The purpose of this review was to characterize the wheat crop phenology under drought conditions, at different stages of crop growth. Effects of drought on wheat plants are variable, and depend on the phenological stage of the plant as well as the duration, intensity and frequency of the drought. The crop evapotranspiration increases over the course of the phenological cycle, reaching a maximum in the growth stage (from the beginning of heading until the end of flowering), which is the most sensitive stage of the crop to drought. At ripening, the evapotranspiration decreases to save and allocate the energy to grain yield. The drought affects the plant density in the initial phase, tiller number per plant in the tillering phase, and plant height in the stretching phase, most severely. At the flowering stage, the processes related to fertilization and fixation of grain are most severely affected, i.e., the number of viable seeds per area decreases. In the grain formation stage, the ability of the source (leaf) to use and translocate the assimilates to the grain is most severely affected, thus affecting the grain weight.

This paper presents the results obtained with a treatment system by constructed wetland, when applied to effluent from a swine slaughterhouse. The experimental module was filled with a soil layer, followed by crushed stone and sand as filtering material and the upper layer was planted macrophyte Juncus effusus. A level controller and a pump provided the effluent recirculation in experimental module. This experiment was conducted for a hydraulic retention time of 96 hours, in addition, samples were collected every 24 hours for subsequent physical-chemical analyzes. The results were promising, was obtained 98.4 % removal of COD -Chemical Oxygen Demand after 96 hours of treatment. Moreover, there was also a decrease in the electrical conductivity of the effluent, possibly due to nutrient consumption by the plants. Avaliação da Eficiência de Um Sistema de Tratamento por

The effects of different species and grazing management of winter forage crops on the physical properties of a clayey Red Latosol of the western region of Parana State under crop-livestock integration systems were investigated in the present study. Treatments consisted of three different winter crops [white oat (Avena sativa), dual-purpose wheat (Triticum aestivum) and triticale (X Tritico secale)] and three grazing management (one and two grazing with 15 cm of residue height, and without grazing), followed by soybean cultivation, in a randomized block design. Undisturbed soil samples were collected at 0.00-0.10 and 0.10-0.20 m depths, after the winter crops harvest (October/2012) and soybean harvest (March/2013) and was determined the soil bulk density until 0.35 cm depth. The soil macroporosity in the 0.00-0.10 and 0.10-0.20 m soil layers and the total soil porosity in the 0.10-0.20 m layer, after winter crops harvest, were influenced by the crops and management of winter forage. In the evaluation performed after the soybean harvest, there were changes in the soil macroporosity in the 0.0-0.10 m layer and for microporosity and total soil porosity in the 0.10-0.20 m soil layer. The soil bulk density was not affected by the crops and management of winter forage. The different species and grazing management of winter crops in integrated crop-livestock systems promoted changes in soil penetration resistance in the 0.20-0.30 m soil layer. The cultivation of white oat during winter and management with two grazing resulted in lower soil penetration resistance levels.

ABSTRACTthe present study assessed the fruiting pattern, bird foraging behavior, and sugar content of ripe fruits of two sympatric species of rubiaceae (Psychotria brasiliensis and P. nuda). this study was carried out in an Atlantic forest area on ilha Grande, rJ, between August 1998 and July 1999. fruit production occurred year round, with a peak of mature P. brasiliensis fruits in december 1998 and another of P. nuda in february of 1999. Lipaugus lanioides (cotingidae), Baryphtengus ruficapillus (momotidae) and Saltator similis (emberizidae) made the most frequent foraging visits to fruiting P. brasiliensis, so that L. lanioides and B. ruficapillus removed the fruits with sallying maneuvers while S. similis gleaned the fruits. Lipaugus lanioides was by far the most important consumer, and potentially the main disperser of P. brasiliensis. birds of this genus are heavy frugivores in the tropical forests and are widely assumed to be important seed dispersers. the fruits were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively in relation to the amounts of sucrose and starch. Psychotria brasiliensis (the visited species) showed the smallest quantity of sucrose and the highest amount of starch. these findings suggest that what may influence the birds' choice of fruit is the proportion of starch in the Psychotria species studied here rather than the carbohydrate composition.Keywords: Psychotria, fruits, biochemical analysis. RESUMO Aves potenciais dispersoras de

Um dos indicadores importantes para um ecossistema é a serapilheira, pois ela fornece nutrientes e matéria orgânica que são essenciais para o funcionamento do ambiente. Assim sendo, o objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a taxa de decomposição foliar da serapilheira e correlacioná-la com índices meteorológicos, em duas áreas com sistemas agroflorestais (SAF1) formado por diversas espécies de plantas e (SAF2) formado por Heveicultura e abacaxi, em uma região de Cerrado, no município de Pedro Gomes, MS. Para avaliação da decomposição da serapilheira folhas recém-caídas foram coletadas das áreas de estudo e transferidas à estufa por 96 horas. Em seguida, foram pesadas frações de 10 gramas e inseridas em litterbags. Foram alocados 20 litterbags em cada área de estudo e a remoção das amostras ocorreu aos 30, 60, 90 e 120 dias, retirando-se 5 amostras por área e época avaliada. Foi estimada a massa foliar remanescente dos litterbags, o tempo de meia vida (t ½) e a constante de decomposição (k). Posteriormente, a correlação de Pearson (r) entre as variáveis climáticas e k. A perda da massa foliar foi maior na área do SAF2, e em ambas as áreas a temperatura e precipitação tiveram influência na decomposição foliar da serapilheira.