A cafeicultura brasileira apresenta grande importânica na geração de empregos, recursos e divisas, sendo bastante diversificada, com particularidades regionais. O Cerrado brasileiro abrange mais de 200 milhões de hectares, distribuídos nos Estados de Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Tocantins, Bahia, Piauí, Maranhão e Distrito Federal, e tem se destacado com produção superior a 5 milhões de sacas por ano, principalmente de Coffea arabica L. A cafeicultura, nesta região, é caracterizada por apresentar produtividade acima da média nacional e utilizar, de maneira mais eficiente, insumos agrícolas, irrigação, genótipos apropriados e mecanização, dentre outras práticas. A cafeicultura irrigada ocupa, no Brasil, 240.000 ha, estando a maioria desta área localizada em regiões de Cerrado, representando mais de 10% da área e mais de 25% da produção de café total no País. Os sistemas de irrigação mais utilizados são os de aspersão (convencional, em malha e pivô central) e os localizados (gotejamento e modificados). O clima é favorável à qualidade do café, pois, na época da colheita, ocorrem condições de baixa umidade relativa do ar, sendo as chuvas concentradas no verão. Verifica-se, também, nas áreas de Cerrado, maior quantidade de insolação, principalmente nos meses de outono e inverno, também favorável à produtividade e qualidade. As variedades mais plantadas são do grupo Catuaí e Mundo Novo, tendo sido, também, introduzidos outros materiais promissores, com relação à produtividade e resistência à seca e a doenças.

The spatial discretization of a watershed can directly influence the derived outputs of hydrological models? Conclusive guidelines regarding the proper level of spatial discretization have not yet been established due to the great diversity of models, calibrated parameters and topographic and geospatial characteristics of study areas. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of different levels of watershed spatial discretization (2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 sub basins) on the HEC-HMS model’s performance, considering the Environmental Protection Area (APA) of the Uberaba River Basin region. The SCS-CN method was applied to the different levels of spatial discretization for two distinctive periods (calibration and validation) and its performance was evaluated according to seven goodness-of-fit measures: MAE, RMSE, RSR, NSE, PBIAS, R2 and KGE. The results obtained from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, based on the visual analysis of the simulated hydrographs and the obtained goodness-of-fit values; indicate the HEC-HMS model represents the hydrological processes of the basin under investigation efficiently, regardless of the level of spatial discretization. The results suggest the subdivision of a watershed does not result in improvement of the HEC-HMS model’s performance without significant differences in physiographic characteristics (slope, land use and types of soil). Considering its good performance for the study area, it is suggested the application of the HEC-HMS model for future works that aim to investigate the drainage capacity of the APA of the Uberaba River.

O dejeto líquido de suíno (DLS) pode constituir-se em excelente fonte de adubação em pastagem, com aplicação por aspersão, desde que seja assegurada a proteção do meio ambiente. Apesar de seu comprovado potencial para uso em sequeiro, pouco se conhece sobre o comportamento da cultivar Tifton 85 em sistemas sob irrigação e sob aplicação de DLS. Para determinar a produção de matéria seca pré-pastejo de Tifton 85 com DLS, foi conduzido um experimento na Fazenda-Escola da Universidade de Uberaba, irrigado por aspersão em malha, com aplicação de 0; 50; 100 e 200 m³ ha-1 ano-1 de DLS. Houve efeito significativo das doses de DLS em relação à produção de matéria seca pré-pastejo, ocorrendo acréscimos de produção com o aumento das doses. O fornecimento de 200 m³ ha-1 ano-1 de DLS possibilitou produção de 5.928 kg de matéria seca (MS) da forrageira por ciclo de 28 dias.

Evapotranspiration is the process of water loss of vegetated soil due to evaporation and transpiration, and it may be estimated by various empirical methods. This study had the objective to carry out the evaluation of the performance of the following methods: Blaney-Criddle, Jensen-Haise, Linacre, Solar Radiation, Hargreaves-Samani, Makkink, Thornthwaite, Camargo, Priestley-Taylor and Original Penman in the estimation of the potential evapotranspiration when compared to the Penman-Monteith standard method (FAO56) to the climatic conditions of Uberaba, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A set of 21 years monthly data (1990 to 2010) was used, working with the climatic elements: temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and insolation. The empirical methods to estimate reference evapotranspiration were compared with the standard method using linear regression, simple statistical analysis, Willmott agreement index (d) and performance index (c). The methods Makkink and Camargo showed the best performance, with "c" values of 0.75 and 0.66, respectively. The Hargreaves-Samani method presented a better linear relation with the standard method, with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.88.

Fertirrigation of melon still presents problems in relation to the type of the fertilizer used, mainly the biofertilizers. This experiment, installed in Uberaba, MG, Brazil, in a plastic module greenhouse of 768 m², tested treatments consisting of the conventional mineral fertirrigation and the organic fertirrigation, using two frequencies: daily and weekly. The best yields were obtained with daily fertilizer application, with superiority in relation to biofertilizers, with yield of 45.5 t ha-1 of fruit. This value was higher as compared to chemical products, that lead to a yield of 42.4 t ha-1. The weekly fertigation had lower productivities, and in this case, the biofertilizers also overcame the mineral, on the average 2.0 t ha-1. The best melon soluble solids values were obtained for the daily application of fertilizers, and the best treatment (P < 0.05) was the organic daily fertigation, with values of soluble solids content of 13.60° brix, followed by the daily chemical fertigation, with values of 12.52°. On the average, the amounts of soluble solids in melon were superior to the average found for Brazilian melons. Differences were not verified among the treatments for the variables pulp thickness and fruits pH. Regarding the peel thickness, the application of organic fertilizer sources presented a slight superiority in relation to chemical fertilizer treatments. No differences were verified among treatments in relation to the amount of fruits protein.