Francisco Xavier de Souza

EFEITO DO ESTÁDIO DE MATURAÇÃO DO FRUTO E DO TEMPO DE PRÉ-EMBEBIÇÃO DE ENDOCARPOS NA GERMINAÇÃO DE SEMENTES DE UMBUZEIRO (Spondias tuberosa Arr. Câm.)

The umbu tree is a fruit crop of the Brazilian northeast, whose fruits are used in the human feeding, presenting therefore great potential of agroindustry exploration. The slow germination of the seeds limits the seedling production, justifying the accomplishment of this work, which objectifies to study the effect of different fruit maturation stages and water preimbibition times of the endocarps on the germination of the umbu seeds. The fruits were manually unpulped, the endocarps preimbibited in distilled water substituted each 24 hours. It was utilized the entirely randomized design, factorial (4x4x2), being the factors: fruit maturation stages (green, semi-mature, mature and advanced maturation), water preimbibition times of the endocarps (0, 48, 96, and 144 hours) and types of umbu plants (sour and sweet), with 4 replicates and 10 endocarps.parcel-1. The endocarps were sowed in expanded polyesthiren trays contends dystrophic quartzose sandy. From the results it is concluded that the type of umbu plant and the fruit maturation stage influenced the germination. However, the water preimbibition of the endocarps does not influenced the seed germination of the umbu tree.

Crescimento e desenvolvimento de clones de cajazeira cultivados na chapada do Apodi, Ceará

The experiment was established, at the Apodi Plateau; in Limoeiro do Norte County, State of Ceara (Brazil). A randomized block design was used with a factorial 5x2 (5 scions on 2 rootstocks), with 4 replicates and 4 plants per plot. Scions stem from superior plants collected in the counties of Caucaia (Capuan locality), Pacajus (Curimata locality), Maranguape (Gereau e Ladeira Grande localities) and Fortaleza (Lagoa Redonda locality). Rootstocks were prepared from seeds of S. mombin L. and S. tuberosa Arruda. All scions and rootstocks were collected in Ceara State. The parameters assessed were the vegetative growth and fruit setting. Clones Gereau and Lagoa Redonda were the most vigorous, higher (3.9 m) and with bigger stem girth (57 cm). Ladeira Grande showed the poorest peformance in hight (2.2 m) and stem girth (49 cm) and, being statistically different from the others. As far as the root-stocks are concerned those from S. mombim were superior to S. tuberosa. The stem girth ratio was less than 1.0 for S. mombin rootstocks and higher than 1.0 for S. tuberosa rootstocks. The number of fruits per bunch of studied clones presented values of raged from 8 to 76. Some plants of Lagoa Redonda and Gereau clones on S. tuberosa yielded from 100 to 300 bunches. Final results confirmed that scions of S. mombin grafted on rootstocks of S. mombin and S. tuberosa produced combinations with the following characterists: vigorous clones with distinct phenotypic and morphological features such as low hight, uniform canopies and standardized main stem growth; S. mombin rootstocks allowed the formation of plants with more vigorous stems compared with rootstocks of S. tuberosa; the stem girth, graft and rootstock ratios were higher for combinations on S. tuberosa, but without indications of grafting incompatibility; the rootstock of S. tuberosa increase plant hight, productive and precocious of clones Gereau e Lagoa Redonda, and clone Ladeira Grande showed the lowest hight.

Aspectos morfológicos da unidade de dispersão de cajazeira

Morphological features of endocarps of five Brazilian yellow mombin plants were assessed. Plants selected to this study were as follow: Plant 1 (from Caucaia) and plant 2 (from Itaitinga), both in the State of Ceara; plants 3, 4 and 5 (from Areia, State of Paraiba). A total of 500 mature fruits were harvested from each plant, peeled, dried under shade and stored in paper bags. Random samples of 50 endocarps were taken from each batch, and the following charac- teristics were evaluated: weight, length and diameter in the median part, and the number of loci and seeds. Number of loci and seeds per endocarp ranged from two to five, and from zero to five, respectively. Highest frequencies observed were four loci and one seed. Endocarps of yellow mombin exhibit high frequency concerning the presence of more than one seed as well as low sterility.

