The objective of this study was to characterize the nutritional compounds of interest present in vegetables known as non-conventional, in Brazil. The following evaluations were carried out: antioxidant activity, phenolic compounds, vitamin C, calories, carbohydrates, humidity, lipids, proteins, fiber, acidity and quantification of minerals (P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn and B). The species studied were Amaranthus hybridus L., Amaranthus viridis L., Basella alba L., Eryngium campestre L., Hibiscus sabdariffa L., Lactuca canadensis L., Rumex acetosa L., Stachys byzantina K. Koch, Tropaeolum majus L. and Xanthosoma sagittifolium L. Representative samples of plant structures of interest were harvested from each species suitable for human consumption such as leaves, flowers and flower buds. The results were submitted to multivariate analysis - principal components analysis (PCA). All the species present nutritional compounds of interest in different levels among the evaluated structures.

ABSTRACT. The strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Dutch.), is the only vegetable belonging to the rosacea family. All strawberry species have now emerged from wild species and belong to the genus Fragaria, being that this genus presents more than 45 described species, and only 11 are considered natural species. Due to the octoploid nature of strawberry and its variability after hybridization, selecting one or more characters may result in unfavorable genotypes and even the exclusion of promising ones, because negative genetic correlations have been observed among them that cause inefficient selection. Therefore, the objective of this study was to verify the efficiency of selection indices in selecting experimental strawberry hybrids for in natura consumption and processing. Seven commercial cultivars and 103 hybrids were used, which were obtained from populations derived from their crossings. The experiment was conducted in augmented blocks, in which four agronomical traits (total mass, amount of commercial fruit, amount of noncommercial fruit, and average fruit mass) and seven physicalchemical traits (soluble solids, soluble solids:titratable acidity ratio, total sugars, total pectin, vigor, and internal and external coloration) were evaluated. For hybrid selection, the following indices were used: Mulamba and Mock (1978), Smith (1936), Hazel (1943, and genotype-ideotype, which selected 20% of the genotypes evaluated. The three indices selected about 9% of the hybrids. The selection of two experimental hybrids (89 and 495) and the use of selection indices resulted in larger estimates of selection gains. The Mulamba and Mock (1978), Smith (1936), andHazel (1943) indices had the highest percentage of gains on selection, and are therefore recommended for the selection of strawberry clones.

Arrowroot is a plant originated in Latin America that has aroused interest in the food industry due to its high starch content, with differentiated characteristics and high commercial value. However, information on the management of arrowroot are scarce, precluding its commercial competition with other similar species, being necessary further studies with the crop. Thus, the objective of the present study was to characterize extracted starch from arrowroot grown under different agronomic management. Three agronomic factors were studied: planting systems (PS), forms of water management (WM) and planting density (PD). The experimental analyses were performed in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates, being evaluated the extraction yield, percent composition, quantity of starch, pH, titratable acidity, swelling power, solubility and electron microscopy analysis. In general, the analyzed extracted starches deriving from different agronomic treatments have low crude fiber, besides typical characteristics of arrowroot extracted starch such as texture, color, shape and size of granules, without any other apparent particle than the starch itself, indicating extraction efficiency. However, the planting density may have contributed to influence some parameters of the chemical composition of the extracted starch, such as the content of starch, ash, ether extract, protein and carbohydrate fraction.

The most efficient breeding strategies in crop improvement is the selection based on heritability and combing ability estimates for the traits of economic importance or commercial value. Therefore, the present study was to obtain estimates of heritability and to estimate the phenotypic and genotypic correlations among the characteristics of interest. The commercial cultivars ‘Aromas’, ‘Camarosa’, ‘Dover’, ‘Festival Flórida’, ‘Oso Grande’, ‘Sweet Charlie’ and ‘Milsei-Tudla’, and 103 F1 hybrids from the crossbreeding experiments were evaluated for four traits of commercial fruit yield and 13 traits of fruit physical and chemical quality. The estimated genetic parameters were general combining ability, specific combining ability, genotypic correlation among traits, estimates of heritability, genetic and phenotypic variance. The ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Aromas’ cultivars were the most promising cultivars for use as parents in the commercial fruit production, while ‘Dover’ and ‘Sweet Charlie’ cultivars were selected for taste of fruit in strawberry breeding, as they showed higher concentrations of favorable alleles in the F1 hybrid population. It was also verified some strong genetic correlations for some pairs of characteristics in the present study that may allow indirect selection. The estimation of these parameters is an important basis for decision making on the genetic engineering of strawberry.

