Antônio Teixeira do Amaral Júnior

• Professor
• Professor (Associate) at State University of Norte Fluminense

Southern leaf blight (SLB), caused by Bipolaris maydis, poses a significant threat to maize and popcorn production. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying SLB resistance, we conducted a high-throughput proteomic analysis comparing SLB-resistant (L66) and SLB-susceptible (L51) popcorn genotypes at four and ten days after inoculation (DAI)...

To propose breeding strategies for drought conditions, we investigated gene expression associated with morphophysiological traits in four S7 popcorn (Zea mays var. everta) inbred lines using a partial diallel cross design with two testers. We evaluated morphological traits (plant height; the dry mass of stems, leaves, and reproductive organs; and r...

Despite the development of adapted popcorn cultivars such as UENF WS01, strategies such as bacterial inoculation are being explored to enhance plant resilience to abiotic stress. This study investigates the impact of drought stress on popcorn cultivation. Specifically, the aim was to identify the benefits of Bacillus cereus interaction with the dro...

Recent advancements in high-throughput phenotyping have led to the use of drones with RGB sensors for evaluating plant traits. This study explored the relationships between vegetation indices (VIs) with grain yield and morphoagronomic and physiological traits in maize genotypes. Eight maize hybrids, including those from the UENF breeding program an...

Fusarium ear rot (FER) is a disease that causes a decrease in grain quality in several popcorn fields in tropical regions. To contribute to the development of popcorn cultivars resistant to FER and superior in the main agronomic traits, the study aimed to compare gains in popping expansion (PE), grain yield (GY), and FER resistance through direct a...

Southern corn leaf blight (SCLB), caused by Bipolaris maydis , is an important leaf disease of popcorn. The use of resistant genotypes is the most suitable control option for this disease, but there are few sources of resistance described in popcorn germplasm for use in breeding programmes. This research aimed to identify new sources of resistance...

Water stress can lead to physiological and morphological damage, affecting the growth and development of popcorn. The objective of this study was to identify the yield potential of 43 popcorn lines derived from a Latin American germplasm collection, based on agronomic and physiological traits, under full irrigation (WW) and water deficit conditions...

Highlights • Changes in proteomic profiles occur in response to water limitation in popcorn. • 1838 proteins were identified, with 169 differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) in the tolerant line and 386 DAPs in the sensitive line. • The pathways of energy metabolism, photosynthesis, oxidative stress response, and protein synthesis represented...

The development of new cultivars is a strategy used in breeding programs to increase food production with environmental sustainability. The genotype × environment interaction is a great challenge in the identification and selection of superior genotypes for different edaphoclimatic conditions. Due to this interaction, it is essential to select and...

To contribute to increasing ear rot resistance in new popcorn cultivars, the present study was aimed to identify germplasm with resistance to Fusarium ear rot (FER) in popcorn inbred lines. The study was conducted in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ear rot severity was evaluated in 176 lines of different populations of popcorn from S...

Developing popcorn genotypes that are adapted to water-deficit conditions is crucial due to the significant impact of this abiotic stress on grain yield. This study aimed to assess the combining abilities of preselected popcorn lines for agronomic and root traits under well-watered and water-stressed conditions. A circulating diallel analysis was c...

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important crop also known as the king of cereals and consumed as a staple crop by one-third of the global population. However, wheat production under rainfed conditions is restrained by water scarcity. The experiment was conducted to evaluate wheat breeding lines for yield. Fifteen F 4:7 bread wheat lines along wi...

Low rainfall rates are becoming increasingly frequent because of climate change, causing droughts and threatening world food security. For popcorn, drought is the most limiting abiotic factor for plant’s growth and development. Thus, the water deficit directly impacts for crop productivity. Based on knowledge of the genetic basis of traits involved...

Nitrogen is crucial for plant growth and development, and improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a viable strategy for reducing dependence on nitrogen inputs and promoting sustainability. While the benefits of heterosis in corn are well known, the physiological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon in popcorn are less understood. We aimed to in...

In view of the need to develop new popcorn cultivars and considering the uncertainties in choosing the most appropriate breeding methods to ensure consistent genetic progress, simultaneously for both popping expansion and grain yield, this study addressed the efficiency of interpopulation recurrent selection regarding genetic gains, the study of th...

The objective of this work was to select maize hybrids using the GGE biplot analysis, as well as to evaluate their stability and adaptability in different environments of the North and Midwest regions of Brazil. Thirty-six maize hybrids were evaluated in 2018, in the following five environments in the Northern and Midwestern regions, respectively:...

Nitrogen (N) is essential for sustaining life on Earth and plays a vital role in plant growth and thus agricultural production. The excessive use of N fertilizers not only harms the economy, but also the environment. In the context of the environmental impacts caused by agriculture, global maize improvement programs aim to develop cultivars with hi...

