Abstract The new technology of sugarcane planting, known as one-eye-set seedlings, offer a high standard of plant health and vegetative vigor. However, there are no reports in the literature that evaluate the weed competition with one-eye-set sugarcane seedlings, and the periods in which weed communities need to be controlled in this system. Two interference experiments were conducted in field conditions. The first experiment determined the periods of weed interference of an infesting community predominated by Ipomoea hederifolia and Merremia aegyptia in sugarcane. In the second experiment, these same species competed with plants of the same sugarcane cultivar. Productivity and qualitative aspects of production were evaluated. The critical period of interference prevention in one-eye-set sugarcane system was 103 days, with weed community interference starting at 35 days and lasting until 138 days after planting. Weed coexistence during the entire sugarcane cycle reduced productivity by 60% and affected qualitative characteristics such as the total reducing sugars. Both species affected the vegetative development of the crop, mainly the tillering. I. hederifolia plants developed ahead of the M. aegyptia plants but in late evaluations the interference caused by M. aegyptia (77%) was greater (P<0.01) than that caused by I. hederifolia (72%).

A espécie Coffea arabica é considerada sensível às baixas temperaturas, podendo ser afetada em todo o seu ciclo. A injúria pelo frio (temperaturas baixas acima de zero) se caracteriza, principalmente, pela inibição do processo fotossintético. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a participação dos pigmentos fotossintéticos na tolerância de plântulas de cafeeiro (C. arabica L.) à temperatura de resfriamento. A avaliação da atividade fotossintética foi feita através da emissão de fluorescência da clorofila a à temperatura ambiente (25 ºC) in vivo e in situ, usando um fluorímetro portátil. O conteúdo dos pigmentos foi obtido a partir da extração com acetona 80 % e a peroxidação lipídica estimada a partir das medidas do conteúdo de MDA em extratos do tecido foliar. Os resultados indicaram uma redução generalizada na eficiência quântica do PSII quando as plântulas foram mantidas no escuro. A redução ocorreu tanto nas plântulas submetidas ao tratamento de resfriamento, quanto no material controle. Isso demonstra que não apenas a temperatura de resfriamento estaria atuando como causa dessas alterações na atividade do PSII. É provável que tenha ocorrido um esgotamento das reservas do tecido, com a taxa respiratória excedendo à fotossintética, já que essa era nula, uma vez que a energia de excitação esteve comprometida pela permanência das plântulas no escuro. A eficiência na captura, transferência e utilização da energia luminosa em reações fotoquímicas no PSII, requer uma seqüência de eventos fotoquímicos, bioquímicos e biofísicos intimamente dependentes da integridade estrutural do aparelho fotossintético. Sendo que essa eficiência se mostrou mais dependente da ação protetora dos pigmentos cloroplastídicos do que propriamente da concentração desses.

Coffea arabica is considered to be sensitive to low temperatures, being affected throughout its entire life cycle. Injury caused by chilling (low temperatures above zero degree centigrade) is characterized primarily by inhibition of the photosynthetic process. The objective of this work was to evaluate the role of photosynthetic pigments in the tolerance of coffee (C. arabica L.) seedlings to chilling. The evaluation the photosynthetic activity was made by emission of Chl a fluorescence at room temperature (25 ºC) in vivo and in situ, using a portable fluorometer. The pigment content was obtained by extraction with 80 % acetone, while estimation of membrane lipid peroxidation was determined by measuring the MDA content in leaf tissue extracts. The results indicated a generalized reduction in the quantum yield of PSII when the seedlings were maintained in the dark. The reduction occurred in the seedlings submitted to chilling treatment as well as in the control ones. This demonstrates that not only chilling acts to cause an alteration in PSII. It is possible that the tissue storage reserves had been totally exhausted, with the respiratory rate exceeding the photosynthetic rate; the later was nil, since the seedlings were kept in the dark. The efficiency in the capture, transfer and utilization of light energy in PS II photochemical reactions requires a sequence of photochemical, biochemical and biophysical events which depend on the structural integrity of the photosynthetic apparatus. However, this efficiency was found to be related to the protective action of chloroplastid pigments, rather than to the concentration of these pigments.