Scientia Agropecuaria

Integration of VANT-LiDAR with multispectral imagery for the estimation of carbon stocks in Prosopis sp. forest plantations

Sheyla Y. Chumbimune-Vivanco — 2025-05-05

The Prosopis sp. individuals known as carob trees are key species in the development of dry forest and recovery of degraded areas in the northern coast of Peru. The evaluation of plantations, calculation of aboveground forest biomass (AFB) and carbon stock represent an important role in forest management and climate change mitigation. This study evaluates monitoring methodologies using multispectral and LiDAR images coupled to a UAV, to validate them and generate models to estimate carbon stocks. Seven species of Prosopis sp. were evaluated with the conventional methodology and significant differences were found between species for dasometric characteristics and vegetation indices, as well as in the comparison with the data obtained with LiDAR. Models were selected to determine BAF and the association between the aerial carbon obtained with the models constituted by LiDAR data and vegetation indexes that presented significant correlations (p < 0.05), seven models were built for carbon prediction and the model that has as regressor variables the total height and crown area obtained from LiDAR, as well as the indexes CIgreen, GNDVI, RECI, LCI and NDVI (R² = 0.77) stands out. This confirms that the use of the LiDAR methodology with the vegetation indices allows a more practical estimation of the carbon stored in the plantation.

Antioxidant activity and seed vigor in germination of bean under salt stress conditions

Matheus Santin Padilha — 2025-05-05

Using seeds with higher physiological potential can help overcome saline stress, affecting many arable areas in tropical and subtropical regions. This study aimed to evaluate whether seed vigor contributes to overcoming saline stress, seeking to identify the association between the antioxidant system and seed lot vigor. Seeds of the BAF55 genotype with two levels of vigor were used. The seeds were germinated under no-stress conditions, with 75 and 150 mmol L^-1 of sodium chloride in the solution during germination. After five days, morphological changes and changes in the enzyme’s catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase, proline, malondialdehyde, and hydrogen peroxide were evaluated. An increase in antioxidant activity was observed with the imposed stresses and no significant difference was observed between the vigor level, except in the condition of 75 mmol L^-1 in the hypocotyl of the seedlings and, for proline in the condition of 150 mmol L^-1 in which the low-vigor presented greater activity. The stress of 150 mmol L^-1 showed greater severity in seeds of low-vigor, resulting in greater lipid peroxidation in the seedlings formed and resulting in seedlings with lower performance.

Impact of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, white fungus waste, and nano fertilizer on pyrophosphatase activity, growth characteristics, and yield of stevia plant

Zahraa J. Al-budairy — 2025-05-05

Aimed to know the effect of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, white fungus waste, and nano fertilizer on the pyrophosphatase enzyme, growth characteristics, and yield of stevia plants. The bacterial vaccine represented the first factor. It was added at two levels: B0 (without inoculum) and B1 (injecting 2 ml of liquid bio-inoculum represented by P. aeruginosa). The second factor was adding white fungus waste at three levels defined by Ab0 (without adding white mushroom waste), Ab1 (adding white mushroom waste at level 5 tons/h), and Ab2 (adding white mushroom waste at level 10 tons/h). Nano fertilizer was added as a third factor at four levels: N0 (without adding nano fertilizer), N1 (adding 4 kg/h of nano zinc), N2 (adding 2 kg/h of nano boron), and N3 (adding a mixture of 1 kg/h of nano boron + 2 kg/h of nano zinc). The triple combination B1Ab1N3 achieved a significant superiority in the activity of the pyrophosphatase enzyme in the first and second harvests and recorded (260.67 and 166.00) µg PO₄^-3-P/g soil 5/h, respectively, compared to the treatment without addition, which recorded (55.00 and 44.67) µg PO₄^-3-P/g soil 5/h, respectively. In contrast, the triple combination B1Ab2N3 achieved the highest growth and yield characteristics of the stevia plant and recorded the highest rate of plant height, dry weight of leaves and total yield, and recorded 83.90 and 76.00 cm/plant, 61.7 and 53.0 g/plant, 4933 and 4240 kg/h, respectively, compared to the treatment without addition, which recorded 68.98 and 60.63 cm/plant, 44.6 and 38.1 g/plant, 3563 and 3050 kg/h respectively.

