Biomass fire consumption and carbon release rates of rainforest-clearing experiments conducted in northern Mato Grosso, Brazil

Biomass consumption and carbon release rates during the process of forest clearing by fire in five test plots are presented and discussed. The experiments were conducted at the Caiabi Farm near the town of Alta Floresta, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, in five square plots of 1 ha each designated A, B, C, D, and E, with different locations and timing of fire. Plot A was located in the interface with a pasture, with three edges bordering on the forest, and was cut and burned in 1997. Plots B,C, D, and E were located inside the forest. Plot B was cut and burned in 1997. Plot C was inside a deforested 9-ha area, which was cut and burned in 1998. Plot D was inside a deforested 4-ha area, which was cut in 1998 and burned in 1999. Plot E was inside a deforested 4-ha area which was cut and burned in 1999. Biomass consumption was 22.7%, 19.5%, 47.5%, 61.5% and 41.8%, for A, B, C, D, and E, respectively. The effects of an extended curing period and of increasing the deforested area surrounding the plots could be clearly observed. The consumption for areas cut and burned during the same year, tended toward a value of nearly 50% when presented as a function of the total area burned. The aboveground biomass of the test site and the amount of carbon before the fire were 496 Mg ha-1 and 138 Mg ha-1, respectively. Considering that the biomass that remains unburned keeps about the same average carbon content of fresh biomass, which is supported by the fact that the unburned material consists mainly of large logs and considering the value of 50% for consumption, the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere as gases was 69 Mg ha-1. The amounts of CO2 and CO released to the atmosphere by the burning process were then estimated as 228 Mg ha-1 and 15.9 Mg ha-1, respectively. Observations on fire propagation and general features of the slash burnings in the test areas complete the paper. Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union.

Efeito de estratégia de suplementação com concentrado no desempenho de cabras mestiças Saanen, em dois sistemas de produção

The experiment was carried out to evaluate the performances of cross breed Saanen dairy goats submitted to two strategies of supplementation with concentrate 30% of daily requirements in net energy (NRC, 1981) supplied by concentrate, from third week until the end of lactation (ESC. 1) or 60% of requirements from the 3rd to the 13th week of lactation and 15% from 14th until the end of lactation (ESC.2); and evaluate the animal response to these strategies of supplementation with concentrate in a semi-confined or pasture systems. Thirty one animals were used in a completely randomized design. The system of production affected the total intake of concentrate and total milk production; at pasture system the values for these two variables were higher. The supplementation with concentrate affected the total intake of concentrate and total production of milk and the relation of milk/consumption of concentrate. The highest value for relation of milk/consumption of concentrate and the least for the total consumption of concentrate were obtained at ESC. 1. Body weight affected of the system of production, resulting in a higher value to the system of pasture. Weight and body condition had different responses to he supplementation with concentrate according to the system of production. The semi-confined system ESC.2 resulted in a higher value to the body condition; the body weight was no affected. At pasture system the highest values for weight and body condition were obtained in the supplementation with concentrate ESC. 1. Reproductive parameters did not affect supplementation with concentrate and system of production.

Dinâmica da ocupação do solo bacia do Rio Itiquira, Mato Grosso, Brasil

The study area corresponds to the basin of the Itiquira river high course, totalling 5,361km2. In this area a study of the environmental dynamics was made, applying SIG techniques and satellite images of the years 1966, 1985 and 1996. In 1966 the areas of natural vegetation (forests and groves) occupied 90.64% of the total of the area, which was diminished to 60.57% in 1985 and to only 36.66% in 1996. In this process, 289,382ha of a total of 485,928ha of natural vegetal covering had been lost. At the same time, the agrarian surfaces (agriculture and pasture) that occupied only 0.52% of the total area in 1966, increased to 34.89% in 1985 and to 59.04% in 1996. In 30 years there was an increase of 313,725ha of cultivated lands, corresponding to about 113 times the land occupation of the year of 1966 (2,798ha). The areas classified as urban show a gradual increase since 1966, from 39ha in 1996 to 58ha in 1985, and to 178ha in 1996. The other classes of soil use and occupation (reforestement areas, uncovered and affected by fire and humid areas) added were smaller than 4,27% in 1996.

