Produção intensiva de cordeiros suffolk em pastagem com ou sem desmama e comportamento seletivo de ovelhas coopworth em pastejo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estoques e fluxos de carbono em plantações florestais jovens de Acacia mangium e Schizolobium parahyba var. Amazonicum na Amazônia Oriental

Plantações florestais são consideradas como alternativas de uso da terra para mitigação dos efeitos das mudanças climáticas, devido ao potencial de sequestro de carbono em espécies arbóreas. No entanto, há poucas informações sobre estoques e fluxos de carbono em espécies comumente usadas em plantações florestais, sobretudo na Amazônia. O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar o estoque de carbono na fitomassa e o efluxo de dióxido de carbono do solo em plantios de Acacia mangium Willd e Schizolobium parahyba var. amazonicum em diferentes espaçamentos. O estudo foi conduzido em Dom Eliseu, Pará, cujo clima apresenta temperatura média anual em torno de 25 ºC e precipitação anual de 2250 a 2500 mm; o solo predominante é Latossolo amarelo distrófico típico A moderado textura muito argilosa. Neste estudo foram selecionadas duas espécies (A. mangium e S. parahyba) em dois espaçamentos (4,0 m x 2,0 m e 4,0 m x 3,0 m), com duas repetições, totalizando 4 tratamentos e 8 parcelas, estudadas por um período de um ano, dos 2,5 aos 3,5 anos de idade. As parcelas mediram 48 m x 60 m. Mediram-se altura total, diâmetro à altura do peito, fluxo de CO₂ do solo, e estimou-se o estoque de carbono na fitomassa acima do nível do solo. O efluxo de CO₂ do solo nos plantios de A. mangium tiveram uma média global de 5,61 ± 1,30 Mg C ha^-1 ano^-1, e, em S. parahyba, a média global foi 7,07 ± 1,50 Mg C ha^-1 ano^-1. O acúmulo anual de carbono na fitomassa acima do solo nos plantios de A. mangium foi 16,41 ± 1,16 e 14,03 ± 0,82 Mg C ha^-1 ano^-1, no 4,0 x 2,0 m e 4,0 x 3,0 m, respectivamente. Em S. parahyba o acúmulo anual global foi 8,93 ± 1,87 Mg C ha^-1 ano^-1. O plantio de A. mangium acumulou mais carbono na fitomassa acima do solo em relação a S. parahyba, com efluxos anuais de CO₂ menores em relação ao plantio de S. parahyba em ambos espaçamentos. Dessa forma, plantios de A. mangium, no espaçamento 4,0 x 2,0 m, são recomendados para projetos de sequestro de carbono. Entre os espaçamentos de plantio testados para S. parahyba, 4,0 x 3,0 m seria recomendado devido a mesma eficiência no sequestro de carbono em relação a 4,0 x 2,0 m, porém com menor requerimento de mudas. A continuidade no monitoramento nessas plantações florestais é fundamental para que conclusões mais definitivas sejam feitas a respeito da dinâmica do carbono.

Estudo comparativo do acúmulo de massa seca e macronutrientes por plantas de Zea mays e Ipomoea hederifolia

Two experiments were carried out under greenhouse conditions to study the accumulation and distribution of dry mass and macronutrients in maize and Ipomoea hederifolia. Plants of both species had grown, separately, in pots with sand substrate and irrigation with nutrient solution. Treatments were represented by the times of evaluation, realized in intervals of 14 days, starting at 21 days after emergence (DAE). A maize plant showed slight growth up to 30 DAE, when dry mass allocation was higher in roots and leaves (80%); while an I. hederifolia plant, up to 50 DAE, when the allocation of dry mass was higher in offshoots and leaves (79). Dry mass accumulation was almost five times greater in maize (134 g per plant) than in I. hederifolia (29 g per plant). The average values of N and K contents were greater in I. hederifolia. Maximum accumulations of macronutrients by maize were 1,431; 474; 1,832; 594; 340, and 143 mg per plant, while by I. hederifolia, 727; 52; 810; 350; 148, and 65 mg per plant, for N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S, respectively. Mean accumulation rate of dry mass and macronutrients by maize plants was crescent up to 87 DAE, reaching the maximum value at 103 DAE; while being crescent up to 121 DAE by I. hederifolia plants, reaching the maximum value at 138 DAE. Thus, beyond the interference on harvesting process, a population of I. hederifolia also can compete with maize crop for nutrients.

