Ingrid Bergman Inchausti de Barros

Teores de proteína e minerais de espécies nativas, potenciais hortaliças e frutas

The Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (MRPA), Rio Grande do Sul state (Brazil), presents a significant richness of native vegetables and fruits with neglected nourishing potential. Beyond the ethnological indicatives on their uses as food, little is known on these vegetables and fruits, mainly regard to the bromatological composition. Studies reveal that the unconventional food plants are nutritionally richer than domesticated plants. In the aim to evaluate the nourishing potential of the native plants in the MRPA region and to contribute with data on their protein and mineral contents, 69 species distributed in 58 genus and 33 botanical families were selected to the study, totalizing 76 analyses of different edible portions. Besides the N converted in protein, the contents of Ca, Mg, Mn, P, Fe, Na, K, Cu, Zn, S, and B were analyzed. Several species revealed promising contents of protein and minerals with higher values than commercial species with similar uses. Despite of their suitability and abundance in the MRPA region and the significant contents of protein and minerals, the great majority of these species remain unknown or underutilized. Studies and effective incentives to the economical uses of the neglected species could contribute to the conservation, valorization of the indigenous species, and to a more diverse and healthful human diet.

Substrato e luz na germinação das sementes de rainha-do-abismo

Sinningia lineata is a rock growing plant, with ornamental potential, which is in danger of extinction. This study aimed at analyzing the germinative behavior of the S. Ilineata in different substratums and light conditions. The results should contribute to the sexual propagation aiming at the conservation ex situ, as well as to offer a subsidy for its inclusion as an ornamental plant. The seeds were collected in situ. Six substrata were tested in presence and absence of light incidence: blotting paper, medium river sand, commercial substratum, mixture in the proportion of 1:1 of sand with carbonated rice husk, sand with commercial substratum, and carbonated rice husk with commercial substratum. The temperature was of 20oC. The technical concept of germination was adopted, development of normal plantlets. The results indicated that the lot had a high germination capability, which was demonstrated by the high germination percentage on the paper (92,5%). The germination and vigor tests indicated that among the studied substrata, the blotting paper and sand were the best. The germination percentage in sand was 90% and did not differ statistically from the percentage of germination on paper. The other substrata were not considered adequate for seed germination of the species. The chemical analyses of the commercial substratum presented high salinity levels, which caused a gradual loss of seedlings, indicating that the species is sensitive to this chemical condition. The test with light demonstrated that the species is a positive photoblastic.

Adubação orgânica e mineral na produção de sementes de abobrinha

Este estudo teve o objetivo de verificar os efeitos da adubacao orgânica e mineral sobre os componentes do rendimento e potencial produtivo de sementes de Cucurbita pepo L. var melopepo cv. Caserta. A pesquisa foi conduzida no Centro Agricola Demonstrativo da Prefeitura de Porto Alegre durante os anos de 2002/03. Os tratamentos consistiram em T1 = testemunha, T2 = adubacao mineral e do T3 ao T6 em adubacao orgânica (cama de aviario), nas doses de 63, 125, 187 e 250g.cova-1, respectivamente. O delineamento experimental foi o de blocos casualizados com tres repeticoes. Foram determinados numero de flores.planta-1, numero de frutos.planta-1, peso medio de frutos, peso de sementes.fruto-1, numero de sementes.fruto-1, peso de 1000 sementes e rendimento de sementes.area-1. A aplicacao de cama de aviario aumentou o rendimento de sementes de abobrinha. A dose de cama de aviario que proporcionou maior rendimento de sementes (3,12t.ha-1) foi de 250g.cova-1.

Temperature requirements for seed germination of Pereskia aculeata and Pereskia grandifolia.

Pereskia aculeata and Pereskia grandifolia have been studied widely due to their high nutritional and therapeutic values. However, little is known about the biological requirements of their seeds for the various germination factors. Thus, this experiment aimed to evaluate the thermal effects on the germination of these species at the temperatures of 24°C, 27°C, 30°C, 33°C and 36°C. After verification of the existence of differences in the performance of germination, a non-linear regression was carried out, relating the germination to temperature and identifying its point of maximum efficiency. We found that the lowest synchronization indexes of germination were observed close to 30°C. The best germination response of the P. aculeata and P. grandifolia was observed at 30°C and 33°C, respectively, with greater germination strength and fewer days to attain 63.21% of germinations. The results obtained from the germination of P. aculeata and P. grandifolia can be described by the Weindull distribution model with three parameters, as proposed by Carneiro and Guedes (1992).

Crescimento inicial de Marcela (Achyrocline satureioides) em ambiente protegido

The stablishment, initial growth and viability of the seedling production by seeds of marcela plants were evaluated.. The study was driven at greenhouse. The sowing was made on a pot medium with peat; organic compound and carbonized rice hulls (1:1:1), in trays of aluminum. The experimental design was completely randomized, with 10 replications. Fresh and dry mass was determined every 10 days, until the 70 days after sowing, using 10 plants by replication. Germination was not uniform and plant growth analysis showed that the initial growth was slow, the biggest increment of fresh and dry mass started only at 50 days after sowing. Plant establishment was satisfactory and the seedling production by seeds was viable.

Qualidade de sementes de marcela (Achyrocline satureioides) provenientes de duas populações do Rio Grande do Sul

Marcela is a plant used in folk medicine in Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil, whose properties are important to pharmaceutical industry. With the objective of evaluating seeds of different origins and collection times, achenes of marcela were collected in Eldorado do Sul and Viamao/RS, in March 11; March 24 and April 11. Achenes were classified in full, intermediary and shrivelled, according to size and characteristic of pericarp. Moisture was determined by the owen method at 105oC (± 3oC/24h), the vigor was evaluated by the test of electric conductivity and germination velocity. Germination was tested at 20oC and constant light. Lots of March 24 presented best quality because the high amount of full seeds (58%) and satisfactory values of vigor and germination (64%). Seeds of April 11 obtained higher germination (82%), even so the amount of shrivelled seeds was very high (49%), lowering quality of the lot. In March 11, seeds presented larger humidity , characterizing its immaturity. Therefore, the difference in seed quality depends on the origin: the lots collected in Eldorado of Sul/RS presented superior quality. The best collection time was in March 24 and the maturation of the seeds seems to be related to the mother plant senescence.

Pereskia aculeata Muller (Cactaceae) Leaves: Chemical Composition and Biological Activities

The aims of this work were to study the chemical composition of the essential oil from the leaves of Pereskia aculeata and to evaluate some biological activities of three leaf extracts. The phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and in vitro antimicrobial and antifungal activities were determined. The methanol extract showed antioxidant activity (EC50 7.09 mg/mL) and high polyphenols content (15.04 ± 0.31 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g). The petroleum ether extract exhibited potent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, whereas the chloroform extract showed inhibitory activity against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. The petroleum ether and methanol extracts were more effective in inhibiting the growth of Aspergillus versicolor. The possible cytotoxicity of extracts on neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cancer cell line and the influence on adenylate cyclase (ADCY) expression was also studied. P. aculeata chloroform extract showed antiproliferative activity with an IC50 value of 262.83 µg/mL. Treatments of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells with 100 µg/mL of methanol extract significantly reduced ADCY1 expression.