Common Soil Types in Mato Grosso do Sul

In the areas of Mato Grosso do sul it has a high varierty of soils. The most common soil types are as follows... Dark-Red Latossolo 23.64%, Yellowish-Red Latossolo 17.18%,  Yellowish-Red Podzolico 24%

This are the main Soil types. There are other 24 types that are found in the area but in very small amounts, reaching up to 7% of the area on a few of them. 

Do to the focus in Urucu I will be talking into more depth about the soils that are favorable for its production. 

The Dark red latossolo is a soil with very good physical characteristics. It is not prone to superficial erosion giving it grate advantage. It has very high drainage capacity with high percentaje of pores. Do to this it is considered a highly permeable soil, which explains the reason of why it is not prone to superficial erosion. It has around 8-18% of Fe203 and is also considered as a mineral soil. 

Do to the very good physical conditions it is a soil in which agriculture goes well do to the easy use of machinery and the facility of root infiltration and others. But there is a catch. It is a highly acid soil and distrophic. This will have to be corrected and worked upon by chemical fertilizers and adubation. 

Yellowish-Red Lactossolo is very similar to the Dark red. It is a more loamy soil but at the same time are well drained. It has around 6-11% of Fe203 but with an average of 7%. It downside shows itself in the chemical characteristics being a land that need to be corrected for its low level of nutrients. It is highly used for grazing and agricultural production. 

Best Soil Texture for Urucu

Urucu preferes a well drained, easily penetrable soil. Thus, making the above described soils exeptional. It prefers what is called as deep soil, which means it has a thick top layer. 

Soil Erosion

Soil erosion is not a problem for this region do to the texture of the soil and the high drainage capaability it has. Do to the loamy texture it is not prone to wind erosion and do to the high drainage capacity it is not prone to water erosion.

Nutrient Needed

Do to the limitaitons of the soil being in the chemical characteristics there will need to have a adubation and fertilization program. The soil will need to be added a NPK solution to create the perfect ambient for urucu production. 

Cropping Systems

Do to the fact that the urucu plant is a perenial plant there will be little to no crop rotation. This is not ideal but also do to the fact that urucu are shrubby trees, it is possible to create an agroforestry system that contains a different amount of plant and animal species than a normal plantation would have. To have it as a polyculture you would need to have rows with the correct spacing to be able to have enough sunlight for all the cultivars. The main focus will be urucu, which needs to be the most beneficiated. There will be no Tillage in the land do to the nature of the plants and that the soil needs no disturbance do to its excelent physical characteristics. 

Environment and Agroecosystems

• Brasil is a very big country. Do to where Urucu prevails, I chose to analyse the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It is South Eastern Brasil and shares a border with Bolivia. 

          Here the climate is quite stable throughout the whole year, with an average temperature of 26.5 celsius. With a minimum of 25 and a max of 30.

          In mato Grosso do sul what varies allot is the rainfall. Sustantial rainfall starts falling from january up to june, and from there onward there is essentially no rainfall. October is considered to be the month with the least rainfall with an average rainfall of 3 mm and March is the month with the most rainfall with and average of 205 mm. 

• Since Uruku is originally from this area. It has been adapted throughout thousands of years to produce in this climate. due to this most plantations are simply rainfed and left in the open. Apart from the urucu's adaptation advantge to this area, the lack of irrigation is also due to the lack of financial means to install a good system. 

• Urucu plantations produce best with temperatures ranging from 22 to 27 degrees celsius. looking into the future, with what is expected with global warming. Temperatures in this areas of the world will rise creating a problem to the Urucu plantations due to excessive heat. In my opinion this will be the biggest problem regarding the urucu plantations.

• Urucu is mostly grown in mocultures. It is mostly found in extensive plantations, or small holders plantations. There is verry little integration of urucu plantations with other plants or animals at the moment.

• The urucu production is not 100 % sustainable but it is a already an advantage that it is a perenial. What definetally can be done to have extremely sustainable plantations of urucu is a design of plantations in an Agroforestry system which will be able to return and bring new biodiversity to the area. Like this you can have a more circular economy view to the plantation and you are contributing to many other markets. 

• To promote Carbon Sequestration, I would create urucu plantations in junction with timber trees to be able to sequestrate carbon in a more cyclical way. Like this not only am I contributing to a more sustainable industry but also to the world problem of excessive carbon. In this plantation there will be trees and plants varying in growth time and cycles to create a varied and diverse system. 