Metano entérico de bovinos leiteiros em condições tropicais brasileiras

The objective of this work was to quantify methane (CH4) emission using the sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer technique, by dairy cattle on pasture in Brazilian tropical field conditions. Measurements were performed in the rainy season, with Holstein and Holstein x Zebu crossbred, from lactating and dry cows and heifers grazing fertilized Tobiatã grass, and heifers grazing unfertilized Brachiaria grass. Methane and SF6 concentrations were determined by gas chromatograph. Methane emissions by lactating cows varied from 13.8 to 16.8 g/hour, by dry cows from 11.6 to 12.3 g/hour, by heifers grazing fertilized grass was 9.5 g/hour and by heifers grazing unfertilized grass varied from 7.6 to 8.3 g/hour or 66 to 72 kg/head/year. Methane emission per digestive dry matter intake (DMDI) varied from 42 to 69 g/kg DMDI for lactating cows, 46 to 56 g/kg for dry cows, 45 to 58 g/kg for heifers grazing fertilized grass and 58 to 62 g/kg for heifers in unfertilized grass pasture. The CH4 emission measured on dairy cattle feeding tropical grasses was higher than that observed for temperate climate conditions.

Tolerância de perdas de solo na bacia do rio Itiquira, Mato Grosso, Brasil

The geographic area of the present study corresponds to the basin of the Itiquira river high course (Figure 1), in the portion that extends from the tributaries of its source, in the east of the plateau Correntes/Itiquira, in the neighbourhoods the city of Alto Garç as, to the scarp of the São Jerônimo mountain range, toward the west of Itiquira, in the state of Mato Grosso, totalizing 5,361 km 2. The area is placed in the eastern part of the Alto Paraguai basin, in the western portion of the Paraná Sedimentary Basin plateau. Through GIS techniques, it was possible to asses total soil losses from the Itiquira river basin, considering the years of 1966, 1985 and 1996, being based on the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Thus, in 1966 the basin lost 201,546.94 ton of soil, with an average loss of 0.37 ton/ha/year. Considering that the total area of the Itiquira river basin is of 536,100 ha, while in 1985 the soil losses had passed to 1,760,833.40 ton, with an increase of approximately 8.5 times. The average of soil losses in 1985 was of 3.28 ton/ha/year. In 1996 the basin lost 1,662,043.24 ton, with a reduction of only 9.4% in relation to 1985 but, in relation the 1966, the increase continued in the order of 8 times. The average losses per hectare in this year was in the order of 3.10 ton/ha/year (Chart 1). The map of potential of the laminar erosion for 1966 (Figure 3), shows to the highest values in small areas, situated in the northeast of the area, in Alto Garças, with values between 10 the 20 ton/ha/year and some spots in sources of the Itiquira and Ariranha rivers, with values between 1 the 5 ton/ha/year. In a general way, however, the area presents low soil loss for laminar erosion in this year, with inferior values to 1 ton/ha/year. The higher class of erosion, over 10 ton/ha/year, occupied 2,947 ha in 1966. In the year of 1985 (Figure 4), the erosive process spread over the entire studied area, and the class of erosion over of 10 ton/ha/year, already started to occupy 78,437 ha, implying an increase of approximately 27 times in 19 years. A strong increment in the erosive process was noticed in the western part of the area, to along the BR-163 road, exactly where great areas of natural vegetation (open pasture) had been transformed in culture and pasture areas. In the north-eastern part of the area it was also noticed an increment in the erosive process in agreement with the increase of culture areas and reduction of the natural areas, but it was not of so intense form as in the western portion of the area. In the year of 1996 (Figure 5), the class of erosion over of 10 ton/ha/year had diminished for a total of 53.499 ha noticing a retraction of the erosive process in the western part of the area, alongside the BR-163 road. On the other hand, it occurred a strong increment in the northern part of the area, in the neighbourhoods of the city of Alto Garças, alongside the BR-364 road and part of the MT-040 road. In a general way, in the outskirts of the city of Itiquira, in the central part of the area, it was verified an increase of the amount of zones with erosion between 0-1 ton/ha/year, passing to the immediately superior class, of 1-3 ton/ha/year; scarce data of hydrosedimentology in the UHE Itiquira (1999), shows good agreement with the values gotten for the EUPS (Chart 2). Based on the hydric classification proposal for FAO (1967) (Chart 3), it is noticed that areas with high degree of erosion (> 50) in the analysed area are very restricted, occupying 493 ha in 1985 and 332 ha in 1996 (Chart 4). In 1996 appeared as isolated spots in the north of Itiquira and Alto Garças, however beyond limits of the Itiquira river basin. These areas require special cares in its use as agricultural areas. Aiming at identifying and indicating the areas of potential risk of erosion and that need implementation of conservation practices, it was elaborated the map of limit of tolerance to the soil losses. In 1966 (Figure 6), areas with soil losses over of the tolerable were restricted to small spots located in the eastern part of the area, occupying 0.43% of the total of the area; already in 1985 (Figure 7), this percentage passed to 5.86%, spreading for all the area; in 1996 (Figure 8) it is observed a fast reduction of the areas with soil losses over of the tolerance limit, passing 5.43% of the total of the area. All the areas with losses over of the tolerable value must be considered as risk areas and were done in these areas studies for implementation of conservation practices.