An effective disinfection protocol for contamination control in vitro establishment of Mortiño (Vaccinium floribundum Kunth) and identification of endogenous microbes

Lissette Moreno-Peña — 2025-05-25

The Vaccinium genus consists of a variety of berries with high nutritious components consumed worldwide leading to the development of micropropagation protocols to supply the demand. Mortiño, the Andean Blueberry (Vaccinium floribundum Kunth) is a wild berry that grows in high-altitude grasslands with nutritious and commercial potential in Ecuador. In this study, the use of PPM^TM (Plant Preservative Mixture™) was effective controlling contamination for the in vitro establishment of Vaccinium floribundum Kunth in contrast to a conventional method using EtOH and Clorox. Stems were defoliated and cut into 1 cm segments, then immersed in liquid MS (Murashige & Skoog) supplemented with 5% v/v PPM^TM without pH adjustment for 5 hours under constant shaking. After immersion, segments were transferred to flasks containing WPM (Woody Plant Media) medium supplemented with an additional 2 mlL^-1 PPM^TM. Persistent microbial contaminants in the in vitro explants were isolated and identified through molecular methods and gene sequences analyzed using the GenBank database resulted in the identification of three bacterial species: Methylobacterium sp., Methylobacterium radiotolerans, and Bacillus pumilus. In addition, three fungal species were also discovered: Xylaria sp., Xylaria feejeensis, and Diaporthe lutecens. Additionally, a multiplication assay was made with the aseptic stems from the sterilization protocol to evaluate four different growth regulators: 2ip, kinetin, zeatin and meta-topolin. kinetin showed very low responses with a mean of 1.2 shoots per stem. The highest number of shoots per stem (9 shoots) was obtained with 5 mg L^-1 2ip. The use of zeatin and meta-topolin facilitated shoot proliferation with the following concentrations: 3 mg L^-1zeatin + 0.5 mg L^-1 NAA (1-Naphthaleneacetic Acid) and 3 mg L^-1Meta-topolin + 0.5 mg L^-1NAA. These findings demonstrate the successful establishment of an in vitro disinfection and multiplication protocol for V. floribundum.

Strains of Akanthomyces uredinophilum, Simplicillium lanosoniveum, and Trichoderma spp. exhibit high endophytic activity and induce improved growth of coffee plants

Juana Margarita Martínez-de-Jesús — 2025-05-25

The cultivation of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is affected by rust (Hemileia vastatrix), causing losses of over 70% in production. The use of endophytic fungi is a biological strategy for disease control. The objective of this study was to evaluate the endophytic activity of 14 fungal strains and their effect on the growth of coffee plants var. Caturra. Coffee seeds were inoculated with a concentration of 1×10⁶ conidia mL^-1 of water, planted and organized in a completely randomized experimental design, with three repetitions of eight plants per strain. At 30, 60, and 120 days after seedling emergence, samples of five leaf segments per plant, 5 mm in diameter, were taken to evaluate endophytic activity. The start of fungal growth (days), initial fungal growth (%) and total fungal growth (%) were recorded. To evaluate the effect of fungal strains on the growth of coffee plants, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf pairs, number of branches and chlorophyll content index were evaluated. Analysis of Variance and Tukey's mean separation test (p ≤ 0.05) were performed. Three strains of A. uredinophilum (CHE-CNRCB 435, 616, and 988), two of S. lanosoniveum (CHE-CNRCB 438 and 544), and three of Trichoderma (CHE-CNRCB 398, 1057, and 1062) showed endophytic activity higher than 70%. The three Trichoderma spp. strains induced better growth in coffee plants.

