Thieres George Freire da Silva

• PhD in Agricultural Meteorology
• Professor at Federal Rural University of Pernambuco

Forage scarcity, intensified by climate variability and edaphoclimatic limitations in the Brazilian semiarid region, challenges regional livestock production. In this context, forage palm is a strategic alternative due to its drought resistance and environmental adaptability. However, little is known about the spatial and temporal dynamics of its c...

To build climate-resilient livestock systems, public policies must be informed by bioclimatic zoning, enabling region-specific interventions and more efficient resource allocation. This study aimed to conduct bioclimatic zoning for dairy cattle farming in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. Big data analysis techniques and predictive geostatistical mode...

Litter production is an ecosystem process responsible for adding nutrients to the soil. In addition, litter contributes to increased soil fertility and respiration and prevents soil degradation and erosion. However, in the Caatinga around 40 % of the native vegetation has already been modified, resulting in the loss of this material. In this study,...

During the summer of 2022, a record-breaking drought event coupled with unprecedentedly low rainfall struck in the Yangtze River basin (YRB) of China. However, the quantitative assessment of the consequences of such extreme drought event remains a significant challenge, which hinders the development of effective mitigation strategies and the enhanc...

The acquisition and understanding of meteorological data are crucial for management in various sectors of society. Thus, the objective was to develop a package in the R programming environment to download and process data provided by Brazilian National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) and to create a free web-based tool using Shiny (interactive web...

Soil erosion poses a significant global environmental challenge, causing land degradation, deforestation, river siltation, and reduced agricultural productivity. Although the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) has been widely applied in Brazil, its use in the tropical river basins of the Amazon remains limited. This study aimed to apply a...

The scarcity of information on agricultural development in the semi-arid region of Alagoas limits the spatial understanding of this activity. Government data are generally numerical and lack spatial detail. Remote sensing emerges as an efficient alternative, providing accessible visualization of agricultural areas. This study evaluates the performa...

Crop densification can influence the nutritional quality of cactus pear. However, studies considering harvest timing and cultivation density in high-altitude regions are essential for optimizing management and supporting sustainable livestock farming. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical, mineral composition and mineral accumula...

The aim was to evaluate the productivity, agronomic characteristics, and chemical and mineral composition of pearl millet genotypes irrigated with brackish water under the application of agricultural gypsum in two cuts. The experiment was a randomized block design in a 4 (gypsum levels-0, 2, 4, and 8 ton ha −1 applied on the surface) × 3 (pearl mil...

Salinity represents a significant challenge for agriculture, especially in semi-arid regions, affecting the growth and productivity of plants such as nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus), which is valued for its ornamental, medicinal, and food uses. Salt stress disrupts biochemical, physiological, and anatomical processes, limiting plant development. This...

The use of geotechnologies combined with remote sensing has become increasingly essential and important for efficiently and economically understanding land use and land cover in specific regions. The objective of this study was to observe changes in agricultural activities, particularly agriculture/livestock farming, in the North Forest Zone of Per...

Understanding the leaf area is essential in plant physiology and ecological studies, as it directly influences photosynthesis, transpiration and plant productivity. This study aimed to develop non-destructive allometric models to estimate the leaf area of three species from the Caatinga biome: Cynophalla flexuosa, Libidibia ferrea and Tabebuia aure...

This study aimed to understand how cactus age affects the physicochemical and technological properties of mucilage and biopolymeric films. Cladodes of Nopalea cochenillifera (MIU) and Opuntia stricta (OEM) were harvested at 9 months (young) and 18 months (old) of age. The epidermis was removed, aquiferous parenchyma crushed and mixed with ethyl alc...

Lettuce is among the 10 most valued vegetables for fresh consumption in Brazil. The use of rock powder in lettuce crops for soil acidity correction or fertilization is an option for reducing production costs. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of rock powder rates mica schist and irrigation water depths on the...

Irrigation projects that are hydraulically well-dimensioned provide a good distribution uniformity coefficient and, consequently, high irrigation efficiency. This research aimed to evaluate and compare the method's performance using the energy gradient line (EGL) concept and the modified forward step method (FSM), in the design of micro-irrigation...

The lack of water in semi-arid areas presents challenges for agriculture, making it necessary to adopt strategies that optimise the use of this water resource. This study evaluated the effects of irrigation level on the growth, productivity, economic viability and water use indicators of different forage species in the semi-arid region of Brazil. T...

The aim was to evaluate the morphological and productive responses of cactus cv. Mexican elephant ear (Opuntia stricta Haw.) under di erent crop densities and days after planting. This was a randomised block design consisting of four treatments of planting densities (30.000; 45.000; 60.000 and 75.000 plants/ha) with four replications. Morphological...

Linking knowledge of energy fluxes and evapotranspiration (ET) in cacti is useful for understanding plant growth, which acts as an extremely important feed source for dairy farming. However, there is little quantitative understanding of the latent (LE) and sensible (H) heat fluxes in drylands of cactus. We therefore investigated the feedback from p...

The application of machine learning techniques to determine bioparameters, such as the leaf area index (LAI) and chlorophyll content, has shown significant potential, particularly with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This study evaluated the use of RGB images obtained from UAVs to estimate bioparameters in sesame crops, utilizing machin...