Disponibilidade, composição bromatológica e consumo de matéria seca em pastagem consorciada de Brachiaria decumbens com Stylosanthes guianensis

The objective of this work was to evaluate the herbage availability, nutritive value, dry matter intake and grass and legume percentage in diet of crossbred Holstein-Zebu cows, in pasture with Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk, Stylosanthes guianensis var. vulgaris cv. Mineirão and tree legumes. To estimate the fecal output, it was used 10 g cow -1 day -1 of chromium oxide during ten consecutive days. Extrusa samples were used to determine the chemical composition and in vitro dry matter digestibility. B. decumbens availability varied with climatic conditions, while S. guianensis availability decreased linearly along the experimental period. Dry matter intake was higher in May/2001 (1.9% body weight) and did not differ among other months (1.5% body weight). Low dry matter intake values were related to low in vitro dry matter digestibility coefficients (42.1 % to 48.0%) and high neutral detergent fiber content (70.2% to 79.4%). Dry matter intake was directly related to legume percentage in the pasture. This observation could indicate the potential of mixed pasture for improving nutritive value in dairy cattle diet.

Erosão hídrica de Latossolo Vermelho muito argiloso relevo ondulado em área de pós-plantio de eucalipto no Vale do Rio Doce, região Centro Leste do Estado de Minas Gerais

The erosion caused by running water constitutes important cause of environmental degradation and productivity reduction, which justifies its evaluation in areas of eucalypt commercial plantations, mainly in ondulated slope conditions. The present study was intended to evaluate the influence of different management systems, in an undulated eucalypt pos-planting area, upon soil and water losses by erosion. The experiment was installed in a very clayey Red Latosol (Oxisol) under three eucalypt management systems (downhill planting with burning of crop residues - EDq; downhill planting with maintenance of crop residues on soil surface - ED; level planting with maintenance of crop residues on soil surface - EN), native forest (FN), bare soil (SD), and native pasture (PN). The soil and water losses evaluations were performed in standard plots installed in the field. All eucalypt systems presented very low values of soil losses in relation to the established tolerance limit, indicating the adequacy of these management systems concerning water erosion. The sustainability of these environments regarding erosion is indicated by the fact that soil losses in eucalipt were very close to those observed in native forest (reference).

Reflorestamento compensatório com vistas à retençãode água no solo da bacia hidrográfica do Córrego Palmital, Jaboticabal, SP

This work had as objective to quantify the reforestation for water retention in the Palmital Stream watershed, County of Jaboticabal, SP, by using the methodology of compensatory forestation for retention of water in watersheds. This methodology esteems the retention of water in watersheds considering the world medium value of destiny of the water in the hydrologic cycle, the use/occupation of the soil (forest, pasture and agriculture) and its permeability. The watershed in this study presents an area of 10,625.21 ha, being 237.75 ha at forest, 467.01 ha in pasture and 9,237.57 ha in agriculture. The medium values of the permeability identified in the soils were of 94.81 mm h -1 in forest, 8.99 mm t -1 in pasture and 36.01 mm h -1 in agriculture (sugar cane). Considering that should infiltrate in the soil 20.55% of the water that precipitates on the watershed, and, that the losses of water in forest areas is considered standard, the total estimated volume to compensate the excessive loss that occur in the areas of pasture and agriculture is 12.21 million of m 3ano. The compensatory forestation to retain that volume of loss should contemplate an area of 942.73 ha (8.87% of the area of the watershed). The reforestation can be priority in permanent conservation area or in areas of Legal Reserve.