References

Achiote. (2015). Retrieved October 4, 2019, from Biodiversidad.gob.mx website: https://www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/usos/alimentacion/achiote.html

Clima Mato Grosso: Temperatura, Tempo e Dados climatológicos Mato Grosso - Climate-Data.org. (2019). Retrieved from Climate-data.org website: https://pt.climate-data.org/america-do-sul/brasil/paraiba/mato-grosso-312282/

Souza, G., & Filho, F. (n.d.). CULTIVO DE URUCUM SISTEMA DE PRODUÇÃO. Retrieved from http://www.emater.ro.gov.br/ematerro/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/CARTILHA-CULTIVO-DE-URUCUM.pdf

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Uruku Post 3

Improving Plants

The B. Orellana plant (uruku) is considered to be a xenogamus species. This means that the plant requires crossed pollination to reproduce. 

GMO Plants

I believe the use of transgenics plants in agriculture is an very advance technology in improving the genetics of a plant. I am completely in favor of using transgenic plants in agriculture. I believe it gives a huge advantage to the producer in having a more safe and reliable crop. GMO's is technology will allow many countries to become food secure and also reduce deforestatoin due to that you can increase the yield of crops. In many 3rd world countries yields are very low compared to 1st world countries and this is causes for higher rates of deforestation and no food security in that country. looking into a environmental point of viw, by having GMO's you can even reduce the area of production, produce more food and at the same tie have space to produce crops used for biogass, energy and others. 

Breeding programs of Uruku in Brasil 

In Brasil many studies have been done. They issolated wild B. Orellana plants as well as some that where already cultivated by humans. the wild plants had a bigger genetic variablity but where genetically different from themselves do to environmental issolation. This is caused due to the collection of wild plants in various regions of the brasilian rainforest. From the 32 different Microsatelite locai that where used, they found that 12 of them where polymorphic. The main goal of the breeding program is to increase the level of bixin in the seeds, which is the compound used to produce the coloring. Some of the cataloged plants showed a level of Bixin well above average and this where used in the breeding program to create a more apealing plant for production. Another goal was to improve the reproduction capability of the plant which many wild individual plants where used do to the genotypes they contained. In this breeding program, the technic used was the traditional technich of crossing individuals with very similar genetic characteristics as well as indiviuals with unique genetic characteristics.

Results

The results of the breeding program was that comercially now a days the level of bixin in annato seeds have risen giving a better yield and making the production of annato a more appealing busisnes to investors. Now a days a seed contains around 4-6 % of pigment. From this pigment 80% is bixin which is used for commercial purposes.

Genotype and Phenotype

The annato plant is a highly adaptable plant being able to adapt to any tropical and subtropical climate. Do to this feature if an individual plant containing the same genotypes is sewed in a different area to where it is, which has climatical conditions to its growth (no Frost) it will present the same phenotypes. This happens because the genetic information of the plant is the same, and since it is highly adaptable to different tropical and subtropical regions, it will be able to display it's phenotypes completely. 

References

Dequigiovanni, G. (2019). Genetic structure, mating system and domestication of annatto (<em>Bixa orellana</em> L.) using molecular markers. https://doi.org/10.11606/t.11.2018.tde-26102017-142451

How to Tell If a Plant Is Pollinated. (2012). Retrieved September 27, 2019, from Sfgate.com website: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/tell-plant-pollinated-34828.html

Kalayanasundaram, K. (2014). PRODUCTION POTENTIAL OF ANNATTO (BIXA ORELLANA L.) AS A SOURCE OF NATURAL EDIBLE DYE. In Research Gate. Retrieved from Department of Tree BreedingForest College & Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University website: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293695379_PRODUCTION_POTENTIAL_OF_ANNATTO_BIXA_ORELLANA_L_AS_A_SOURCE_OF_NATURAL_EDIBLE_DYE

Schutte, A. L., & Wyk, V. (1998). Evolutionary relationships in the Podalyrieae and Liparieae (Fabaceae) based on morphological, cytological, and chemical evidence. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 209(1/2), 1–31. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/23643263?seq=11#metadata_info_tab_contents

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Uruku Post 2

Plant Physiology And Growth

Uruku is classified as a C3 plant. the difference between a C4 and C3 plant is the carbon sequestration due to a difference in the Calvin Cycle of the plants. C4 plants lack photorespiration and uses also dark to do photosynthesis. 

