The aim of this work was to assess the geographic distribution of coffee quality in Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and to study its interactions with chemical and environmental factors. Correlations between environmental factors, chemical compounds and sensory quality of participants of the Minas Coffee Quality Contest were made through Principal Component Analysis and Biplot Graphics. The results showed discriminations of high and low scores as a result of environmental variables, demonstrating a strong influence of temperature, rainfall, altitude and latitude on the quality of the coffees studied. In addition to the environmental characteristics, the chemical compounds trigonelline, caffeine, and especially the acid-5-cafeiolquinic were also relevant in discriminating the scores obtained through sensory analysis. This work is an initial indication of the factors that determine the quality of coffees produced in Minas Gerais.

This work presents a new technique as a potential methodology to analyse seeds. The technology is known as dynamic speckle, or biospeckle, an optical phenomenon produced when active materials, such as biological tissue, are illuminated by laser light. In the present work, the biological activity of seed tissues has been inferred from quantitative and qualitative measurements of their speckle activity. The aim is to show that the biospeckle technique has a potential as a methodology to assess seed viability. One aspect that needs to be investigated is how the water content in the seeds affects bio speckle activity. An experiment has been performed to determine the effect of humidity in the results. Seed activity for different levels of humidity was determined using quantitative and qualitative methods. Also, in others experiments, viable and non viable seeds with different specific humidity levels could be classified using the same technique. £)

RESUMOObjetivou-se no presente trabalho verificar a qualidade do café natural e despolpado durante a secagem em terreiro e secagem com ar aquecido a 40º e 60ºC. O trabalho foi realizado no Departamento de Engenharia e no Pólo de Tecnologia em Pós-Colheita do Café da Universidade Federal de Lavras. A colheita do café, cultivar Topázio, foi seletiva. Parte do café foi despolpado e outra parte processado de forma natural. Uma parcela de cada tipo de café foi conduzida para a secagem em terreiro e outra parcela para secagem com temperaturas de 40ºC e 60ºC. Para avaliação da qualidade, foram feitos teste de condutividade elétrica e lixiviação de potássio; determinação de acidez titulável total; teste de acidez graxa; açúcares totais e redutores. Os resultados obtidos permitem concluir que: o tempo para secagem é afetado pelos diferentes tipos de secagem e processamentos; a condutividade elétrica, a lixiviação de potássio, a acidez titulável total e a acidez graxa aumentam com a elevação da temperatura de secagem, independente do tipo de processamento; os açúcares redutores e os açúcares totais diminuem com o aumento da tem peratura de secagem independente do tipo de processamento; a secagem com temperatura de 60ºC afetou negativamente a qualidade do café.Termos para indexação: Café, processamento, secagem e qualidade. ABSTRACTThe present work has the aim of verifying the quality of natural and washed coffee during its drying with air heated at 40º and 60ºC. The work was accomplished in the Engineering Department and in the Coffee Post-harvest Technology Pole at the Federal University of Lavras. The harvest of Topázio cultivar cultivar was selective. A part of the coffee was pulped and the other part processed in the dry method. A portion of each kind of coffee was led to drying on ground and the other portion for drying at temperatures of 40ºC and 60ºC. For quality evaluation, electric tests and potassium leaching, total titrable acidity; fatty acidity test, total sugars and reducing sugars were conducted. The results obtained in the present work allow to conclude that: drying time is affected by the different sorts of drying and processings; electric conductivity, potassium leaching, total titrable acidity and fatty acidity increase with increasing drying temperature independently of the kind of processing; reducing sugars and total sugars decrease with rise of drying temperature independently of the sort of processing; the drying at the temperature of 60ºC affected negatively coffee quality.

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