Resilience of progeny of Swietenia macrophylla to the simulated attack of Hypsipyla grandella in nursery

Jorge Manuel Revilla-Chávez — 2025-05-25

The resilience of seedlings from four open-pollinated families of Swietenia macrophylla to simulated attacks by Hypsipyla grandella was evaluated at the nursery stage to determine the possibility of early selection of individuals from the most resilient families and establish sustainable forest plantations in the Peruvian Amazon. Significant differences were detected among families for diameter (D), sprout length (SL), and basal sprout area (BA). The coefficient of determination for genotypic effects was moderate (range: 0.248 – 0.457) for H (plant height), D, SL, and BA, and low (< 0.15) for plant base height (HB), number of sprouts (NR), number of branches (NB), and number of leaves (NL). The genetic correlation for the traits H, D, SL, BA, NR, NB, and NL ranged from 0.228 to 0.996, indicating that an increase in one of these traits can result in an increase in the other. This is important because there is the possibility of early selection of families for the traits D, SL, and BA for the development of plantations with families resistant to attack. Therefore, the genetic and phenotypic variation observed in the families suggests the possibility of early selection as a promising strategy for genetic improvement programs, using a larger number of families than those used in the present study, since theoretically larger samples may contain greater genetic variation between and within families.

Antixenosis of different maize genotypes in storage affects feeding preferences and oviposition of Sitophilus zeamais Moth

Rodrigues Agostinho Marcos — 2025-06-03

During corn storage, significant losses occur due to pest attacks, especially the weevil, Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky. This study aimed to evaluate the feeding preference of Sitophilus zeamais on seeds of stored corn genotypes. The tests were carried out in the laboratory of the Center for Scientific and Technological Development in Pest and Disease Management (NUDEMAFI) at the Center for Agricultural Sciences and Engineering of the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) in Alegre, in an air-conditioned room with a maximum temperature of 26.4 and a minimum of 26.2 ºC (± 2 ºC) and humidity between 70% and 75%. A host preference test with free choice was performed on insects from Nudemafi breeding, aged 5 to 10 days, in six (6) arenas with six (6) replicates using a completely randomized design (CRD). After 96 hours, the following were evaluated for each genotype: number of insects attracted, insect weight, number of infested seeds, percentage of seed loss, and 60 days after infestation, the percentage of emerged insects, physical and bromatological composition were determined. The results showed significant differences in the preference of Sitophilus zeamais adults in relation to the maize genotypes analyzed; the lowest food preference was observed in the Purple genotype (4.1%), followed by AG1051, which obtained 8.3% respectively. The genotypes presented antixenosis due to the effect of the nutritional properties and physical hardness of the seed.

Protocol for in vitro germination and micropropagation of Himatanthus Sucuuba (Spruce ex Müll. arg.) Woodson

Lyanna Hellen Sáenz-Ramírez — 2025-06-03

Himatanthus sucuuba is important in folk medicine and is widely used as an antitumor, antifungal, vermifuge and anti-anemic agent1. In this context, the objective of this study was to develop a protocol for in vitro germination and micropropagation of H. sucuuba. The seeds were immersed in a 1.0% (v/v) Cabrio Top solution for one hour on a magnetic stirrer and then in a 0.1% (v/v) diluted NaOCl solution for 30 minutes under agitation, followed by immersion in 70% alcohol for 1 minute. Subsequently, the seeds were rinsed four times with sterile distilled water and then inoculated in MS medium supplemented with the auxins AIA, ANA and AIB at concentrations of 0.0; 1.0; 3.0; 5.0 mg L^-1. The experimental design was completely randomized, using 10 treatments with 3 replicates of 10 seeds (n = 30). It was observed that the MS medium supplemented with IAA (5.0 mg L^-1) resulted in 80% germination and seedlings with 5.97 cm in height and 4.2 nodal segments. To stimulate rooting, the nodal segments were cut and inoculated in MS medium supplemented with BAP (0.1 mg L^-1) and in interaction with the auxins IAA, 2,4-D and ANA, at concentrations of 0.0; 3.0; 5.0 and 8.0 mg L^-1 and kept in a growth room at 25 ± 2 °C, with a photoperiod of 16 h. The combination BAP+IAA (0.1 + 8.0 mg L^-1) showed the best results with 100% sprouting, 40% callus formation and 30% rooting. In conclusion, in vitro propagation is a promising technique to produce H. sucuuba seedlings, however, hormonal adjustments are necessary.