Crescimento e nutrição mineral de Sida rhombifolia

This experiment was carried out to analyze dry mass production and distribution, and the content and accumulation of macronutrients in arrowleaf sida (Sida rhombifolia) plants cultivated under mineral nutrition standard conditions. Plants grew in seven liter pots filled with sand substrate and daily irrigated with nutrient solution, under greenhouse conditions. Treatments consisted of times of evaluation (21, 35, 49, 63, 77, 91, 105, 119, and 133 days after emergence - DAE) and were arranged in a completely randomized design with four replicates. Arrowleaf sida plants showed small accumulation of dry mass (0.3 g per plant) and macronutrients (6.9 mg N per plant, 0.7 mg P per plant, 8.6 mg K per plant, 4.9 mg Ca per plant, 2,6 mg Mg per plant, and 0.3 mg S per plant) at the vegetative growth stage (< 49 DAE). Those accumulations increased, mainly after 63 DAE, and the daily accumulation rate was crescent up to 94 DAE (dry mass - DM), 89 DAE (N and P), 98 DAE (K), 95 DAE (Ca and S), and 93 DAE (Mg), when there was accumulation of 26.3 g DM per plant, 402.6 mg N per plant, 45.6 mg P per plant, 359.3 mg K per plant, 337.6 mg Ca per plant, 71.9 mg Mg per plant, and 20.9 mg S per plant. N and K had the highest rates and, consequently, were the most required and accumulated in greater amounts in plant tissues of arrowleaf sida.

Características estruturais do dossel, produção de forragem e desempenho de cordeiros em pastos de tifton 85 sob lotação intermitente

Pós-graduação em Zootecnia - FCAV

Simple agrometeorological models for estimating Guineagrass yield in Southeast Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Produção de forragem e composição estrutural de pastos de Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraés manejados em diferentes alturas de pastejo

The objective of this study was to analyze the production of dry mass, forage accumulation rate and the structural composition of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraes pastures, managed under different grazing heights in continuous stocking. The experimental area was 12 hectares, divided in paddocks of one hectare each. The treatments were 15, 30, 45 and 60 cm of defoliation heights. Nellore steers were used to reach the desired heights. Every 28 days four cut samples and eight visual samples were collected for comparative performance in the experimental plots. Two grazing exclusion cages were used per treatment to estimate accumulation rates kg.ha(-1) DM. The cut material was taken to the laboratory for separation of the botanical components (green leaf, stem and senescent material), weighing and determination of dry matter. The experimental design was the completely randomized with three replicates. There were treatments effects at all seasons for the production of total mass, except in the spring. In summer and spring seasons it was observed the highest values for leaf blades (1.100 kg DM.ha(-1)). In the winter, the highest values of senescent material was observed, as expected. The average accumulation showed no significant difference among the treatments, except for stem and total mass in the summer and stem in the fall. The tillers were heavier and higher values for number of green leaves per tiller occurred in the fall, but for senescent leaves per tiller ocurred in the winter. Swards grazed at heights between 45 and 60 cm of defoliation, had good production of forage mass and leaf constituent.

Características produtivas e morfológicas do capim Tanzânia em diferentes intensidades de pastejo

The objective of this study was to determine the best height of the Tanzania grass under grazing, assessing morphological and productive characteristics of the sward. This experiment was conducted in Cidade Gaucha, Parana, where he was rated the accumulation rate and morphological characteristics of Tanzania grass pastures grazed at 20, 40, 60 and 80 cm grazing under continuous stocking with variable stocking rate for beef cattle. The experimental area was 12 hectare divided in paddocks of one hectare each. For each paddock were allocated two grazing exclusion cage for estimating herbage accumulation, and eight samples were taken every 28 days throughout the year 2010. The completely randomized design. The herbage mass of the morphological structures showed a linear positive function of sward heights. The height of defoliation did not influence the rate of herbage accumulation for any of the morphological structures: green leaf, stem + sheaths and senescent material. There were also no differences in leaf: stem ratio. All heights within the range studied provided adequate number of green leaves per tiller. Tanzania grass pastures grazed under continuous stocking between 40 and 60 cm, for providing a good association between accumulation and mass of green leaf blades, and acceptable values of the mass of stem + sheaths and senescent material. Pasture of Tanzania grass under 60 and 80 cm allow of leaves satisfactory accumulation in the autumn.

