RESUMO -Os períodos de convivência das espécies daninhas têm grande influência no crescimento das plantas e na produtividade das culturas. Desse modo, objetivou-se com este trabalho determinar os períodos de competição, anterior à interferência (PAI), o crítico de prevenção à interferência (PCPI) e o período total de prevenção da interferência (PTPI) de B. plantaginea sobre a cultura do milho na Região Sul do Rio Grande do Sul. Adotou-se o delineamento experimental de blocos casualizados, no sistema de cultivo convencional com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram em manter a cultura do milho na presença e ausência de B. plantaginea por 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 e 42 dias após a emergência (DAE) da cultura. B. plantaginea originou-se do banco de sementes do solo, com população média de 312 plantas m -2. Foram amostradas e analisadas 10 plantas de milho em cada unidade experimental, com vistas à avaliação da altura de plantas e da inserção da espiga (cm), do comprimento de espigas (cm), do número de fileiras por espiga, número de grãos por fileira e número de grãos por espiga, além da produtividade de grãos, que foi determinada pela colheita de três linhas centrais da área útil em cada unidade experimental. Considerando 5% de tolerância na redução da produção, conclui-se que o período total de prevenção à interferência (PTPI) foi de 27 DAE; o período que antecede a interferência (PAI), de 11 DAE; e o período crítico de prevenção à interferência (PCPI), de 11 a 27 DAE.Palavras-chave: competição, componentes do rendimento, Zea mays.ABSTRACT -Weed control period have great influence on plant growth and crop productivity. The objective of this work was to determine the competition periods, both previous to interference and critical interference prevention of B. plantaginea on corn crop in Southern Rio Grande do Sul. The trial was conducted in a completely randomized block design, under conventional tillage system, with four replications. The treatments consisted of maintaining the culture of corn in the presence and absence of B. plantaginea for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 days after crop emergence (DAE). B. plantaginea emerged from the soil seed bank, with an average population of 312 plants m -2 . Ten corn plants were sampled and analyzed in each experimental assay to obtain the following variables: plant and ear insertion height (cm), ear length (cm), number of rows per ear, number of grains per row, number of grains per ear. Grain productivity was determined by collecting three central lines of the useful area in each experimental unit. Considering a 5% tolerance in production reduction, it was concluded that the total period of interference prevention was 27 DAE, the period preceding interference was 11 DAE and the critical period of interference prevention was 11 and 27 DAE.

This study aimed to evaluate sweet potato performance in succession to annual herbaceous leguminous plants, in monocropping or intercropped with corn, under agroecological management, under Baixada Fluminense conditions. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with five treatments and four replicates. The treatments consisted of pre-cropping with the following species: crotalária (Crotalaria juncea) under monocropping system, crotalária intercropped with corn (Zea mays), jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) under monocropping system, jack bean intercropped with corn and spontaneous vegetation. The results showed that monocropped crotalária reached the greatest dry biomass accumulation during two consecutive years of succession. In the second year, this treatment provided greater accumulated amounts of N, K and Mg in plant biomass. Growing sweet potatoes in succession to the pre-cropping of crotalária is advantageous, as it provided an increase in vegetable productivity in the second year of succession.

A reliable quantification of nitrogen (N) losses by ammonia (NH 3) volatilization can contribute to identifying optimized strategies of fertilizer management. The objective of this study was to quantify ammonia volatilization from several organic N sources incorporated into or applied onto the soil surface. Two cultivation areas, under snap bean and corn, were evaluated at Embrapa Agrobiology, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro (RJ). Both experiments used a randomized complete block design in split-plots, with four replications. The main plots consisted of four organic fertilizers (castor bean cake, bokashi, legume fertilizers, cattle manure), at rates of 200 kg ha-1 N, and a control treatment (without fertilization), and the subplots corresponded to the management forms (incorporated or surface-applied) of the fertilizers. In the first experiment, snap bean cv. Novirex was grown in winter/spring and in the second, corn cv. Catingueiro in summer/autumn. In each subplot, static semi-open NH 3 collectors were installed. We conclude that surface-applied castor cake was the organic fertilizer with highest N loss by NH 3 volatilization. A comparison of the management systems (incorporated or surface-applied) showed that volatilization from organic fertilizers incorporated into the soil was significantly lower, with a reduction of 80 % for castor cake, of 78 % for bokashi and 67 % for legume fertilizer. Nitrogen loss through ammonia volatilization varied, from rates of 3 to 25 % in winter/spring and from 2 to 38 % in summer/autumn, according to the organic fertilizer applied. The period required to recover 95 % of the N lost by NH 3-N volatilization was between 13 to 18 days for castor cake; 14 to 43 days for bokashi; 17 to 49 days for legume fertilizer and more than 43 days for cattle manure.

ABSTRACT. The cowpea weevil (Callosobruchus maculatus Fabr.) is the most destructive pest of the cowpea bean; it reduces seed quality. To control this pest, resistance testing combined with genetic analysis using molecular markers has been widely applied in research. Among the markers that show reliable results, the inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) (microsatellites) are noteworthy. This study was performed to evaluate the resistance of 27 cultivars of cowpea bean to cowpea weevil. We tested the resistance related to the genetic variability of these cultivars using ISSR markers. To analyze the resistance of cultivars to weevil, a completely randomized test design with 4 replicates and 27 treatments was adopted. Five pairs of the insect were placed in 30 grains per replicate. Analysis of variance showed that the number of eggs and emerged insects were significantly different in the treatments, and the means were compared by statistical tests. The analysis of the large genetic variability in all cultivars resulted in the formation of different groups. The test of resistance showed that the cultivar Inhuma was the most sensitive to both number of eggs and number of emerged adults, while the TE96-290-12-G and MNC99-537-F4 (BRS Tumucumaque) cultivars were the least sensitive to the number of eggs and the number of emerged insects, respectively.