Many factors drive land desertification, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, the sheer number of these driving factors of desertification makes analyses computer-intensive. Cloud computing offers a solution to address this problem, especially in developing countries. The objective of this work was to assess the sensitivity of the East Atlantic Basin, Brazil, to desertification using the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) model and Google Earth Engine (GEE). The model is composed of four environmental Quality Indices (QIs) associated with soil (SQI), vegetation (VQI), climate (CQI), and management (MQI), each encompassing factors that influence the desertification process. Digital databases corresponding to these factors were pre-processed and uploaded to GEE for analysis. We report Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) and Environmentally Critical Factors (ECF) maps of the East Atlantic Basin, which show that most of the basin is in either a critical (49.4%) or fragile (35.7%) state of sensitivity. In contrast, only a smaller portion of the area is unaffected (5%) or potentially affected (10.1%). The analysis also revealed an inverse correlation between desertification sensitivity and the presence of vigorous vegetation. A joint evaluation of ESAs and ECF shed light on the importance of each factor in the sensitivity to desertification. The East Atlantic Basin shows a high degree of sensitivity to desertification, thereby demanding more attention and the establishment of measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the desertification process.

The adaptation capacity of forage cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill) plants to edaphoclimatic conditions and plant responses to changes in management systems contribute to increase the use of this species in agriculture and the exploration of its productive potential in semi-arid regions. The objective of this work was to evaluate the structural characteristics and cladode yield of forage cactus plants grown under different agroecosystems in the semi-arid region of Bahia, Brazil. Structural characteristics of plants and soils attributes were analyzed. The traditional information on the crop management and its correlations with cladode yield were used to identify the best yield indexes, considering the peculiarities of each agroecosystem. Plant height, cladode thickness, and number of cladodes of the forage cactus plants evaluated were less affected by the agroecosystem than by the production systems. Cladode width, length, and area were more affected by the agroecosystems. The forage cactus crop yields, expressed by the annual cladode fresh matter yield, were positively correlated with the plant structural characteristics: plant height and thickness, and cladode width and length. The cladode weight per plant and fresh matter yield per area were the yield components most affected by the management system adopted by traditional producers.

Many factors drive land desertification, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, the numerous driving factors of desertification make analyses computer expensive. Cloud computing comes along to address this problem, especially in developing countries. The objective of this work was to assess the sensitivity of the East Atlantic Basin, Brazil, to desertification using the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) model and Google Earth Engine (GEE). The model is composed of four environmental Quality Indices (QIs) associated with soil (SQI), vegetation (VQI), climate (CQI) and management (MQI), and contains factors influencing the desertification process. Digital databases of the factors were pre-processed and uploaded to GEE for analysis. We report Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) and Environmentally Critical Factors (ECF) maps of the East Atlantic Basin, which showed that most of the basin is in either critical (49.4%) or fragile (35.7%) state of sensitivity. In contrast, only a smaller portion of the area is unaffected (5%) or potentially affected (10.1%). Sensitivity to desertification was inversely correlated with the presence of vigorous vegetation. A joint analysis of ESAs and ECF shed light on the importance of each factor in the sensitivity to desertification. The East Atlantic Basin shows a high degree of sensitivity to desertification, thereby demanding more attention and establishment of measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the desertification process.

