Daniel Furtado Ferreira

Sisvar: a computer statistical analysis system

Sisvar is a statistical analysis system, first released in 1996 although its development began in 1994. The first version was done in the programming language Pascal and compiled with Borland Turbo Pascal 3. Sisvar was developed to achieve some specific goals. The first objective was to obtain software that could be used directly on the statistical experimental course of the Department of Exact Science at the Federal University of Lavras. The second objective was to initiate the development of a genuinely Brazilian free software program that met the demands and peculiarities of research conducted in the country. The third goal was to present statistical analysis software for the Brazilian scientific community that would allow research results to be analyzed efficiently and reliably. All of the initial goals were achieved. Sisvar gained acceptance by the scientific community because it provides reliable, accurate, precise, simple and robust results, and allows users a greater degree of interactivity.

Sisvar: a Guide for its Bootstrap procedures in multiple comparisons

Sisvar is a statistical analysis system with a large usage by the scientific community to produce statistical analyses and to produce scientific results and conclusions. The large use of the statistical procedures of Sisvar by the scientific community is due to it being accurate, precise, simple and robust. With many options of analysis, Sisvar has a not so largely used analysis that is the multiple comparison procedures using bootstrap approaches. This paper aims to review this subject and to show some advantages of using Sisvar to perform such analysis to compare treatments means. Tests like Dunnett, Tukey, Student-Newman-Keuls and Scott-Knott are performed alternatively by bootstrap methods and show greater power and better controls of experimentwise type I error rates under non-normal, asymmetric, platykurtic or leptokurtic distributions.

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria communities occurring in soils under different uses in the Western Amazon Region as indicated by nodulation of siratro (Macroptilium atropurpureum)

Understanding native communities is a crucial step for the management of biological nitrogen fixation, since they may be either a source of efficient strains or a limiting factor when efficient strains need to be introduced. This work aimed to evaluate the density, diversity and efficiency of Leguminosae nodulating bacterial (LNB) communities and their component strains in soils under various land use systems (LUSs): pristine forest, agriculture, pasture, agroforestry, young secondary forest, and old secondary forest,. The LNB communities were trapped from these soils by using the promiscuous host siratro under controlled conditions. We also studied their relationships with physical and chemical attributes of the soil. Agroforestry and agriculture soil samples induced the highest number of nodules in siratro, while forest soil samples induced the lowest number of nodules. No relationship was found between LNB and Leguminosae species diversity in the LUSs. The soil chemical variables that were most related to differences in nodule number and shoot dry matter weight of plants inoculated with soil suspensions of the LUSs were, respectively: Ca2+, Mg2+, base saturation, exchangeable bases and Cu2+; and pH, cation exchange capacity, B, Cu2+ and clay. Although, LNB communities from all LUSs were efficient under controlled and similar conditions, they were found to be composed of strains with variable efficiency: inefficient, efficient, highly efficient and superior efficiency. Efficient strains occurred at the highest frequency in all LUSs. The isolated strains presented similar and new sequences that were phylogenetically related to well known LNB genera in α-and β-Proteobacteria. Unusual genera in these branches, as well as in other branches, which are probably endophytic bacteria, were also isolated from nodules. These data support siratro as a useful trap species to study the LNB biodiversity of diverse ecosystems in tropical soils. The fact that the highest diversity and nodulation were seen in managed systems such as agriculture and agroforestry suggests a high resilience of LNB communities to changes in land use after deforestation in a region where large forest areas are still preserved and can be a source of propagules.

Selection potential for seed yield from intra- and inter-racial populations in common bean

Common bean populations from crosses between lines of different races are thought to be more promising for selection of high yield potential than those from intra-racial crosses. Three distinct diallel crosses were made to test this hypothesis and to determine the possibility of substituting diallel crosses for multivariate techniques that estimate genetic divergence. The crosses were between races Mesoamerica × Mesoamerica, Mesoamerica × Durango and Jalisco, and Mesoamerica × Nueva Granada. The parents and the resulting F4 populations were evaluated at Lavras-MG, Lambari-MG and Patos de Minas-MG, Brazil. The diallel analysis of seed yield was done and the genetic divergence estimated by Mahalanobis distance. Estimates of general and specific combining ability indicated that some inter-racial populations were more promising for selection to increase seed yield than intra-racial populations. However, due to their undesirable seed color and size, and growth habit, especially in a short term breeding program, the chances of obtaining high yielding lines with an acceptable bean is reduced. Genetic divergence was not a good measure to choose the parents because usually, the most divergent groups included were not adapted lines.

