Abstract Agribusiness is the most prominent sector in the Brazilian economy, contributing over the last few years with about 30% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and being responsible for more than 40% of the products exported by the country. During this period, several economic development programs in Brazil were created by the federal government, contemplating the agricultural sector to increase productivity in the field, with actions and intensification of the use of fertilizers, pesticides, creation of agricultural research institutes, training of agronomists, and veterinarians, in addition to facilitating access to credit for rural producers. In this sense, the biotechnology sector great significant greatly influenced the expansion of agricultural production, increasing field efficiency and agricultural production productivity. The objective of this work was to analyze the number of patents in the agribusiness sector to technological development in the biotechnology sector between 1978 and 2018, with data from the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). There is a growing number of patents over the period, as well as an increase in the number of undergraduate and graduate courses in the field of biotechnology in the country since the sector is considered strategic as a source of innovation in science and technology, supporting the country's development, structuring itself to sustain economic growth, with research, science, technology, and innovation.

Resumo Um desafio para o dimensionamento de sistemas de irrigação por gotejamento com emissores não compensados é aumentar o comprimento máximo das linhas laterais sem reduzir significativamente a uniformidade de aplicação de água. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da variação da vazão permitida e da perda de carga no emissor no comprimento máximo da linha lateral utilizando mangueira gotejadora com gotejador plano não compensado. Os ensaios foram realizados em laboratório, utilizando-se três segmentos de 50 metros de fita gotejadora não compensada. A linha de produção foi configurada para gerar fitas gotejadoras com as seguintes características: sem inserção de emissores; com emissores fechados (espaçamento de 0,30 m). A perda de carga local obtida experimentalmente foi comparada com as estimativas da equação de Darcy-Weisbach usando o fator de atrito de Blasius. Na seqüência foram geradas simulações para as variações da vazão de 10 e 20%, para os espaçamentos entre emissores de 0,30; 0,40; e 0,50 m. A perda de carga localizada teve pouca influência no comprimento máximo da linha lateral, gerando variações médias de 2,5%. No entanto, o aumento da variação da vazão permitida de 10 para 20% resultou em um aumento de 34% no comprimento máximo da linha lateral. Além disso, a redução dos coeficientes de uniformidade avaliados foi inferior a 5%, permitindo que os índices permanecessem acima de 90%. A adoção de maiores valores de variação da vazão permitiu ganhos no comprimento da linha lateral com uma pequena diminuição na uniformidade, tornando-se uma alternativa para otimização do dimensionamento de fitas gotejadoras não compensadas.

Abstract A challenge for the design of drip irrigation systems with non-pressure compensated emitters is to increase the maximum length of the lateral lines without significantly reducing water application uniformity. This work evaluated the effect of the flow-rate variation and the local head loss in the maximum length of drip tape with a non-pressure compensated flat emitter. The tests were carried out in a laboratory, using a collapsible drip tape non-pressure compensated in three 50-meter segments. The production line was configured to generate drip tapes without insertion of emitters and with closed emitters (0.30 m spacing). The experimental local head loss was compared with the Darcy-Weisbach equation's estimates using the Blasius friction factor. In the sequence, simulations were generated for the flow-rate variations of 10 and 20% for the emitter spacings of 0.30, 0.40, and 0.50m. The results showed that the local head loss had little influence on the lateral line's maximum length, generating variations of 2.5% on average. However, increasing the allowable flow rate variation from 10 to 20% resulted in a 34% increase in the lateral line maximum length. Also, the reduction in uniformity coefficients was less than 5%, enabling the indexes to remain above 90%. The adoption of higher flow rate variation values allowed gains in the lateral line length with a small decrease in uniformity, making it an alternative to reduce design and operational costs.