Aplicação do "ISAREG" no manejo da irrigação na cultura da melancia no Baixo Acaraú, Ceará

The objective of this study was to apply the ISAREG software model to the irrigation management of watermelon in the Lower Acarau Irrigated Perimeter (LAIP). To this end, the soil water-balance was analysed, developing an irrigation schedule which aimed for maximum crop yield for the soil and climatic conditions of the LAIP for a specific planting date and comparing it to the irrigation scheme currently adopted by irrigators. With an aim to the practical application of ISAREG, the model was supplied monthly with climatic variables, precipitation and soil data, and information on the crop. Finally, an irrigation option available in ISAREG was selected, and a simulation of the soil water-balance was carried out. Questionnaires were used in order to get information about the irrigation scheme employed at the LAIP. The research showed that the producers of watermelon at the LAIP are not properly managing water resources. During the crop cycle, irrigators are applying an excess of about 215.2 mm of water at some periods, and a deficit of 24.2 mm to the crops in others.

ARMAZENAMENTO DE CAJÁS RECOBERTOS COM FÉCULA DE MANDIOCA E FILME PVC

The mombin tree (Spondias mombin L.) is found in almost all regions of Brazil. Fresh and processed mombin fruits are increasingly demanded by the market. The objective of this work was to evaluate the post-harvest characteristics of mombin fruits coated with cassava starch and PVC film. Fruits from the mombin cultivar Lagoa-Redonda were harvested at physiological maturity in Limoeiro do Norte, State of Ceará, transported to the Chemistry Laboratory of the Ceará Federal Institute, Limoeiro do Norte campus, and stored for 8 days at 29.7°C and 59% of relative humidity. A completely randomized experimental design in a 3x5 factorial arrangement was used, with three coating types (control, cassava starch at 3%, and cassava starch at 3% combined with PVC film) and five storage times (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 days), four replicates and five fruits per plot. The fruit skin color, external appearance, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA ratio and weight loss were evaluated. The PVC film was effective in maintaining the fruit external appearance and decreasing weight loss. The use of cassava starch was not as efficient as the PVC film for conserving mombin fruits. The post-harvest life of fruits was 8 days for those treated with cassava starch or cassava starch combined with PVC film, and 6 days for the control.

EFEITOS DE COMPOSTO ORGÂNICO BIOTECNOLÓGICO NAS CONCENTRAÇÕES DE N, P E K NO MILHO

Foi conduzido um experimento, em casa de vegetacao do Departamento de Fitotecnia, no Campus do Pici, da Universidade Federal do Ceara – UFC, com o objetivo de analisar as caracteristicas e os efeitos de um composto orgânico biotecnologico, oriundo de restos de poda de arvores urbanas, sobre a producao de biomassa do milho (variedade “Sertanejo”), a taxa de crescimento e teor de N, da folha. Quatro tratamentos resultaram da combinacao de solo + adubo orgânico biotecnologico, aplicados em quatro niveis distintos do adubo orgânico: 160, 320, 480 e 640 g/vaso cada um, que correspondem respectivamente a 7,5, 15, 22,5 e 30 t/ha e 3 tratamentos adicionais, com aplicacao de nitrogenio. Em laboratorio encontraram-se as concentracoes de N, P e K, na folha do milho. Os resultados mostraram que a concentracao de N na folha dos tratamentos quimicos foram, significativamente, maiores do que as concentracoes de N dos tratamentos orgânicos. O comportamento inverso ocorreu quanto as concentracoes de P e de K.

Comportamento vegetativo e reprodutivo de clones de cajazeira cultivados na Chapada do Apodi, Ceará

The mombin-tree orchard was planted in February 2000 on the Chapada do Apodi in Limoeiro do Norte, Ceara, with the aim of evaluating the effects of different combinations of rootstock and grafts on the vegetative growth, the number of productive plants and the fruit yield of mombin clones. The trial was set up in a randomized block design, a factorial of 5x2, with four replications and four plants per plot. Scions (crowns) were obtained from adult productive plants in Capuan, Caucaia, Ceara; in Curimata, Pacajus, Ceara; in Gereau and Ladeira Grande, Maranguape, Ceara and in Lagoa Redonda, Fortaleza,Ceara and the rootstock taken from ungrafted mombin and hog-plum. The scion clones from Gereau, grafted onto hog plum, and from Round Pond onto mombin, had the greatest size (570 cm) and average annual rates of growth, while those from Ladeira Grande had the smallest size in all the evaluations, reaching an eventual height of 362 cm. The larger clones also had the greatest stem girth. The Capuan, Curimata and Gereau clones were the most tardy, with the first plants entering the reproductive phase only at 62 months. The scion clone, Lagoa Redonda was the most productive when combined with either hog-plum or mombin. Neither the rootstock nor grafting altered the growth pattern of the clones, resulting in vigorous plants with no signs of incompatibility. The hog-plum rootstock increased precocity, number of fruits per bunch and production of mombin scion clones. The Lagoa Redonda scion was the most productive, especially when grafted onto hog plum.