In Brazil, milk production is practiced by more than one million farmers, mostly smallholders, who have in pastures and swards for green chop the most important sources for cattle feeding. Dairy agribusiness plays a significant role in food supply for the domestic market, in the generation of jobs and income for the population and in recent years has also become increasingly important in the Country’s export line. The intensification of animal production systems demands the use of forage species

Status: Completed     Start date: Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2016

Pasture as an exclusive feeding source accounts for almost 90% of the beef consumed in Brazil and for most of the nearly 35 billion liters of milk produced annually in the country. It is estimated today that, in Brazil, grasses of the genus Brachiaria are cultivated in approximately 84 million hectares. In Brazil, the most cultivated species of Brachiaria are B. decumbens, B. brizantha, B. humidicola and B. ruziziensis. With the increasing agricult ...

Status: Completed     Start date: Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2008

Pastures assume a prominent position in the Brazilian agricultural scenario, covering about three quarters of the cultivated area nationwide. In addition to the physical aspect, pastures are the main feeding source for the Brazilian herd. Pastures account for almost 90% of the beef consumed in Brazil and for most of the 21 billion liters of milk produced annually in the country. It is estimated today that in Brazil grasses of the genus Brachiaria are cultivated in approximately 84 millio

Status: Completed     Start date: Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2008

Due to the importance of leguminous vegetables for human diets, the year of 2016 was declared by FAO the International Year of Pulses. Pulses are well appreciated in Brazil, and are consumed either fresh or in the form of processed products. Internal consumption has required frequent imports of such pulses; for peas and chickpeas alone, they represented US$ 14 million a year. The domestic market tends to expand due to the constant association of such foods with a series of attributes of high foo

Status: Completed     Start date: Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2016

Smallholder Capsicum pepper growers in Uganda are operating below the ideal levels of agricultural production due to a lack of improved varieties, low quality seed systems and the devastation caused by pests and diseases. The damages caused by diseases are aggravated by the cultivation of susceptible germplasm and the use of poor quality seeds. In order to increase production and competitiveness in the market, farmers need to have access to clean seeds of cultivars that are tolerant to diseas

Status: Completed     Start date: Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2015

The dairy activity in Brazil has undergone extensive changes. If, on the one hand, the industry tends more and more to value items associated with the quality of milk, such as fat, protein, total milk solids, etc., the prices paid or the incentives applied are arbitrary or defined based upon the financial return arising from one unit of the product. On the other hand, the dairy farmer does not know if the received incentive value, when it exists, is interesting from the point of view of returnin

Status: Completed     Start date: Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2008

One of the largest livestock problems in Southern Brazil has been the scantiness of varieties of forage species more adapted to this region. In addition, due to global warming and the demand for increased productivity with reduced use of inputs, there is a need of studies on germplasm tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought, and the evaluation of symbiotic organisms to promote biological nitrogen fixation in grasses. Thus, this project aimed to develop improved populations of some of the m

Status: Completed     Start date: Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2012

This is a broad research project on Barbados nuts, a crop with potential to become raw material for the production of biodiesel and aviation biokerosene. In spite of its high oil production, the plant has not been totally domesticated yet, that is, there are not different recommended cultivars or production systems for each region of the country yet. In this project, which is partially funded by Finep and CNPq, there are 22 participating research institutions in all Brazilian regions, 16 of whic

Status: Completed     Start date: Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2010

The growing demand for a sustainable energy matrix and the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels make the energy obtained from biomass a prominent option. The major uses of biomass as energetic input are the production of thermal energy (direct combustion, charcoal and residues), production of mechanic energy (alcohol and bio-oils), production of electricity (through combustion, gasification or gas burning), and production of other components of the so called green chemistry (bioproducts and

Status: Completed     Start date: Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2014

Heat along with high humidity is one of the causes of impaired milk production and fertility of cattle, especially in the summer or in tropical and semitropical regions. Such problems can be aggravated with the prospect of global warming. In the hottest regions of Brazil there is a preference for crossbred Holstein (H) X zebu (Z), mainly Gir (G) cattle that form the Girolando synthetic breed whose composition is mainly ⅝ GxH. Girolando animals are more tolerant to heat than breeds of European or

Status: Completed     Start date: Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2015