ABSTRACT The effects of either functional oil or antibiotic growth promoter supplementation on broiler breeders and their offspring were assessed in 2 experiments. In Experiment I, 16,400 broiler breeders (22 weeks old) were distributed into 2 experimental groups, one supplemented with 1,500 ppm of a commercial blend of functional oils (active ingredients: cashew nutshell liquid and castor oil) and the other with 500 ppm of bacitracin methylene disalicylate (BMD). Laying rates, fertility, embryonic mortality, and egg characteristics were measured from weeks 25 to 46. In Experiment II, 720 one day old male chicks, born from 42 week old breeders, from each one of the two treatments in Experiment I, were supplemented with either 10 ppm of enramycin or 1,500 ppm of the same functional oils as in Experiment I to study whether there were any maternal diet carry-over effects. Functional oils decreased embryonic mortality from 11.01% to 9.64% (P < 0.03) when compared to BMD. However, a functional oil link increase in egg weight did not result in either heavier chicks or statistically significant better offspring performance. Nonetheless, a possible benefit of the functional oil supplementation on the offspring weight at 42 d cannot be excluded. The type of additive supplemented during Experiment II did not affect any performance parameters. In conclusion, functional oils could successfully replace antibiotic growth promoters in broiler breeders as embryonic mortality decreased. Finally, when functional oils were supplemented to the offspring, the performance was similar to that of a commonly used antibiotic growth promoter.

Grasses are more efficient than dicots in acquiring Fe from calcareous soils. We studied whether intercropping with grasses alleviates Fe chlorosis in olive and whether the effect persists in succeeding dicot crops. Three different pot experiments were conducted. In the first, olive plants were intercropped with 6 different grass species (purple false brome, annual ryegrass, compact brome, goatgrass, barley and red fescue); in the second, the two species best performing in the previous experiment were studied in various calcareous soils and; in the third, chickpea and peanut were grown in pots previously used to cultivate the two grasses. Intercropping with purple false brome and barley increased leaf chlorophyll concentrations and/or boosted growth of olive trees on three different calcareous soils. Olive growth was adversely affected by intercropping in one soil as a result of competition for water. Intercropping increased Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn leaf contents in olive. Also, grass cropping generally raised available levels of soil Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn; this effect, however, resulted in no substantial alleviation of Fe chlorosis in succeeding chickpea or peanut crops. Intercropping with purple false brome and barley appears to be a promising remedy for Fe chlorosis in olive orchards affected by Fe chlorosis.

The objectives of this paper are to investigate the response of chickpea growing on two iron (Fe) chlorosis-inducing calcareous soils, with different Fe availability, generously supplied with phosphate (P), and to evaluate the effectiveness of a mixture of organic acids (citric, oxalic and malic) to alleviate Fe chlorosis symptoms. Application of P (+P treatment) aggravated Fe deficiency irrespective of the soil. Phosphorus-induced Fe chlorosis was alleviated when organic acids were also applied to the soil (+P+OA treatment), which was reflected in increased leaf chlorophyll concentration and decreased root ferric reductase activity in the plants growing on both soils; the effect was stronger for plants grown on the soil with the lowest Fe-available content. However, Fe chlorosis was still more severe than in the control (-P treatment) plants. The need of -P treatment plants to explore soil in order to take up nutrients is reflected in their root architecture, reduced root diameter and increased length, surface and volume relative to +P and +P+OA roots. Organic acids alleviate Fe chlorosis in function of non crystalline Fe oxides content but inhibit the root response mechanisms as a consequence of increasing Fe concentration in the soil solution.

The pressure behavior of proteins may be summarized as a the pressure-induced disordering of their structures. This thermodynamic parameter has effects on proteins that are similar but not identical to those induced by temperature, the other thermodynamic parameter. Of particular importance are the intermolecular interactions that follow partial protein unfolding and that give rise to the formation of fibrils. Because some proteins do not form fibrils under pressure, these observations can be related to the shape of the stability diagram. Weak interactions which are differently affected by hydrostatic pressure or temperature play a determinant role in protein stability. Pressure acts on the 2º, 3º and 4º structures of proteins which are maintained by electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions and by hydrogen bonds. We present some typical examples of how pressure affects the tertiary structure of proteins (the case of prion proteins), induces unfolding (ataxin), is a convenient tool to study enzyme dissociation (enolase), and provides arguments to understand the role of the partial volume of an enzyme (butyrylcholinesterase). This approach may have important implications for the understanding of the basic mechanism of protein diseases and for the development of preventive and therapeutic measures.