Edaphoclimatic conditions of agroecosystems, genotypic characteristics of the plant and the management system can modify the nutritional quality of cactus pears (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill). This work evaluated the influence of agroecosystems and production systems on the bromatological composition of cactus pear cladodes. Five agroecosystems were studied: 1 - Irrigated District of Ceraíma, Guanambi-BA (14° 17’ 40” S; 42° 42’ 44” W); 2 – Iuiu Valley, Iuiu-BA (14° 23’ 50” S; 43° 27’ 07” W); 3 - Maniaçu, Caetité-BA (13° 48’ 50” S; 42° 24’ 32” W); 4 - Baixio, Riacho de Santana-BA (13° 32’ 08” S; 43° 09’ 19” W); 5 - Morrinhos, Guanambi-BA (14° 14’ 02” S; 42° 37’ 08” W). Cactus pear tissue samples were collected from August to September 2017. A hierarchical design was used: plant plots were arranged in three repetitions at each cactus pear production system, represented by four farms within five agroecosystems, totaling 20 properties of traditional growers. The bromatological variables most affected by the agroecosystem were organic matter and ash in the cladodes. The production systems adopted by the traditional cactus pear growers affected most of the contents of dry matter, nitrogen, crude protein, and neutral detergent fiber. Plant genotype influenced the composition of neutral detergent fiber of the cladodes to a greater extent. Keywords: environment; forage quality; Cactaceae; cropping systems. Agroecossistemas do Semiárido e sistemas de produção modificam a bromatologia da palma forrageira ‘Gigante’ - em quais proporções? RESUMO: As condições edafoclimáticas dos agroecossistemas de cultivo, características genotípicas da planta e o sistema de manejo adotado podem alterar a qualidade nutricional da palma forrageira. Este trabalho avaliou a influência dos agroecossistemas e sistemas de produção na composição bromatológica dos cladódios da palma forrageira (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill). Foram estudados cinco agroecossistemas: 1 - Distrito Irrigado de Ceraíma, Guanambi-BA (14° 17’ 40” S; 42° 42’ 44” O); 2 - Vale do Iuiu, Iuiu-BA (14° 23’ 50” S; 43° 27’ 07” O); 3 - Maniaçu, Caetité-BA (13° 48’ 50” S; 42° 24’ 32” O); 4 - Baixio, Riacho de Santana-BA (13° 32’ 08” S; 43° 09’ 19” O); 5 - Morrinhos, Guanambi-BA (14° 14’ 02” S; 42° 37’ 08” O). A coleta dos tecidos da palma forrageira foi realizada de agosto a setembro de 2017. Utilizou-se o delineamento hierárquico, com as parcelas de plantas dispostas em três repetições dentro do fator sistemas de produção de palma forrageira representado por quatro propriedades, dentro de cinco agroecossistemas, totalizando 20 propriedades de produtores tradicionais. As variáveis bromatológicas mais afetadas pelo agroecossistema de cultivo correspondem aos teores de matéria orgânica e do material mineral na planta. Os sistemas de produção adotados pelos produtores tradicionais de palma forrageira afetaram mais os níveis de matéria seca, nitrogênio, proteína bruta e fibra em detergente neutro. O genótipo da planta influenciou em maior proporção a composição da fibra em detergente neutro dos cladódios. Palavras-chave: ambiente; qualidade da forragem; Cactaceae; sistemas de produção.

Many factors drive land desertification, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, the numerous driving factors of desertification make analyses computer expensive. Cloud computing comes along to address this problem, especially in developing countries. The objective of this work was to assess the sensitivity of the East Atlantic Basin, Brazil, to desertification using the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) model and Google Earth Engine (GEE). The model is composed of four environmental Quality Indices (QIs) associated with soil (SQI), vegetation (VQI), climate (CQI) and management (MQI), and contains factors influencing the desertification process. Digital databases of the factors were pre-processed and uploaded to GEE for analysis. We report Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) and Environmentally Critical Factors (ECF) maps of the East Atlantic Basin, which showed that most of the basin is in either critical (49.4%) or fragile (35.7%) state of sensitivity. In contrast, only a smaller portion of the area is unaffected (5%) or potentially affected (10.1%). Sensitivity to desertification was inversely correlated with the presence of vigorous vegetation. A joint analysis of ESAs and ECF shed light on the importance of each factor in the sensitivity to desertification. The East Atlantic Basin shows a high degree of sensitivity to desertification, thereby demanding more attention and establishment of measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the desertification process.

Using saline water for irrigation relies on strategies that include selecting salt-tolerant cultivars and leaching salts away from zones close to the roots. A greenhouse experiment was carried out to assess early growth and biomass production of two Eucalyptus clones (E. grandis × E. urophylla), CO 865 and CO 1407, irrigated with saline water and under different leaching fractions. Treatments were laid out in a randomized block design and arranged in a 4 × 2 + 2 factorial scheme: four leaching fractions (3, 10, 20, and 30 % of crop water demand for plants irrigated with saline water), two Eucalyptus clones (VCC 865 and CO 1407), and two additional treatments, one for each clone, conventionally irrigated with fresh water. The treatments were replicated four times. Measurements were made at 114 days after transplanting. Soil salinity decreased with increasing leaching fraction where VCC 865 was grown; however, leaf dry weight production was lower in treatments irrigated with saline water. Compared to fresh water-irrigated plants, irrigation with saline water resulted in lower: canopy diameter, leaf number, dry leaf mass, dry root mass, aerial parts dry mass, aerial part/root ratio, and total plant dry weight. Overall, the VCC 865 Eucalyptus clone performed better under saline irrigation than CO 1407.