Abstract Beauveria bassiana is a promising fungus for the biological control of insect pests. The growing costs of conidia production have raised the need to ascertain the efficiency of some low cost substrates. The aim of this study was to analyze the potential use of different raw substrates without nutritional supplement for B. bassiana conidiogenesis. Growth and sporulation were evaluated using 30 g of substrate and 0.3 μL of a conidia suspension (1 x 106 conidia/mL). After 10 days of incubation (70 ± 10% humidity and temperature (T) = 29 ± 1 °C), rice (2.00 x 106 conidia/g substrate), algaroba (2.36 x 106 conidia/g), malt A (1.22 x 106 conidia/g) and malt B (1.75 x 106 conidia/g) showed the highest levels of conidia production. The resulting conidia showed insecticidal activity higher than 80% on coconut termites. These new raw substrates may represent viable alternatives for the production of entomopathogenic fungi for use in the biological control of various insect pests.

Thus, the objective of this work was to perform genotypic, phenotypic correlations and path analysis under commercial yield of garlic bulbs, depending on morphological and agronomic variables. The experiment was carried out in 2017 at the Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri and Universidade Federal de Lavras, using ten garlic genotypes, eight trials and two commercial cultivars, Caçador and Jonas.

Abstract The inheritance of the seedless fruit characteristic of Annona squamosa has not yet been explained. Molecular techniques may aid breeding programs, mainly in the assisted selection of the target gene. The INO gene may be related to seed development in these fruits. The objective of the present paper was to investigate the inheritance of seedlessness in the 'Brazilian seedless' sugar apple and INO gene conservation in Annona squamosa and Annona cherimola x Annona squamosa genotypes by assessing their homology with the INO database genes. The F1 generation was obtained by crossing the mutant 'Brazilian seedless' (male genitor) (P1) with the wild-type A. squamosa with seeds (M1 and M2, female genitors). The INO gene was studied in mutant and wild-type A. squamosa (P1, M1, M2 and M3) and in the Gefner atemoya (A. cherimola x A. squamosa) (M4) cultivar. The DNA was extracted from young leaves, and four sets of specific primers flanking the INO gene were amplified. The seedless characteristic was identified as stenospermatic in the fruits of parental P1, suggesting monogenic inheritance with complete dominance. High sequence similarity of the INO gene amplifications in the sugar apple accessions (M1, M2, M3) and the atemoya cultivar Gefner (M4) reinforces the hypothesis of their conservation.

Sorghum bicolor (L.) (Moench), which stands out for dry matter yield per hectare, has been considered as potential raw material for biofuels and electricity generation. It has a production cycle of six months, possibility of mechanization of cultivation and harvest and good adaptation to most regions of Brazil. Sorghum genotypes were evaluated for agronomic potential and chemical composition favorable to the production of second-generation ethanol. Three brown midrib (bmr) sorghum mutant hybrids were compared to three conventional hybrids. The bmr sorghum mutant hybrids are associated with reduced lignin content, making these genotypes morepromisingtotheenzymaticconversionprocessesofthebiomass.Sorghumbiomassshowedahighpotential in terms of biomass production, with an average dry matter yield of 26.57Mgha−1. Brown midrib sorghum hybrids showed significantlylower lignincontents than conventional hybrids and demonstrated the potential for cellulosic ethanol production.