Pitanga (Eugenia uniflora L.) cultivation has increased rapidly around the world, but most seedlings come from sexual propagation and thus present high genetic variability and respond differently to environmental conditions. This work studied the phenology and thermal requirement of pitanga genotypes in the Brazilian semiarid. Forty‐eight genotypes were evaluated in 2017 and 2018 in an experimental farm at the Federal Rural University of Semiarid, Mossoró, Brazil. The time and thermal requirement for phenological stages from fruit pruning to harvesting, and fruit production were evaluated. Highly productive and precocious genotypes were identified, and six groups were arranged based on dissimilarity.

The need to diversify agricultural production has fostered the cultivation of several crops under environmental conditions atypical to their origin, justifying the extreme importance of studies on the agricultural management of crops in semiarid regions. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of irrigation depth and potassium doses on fig quality under semiarid conditions. The experiment was conducted in a 4 × 4 split-split-plot design, in randomized block design, with three replicates. The plots corresponded to four irrigation levels (50%, 75%, 100%, and 125% ETc), the subplots consisted of four potassium doses (0, 60, 120, and 240 g K2O plant−1), and the sub-subplot corresponded to the crop years (2018/19 and 2019/20). Results showed that water deficit reduced fig productivity, and the irrigation levels equal to or greater than 100% ETc performed cumulatively throughout the growing cycles. Therefore, irrigation depths from 85.19% to 95.16% ETc are recommended for greater water-use efficiency and fruit quality. Furthermore, potassium fertilization mitigated water stress in fig plants, allowing for reduced irrigation levels, especially in the second year, without compromising fruit traits.

Red pitaya (Hylocereus costaricensis) is a promising species, with high cultivation potential due to the organoleptic and functional qualities of its fruits. However, irrigation water salinity can affect the crop yield. Therefore, materials rich in organic substances can minimize the damage caused by excess salts in soil and/or water. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of organic matter sources as attenuators of salt stress on the production and biochemical responses of red pitaya seedlings. A completely randomized design in 4 × 5 factorial scheme, with five sources of organic matter (humus, sheep manure, biofertilizer, organic compost and sand + soil) and four salinities (0.6, 2.6, 4.6 and 6.6 dS m-1) with four replicates and two plants per plot was used. The shoot length, root length, cladode diameter, number of cladodes, number of sprotus, root volume, shoot dry mass, root dry mass and total dry mass, root and shoot dry mass ratio, chlorophyll a, b and total, amino acids and soluble sugars were evaluated at 120 days after the treatments began to be applied. Red pitaya is moderately tolerant to salinity (ECw from 4.0 to 6.0 dS m-1). Organic compost and sheep manure attenuate the harmful effects of salinity on red pitaya seedlings. Under salt stress conditions, red pitaya plants increase their levels of proline, amino acids and total sugars.

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<p>The objective of this work was to evaluate the potential of conservation post-harvest starch-based edible film coatings manioc on ‘Tommy Atkins’ mangoes under refrigerated storage. We used fruit from a market in Natal / RN, respecting maturation stage “de vez”. After that the mangoes were taken to the Laboratory of Soils and Plants of the Agricultural School of Jundiaí - EAJ, where they were selected, aiming at the standardization of color, size and weight. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a factorial scheme of 5 x 6 type, corresponding to different treatments of the fruit (without coating application; edible film spraying based on cassava starch; fruit spraying with edible film based on manioc starch + calcium chloride, fruit spraying with edible film based on manioc starch + calcium propionate, fruit spraying with manioc starch + potassium permanganate) in six periods (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 days) in a refrigerated environment (12 ± 2, 85% RH ± 5), and four replicates. The results were submitted to analysis of variance, the means of comparison was done by the Tukey test (5% probability). It was verified that the treatments used were superior to the control from the 15th day of storage, to loss of mass, prolonging the shelf life of the fruit in 10 days, but with no effect for the associations with source of calcium and oxidizing agent.</p>