada de 0-0.10m, enquanto os outros pares - Massa Seca de Forragem versus Macroporosidade - e Porosidade Total - apresentaram correlação inversa para a mesma camada. Entretanto, do ponto de vista espacial, houve uma alta correlação inversa entre Massa Seca de Forragem com Microporosidade, de modo que a microporosidade na camada de 0-0.10m pode ser considerada um bom indicador de qualidade física do solo, tendo em vista a produção de forragem de milho.

Soil loss risk and habitat quality in streams of a meso-scale river basin

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

First-order decay models to describe soil C-CO2 Loss after rotary tillage

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

Effect of boron and zinc fertilization on white oats grown in soil with average content of these nutrients

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of fertilization with zinc or boron on the growth and dry matter production, nutritional value and accumulation of nutrients in white oats. The study comprised two experiments conducted in glasshouses, the first consisting of the application of four doses of zinc (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg/dm³) in the form of zinc sulphate (20% Zn), and the second consisting of the application of four doses of boron (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg/dm³) in the form of Borax (11% B). The experimental design in each case was a randomized block design, with five replicates. Fertilization with zinc and boron increased the growth of white oats, but had no significant effect on the nutritional value of the forage. Higher levels of absorption and accumulation of nutrients in plant tissues were observed following the application of boron and zinc at rates of up to 0.60 mg/dm³ of soil.

Fractal concepts in relation to soil water diffusivity

Fractal geometry would appear to offer promise for new insight on water transport in unsaturated soils, This study was conducted to evaluate possible fractal influence on soil water diffusivity, and/or the relationships from which it arises, for several different soils, Fractal manifestations, consisting of a time-dependent diffusion coefficient and anomalous diffusion arising out of fractional Brownian motion, along with the notion of space-filling curves were gleaned from the literature, It was found necessary to replace the classical Boltzmann variable and its time t(1/2) factor with the basic fractal power function and its t(n) factor, For distinctly unsaturated soil water content theta, exponent n was found to be less than 1/2, but it approached 1/2 as theta approached its sated value, This function n = n(theta), in giving rise to a time-dependent, anomalous soil water diffusivity D, was identified with the Hurst exponent H of fractal geometry, Also, n approaching 1/2 at high water content is a behavior that makes it possible to associate factal space filling with soil that approaches water saturation, Finally, based on the fractally interpreted n = n(theta), the coalescence of both D and 8 data is greatly improved when compared with the coalescence provided by the classical Boltzmann variable.

Nitrogen redistribution to sorghum grains as affected by plant competition

An experiment was conducted to study nitrogen absorption and translocation in grain sorghum plants during their reproductive growth. Sorghum was grown in four row spacings: 50 and 70 cm in single rows, 80 and 120 cm in double rows 20 cm apart. Plant populations were 71000, 142000 and 213000 plants/ha. After flowering, samples were taken at 12 day intervals, and the plants were divided into grains and stover, where N was analyzed. There was an increase in N concentration in lower plant populations and in wider row spacings. However, total nitrogen accumulation (in kg/ha) increased as the number of plants was increased. In the vegetative parts of the plants there were higher N concentrations in lower populations showing that there was a higher N absorption and a lower translocation to the grains. When grain sorghum was grown in 50 cm rows, there was a high N accumulation, a high N translocation to the grains and the highest yield. This row spacing led to the highest N use efficiency.