Crossing and developing inbred lines have been promising options for guava breeding programs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the genetic divergence among genotypes of S1 inbred guava families by means of the Gower’s technique and the Ward-MLM methodology, to verify the correlation and relative contribution of traits, as well as to identi...

Popcorn cultivation has been growing in and has positively affected the Brazilian economy. However, these crops are grown with genotypes susceptible to diseases, generating high losses. Thus, studies aimed at obtaining resistant genotypes are particularly interesting, as popcorn is susceptible to several pathogens. The most efficient, environmental...

Southern corn leaf blight (SCLB), caused by the pathogen Bipolaris maydis, can cause significant damage to popcorn production. However, genetic resistance in maize germplasm offers a viable strategy for disease control. This work investigated the performance of popcorn lines for SCLB resistance and their potential for producing hybrids. Thirty-five...

Elephant grass has stood out as a potential crop for energy production. Therefore, aiming to increase selection efficiency and considering the importance of this crop as an energy source worldwide, we selected full-sib families of elephant grass based on the yield, adaptability and stability of the progeny and predicted genetic gains between and wi...

The search for productive germplasm adapted to adverse conditions is an important action to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. The aim was to identify the yield potential of 50 popcorn inbred lines grown in field conditions, in two crop seasons (CS), and under contrasting water conditions (WC). Morphoagronomic, physiological, and root...

Phosphorus is a non-renewable natural resource that will run out of reserves in the upcoming decades, making it essential to understanding the inheritance of nutrient use efficiency for selecting superior genotypes. This study investigated the additive and non-additive effects of commercially relevant traits for the popcorn crop (grain yield—GY, po...

This study aimed to identify the genetic control of morphological, water status, and root traits in four inbred lines and their pre-selected hybrid combinations of popcorn, and to identify the best parents and hybrids. The plants were grown under greenhouse conditions, and with two water conditions—water-stressed (WS) and well-watered (WW). We eval...

Popcorn is a food highly appreciated throughout the world, generating billions of dollars annually just in the North American market alone. Even in the face of the historical superiority of American hybrids, which occupy almost 100% of the grain production fields in Brazil, our researchers have been working to develop cultivars that combine importa...

Studying population structure has made an essential contribution to understanding evolutionary processes and demographic history in forest ecology research. This inference process basically involves the identification of common genetic variants among individuals, then grouping the similar individuals into subpopulations. In this study, a spectral-b...

In spite of the benefits of heterosis in maize breeding, little is known about the physiological mechanisms of this phenomenon and its genetic control under different water regimes. This study aimed to understand the heterosis effects on plant growth, the photosynthetic and transpiration traits, and the root traits of four inbred popcorn lines and...

Salinity stress is a barrier to crop production, quality yield, and sustainable agriculture. The current study investigated the plant growth promotion, biochemical and molecular characterization of bacterial strain Enterobacter cloacae PM23 under salinity stress (i.e., 0, 300, 600, and 900 mM). E. cloacae PM23 showed tolerance of up to 3 M NaCl whe...

NUE. The comparative proteomic analysis allowed the identification of 79 differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) in the comparison of high/low N for P2 and 96 DAPs in the comparison of high/low N for L80. The NUE and N uptake efficiency (NUpE) presented high means in P2 in comparison to L80 at both N levels, but the NUE, NUpE, and N utilization...

The UENF WS01 is a hybrid that has an early cycle and high grain yield capacity under low water and nitrogen availability. It maintains popping expansion even under abiotic stress, thus being recommended for cultivation in the North and Northwest of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Drought currently affects several regions worldwide and tends to be more frequent due to climate change. It might compromise food security and the economic structure related to agribusiness. Popcorn has a crucial role in the Brazilian economy, but the cultivars that adapt to water stress, the most prejudicial abiotic stress for crop productivity, a...

The method of regional heritability mapping (RHM) has become an important tool in the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) controlling traits of interest in plants. Here, RHM was first applied in a breeding population of popcorn, to identify the QTLs and candidate genes involved in grain yield, plant height, kernel popping expansion, an...

Increasing the efficiency in selecting and recommending superior genotypes for black spot resistance in papaya requires proper field evaluation. A randomized block design with six genotypes and four replications was used to evaluate the coefficient of repeatability (r) and the minimum number of measurements. For this, the leaf with early symptoms o...

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) breeding is a complex task; furthermore, Carica papaya has a sexual chromosome and is difficult to make crosses. One of the most critical papaya crop diseases is black spot, which is caused by Asperisporium caricae (Speg.) MaublSince . Therefore, we used half‐sib families to combine genetic gains on the yield and resistanc...

