Ministry of Agriculture

About: Ministry of Agriculture is a government organization based out in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Biology & Chemistry. The organization has 1153 authors who have published 1189 publications receiving 14442 citations.

Identification of foot and mouth disease risk areas using a multi-criteria analysis approach.

Abstract: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly infectious disease that affects cloven-hoofed livestock and wildlife. FMD has been a problem for decades, which has led to various measures to control, eradicate and prevent FMD by National Veterinary Services worldwide. Currently, the identification of areas that are at risk of FMD virus incursion and spread is a priority for FMD target surveillance after FMD is eradicated from a given country or region. In our study, a knowledge-driven spatial model was built to identify risk areas for FMD occurrence and to evaluate FMD surveillance performance in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. For this purpose, multi-criteria decision analysis was used as a tool to seek multiple and conflicting criteria to determine a preferred course of action. Thirteen South American experts analyzed 18 variables associated with FMD introduction and dissemination pathways in Rio Grande do Sul. As a result, FMD higher risk areas were identified at international borders and in the central region of the state. The final model was expressed as a raster surface. The predictive ability of the model assessed by comparing, for each cell of the raster surface, the computed model risk scores with a binary variable representing the presence or absence of an FMD outbreak in that cell during the period 1985 to 2015. Current FMD surveillance performance was assessed, and recommendations were made to improve surveillance activities in critical areas.

Caracterização física, química e mineralógica de solos da colônia agrícola do Apiaú (Roraima, Amazônia), sob diferentes usos e após queima

Abstract: There are few studies on soils under slash-and-burn agriculture in settlements in Amazonia. The aim of this study was the soil characterization in the Apiau Agricultural Colony, Roraima, and to evaluate changes in some soil chemical properties in function of the management systems and the impacts of burning to the soil properties. The studied areas were: pastures, cultivated with banana and maize, burned forest and natural forest. The samples were submitted to physical chemical and mineralogical analysis. The soils are highly weathered Argisols, Latosols and Gleisols, all with kaolinitic mineralogy. The Argisols and Gleisols have low iron contents and high titanium oxides contents, and are highly weathered. The low exchangeable cations amounts determine the very low fertility, with high exchangeable aluminium saturation in the soils. The poor chemical status of the soils results in little variation between the different environments studied. The area cultivated with banana showed the highest values of exchangeable cations and available P in the surface horizon, due to organic matter mineralization after burning, and proximity to rock outcrops. The extreme chemical dystrophy in the degraded pastures is associated with abundance of weeds. The low total amounts of zinc indicate that zinc deficiency may occur, depending on which forms are present.