No abstract

For this research we used 15 day-old seedlings which were transplanted to 2 L pots and inoculated with 4,000 nematode eggs plus juveniles (J2). After 60 days, the root systems were removed and the number of galls and eggs evaluated and used to calculate the nematode reproduction factor (RF). The tomato cv. Santa Cruz was used as a susceptible control. The experimental design was completely randomized, with six replications. Averages were compared using the Tukey or Scott-Knott test at 5%. For lettuce, Salad Bowl (Mimosa type), Elizabeth and Elisa (Lisa) and Vera cultivars (crisphead), the number of galls and the RF for M. javanica were statistically higher than for the control, whereas, for the other vegetable crops, the highest number of galls and eggs were found in chicory and basil. The highest susceptibility to M. incognita was observed in Mimosa lettuce cv. Salad Bowl, chicory cultivars, parsley cv. Graúda Portuguesa and basil. Marjoram exhibited no M. incognita galls.

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In no-tillage systems, straw coverage on soil surface is the key to success, and the choice of crops for rotation is crucial to achieve the sustainability and quality that conservation agriculture requires. The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic performance of the common bean cultivar IAC Formoso sown in succession to three straw mulch systems (corn alone, corn/Urochloa ruziziensisintercrop and U. ruziziensisalone) and topdress nitrogen rates (0; 40; 80; 120 and 160 kg ha-1N), at the four-leaf stage, three years after the implementation of no-tillage. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block split plot design, with three replications. Common bean highest yields were achieved in succession to U. ruziziensisalone and intercropped with corn. The corn/U. ruziziensisintercrop provided both straw and seed production, allowing for quality no-tillage. Topdressed nitrogen influenced the common bean yield when in succession to corn alone, U. ruziziensisalone and corn/U. ruziziensisintercrop in no-tillage.

Greenhouse cultivation of table grapes is a challenge due to difficulties imposed by their perennial habit and chilling requirements. Despite difficulties, greenhouse cultivation allows ripening long before that in the open field. Nonetheless, for harvesting “Flame Seedless” in the most profitable periods, a cultural practices timetable has to be established. In this context, an estimation of development rate as a function of temperature becomes essential. This work puts forward a procedure to determine “Flame Seedless” threshold temperatures and heat requirements from bud break to ripening. “Flame Seedless” required an average of 1633 growing degree days (GDD) in the open field with a base temperature of 5 °C and an upper threshold temperature of 30 °C. Strikingly, only 1542 GDD were required within the greenhouse. This procedure forecast “Flame Seedless” ripening with an accuracy of three and six days in the open field and greenhouse, improving predictions based on the average number of days between bud break and ripening. The procedure to predict oncoming harvest date was found satisfactory, just four days earlier than the real date. If we used the typical meteorological year instead of the average year, then the prediction was greatly improved since harvest was forecast just one day before its occurrence.