Rodrigo Amato Moreira

Fenologia reprodutiva de pitaia vermelha no município de Lavras, MG

The study of phenology can contribute to improve the productivity of crops and fruit quality. The study was conducted to evaluate the reproductive phenology of red pitaya in Lavras, MG, Brazil. It was evaluated in one hundred plants of pitaya (Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton & Rose) the subphases periods from the issuance of buds to fruit ripening from 2008 to 2010. The bud develops from 19 to 21 days. The anthesis is nocturnal which lasts about 15 hours. The maturation occurs from 30 to 40 days after flower opening, when the fruit acquires color pink to deep red and firm texture. In Lavras, MG the reproductive period of red pitaya occurs from November to May and the time of appearance of flower buds to fruit harvest is from 50 to 60 days.

Crescimento de pitaia vermelha com adubação orgânica e granulado bioclástico

The objective of the study was to evaluate the growth of red pitaya (Hylocereus undatus) subjected to organic fertilization and calcified seaweed application. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with eight fertilization: control, cattle manure, chicken manure, calcified seaweed, cattle manure + chicken manure, cattle manure + calcified seaweed, chicken manure + calcified seaweed and cattle manure + chicken manure + calcified seaweed, applied every three months, with three replications and plot consisted of four plants. There were no significant differences in the length and in the number of central cladodes. There were significant differences in the number of side cladodes removed and in cladodes above the support. Fertilization with cattle manure + chicken manure + calcified seaweed favored the growth of red pitaya.

Produção e qualidade de frutos de pitaia-vermelha com adubação orgânica e granulado bioclástico

The aim of the work was to evaluate the influence of organic fertilization and application of calcified seaweed in production and fruit quality of red pitaya. The experimental design was randomized blocks with eight fertilizers: control, cattle manure, chicken manure, calcified seaweed, cattle manure + chicken manure, cattle manure + calcified seaweed, chicken manure + calcified seaweed and cattle manure + chicken manure + calcified seaweed, applied every three months since September 2008, with three replications and plot consisted of four plants. Fruits were evaluated in February / March 2010. After harvesting the cladodes of plants were removed for carrying out the analysis of the levels of nutrients, in July 2010. Transverse diameter, longitudinal diameter, mass, pulp percentage, acidity, soluble solids and ratio were evaluated. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and Scott-Knott test at 5% probability. The plants fertilized with cattle manure + chicken manure produced the highest number of fruits per plant and the addition of calcified seaweed favored fruit quality of red pitaya.

Qualidade de tangerinas 'Ponkan' em função da regularidade no raleio químico

Researches suggest that the chemical thinning with appropriate phytoregulators concentrations must be used for more than one year, in order to improve the quality of ‘Ponkan’ tangerines. Thus, the chemical thinning was applied for two years, in this study, in order to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of ‘Ponkan’ ( Citrus reticulata Blanco) tangerines. The evaluation process was conducted in a twelve-year-old tangerine orchard, grafted on ‘Rangpur’ lime ( Citrus limonia Osbeck), spaced 6.0 m among rows and 3.0 m among plants. The plants were sprayed with four Ethephon concentrations (200 mg L -1 , 400 mg L -1 , 600 mg L -1 and 800 mg L -1 ), after the period of physiological fruit drop, when fruits reached 25-30 mm in transversal diameter, in January 2009 and January 2010. Plants without spraying were used as control. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with four blocks and four plants per plot. There was interaction between the Ethephon concentrations and years of thinning application for percentage of thinning, number of fruits, mass, transversal and longitudinal diameter, soluble solids contents, titritable acidity, ratio and total sugar. There was no effect of Ethephon concentrations for juice yield. The chemical thinning regularity with Ethephon application increased mass, transversal and longitudinal diameter, soluble solids and ratio of ‘Ponkan’ tangerines.

Caracterização dos frutos e germinação de sementes dos porta-enxertos trifoliata Flying Dragon e citrumelo Swingle

ABSTRACT - The objective was phytotechnical characterization of fruits, evaluating the effect of removing the husk of the seed, the influence of GA 3 and growth promoter (Stimulate®) on the germination of seeds of rootstock Flying Dragon and Citrumelo Swingle. The phytotechnical characterization included the weight of the fruit, transverse and longitudinal diameter, thickness of the “peel” and the counting of viable and unviable seeds per fruit. There was an experiment for each rootstock in greenhouse under intermittent mist and the evaluations were every 3 days after the beginning of the germination process, verifying percentage of germination and germination speed. The use of GA 3 and the removal of seed husk of the rootstock Flying Dragon increase the germination percentage and germination speed, and for the rootstock Citrumelo Swingle the removal of the seed husk increased the germination percentage and the germination speed.Index terms: Citrus industry, Germination Speed, Production of Seedlings.