Resistência à penetração de um solo em recuperação sob sistemas agrosilvopastoris

In the Research and Teaching Farm of the State University of São Paulo (UNESP) - Campus of Ilha Solteira, located in Selviria, in Mato Grosso do Sul State, a study was conducted with the objective of investigating the resistance to penetration of a highly degraded soil due to construction of a Hydroelectric Power Plant. The experimental design was a completely randomized, with five treatments and five replications. The treatments were constituted of the following uses and managements: area in advanced state of degradation; area under regeneration cultivated 13 years with Pinus; area under regeneration cultivated 11 years with green manure and pasture; degraded area with natural regeneration; and area with natural vegetation (savanna). The system where the area was under regeneration with Pinus cultivation and the niches with natural regeneration were the closest to natural condition (savanna). Except for the natural area (savanna), all others presented a higher resistance to penetration in the layer of 0.20-0.40 m, which represents serious limitations for growth of plant roots.

Genetic effects on preweaning weight gain of Nelore-Hereford calves according to different models and estimation methods

Additive and nonadditive genetic effects on preweaning weight gain (PWG) of a commercial crossbred population were estimated using different genetic models and estimation methods. The data set consisted of 103,445 records on purebred and crossbred Nelore-Hereford calves raised under pasture conditions on farms located in south, southeast, and middle west Brazilian regions. In addition to breed additive and dominance effects, the models including different epistasis covariables were tested. Models considering joint additive and environment (latitude) by genetic effects interactions were also applied. In a first step, analyses were carried out under animal models. In a second step, preadjusted records were analyzed using ordinary least squares (OLS) and ridge regression (RR). The results reinforced evidence that breed additive and dominance effects are not sufficient to explain the observed variability in preweaning traits of Bos taurus x Bos indicus calves, and that genotype x environment interaction plays an important role in the evaluation of crossbred calves. Data were ill-conditioned to estimate the effects of genotype x environment interactions. Models including these effects presented multicolinearity problems. In this case, RR seemed to be a powerful tool for obtaining more plausible and stable estimates. Estimated prediction error variances and variance inflation factors were drastically reduced, and many effects that were not significant under ordinary least squares became significant under RR. Predictions of PWG based on RR estimates were more acceptable from a biological perspective. In temperate and subtropical regions, calves with intermediate genetic compositions (close to 1/2 Nelore) exhibited greater predicted PWG. In the tropics, predicted PWG increased linearly as genotype got closer to Nelore. ©2006 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved.

Vulnerabilidade à erosão do solo da Região do Alto Rio Pardo, Pardinho, SP

This study aimed at the elaboration of a database with information and a map of erosion vulnerability for ecological zoning for the upper Pardo River, Botucatu, SP, by using the Geographical Information System - SPRING. The map of erosion vulnerability was made from spectrally homogeneous regions, producing a grid of zone averages, which was then subdivided, resulting in a vulnerability map to erosion. The results allowed us to conclude that digital imaging produced valuable information for mapping of soil use and database formation. The GIS - SPRING was efficient at identifying soil and vulnerability erosion classes and 95% of the basin presents a moderately stable vulnerability degree, through the presence of medium young soils in gently waring reliefs and covered by 49.27% of pasture and 29.88% crops.

Efeito residual de calcário, nitrogênio e zinco na produção de matéria seca de Brachiaria decumbens em condições de campo

The balance of liming and fertilization practice with nitrogen and zinc could affect the production of the pasture. Thus, the present work has as objective to evaluate the residual effect of the application of calcareous rock, nitrogen, and zinc on the dry matter production of Brachiaria decumbens, during three cuts. For this, an experiment was installed in Selvíria, Brazil, on a distrofic red Latosol, from october 1997 to may 1998. The experimental design was randomized blocks, in a factorial project 3×3×2, with four repetitions. The treatments were three doses of nitrogen: 0, 50, and 100 kg/ha, three doses of lime: 0, 267, and 556 kg/ha, corresponding to 41, 50, and 60% of the levels of base saturation, respectively, and two doses of zinc 0 and 5 kg/ha, applied in the first year and reapplied in the second year, except for the limestone. Four cuts were done in the grass at 10 cm of height, with intervals of 49 days, to obtain the dry matter production. The limestone application in the first year did not provide to residual effect on the production of Brachiaria decumbens. However, the nitrogen fertilization increased the dry matter production of the grass. The application of zinc in the first year and the reapplication in the second year did not result in a productive response of B. decumbens. © 2009 Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agricolas INIA.