Diversidade genética entre acessos de açaizeiro baseada em marcadores RAPD

One characterized the genetic diversity among accessions of assai palm using RAPD markers. One hundred and sixteen accessions conserved in the Embrapa Eastern Amazon germplasm collection, in Belem, PA, were analyzed using 28 primers. The data of the binary matrix were used to estimate the genetic dissimilarities using the arithmetical complement of Dice similarity coefficient and also for the bootstrap analysis. The genetic dissimilarities were represented in a dendrogram generated by the UPGMA method. The primers revealed 263 polymorphic RAPD loci presented wide genetic diversity among the accessions, varying from 0,06 to 0,67, being two accessions of the Chaves, PA the most divergent. But, some accessions of the same origin presented low dissimilarities. The dendrogram allowed the formation of eight groups delimited by the genetic mean dissimilarity (dgm: 0,40): two formed by a single accession; two constituted by two accessions and the others for several sub-groups with accessions of different origin. The ideal number of bands for estimating the genetic diversity among 116 accessions was 180. Therefore, the number of bands used in this study was efficient to characterize with precision the genetic relationship among the accessions of assai palm. The accessions divergent should be useful in the formation of nuclear collections and genetic breeding.

Differentiation in the fertility of Inceptisols as related to land use in the upper Solimões river region, western Amazon

The Upper Solimões river region, western Amazon, is the homeland of indigenous populations and contains small-scale agricultural systems that are important for biodiversity conservation. Although traditional slash-and-burn agriculture is being practiced over many years, deforestation there is relatively small compared to other Amazon regions. Pastures are restricted to the vicinity of cities and do not spread to the small communities along the river. Inceptisols are the main soil order (>90%) in the area and have unique attributes including high Al content and high cation exchange capacity (CEC) due to the enrichment of the clay fraction with 2:1 secondary aluminosilicates. Despite its importance, few studies have focussed on this soil order when considering land use effects on the fertility of Amazon soils. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate changes in soil fertility of representative land use systems (LUSs) in the Upper Solimões region, namely: primary rainforest, old secondary forest, young secondary forest, agroforestry, pasture and agriculture. LUSs were significantly differentiated by the chemical attributes of their topsoil (0-20 cm). Secondary forests presented soil chemical attributes more similar to primary rainforest areas, while pastures exhibited the highest dissimilarity from all the other LUSs. As a whole, soil chemical changes among Inceptisols dominated LUSs showed patterns that were distinct from those reported from other Amazon soils like Oxisols and Ultisols. This is probably related to the presence of high-activity clays enriched in exchangeable aluminum that heavily influenced the soil chemical reactions over the expected importance of organic matter found in most studies conducted over Oxisol and Ultisol.

Inclusion of genetic relationship information in the pedigree selection method using mixed models

We used a mixed model approach and computer simulation to evaluate the inclusion of parentage information as determined by the genealogy established in the pedigree method. The simulations were based on a purely additive genetic model for one quantitative trait of 20 unlinked segregating loci with equal effects and an allelic frequency of 0.5 for heritability values of 10%, 25%, 50% and 75% for selection based on an F4:5 progeny mean. We simulated 1000 experiments for each heritability value, corresponding to the evaluation of 256 F4:5 progenies. The phenotypic values of the progenies were analyzed according to two models, one ignoring and one considering the additive genetic parentage among the progenies. The additive relationship coefficients among F4:5 progenies ranged from 0.0 to 1.75. The evaluated selection procedures were the phenotypic progeny mean (M) and the best linear unbiased predictor including parentage (BLUPA). The inclusion of parentage among progenies using the BLUPA procedure resulted in higher selection gains than when the relationship information was ignored, which possibly recompenses the additional work invested to obtain these records, above all in the case of low - heritability traits.