The identification of traits associated with drought tolerance in popcorn is a contribution to support selection of superior plants under soil water deficit. The objective of this study was to choose morphological traits and the leaf greenness index, measured on different dates, to estimate grain yield (GY) and popping expansion (PE), evaluated in...

To ensure genetic gains in popcorn breeding programs carried out under drought conditions knowledge about the response of morphophysiological traits of plants to water stress for the selection of key traits is required. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate popcorn inbred lines with agronomically efficient (P2 and P3) and inefficient (L61 and L6...

The objective of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis and test its efficiency in summarizing the heterogeneous data of heritability estimates for the traits of grain yield (GY) and popping expansion (PE), and to provide reliable estimates of selection gains in popcorn. Therefore, 97 heritability estimates ( ) for popcorn GY and PE in the broad...

The potential expression of crop productivity is a constant challenge for plant breeders in the face of oscillations in environmental variables, making selection difficult and increasing the operational and methodological costs in obtaining the ideal cultivar for a determined region. The objective of the research was to investigate the effects of g...

Understanding the interaction between genotype performance and the target environment is the key to improving genetic gain, particularly in the context of climate change. Wheat production is seriously compromised in agricultural regions affected by water and heat stress, such as the Mediterranean basin. Moreover, wheat production may be also limite...

Relatam-se as principais percepções e experiências de ações extensionistas desenvolvidas pelo Grupo de Melhoramento de Milho-Pipoca (GMMP) da UENF. Tem-se como principal objetivo a promoção e o desenvolvimento da agricultura regional no Norte Fluminense por meio do cultivo de milho-pipoca. Em 2017, o GMMP visou à integração das pesquisas realizadas...

Drought is a common abiotic stress in tropical and subtropical regions that limits the growth and development of agricultural crops, mainly impacting grain yield. Acting through plant breeding is the most viable alternative for obtaining genotypes more tolerant of environments with stress. This work aims to select popcorn genotypes for environments...

Papaya is one of the most important fruit crops worldwide and its production depends on the availability of varieties that meet the consumer market demands. This study aimed to evaluate papaya inbred lines and select the best lines for fruit quality. A population of 97 lines of F5 generation, that was conducted via Single Seed Descent method from t...

Knowledge about relationships between traits can contribute to raising the efficiency of selection of superior genotypes. The objective of this study was to estimate the correlations, direct and indirect effects of agronomic, chemical and physical traits of kernels on popping expansion (PE) in popcorn (Zea mays L.). The trial was carried out in the...

Our objectives were to evaluate general and specific combining ability (SCA) and genetic divergence among tropical maize inbred lines using single sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Thirteen inbred lines were crossed based on a complete diallel scheme. Hybrids and three checks were evaluated in a lattice experimental design. Silk and anthesis flowering...

Nitrogen‐use efficient and leaf‐disease resistant corn (Zea mays L.) cultivars are important to reduce costs and increase sustainability in farming. Studies have shown that non‐additive genes may enhance nutrient‐use efficiency and disease resistance in corn crops. This work aimed to analyze the responses of popcorn hybrids to northern leaf blight...

Ear rot caused by fungi of genus Fusarium (FER) is one of the potentially harmful diseases to grain quality in maize. Given the capacity to produce mycotoxins, FER presents a risk to food safety. This study sought to identify parents and indicate hybrids of popcorn with a higher level of resistance to the incidence and severity of FER. Hybrids were...

Plant diseases significantly impact the global economy, and plant pathogenic microorganisms such as nematodes, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and viroids may be the etiology for most infectious diseases. In agriculture, the development of disease-free plants is an important strategy for the determination of the survival and productivity of plants in the...

Drought is a common abiotic stress in tropical and subtropical regions that limits the growth and development of agricultural crops, mainly impacting grain yield. Acting through plant breeding is the most viable alternative for obtaining genotypes more tolerant of environments with stress. This work aims to select popcorn genotypes for environments...

Multicollinearity is a very common problem in studies that employ path analysis in agronomic crops, which generates unrealistic results and erroneous interpretations. This study was aimed at assessing the path analysis in data obtained from guava tree full-sib based on modelling multiple regressions applying latent variables to neutralize the effec...

Maize cultivars developed for silage production are desirable because ensiling enables the production of high-quality feed and, increases farmers profit. Diallel cross is an efficient and advantageous mating technique that allows the selection of the best parents and crossings. The objective of this study was to estimate the general combining abili...

Genomic selection models were investigated to predict several complex traits in breeding populations of Zea mays L. and Eucalyptus globulus Labill. For this, the following methods of Machine Learning (ML) were implemented: (i) Deep Learning (DL) and (ii) Bayesian Regularized Neural Network (BRNN) both in combination with different hyperparameters....

