Marcio Akio Ootani

Fumigant Antifungal Activity of Corymbia citriodora and Cymbopogon nardus Essential Oils and Citronellal against Three Fungal Species

Corymbia citriodora and Cymbopogon nardus essential oils samples were analyzed by GC and GC-MS and their qualitative and quantitative compositions established. The main component of essential oils of C. citriodora and C. nardus was citronellal, at 61.78% and 36.6%, respectively. The essential oils and citronellal were tested for their fumigant antifungal activity against Pyricularia (Magnaporthe) grisea, Aspergillus spp., and Colletotrichum musae. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranged from 100 to 200 ppm for the essential oils and 25 to 50 mg·mL−1 for citronellal. The contact assay using the essential oils and citronellal showed growth inhibition of the three fungal species. However, a concentration of 1.47 mg·mL−1 only reduced the inhibition of Aspergillus growth to 90% at 14 days of exposure. For the fumigant assay, 0.05, 0.11, and 0.23 mg·mL−1 of essential oils and citronellal drastically affected growth of P. grisea, Aspergillus spp., and C. musae. Harmful effects on the sporulation and germination of the three fungi were seen, and there was complete inhibition at 0.15 mg·mL−1 with both oils and citronellal. This showed that the crude component of essential oils of C. citriodora and C. nardus markedly suppressed spore production, germination, and growth inhibition of P. grisea, Aspergillus spp., and Colletotrichum musae.

Efeito do dióxido do carbono, temperatura e armazenamento sobre sementes de soja e micoflora associada

The vegetative and reproductive development of the soybean is related to the production technology of good quality seeds which are vigorous and free of pathogens. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) associated with temperature on mycoflora and seed quality for different periods of storage. The design used was a completely randomized factorial (2 x 3 x 4), at two temperatures (25 and 31 oC), three CO2 concentrations (0.0, 2.5 and 5.0 g CO2 kg-1of seed), and four storage periods (30, 60, 90 and 120 days). According with results, it was observed that carbon dioxide was extremely toxic to the fungi Aspergillus sp., Fuzarium sp., Coletrochium sp. and Penicillium sp., with 100% inhibition at a concentration of 5 g CO2 kg-1 of seed, and at temperatures of 25 and 31 oC. Seed germination and vigor were preserved by the carbon dioxide, with 92% germination after 120 days of storage, while for seeds stored without CO2 at a temperature of 31 oC, germination was 44.66%. The preservation of vigor and germination was dependent on the concentrations of CO2 and on temperature. CO2 may be a viable technology for the preservation of the quality of soybean seeds for seed-processing units in the state of Tocantins.

Susceptibility assessment of watermelon and pumpkin cultivars to potyvirus in Tocantins

Cucurbits cultivation has great importance in the food industry. However, in the main producing regions of curcubits, the increase of cultivation areas has been limited by viral infections. Among the most prevalent viruses there is the Watermelon Mosaic Virus (WMV), Papaya Ringspot Virus (PRSV-W) and Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus (ZYMV). The aim of this study was to evaluate the reaction of watermelon genotypes (Crimson sweet and Charleston Gray) and pumpkin (Jacarezinho and Caserta) to isolate watermelon strains in the following cities: Palmas (PYP-12), Gurupi (PYG-14 and PYG-19), Formoso do Araguaia (PYF-6), and Porto Nacional (PyPn-36 and PyPn-39). The experiment was performed in a greenhouse, in a completely randomized design, with 5 testing plants for each repetition to measure the response of these strains to cucurbit genotypes. The inoculated strains were obtained from leaves of watermelon cv Crinson sweet with symptoms The plants were rated by severity of viral symptoms in intervals of four days during 32 days. It was verified that the cucurbit genotypes showed different susceptibility to the viral strains. However, Caserta and Charleston gray were the ones which had greater sensitivity due to their high severity variation among the tested strains. Thus, it can be observed that the reaction among strains depends on the host and this reaction can be antagonistic or synergistic, depending on the mixed infection. Charleston gray watermelon was the most susceptible to most of the viral strains. Thus, this cultivar should be avoided in these regions.