A cor é um dos principais atributos considerados na classificação dos solos, indicando a riqueza em matéria orgânica e a natureza mineralógica dos óxidos de ferro presentes. Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a capacidade preditiva da cor do solo, determinada pela técnica de refletância difusa, na quantificação dos óxidos de Fe hematita e goethita em diferentes Latossolos brasileiros. Os espectros de refletância separaram os solos mais claros e amarelados dos mais escuros e de coloração vermelha mais intensa, indicando o aumento da refletividade decorrente da redução dos teores dos pigmentos hematita e matéria orgânica. A técnica espectroscópica permitiu a obtenção de valores de matizes mais precisos, com vantagem sobre a Caderneta de Munsell, que fornece dados a intervalos de 2,5 YR. A presença de hematita e goethita nas amostras foi facilmente identificada pela utilização da segunda derivada da função Kubelka-Munk. A similaridade dos espectros desta função, obtida para a terra fina, terra fina tratada com hipoclorito de sódio e fração argila, revela o pequeno efeito da matéria orgânica na expressão das curvas derivativas. Tais resultados indicam que esta técnica pode ser usada sem que seja necessária a separação da referida fração textural, como normalmente observado em outras técnicas de caracterização mineralógica. A segunda derivada da função Kubelka-Munk permitiu ainda a adequada estimativa dos teores de goethita e, principalmente, de hematita presentes nas diferentes amostras.

Soil color is one of the central attributes in soil classification because it is related to the organic matter content and iron oxide mineralogy. The objective of this study was to make an evaluation of the predictive capacity of soil color, as determined by diffuse reflectance techniques, to quantify hematite and goethite in different Brazilian latosols (Oxisols). The spectroscopy technique allowed separating yellowish and light colored samples from dark and red ones, indicating an increase in reflectivity with decreasing hematite and organic matter contents. The spectroscopic technique obtained more precise hue values than those established by the Munsell color charts, which only provide data at intervals of 2.5 yr. The presence of hematite and goethite in the soil samples was easily identified by using the second derivative of the Kubelka-Munk function. The similarity in spectra of this function obtained for the total soil (diameter < 2 mm), soil treated with sodium hypochlorite, and clay fraction, points out to a small effect of organic matter on the derivative curves. The results indicate that this technique can be used without a textural separation of the clay fraction, as is routinely performed in other techniques of mineralogical characterization require. Furthermore, the second Kubelka-Munk function derivative allowed an adequate estimation of goethite and, particularly, hematite concentrations in different samples.