Grain yield and popcorn quality losses have become more common due to attacks by pathogens responsible for leaf diseases. Genetic resistance is the main control measure, as it is applicable in large areas and uses reduced costs and less environmental impact, compared to chemical control. In this context, the purpose was to select popcorn hybrids th...

Getting around the damage caused by drought is a worldwide challenge, particularly in Brazil, given that economy is based on agricultural activities, including popcorn growing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate popcorn inbred lines under water stressed (WS) and well-watered (WW) conditions regarding agronomic attributes, root morphology, an...

The purpose of this study is to classify 32 commercial maize hybrids with regard to grain yield stability by using an artificial neural network procedure. The hybrids were evaluated at five locations, in two late growing seasons. Each replication (R1 and R2) of the response variable was used as a network input signal to trigger the network learning...

The cowpea is produced in different environmental conditions in several regions of Brazil. It is crucial to select and develop cultivars that attend to the regional requirements with high productivity, adaptability, and stability, due to the interaction between the genotype and the environment. This research aimed to select strains of cowpea for th...

Fusarium ear rot (FER), caused by Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc.) Nirenberg, is one of the major ear diseases that affect both yield and grain quality in maize (Zea mays L.), especially in tropical environments. Fusarium genetic resistance is a complex trait, controlled by several small‐effect genes and strongly influenced by the environment. We a...

Objetivo: Conhecer a opinião de trabalhadores da enfermagem e portadores de transtornos mentais sobre a assistência de enfermagem em unidade de internação psiquiátrica. Método: Estudo exploratório com 27/84 pacientes, 10/14 auxiliares de enfermagem e 6/6 enfermeiros de uma unidade psiquiátrica de hospital geral. Entrevistas individuais baseadas em...

Climate change is expected to intensify water restriction to crops, impacting on the yield potential of crops such as popcorn. This work aimed to evaluate the performance of 10 field cultivated popcorn inbred lines during two growing seasons, under well-watered (WW) and water stressed (WS) (ψsoil≥ −1.5 MPa) conditions. Water stress was applied by w...

The objective of this study was to estimate the varietal and heterotic effects related to grain yield, popping expansion and resistance of popcorn against fall armyworm. Twelve open-pollinated varieties were intercrossed in a complete diallel mating scheme. The 66 experimental hybrids, together with their parents and controls Zapalote Chico, BRS 10...

The occurrence of genotype by environment interaction (G x E), which is defined as the differential response of genotypes to environmental variation, is frequently reported in maize cultures, making it challenging to recommend cultivars. Methods allowing to study the potential nonlinear pattern of genotype responses to environmental variation allie...

The extensive use of nitrogen (N) in agriculture has caused negative impacts on the environment and costs. In this context, two pot experiments were performed under different N levels and harvested at different vegetative stages to assess two popcorn inbred lines (P2 and L80) and their hybrid (F1 = P2 × L80) for the N use, uptake and utilization ef...

Although resistance to diseases is genetically controlled, the environment has a strong influence on the reaction of plants to pathogens. Thus, the selection of superior genotypes in plant breeding programs can be more efficient the more intrinsically the environmental factors that influence the trait of interest are considered. This study aimed to...

The development of superior hybrid cultivars depends on the identification of lines with greater combining ability. This study compared the discrimination and combining ability of four testers when crossed with 43 partially endogamous S3popcorn (Zea mays L. var. everta) progenies by the Residual or Restricted Maximum Likelihood and Best Linear Unbi...

Recurrent selection is a method for developing new popcorn (Zea mays L.) cultivars. We aimed to determine the selection accuracy and genetic gains for different selection strategies: estimates based exclusively on phenotypic data (PhEN), estimates based on phenotypic and genotypic data (PhEN + GEN), and estimates based exclusively on single nucleot...

Guard cell (GC) length proved to be efficient in sorting diploids from haploids in doubled haploid development in maize (Zea mays L). It compensates for the weakness of widely used R1‐nj marker approach that showed low reliability in haploids identification from tropical genotypes. Guard cell length differs between haploid and diploid plants, and t...

The global boom in agricultural production has been associated with the exponential increase of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application. This heavy use of nitrogen in agriculture has caused negative impacts on the environment. Therefore, new alternatives are needed to maintain or increase maize yield but reduce the environmental impact. For this purpos...

The genotype by environment interaction is essential in any plant breeding program. Methodologies allowing the evaluation of nonlinear genotype responses to environmental variation allied to prior beliefs on unknown parameters bring new insights for breeders. In this context, we aimed to propose a Bayesian segmented regression model to infer on phe...