Carbohydrate levels in the leaves and production consistency of the Ponkan tangerine when thinned out with Ethephon

Management practices that maintain carbohydrate reserves in tangerines are necessary in order to ensure good yields. This experiment was carried out with the object of evaluating the levels of carbohydrates in the leaves, and consistency in the production of the Ponkan tangerine (Citrus reticulata Blanco) when subjected to chemical thinning with five concentrations of Ethephon for three consecutive years. The Ponkan tangerine evaluated had been grafted onto Rangpur lime (Citrus limonia Osbeck), cultivated with a spacing of 6.0 x 3.0 m and were 12 years old. The Ethephon concentrations tested were: 0; 200; 400; 600 and 800 mg L -1 , applied in January of 2009; 2010 and 2011, when the fruits were of 25 to 30mm in transverse diameter. The experimental design was of randomized blocks, with four blocks and four plants per plot. The levels of soluble leaf carbohydrate, starch and total carbohydrates were evaluated during flowering and harvesting. Fifteen days after application of the concentrations, the percentage of thinning was evaluated. Production, pending load and alternate bearing were evaluated when harvesting. Chemical thinning with Ethephon favors the maintaining of leaf carbohydrates in the Ponkan tangerine. The most effective concentration in reduncing the alternate bearing in the Ponkan tangerine is 600 mg L -1 of Ethephon.

Adubação orgânica com granulado bioclástico favorece crescimento de pitaia vermelha

The objective of the study was to evaluate the growth of red pitaya (Hylocereus undatus) subjected to organic fertilization and calcified seaweed application. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with eight fertilization: control, cattle manure, chicken manure, calcified seaweed, cattle manure + chicken manure, cattle manure + calcified seaweed, chicken manure + calcified seaweed and cattle manure + chicken manure + calcified seaweed, applied every three months, with three replications and plot consisted of four plants. There were no significant differences in the length and in the number of central cladodes. There were significant differences in the number of side cladodes removed and in cladodes above the support. Fertilization with cattle manure + chicken manure + calcified seaweed favored the growth of red pitaya.

Organic fertilizer and Lithothamnium on the cultivation of red pitaia

The red pitaya is a fruit cactus native from the rainforests of Mexico, Central America and South America that has shown great potential in domestic and foreign markets, due to its hardiness and exotic appearance. The work was carried out to evaluate the influence of organic fertilizers and the application of Lithothamnium (calcified seaweed) on production and fruit quality of red pitaia [ Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton & Rose]. The experimental design was a randomized block with eight treatments: control (no fertilization), cattle manure (CaM), chicken manure (ChM), calcified seaweed (CS), cattle manure + chicken manure, cattle manure + calcified seaweed, chicken manure + calcified seaweed and cattle manure + chicken manure + calcified seaweed. The fertilizers were applied every three months since September 2008, with three blocks, and the experimental unit consisted of four plants. The analyzes done were: yield , number of fruits per plant, fruit mass, pulp yield, transverse diameter, longitudinal diameter, peel thickness, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), pH and SS/TA ratio. The highest productivities were obtained in treatments containing CaM + ChM + CS (7.16 t ha-1) and CaM + ChM (6.90 t ha-1) in 2011, and the first treatment also showed higher productivity in 2012 (9.40 t ha-1). Greater number of fruits per plant was obtained when fertilization was carried out with CaM + ChM + CS in the two years evaluated. There were no significant differences among the chemical characteristics of red pitaia fruits with different fertilizations.

Hydrogel polymer in emergency and early growth of citrus rootstocks

The development of techniques for rapid and uniform emergence of seeds is the alternative to the diversification of citrus rootstocks that were little used due to low vigor compared to ‘Rangpur’ lime, the main rootstock used in Brazil, but it has shown susceptible to serious disease problems, such as the citrus sudden death (CSD). The addition of the hydrogel polymer to the substrate can increase the uniformity of seed emergence and reduce the time for the production of rootstocks due to the increase in water availability. Thus, the study was done to evaluate the formulation of the substrate with the hydrogel polymer on the uniformity of emergence and early growth of citrus rootstocks. The factorial scheme 3 × 2 × 2 was used, with the factors: Three rootstocks [‘Rangpur’ lime (Citrus limonia Osbeck), Poncirus trifoliata (L.) and ‘Sunki’ mandarin (Citrus sunki Hort. ex Tanaka); two formulations of substrate (with and without 0.4 g per container of Hidroplan-EB/HyB-M polymer and two environments (greenhouse with an average maximum temperature of 36.6°C and minimum of 17.2°C and growth chamber programmed with temperature to 25°C and a photoperiod of 12 h, distributed in a completely randomized design with four replications and 35 seeds per plot. The emergency velocity index (EVI), the percentage of emergence and early growth of rootstocks were evaluated. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and the means were compared by Tukey test at 5% of probability. The addition of the polymer to the substrate favored the percentage of emergence and EVI of ‘Rangpur’ lime and of mandarin ‘Sunki’ seeds in the growth chamber. The ‘Rangpur’ lime was the rootstock which presented the highest percentage of emergence and uniformity in both environments. The addition of the hydrogel polymer to substrate favored initial growth of citrus rootstocks.