It is a perenial crop. Uruku starts giving fruits around five years after it has been planted.

The vegeattive stage of the uruku takes five years until it gives the first fruits. It has leaves that are around 8 to 20 cm of leanght and 4 to 15 cm of witdth. Once in reproduction the plant gives flowers at the edge of the branches. The number of flowers vary and are hermaphrodite flowers which then transform into an ovaled shaped fruit with flexible needle like structures. 

Uruku is not affected by photoperiodism. it flowers throughout the year having some certain months in which it produces a higher yield. 

Nitrgoen Fixation is not possible by the urucu plant. It is likely it can have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that create root nodules and are able to fixate the nitrogen. 

Climate change is something that will affect agricultural production world wide. Since the uruku plant is planted in tropical areas the extra heat is going to affect the plant growth. I think what mostly will affect the uruku plant is the changes in the rain cycles. 

Uruku

Taxonomy hierarchy of Uruku

 Kingdom:                               Plantae

    Subkingdom:                          Vidriplantae

       Infrakingdom:                         Streptophyta

          Superdivision:                          Embryophyta

             Division:                                   Tracheophyta

                Subdivision:                              Spermatophytina

                   Class:                                          Magnoliopsida

                      Superorder:                                 Rosanae                

                         Order:                                          Malvales

                            Family:                                        Bixaceae

                               Genus:                                          Bixa L.             

                                  Species:                                          Bixa Orellana  

Scientific Name:

Bixa Orellana.

Common Names:

Achiote, Annato, Uruku, Urucum

Categorization as Cash Crop:

Dye Crop. Uruku contains two main components in its seeds. One is the Bixin which contains the red pigmentation and Norobixin which contains a more yellowish pigmentation. This components are extracted and are the most used pigments in the world. It is highly used in the Culinary market, the textile market and also highly in the Cosmetic market, even getting the nickname of Lipstick Tree.

Origin:

Uruku originates from northern South America up to central America and Southern Mexico. It was first catalloged by and early explorer of the Amazon River called Francisco Orellana. After this it was highly traded do to its dye pigments to Southeast Asia, Africa, Southeastern Northamerica, ehich later began to be cultivated in India, Sri Lanka and Java mainly because of the coloring pigments the seed give.

Plant Anatomy and Morphology:

This plant is a dicot plant. This means that after germination two leafs are visible, with a more flat and round aspect to it. This is because the leafs contain embryosperm to feed the embryoplant.

In my opinion the most interesting morphological aspect of uruku are the arangments and shapes of the fruits. It normaly gives the fruits in clumps. The fruits are ovally shaped with hairlike parts. Once rype the fruits are easaly opened in half conting the red pigmented seeds inside. 

Urku root system is categorized as a tap root. It has a main root that goes deep in the ground having secondary and terciary roots coming out of the main root. 

It is considered and ideterminate plant since it will keep growing after the it has given fruits. It is a plant that is considered as a bush and it can reach heights of 3 to 10 meters.

Uruku gives flowers varying in color from white, yellow and red. The flowers contain an ovary which carries many a serie of eggs in its interior. The flowers are hermaphrodites and grow at the edge of rhe bush later froming into the fruits. The fruits form in a oval shape with inofensive spines. Inside this fruits you cna find an average of 40 seeds in the same oval shape but smaller.

References

CABI. (2019a). Bixa orellana (annatto). Retrieved September 20, 2019, from Cabi.org website: https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/9242

NA. (2010). ITIS Standard Report Page: Bixa orellana. Retrieved September 20, 2019, from Itis.gov website: https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=22251#null

NA. (2019b). Etnobot�nica e Taxonomia do Urucuzeiro. Retrieved September 20, 2019, from Infobibos.com website: http://www.infobibos.com/Artigos/2008_1/UrucumTaxon/Index.htm

Raddatz-Mota, D., Pérez-Flores, L. J., Carrari, F., Mendoza-Espinoza, J. A., de León-Sánchez, F. D., Pinzón-López, L. L., … Rivera-Cabrera, F. (2017). Achiote (Bixa orellana L.): a natural source of pigment and vitamin E. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 54(6), 1729–1741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-017-2579-7