Latossolos Brunos e Vermelhos férricos desenvolvidos de basalto representam parcela expressiva dos solos intensivamente cultivados do Sul do Brasil. Além dos perfis monomatizados típicos, brunos ou vermelhos, incluem-se, atualmente, nestas duas classes perfis polimatizados, que apresentam os horizontes superficiais brunados e os subsuperficiais mais avermelhados, anteriormente individualizados como Latossolo "Bruno/Roxo". Não há, ainda, no Sistema Brasileiro de Classificação de Solos, um consenso quanto aos componentes de cor mais apropriados para separação dos Latossolos Brunos e Vermelhos. Graças à sua textura muito argilosa e ao alto conteúdo de óxidos de ferro, tais solos apresentam elevada capacidade de adsorção de fosfatos, à qual se pressupõe seja diferenciada de acordo com as formas dos óxidos de ferro presentes em cada modalidade. Por outro lado, a matéria orgânica, ao interagir com os óxidos de ferro, pode igualmente mascarar o efeito individual desses óxidos na fixação. Desse modo, o presente trabalho objetivou: (a) testar a utilidade e a eficácia do uso de dados espectrais obtidos por refletância difusa como ferramenta para identificação dos óxidos de ferro goethita (FeOOH) e hematita (Fe2O3); (b) quantificar, por fracionamento químico, as diferentes formas ou compartimentos onde se encontra o fósforo nesses solos, e (c) avaliar o efeito dos diferentes tipos e proporções de hematita e goethita na adsorção de fósforo, bem como o efeito da matéria orgânica na redução dessa capacidade sortiva. Foram selecionados seis perfis de solo em Santa Catarina e Rio Grande do Sul, sendo dois Latossolos Brunos típicos, dois Latossolos Vermelhos férricos e dois Latossolos Brunos, provisoriamente denominados Latossolo Bruno/Vermelho férrico. Os perfis foram caracterizados do ponto de vista físico, químico e mineralógico, sendo as amostras de quatro horizontes de cada perfil selecionadas para análises mais detalhadas. As técnicas de refletância difusa utilizadas mostraram-se altamente promissoras para a identificação e quantificação dos óxidos de ferro presentes. O matiz 4 YR, em amostras naturais úmidas, correspondeu a valores aproximadamente iguais de hematita e de goethita nos solos, sendo esse valor proposto como limite de separação entre Latossolos Brunos e Vermelhos e entre Nitossolos Vermelhos e Háplicos. Para a maioria dos solos, as quantidades totais de fósforo foram superiores a 1.000 mg kg-1, indicando alta reserva potencial desse nutriente. No fracionamento químico seqüencial, evidenciou-se o predomínio das formas "oclusas" de fósforo (Pdcb), seguida das formas orgânicas, P adsorvido a formas cristalinas dos óxidos de ferro e P ligado a compostos de ferro de baixa cristalinidade. O coeficiente A da equação de Freundlich modificada, que estima a quantidade de P necessária para manter 1 mg L-1 P na solução após um dia de equilíbrio, foi menor nos Latossolos Vermelhos em relação aos Brunos. Em todos os solos, entretanto, o valor de A mostrou-se inversamente correlacionado com o conteúdo de matéria orgânica, indicando que, além do efeito individual dos óxidos de ferro na fixação, o aumento no conteúdo de matéria orgânica exerce papel extremamente importante na redução da sorção de fosfatos desses solos.

Most of the intensely cultivated soils of South Brazil are Brown and Red Ferric Latosols developed from basalt. Typical profiles of these two classes have brown and red hues, respectively, but polychromatic profiles with brown hues in the surface horizons and reddish hues in the subsurface horizons (formerly denominated Brown/Reddish Latosols) also occur. Exact color parameters that separate Brown and Red Latosols are not yet defined in the Brazilian Soil Classification System. All these soils are clayey and have high iron oxide contents, which explains their high phosphorus (P) sorption capacity. It was hypothesized that this capacity depends on the hematite/(hematite + goethite) ratio. However, the organic matter can mask the effect of individual oxides on the P sorption capacity. The objectives of this work were: (a) to test the utility of spectral data obtained by diffuse reflectance for the identification and quantification of hematite (Fe2O3) and goethite (FeOOH)); (b) to characterize, by chemical fractionation, the different pools of phosphorus in these soils; (c) to evaluate the effect of iron oxide types and hematite/goethite ratio on the P sorption capacity, as well the organic matter effect in the reduction of this sorption capacity. Six soil profiles were selected for study purposes in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul states: two Brown typic Latosols, two Red ferric Latosols, and two Brown Latosols with red subsurface hues, provisionally designated Brown/Red Ferric Latosols. These profiles were characterized physically, chemically, and mineralogically, and four horizons of each were selected for more detailed studies. Iron oxide identification and quantification were successfully performed using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Hue 4 YR, in natural moist samples, corresponds to similar quantities of hematite and goethite in the soils, and this hue was proposed as a separation limit between the Brown and the Red Latosols and between the Red and the Haplic Nitosols. The total phosphorus content was higher than 1,000 mg kg-1 for most soil samples. Occluded P was the dominant P form, followed by organic P, P adsorbed to iron oxide surfaces and P associated with poorly ordered iron compounds. The value for the A constant of a modified Freundlich equation was higher in the brown than in the red soils. The A value, however, was inversely correlated with the organic matter content of the soil. Thus, organic matter plays an important role in the reduction of the P adsorption capacity of the studied Latosols.