Modelos matemáticos para predição da chuva de projeto para regiões do Estado de Minas Gerais

O uso de modelos matematicos para predicao da chuva e uma forma pratica e precisa para determinacao do valor a ser aplicado em projetos, sendo util para localidades desprovidas de informacoes pluviometricas. Objetivou-se ajustar o metodo de Bell, que possui caracteristicas de regionalizacao para a chuva de projeto, com base em equacoes de chuvas intensas e modelos de probabilidade de Gumbel de estacoes meteorologicas do Estado de Minas Gerais ajustando, tambem, um modelo para cada regiao do estado. Avaliaram-se os modelos considerando-se o coeficiente de determinacao e os erros medios em relacao aos dados originais. Para validacao, trabalhou-se com tres estacoes meteorologicas da regiao Norte nao usadas para ajuste do respectivo modelo. Foram analisadas tres metodologias para estimativa da chuva intensa padrao (h(60,2)), que pondera o metodo usado, ressaltando-se a media aritmetica, a media ponderada pelo inverso do quadrado da distância e a predicao geoestatistica (krigagem). Observou-se que os modelos possuem bons indicadores estatisticos e a validacao produziu erros baixos, mostrando que os modelos podem ser aplicados, especialmente se a krigagem for usada para estimativa do parâmetro h(60,2).

DIVERGÊNCIA GENÉTICA ENTRE GENÓTIPOS DE FEIJOEIRO A PARTIR DE TÉCNICAS MULTIVARIADAS

Multivariate techniques were used to evaluate the genetic divergence among genotypes of common bean, aiming to identify segregating populations with large genetic variability. The multivariate techniques used were: the average Euclidean distance based on standardized variables (de), on scores of the three first canonical variables (dvc), on scores of the first three principal components (dcp), on the first three factor loads (dft), and the Mahalanobis generalized distance (D2). Twelve common bean genotypes were used (Apore, H-4-7, PF-9029975, CI-128, Carioca MG, CI-21, Carioca 300V, Ouro Negro, A-285 Ruda, ESAL 693, Perola e IAC Carioca Arua), and evaluated in four seasons (Jul-Nov/97, Nov/97-Feb/98, Feb-Jun/98 and Jul-Nov/98), based on ten morpho-agronomic traits. A randomized block design with three replications was utilized. The multivariate techniques showed similar results mainly for identifing the more divergent genotypes. Among them, ESAL 693 and Ouro Negro were genetically different between themselves and among the other genotypes. PF-9029975 and Carioca MG were genetically similar, although different of other genotypes according to average Euclidean procedures. It should be pointed out that Apore genotype was divergent of Perola genotype, although the last one is a selected line in the Apore. Therefore, all of those genetically divergent genotypes are promissing to cross for obtaining higher segregating populations, specially ESAL 693 with the others that have a carioca grain type. A resonable correspondence was found in the identification of traits with smallest contribution to genetic diversity.

Divergência genética entre acessos de açaizeiro fundamentada em descritores morfoagronômicos

The objective of this research was to estimate the genetic divergence among accessions of the assai palm, sampled in the germplasm collection of Embrapa Amazonia Oriental based on morphoagronomic traits, at Belem, PA. The 22 morphoagronomic traits were evaluated in 87 accessions, from 1995 to 2001. Among the 22 traits, seven were relative to the plant, three to the flowering, three to the fruit, and nine to the fruit production. The traits were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis. The estimates of the dissimilarities were obtained by the average Euclidian distance with standardized data, and the groupings by UPGMA and Tocher methods. The accessions presented high variation index in the majority of the characters. Genetic distances among accession pair varied from 0.09 to 1.87, with average of 1.39. The method UPGMA divided the accessions into five groups, while the Tocher method formed 24 groupings. The five accessions indicated as more divergent must be used in breeding programs aiming at the obtention of superior genotypes.