Radiocronologia dos sedimentos do Lago de Constança

The dating of sediments in lakes, estuaries and rivers through radionuclides, when applied in association with other analitic methods (heavy metals, organic contaminants, etc.) allows analyses of the anthropogenic interference in the environment along the years. A geochronology of a sediment core from Untersee in Lake Constance, one of the most important hydric resources of Europe, was established through the Pb-210 method and adopting the CRS parameter (Constant Rate of Supply). The Cs-137 was successfully used to give basis to the results, as its additional input occurred in Chernobyl’s accident can be used as a marker to the year 1986. Associating the dating with the cores depth, the average mass accumulation rate and the sedimentation rate for the site were assessed (0,14 g/cm²/year and 4 mm/year respectively).

Crescimento e nutrição mineral de Urochloa arrecta

The experiment was carried out aiming to analyze dry mass production and distribution, and the content and accumulation of macronutrients in Urochloa arrecta plants cultivated under mineral nutrition standard conditions. Plants grew in seven-liter pots filled with sand substrate, were daily irrigated with nutrient solution, and maintained under greenhouse conditions. Treatments corresponded to assessment periods (21, 35, 49, 63, 77, 91, 105, 119, 133, 147, and 161 days after emergence - DAE) and were arranged in a completely randomized design with four replicates. Plants of U. arrecta showed low accumulation (less than 7% of the maximum accumulation at 161 DAE) of dry mass (5.1 g DM per planta) and of macronutrients (57.7 mg N per planta, 8.9 mg P per planta, 167.8 mg K per planta, 21.3 mg Ca per planta, 14.7 mg Mg per planta, and 9.2 mg S per planta) up to 49 DAE. Such accumulations increased mainly after 91 DAE. Daily accumulation rate was crescent up to 130 DAE (DM and S), 137 DAE (N), 125 DAE (P), 119 DAE (K), 144 DAE (Ca), and 128 DAE (Mg), when there was accumulation of 87.7 g DM per planta, 918.0 mg N per planta, 105.8 mg P per planta, 1,643.9 K per planta, 390.4 mg Ca per planta, 200.0 mg Mg per planta, and 103.5 mg S per planta. K and N were found to have the highest rates and, hence, they were the most demanded and accumulated in the greatest amounts in U. arrecta plant tissues.

A high-resolution Holocene record on the Southern Brazilian shelf: Paleoenvironmental implications

A high-resolution, multi-proxy record has been used to determine the environmental changes during the Holocene on the southern Brazilian shelf Present oceanographic conditions reveal wind and freshwater input as the determinants of short-term productivity changes in the study area. Magnetic susceptibility and grain-size variations, together with proxies of productivity (organic carbon, carbon accumulation rate, Ba, Sr, and Ca content, Ba/Al, Ba/Ti, and Al/Ti ratios) were analyzed and compared with proxies of redox condition (V/Ti ratio), terrigenous input (Fe/Ca and Ti/Ca ratios), as well as other Element/Ti ratios, to evaluate the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes over the period. The core covers a time interval of about 7650 years, with sedimentation rates varying from 0.025 to 0.250 cm a(-1), which represent time intervals of between 8 and 80 a per sample. There is a clear change in the sedimentation rate at about 2800 B.P. All grain-size and elemental results indicate the occurrence of conspicuous changes between 5200 and 5000 cal. B.P., as well as between 3000 and 2800 cal. B.P. A comparison of the results with the palynological information available from the adjacent continental areas suggests that the sedimentary changes in this last interval may be correlated with the onset of modern climatic conditions in South America, and especially, with the onset of the Plata Plume Water, a water mass that carries cold, less saline waters towards the north. However, minor changes are observed at ca. 1500 B.P. and are correlated with an increase in the atmospheric humidity. Furthermore, a time-series analysis undertaken using several proxies indicated the occurrence of Sub-Milankovitch cycles, which may be compared with those reported worldwide. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Dry matter production of Tanzania grass as a function of agrometeorological variables

The objective of this work was to develop and validate linear regression models to estimate the production of dry matter by Tanzania grass (Megathyrsus maximus, cultivar Tanzania) as a function of agrometeorological variables. For this purpose, data on the growth of this forage grass from 2000 to 2005, under dry-field conditions in Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil, were correlated to the following climatic parameters: minimum and mean temperatures, degree-days, and potential and actual evapotranspiration. Simple linear regressions were performed between agrometeorological variables (independent) and the dry matter accumulation rate (dependent). The estimates were validated with independent data obtained in Sao Carlos and Piracicaba, SP, Brazil. The best statistical results in the development and validation of the models were obtained with the agrometeorological parameters that consider thermal and water availability effects together, such as actual evapotranspiration, accumulation of degree-days corrected by water availability, and the climatic growth index, based on average temperature, solar radiation, and water availability. These variables can be used in simulations and models to predict the production of Tanzania grass.

