To Christ, Lord of salvation, to my parents Maurinho and Maria, to my sisters Maraisa (Tata) and Marilia (Lila) and my brother-in-law Jurandi (Jura). I dedicate this work to you all. I love you! I also dedicate this work to all Brazilian graduate students. I know some of the challenges you faced or are going through.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSFirst of all, I would like to thank God for the gift of life, for empowering me and for making all things have cooperated to bring me here. I would like to thank my family for all love, caring and financial support. Mom, Dad, sisters and brother-in-law, thanks for rooting for me, for celebrating my achievements and for consoling me in my defeats. For believing and investing so much in my career, in my English classes, in the improvement of my physical and mental health, that helped me follow my dreams. I know we have not been physically close for a long time, but without your support I certainly would not be here now. Thank you! To my advisor: I thank my advisor and EMBRAPA Pecuária Sudeste researcher, Prof. Patricia M. Santos, for the unique and exceptional training throughout the course. I am grateful for the job opportunity, for having had her as my advisor, teacher and in several moments as a counselor, in addition to being an inspiration to me. I thank for freedom and trust accompanied by discipline, for the advice inside and outside the academic world, which taught me to think, breathe and react differently in the face of the adversities encountered during all these years. I am grateful for all the opportunities offered, for the financial support and encouragement to do my sandwich doctorate program at University of Florida (UFL) and for always instigating me to get out of my comfort zone. I will never forget that! To the Professors: Thanks to all Professors from PPGCAP-ESALQ, especially to Prof. Sila C. da Silva and Prof. Carlos G.S. Pedreira for the opportunity to carry out the teaching internship in the discipline "Forage plants and pastures" and for the lessons learned. I thank Prof. Carla M.M. Bittar, current PPGCAP coordinator, who welcomed me and my colleagues always willing to help us, in addition to the teachings on "Techniques of Scientific Communication in Animal Science and Pastures II". To Professors of the other graduate programs from ESALQ, especially Prof. Fábio R. Marin for the opportunity to conduct a teaching internship in the discipline of "Agricultural Meteorology", for the lessons I have learned and for providing me physical space within his research group, besides the partnership with the thematic project in which this dissertation is inserted. Thanks to Prof. Fernando C. Mendonça and Prof. Miguel Cooper for the consultations and doubts