Agriculture in Brazil is a means for promoting significant socioeconomic sustainable progress. However, the productivity of cereal crops such as maize, rice, wheat and sorghum is below their potential. The low availability of phosphorus (P) and inadequate fertilization are some of the major challenges of modern agriculture. In tropical soil, the phosphorus is carried out by adding high dosages of water-soluble phosphates, since most of the added fertilizer becomes unavailable because of fixat

Status: Completed     Start date: Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2012

Precision farming and agricultural practices that take into consideration the protection of the environment have brought forward a number of research challenges. The scale of sampling and the precision required by such new agricultural practices are often higher than those required by traditional agriculture, increasing production costs. Methods and devices for on-the-go measurements are being developed to equip agricultural vehicles to support these practices. The proposed project was guided

Status: Completed     Start date: Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2008

Embrapa has built a highly conducive environment for the use of strategic and competitive intelligence to support action planning and scheduling and to provide important information to the different agents in the supply chains to which it relates. This is expressed in Embrapa's Agropensa (Strategic Intelligence System) dedicated to producing and disseminating knowledge and information in support of the formulation of research, development and innovation strategies for the corporation and its par

Status: Completed     Start date: Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2017

Spittlebug, Mahanarva spectabilis (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) is capable to cause drastic losses in production and quality of pastures established with grasses. Currently, the use a grass resistant cultivar, to be obtained by means of constitutive antibiosis, is the best spittlebug controlling method. However, the time required for releasing a cultivar after detecting a spittlebug-resistant strain is relatively long. Allied to this, one should take into consideration that the adaptations of

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

Bovine mastitis is considered the main disease of dairy herds in the world, causing the greatest economic losses to the dairy sector. In Brazil, production losses caused by mastitis are estimated between 12 and 15%, accounting to more than three billion liters of milk per year. In addition, mastitis poses risks to public health, due to the possibility of contamination of milk with antibiotic residues or with microorganisms and their toxins. The high frequency of mastitis pathogens resistant to t

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

The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biome and is considered one of the main biodiversity reserves on the planet that need to be conserved. For a rational and sustainable exploitation of this natural wealth, it is necessary to get to know it beforehand. A possible approach, from the point of view of the elaboration of products from Cerrado plants, is the use of aromatic species to obtain essential oils and extracts for application in the perfume and cosmetic industries. The main goal of t

Status: Completed     Start date: Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2015

Among the essential nutrients, nitrogen (N) is the one with the greatest potential for enhancing forage production. The efficiency of nitrogen uptake is related to the energy supply provided by the photosynthesis. However, recent practices of intensive pasture management have recommended the use of lower post-grazing residues, thus reducing the leaf area of the canopy. The objective of this project was to evaluate the effect of the timing of nitrogen fertilization in association with different d

Status: Completed     Start date: Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2014

In dairy livestock systems, heifers are an important component to insure the productive endurance of the herd. Feeding dairy heifers has been based on the use of grass pastures, which undergo degradation process shortly after their establishment. As a result, it has been observed low daily weight gain in heifers. Currently, silvopastoral systems have been suggested as alternative to animal production, in view of their potential benefits such as increased soil fertility, improved forage quality,

Status: Completed     Start date: Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2014

Water is an important natural resource for the competitiveness of Brazilian agriculture. Since Brazil is rich in this natural resource, to preserve it and keep it in quantity and quality is strategic. Such a competency demands water efficiency, which is the relationship between the amount of yielded products and the amount of water used for such a production. This project evaluates the performance of water indicators from milk pasture-based and confinement-based production systems and of nutriti

Status: Completed     Start date: Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2014

The artisanal cheese production stands out as an important activity for income generation of family farmers in different regions of the country, such as the Coalho Cheese produced in the Northeast, the Colonial Cheese in the South and, more specifically, the Minas Artesanais cheese types, such as Canastra and Serro, produced in the State of Minas Gerais. However, among the main obstacles related to production and marketing in the formal market, stands the possibility (or not) to reconcile legal

Status: Completed     Start date: Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2015