TALDICE-1 age scale of the Talos Dome deep ice core, East Antarctica

A new deep ice core drilling program, TALDICE, has been successfully handled by a European team at Talos Dome, in the Ross Sea sector of East Antarctica, down to 1620 m depth. Using stratigraphic markers and a new inverse method, we produce the first official chronology of the ice core, called TALDICE-1. We show that it notably improves an a priori chronology resulting from a one-dimensional ice flow model. It is in agreement with a posteriori controls of the resulting accumulation rate and thinning function along the core. An absolute uncertainty of only 300 yr is obtained over the course of the last deglaciation. This uncertainty remains lower than 600 yr over Marine Isotope Stage 3, back to 50 kyr BP. The phasing of the TALDICE ice core climate record with respect to the central East Antarctic plateau and Greenland records can thus be determined with a precision allowing for a discussion of the mechanisms at work at sub-millennial time scales.

Martian sub-surface ionising radiation: biosignature and geology

The surface of Mars, unshielded by thick atmosphere or global magnetic field, is exposed to high levels of cosmic radiation. This ionising radiation field is deleterious to the survival of dormant cells or spores and the persistence of molecular biomarkers in the subsurface, and so its characterisation is of prime astrobiological interest. Here, we present modelling results of the absorbed radiation dose as a function of depth through the Martian subsurface, suitable for calculation of biomarker persistence. A second major implementation of this dose accumulation rate data is in application of the optically stimulated luminescence technique for dating Martian sediments. We present calculations of the dose-depth profile in the Martian subsurface for various scenarios: variations of surface composition (dry regolith, ice, layered permafrost), solar minimum and maximum conditions, locations of different elevation (Olympus Mons, Hellas basin, datum altitude), and increasing atmospheric thickness over geological history. We also model the changing composition of the subsurface radiation field with depth compared between Martian locations with different shielding material, determine the relative dose contributions from primaries of different energies, and discuss particle deflection by the crustal magnetic fields.

How stable are 20th century calibration models? A high-resolution summer temperature reconstruction for the eastern Swiss Alps back to A.D. 1580 derived from proglacial varved sediments

We found a significant positive correlation between local summer air temperature (May-September) and the annual sediment mass accumulation rate (MAR) in Lake Silvaplana (46°N, 9°E, 1800 m a.s.l.) during the twentieth century (r = 0.69, p < 0.001 for decadal smoothed series). Sediment trap data (2001-2005) confirm this relation with exceptionally high particle yields during the hottest summer of the last 140 years in 2003. On this base we developed a decadal-scale summer temperature reconstruction back to AD 1580. Surprisingly, the comparison of our reconstruction with two other independent regional summer temperature reconstructions (based on tree-rings and documentary data) revealed a significant negative correlation for the pre-1900 data (ie, late ‘Little Ice Age’). This demonstrates that the correlation between MAR and summer temperature is not stable in time and the actualistic principle does not apply in this case. We suggest that different climatic regimes (modern/‘Little Ice Age’) lead to changing state conditions in the catchment and thus to considerably different sediment transport mechanisms. Therefore, we calibrated our MAR data with gridded early instrumental temperature series from AD 1760-1880 (r = -0.48, p < 0.01 for decadal smoothed series) to properly reconstruct the late LIA climatic conditions. We found exceptionally low temperatures between AD 1580 and 1610 (0.75°C below twentieth-century mean) and during the late Maunder Minimum from AD 1680 to 1710 (0.5°C below twentieth-century mean). In general, summer temperatures did not experience major negative departures from the twentieth-century mean during the late ‘Little Ice Age’. This compares well with the two existing independent regional reconstructions suggesting that the LIA in the Alps was mainly a phenomenon of the cold season.