The arrowroot is considered a non-conventional vegetable which has aroused interest in the food industry because of its starch content with differentiated characteristics and high commercial value. However, agronomic management information is scarce, making it difficult to compete with other species of similar purpose, and more studies are needed regarding the crop. The aim of this study was to define adequate agronomic practices in crop aiming the productivity the rhizome, yield the starch of arrowroot. The factors evaluated were the different levels of irrigation, the planting and the plant densities. The randomized block design was used in the field trial while the totally randomized block design was used in the laboratory tests. Through the treatments, crop yield ranged from 0.68 (seedlings; without irrigation; 31250 plants ha-1) to 60.09 t ha-1 (seedlings; irrigated; 31250 plants ha-1), while starch production ranged from 50 to 6350 kg ha-1. The highest yield of rhizomes was obtained in plants produced by seedlings along with the highest density of plants, and the highest production of arrowroot starch was extracted from rhizomes from plants produced by seedlings without irrigation and a density of 50000 plants ha-1 .

Amaranthus species have great potential for human food due to their nutritional and functional properties, but there are few phytotechnical studies with this crop, making its cultivation unfeasible. Aiming to encourage the production of these species, this study aimed to evaluate and distinguish the morphological, chemical and physiological characteristics of seeds of Amaranthus sp. (commercial species), A. viridis and A. hybridus. The experiments were performed in a completely randomized design, evaluating seeds in size classes (850, 600 and 425 µm) and characterizing them by image analysis using the GroundEye® system, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and radiographic analysis. The first germination count, germination and germination speed index with and without KNO3 were performed to evaluate the physiological quality of seeds. The results were submitted to analysis of variance and the means compared by the Tukey test. Radiographic analysis showed that the seeds of the three studied species were filled in the size class of 600 and 850 µm, without dormancy, but the commercial species had higher germination speed. GroundEye® and NIR allowed distinguishing the three species according to their geometric characteristics, predominance of color and chemical components.

No abstract

The strawberry is a perennial plant of temperate climate belonging to the Rosaceae family, much appreciated for presenting a fleshy and succulent receptacle as an edible part. Among small fruits, in Brazil it represents the species of greatest economic expression. The breeding of the strawberry aims to meet the demands of the market, mainly regarding the quality of the fruit required by consumers. Thus, the selection of genotypes that have good quality, productivity and adaptation is extremely important for the development of culture in the country, as well as for making seedlings available at lower prices. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic performance and productivity of experimental strawberry genotypes in the city of Alfenas, Minas Gerais. For this, the experiment was carried out in the premises of the José do Rosário Vellano University (UNIFENAS), Alfenas-MG, in an experimental area of the Olericulture and Experimentation Sector (21025'45''S, 45056'50 "W, 880 m altitude). The experimental design used was completely randomized, with eleven treatments, distributed in seven experimental genotypes, namely MDA01, MDA06, MCA 119, MFA444, MDA19, MDA11 and MDA23, and four commercial cultivars taken as control, being them Pircinque, Albion, Aromas and Festival, in eight repetitions. The following characteristics were evaluated total production per plant (grams of strawberries per plant-1), average weight of fruits per plant (grams/fruit-1), total number of fruits per plant and number of stolons (seedlings) per plant. The experimental genotypes that showed the highest total productivity and average fruit weight were MDA01, MDA23 and MDA19. These materials are presented as promising for the strawberry breeding program in the region and should be reevaluated under other edaphoclimatic conditions and/or used as parents in new crossings for the next stages of the program.