Abstract The buffalo’s reproductive seasonality determines the decrease in milk and cheese production generating economic losses on the production system. Among various food process, we find the spray-dryer as an essential tool which helps food conservation. We achieved the milk powder in three replicates and each repetition processed 10 L of buffalo milk. After obtaining the final product, three samples (200 g) were packaged for each evaluated storage time (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days at room temperature). In this context, we assessed the effects of drying buffalo’s milk by atomization (spray dryer) and storage time effects on the milk fat. We observed that the spray drying did not alter the fatty acid content and nutritional indices evaluated, except the ratio DHA / EPA. Also, the storage time did not change the lipid content (fatty acid) and nutritional indices assessed. The processing of buffalo milk by a spray dryer and the milk powder hermetically stored can be used as a strategy for mitigating the economic losses caused by reproductive seasonality.

ABSTRACT In diploid late-acting self-incompatible (LSI) species of Bignoniaceae, self-pollinated pistils show a marked delay in ovule penetration by pollen tubes, followed by delayed, but otherwise normal, initial stages of endosperm development and subsequent pistil abscission. Most polyploid species of Bignoniaceae are apomictic and set selfed fruits with viable polyembryonic seeds carrying adventitious embryos. Handroanthus serratifolius is a polyploid species with sporophytic apomictic individuals that produce polyembryonic seeds after either self- or cross-pollination, and other LSI individuals that produce exclusively monoembryionic seeds. Our aim was to determine whether self-sterility events in the latter are similar to those observed in other diploid LSI species of Bignoniaceae. No conspicuous differences in the progress of ovule penetration, fertilization and early stages of endosperm development were observed between selfed and crossed pistils, which contrasts with the marked delay observed in these events after self-pollination in diploid LSI species of the family. Adventitious embryo precursor cells (AEPs) were observed in some ovules, but they apparently do not develop into embryos. We believe that the AEPs in these plants represent a ‘potential’ for sporophytic apomixis, which would explain the similar behaviour of post-pollination events in selfed vs. crossed pistils despite their inability to set fruits after selfing.

Polyploidization is common among angiosperms and might induce typically allogamous plants to become autogamous (self-compatible, relying on sexual self-fertilization) or apomictic (achieving asexual reproduction through seeds). This work aimed to determine whether neopolyploidy leads to the breakdown of the self-incompatibility system in the hexaploid non-apomictic species Handroanthus serratifolius (Vahl) S. Grose, through analyses of its floral biology, pollination biology and breeding system. Although anthesis lasted for three days, increasing the overall floral display, receptivity decreased as of the second day. Centridini and Euglossini bees were the main pollinators, and low nectar availability (1.95 ± 1.91 µl/flower) might have obliged them to visit multiple flowers. We observed low reproductive efficacy. That might be explained by self-sterility and by the great number of flowers per individual, which could increase the frequency of geitonogamy. Ovule penetration by the pollen tubes in self-pollinated pistils with posterior abscission indicated late-acting self-incompatibility in H. serratifolius, as observed in other diploid Bignoniaceae species, although inbreeding depression cannot be excluded. The self-sterility found in the monoembryonic, hexaploid individuals studied here contrasts with the results for other neopolyploid Handroanthus and Anemopaegma species, which are often autogamous and apomictic. Our results suggest that neopolyploidy is not the main factor leading to self-fertility in Handroanthus.