Fertilization management is essential for forage production. However, excessive use of synthetic fertilizers causes environmental imbalances. An alternative to reduce these effects is to seek alternative fertilizers, such as wood ash produced from agro-industrial waste, when integrated with appropriate base saturation management. This study aims to compare the effects of fertilization with wood ash (WA), organomineral (OM), and mineral (M) fertilizers associated with different levels of base saturation on the growth and water productivity of Panicum maximum cv. BRS Zuri. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, using a randomized block design in a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement. The treatments consisted of three types of fertilization (WA, OM and M) and three levels of base saturation (0, 25%, and 50%). Leaf area, chlorophyll index, shoot dry mass and root dry mass, water consumption, and water productivity of Zuri grass were evaluated. The results showed significant increases in leaf area, with values of up to 4564.5 cm².pot⁻¹ and a chlorophyll index of up to 36.2 units. In addition, the dry mass of the aerial part reached up to 46.7 g.pot⁻¹, and the dry mass of the roots reached 21.7 g.pot⁻¹ with the use of OM fertilizers. These values represent an increase of between 43.1% and 69.6% compared to the values of conventional fertilizers. In addition, water productivity reached 4.9 g.L⁻¹ with WA-based fertilizers, an increase of around 39% compared to the values of mineral fertilizers.

Most soils are excessively acidic, which decreases the productive efficiency of plants. There are several ways to correct soil acidity to make nutrients available to crops. Wood ash is a residue generated by the combustion of vegetal biomass and is used to correct soil acidity for use as a fertilizer. The application of organomineral wood ash to crops is yet another alternative fertilizer that reduces the doses of wood ash and mineral fertilizer. The objective of this study was to evaluate the biomass production and water use efficiency of chrysanthemum cultivated with organic, mineral, and organomineral fertilizers associated with liming. The greenhouse experiment was conducted in a 5 × 2 factorial randomized block design with five fertilization managements (incubated wood ash, non-incubated wood ash, organomineral, mineral fertilization, and control) and two liming values (0 and 100% of the recommendation), with five replicates. Biomass production was significantly affected by fertilization alone and organomineral application resulted in higher biomass production. Incubated ash was more appropriate because resulted in higher yields.

The objective was to evaluate the effect of wood ash dose and application management on soil quality attributes in a Cerrado area cultivated with Urochloa brizantha. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design in a 5 × 2 strip-plot scheme and four repetitions. The ash doses were 0, 8, 16, 24, and 32 t ha-1, and the application management considered wood ash that is incorporated and not incorporated into the soil. The P, K, and pH values of the soil increased with an increase in the doses of wood ash. The soil bulk density decreased by 9.66% with the wood ash doses of 24 and 32 t ha-1 incorporated into the soil. Owing to an increase in the soil pH, a wood ash dose of greater than 16 t ha-1 decreased the enzymatic activity. A wood ash dose of 24 t ha-1 resulted in better conditions for the soil, improving its quality and contributing to the balance and dynamics between the chemical, physical, and biological attributes of the soil, which led to the reduced density and greater availability of P in the soil.

Subsurface soil compaction and nutritional stress are among the main factors that limit the yield of crops. Using forest residues, such as wood ash, is a viable option in the chemical recovery of soils and can promote vigorous root development in soils with subsurface compaction. The objective of this study was to indicate the most adequate dose of wood ash for efficient management of this residue applied in rotational crops cultivated in soils with subsurface compaction. Safflower plants (Carthamus tinctorius), a rotational crop with a deep taproot system, were grown in clay soil fertilized with different doses of ash and with induced levels of compaction in the subsurface layer. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design, under a 4 × 5 factorial scheme, composed of four doses of wood ash (8.0, 16.0, 24.0, and 32.0 g dm-3) and five levels of soil bulk density (1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 kg dm-3), with four replicates. Crop growth variables (plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, and SPAD chlorophyll index) were evaluated at 15, 45, and 75 days after emergence. The results indicated that soil compaction was the most limiting factor to the vegetative development of safflower, regardless of the ash dose. The interaction between the wood ash dose and bulk density, when present, showed that the best growth response occurred for ash dose of 25 g dm-3 for a soil bulk density of 1.2 kg dm-3.

Plant resistance to drought stress is a parameter that should be studied with more emphasis in the search for higher agricultural yields. In this scenario, research within breeding programs should be directed toward specific mechanisms of action and important agricultural crops in worldwide agribusiness. From this perspective, this study carried out a bibliographic investigation regarding the advances in genetic improvement aimed at drought stress in crops using a hybrid model of analysis of scientific articles. The analysis employed bibliometric parameters for qualitative and quantitative discussion of scientific production and the methodological process of systematic review for the synthesis of the results obtained. The work was divided into four stages: the search for articles in databases, meta-analysis, bibliometric analysis, and systematic analysis. Scientific articles were searched for on the Scopus, Scielo, and Web of Science databases within a 20-year timeframe. Most authors and institutions were from Asian countries, demonstrating the need for global expansion of research on the subject. With regard to the co-occurrence networks between the keywords used in the search, a focus was observed on the following terms: drought resistance, drought stress; drought, and drought tolerance. Evidently, the primary mechanism of tolerance or even resistance studied in breeding programs is associated with the expression of genes and genetically modified organisms that confer resistance to plants. Also, the crops addressed in the research retrieved are highly diverse.

In the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, wheat is an alternative to the current production system, mainly in irrigated crops, with new cultivars improved for this environment and system. The objective was to determine the evapotranspiration of the irrigated wheat crop and the dual coefficients of cultivars for the Brazilian Midwest. The experiment was conducted in the field using 12 weighing lysimeters and mini-lysimeters, filled by soil monoliths. The wheat cultivars BRS-254 and BRS-394 were used in the first and second years, respectively. Reference evapotranspiration was obtained by the Penman-Monteith equation and crop evapotranspiration by the mass difference in the lysimeters. Basal crop coefficient and soil water evaporation coefficient were determined according to the crop development stages in both years of cultivation. The mean ETc and ETo values were 3.87, 3.49 mm d-1 and 4.10 and 3.23 mm d-1, respectively, in the first and second cultivation cycles, with higher values of ETc recorded in the reproductive stages of the crop, flowering and grain filling. The basal crop coefficients and soil water evaporation coefficients estimated by weighing lysimeters composed of soil monoliths are: Kcb - 0.42, 0.78, 0.94, 0.74 and 0.47 and Ke - 0.72, 0.52, 0.39, 0.58 and 0.13 for the cultivar BRS-254, and Kcb - 0.28, 0.27, 0.65, 0.98 and 0.66 and Ke - 1.04, 0.96, 0.65, 0.34 and 0.51 for the cultivar BRS-394, at the stages of emergence, tillering, flowering, maturation and harvest, respectively.