Changes in land use affect the spatial and temporal variations of surface energy balance components and evapotranspiration in the Caatinga. We aimed to assess the partitioning of energy into latent heat flux (LE) and sensible heat flux (H), as well as actual evapotranspiration (ET), in areas of Caatinga vegetation (CAA) and a deforested area (DEFA)...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the fractionation of carbohydrates and nitrogen compounds, mineral status, and in vitro gas production of arboreal cotton silages combined with different cactus levels (0, 150, 300, 450 and 600g.kg⁻¹ on dry matter basis), distributed in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 4 replicates. For carb...

Total mixed ration silage has been used as a strategy to optimize the use of dry and wet feed in ruminant feeding. Another promising technique is silage reallocation, which allows producers to divide the ensiled material in large silos into smaller units that can be easily transported and marketed. Thus, this study aimed to improve food preservatio...

The aim was to evaluate the growth, biomass production and bromatological composition of forage cactus clones under irrigation with treated sewage water and cutting management in semiarid region. For two years, the clones Orelha de Elefante Mexicana—OEM; IPA 20—MAO; Miúda—MIU e IPA Sertânia—IPA were subjected to irrigation with raw water (RW) and t...

It is considered highly important for developing strategies to conserve water resources and minimize environmental impacts, especially in places with low rainfall and high potential evapotranspiration, such as semiarid regions. In this context, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the ranking of the most sensitive parameters and the cal...

Irrigation in semi-arid regions overcomes edaphoclimatic limitations, guaranteeing livestock farming and reducing the seasonal-ity of forage production. The objective is therefore to evaluate the influence of seasonal variations on the development and accumulation of forage species. The study was conducted in the semi-arid region of Brazil over sev...

Oceanic-atmospheric phenomena can change the patterns of rainfall (R) and potential evapotranspiration (ET0) and, therefore, the water availability of a location, resulting in significant effects on agricultural activity. This study evaluated the trend of the climatic water budget (W) of a river basin in the Brazilian semiarid region, the Pajeú riv...

This study evaluated low-cost digital tools for estimating cladode area by mobile and fixed devices. We conducted the experiment at the Serra Talhada Academic Unit of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco with pear cactus (Nopalea cochenillifera Salm-Dyck and Opuntia stricta (Haw.)). In this sense, we used four software to measure the cladode...

The objective of this study was to correlate the biophysical parameters of forage cactus with visible vegetation indices obtained by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and predict them with machine learning in different agricultural systems. Four experimental units were conducted. Units I and II had different plant spacings (0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, an...

O milho é uma cultura de grande importância socioeconômica utilizado na alimentação animal. O Brasil é o terceiro maior produtor do grão, e possui lavouras em diversas regiões. Em Sergipe, a cultura é bastante explorada, porém, algumas regiões possuem dificuldades em obter bons resultados na produtividade do grão, a escolha da cultivar correta redu...

Conilon coffee represents a large portion of Brazilian coffee production, and it is essential to understand how the crop relates to the energy available in the environment. Therefore, this study sought to determine the components of the radiation balance of the Conilon coffee crop in the Northern Fluminense region during seven harvests. The experim...

Conilon coffee represents a large portion of Brazilian coffee production, and it is essential to understand how the crop relates to the energy available in the environment. Therefore, this study sought to determine the components of the energy balance of the Conilon coffee crop in the North Fluminense region during seven harvests. The experiment wa...

In addition to being an important instrument in the search for increasingly greater productivity, agricultural production with adequate use of irrigation systems significantly minimizes the impact on water resources. To meet high productivity and yield, as well as industrial quality, a series of studies on sugarcane cultivation are necessary. Despi...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the structural characteristics, yield and water use efficiency of forage cactus under daytime and nighttime irrigation in a Brazilian semiarid region. The experiment followed a completely randomized design in a 3 × 2 factorial scheme, with ten replications: three clones of forage cactus (“IPA Sertânia”—IP...

With the growing demand for efficient solutions to face the challenges posed by population growth and climate change, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) emerges as a promising solution for monitoring biophysical and physiological parameters in forage crops due to their ability to collect high-frequency and high-resolution data. This review...

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of irrigation depths (IDs) with brackish water and levels of organic fertilizer (OF) on the morphological aspects, production, chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of cactus pear grown in a semiarid region. This experiment was conducted in an area already established for 2 years with cactus pear [O...

The objective was to investigate the physicochemical stability of stored cactus pear mucilage and assess the technological feasibility to produce polymeric films. Mucilage of cactus pear species Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dyck MIU and Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw - OEM was extracted and stored for 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 months in the absence of lig...

O conhecimento das taxas de evaporação auxilia no planejamento do uso dos recursos hídricos. Porém, sua quantificação exige diversos dados meteorológicos e pode ser afetada diferentemente por eles. Assim, objetivou-se: i) analisar a sensibilidade da evaporação obtida pelo Tanque Classe “A” (TCA) e estimada pelo método de Penman (1948) às variáveis...

Brazil, despite possessing the largest renewable freshwater reserves in the world (8.65 trillion m³ annually), faces growing challenges in water management due to increasing demand. Agriculture, responsible for 68.4% of water consumption, is one of the main drivers of this demand, especially in the São Francisco River Basin, where irrigation accoun...

The increasing demand for water resources has resulted in environmental degradation and conficting interests among diverse users. This research aimed to scrutinize the causes and repercussions of land use exploitation and degradation within the Samambaia River Basin (SRB), focusing on potential environmental impacts linked to the management of irri...

The agroecological transition is an important step in changing from a conventional to agroecological production system. The cactus-sorghum intercropping can be recommended for the agroecological transition in a semi-arid environment depending on the cultivation configuration, that is, the type of forage cactus clone and sorghum cultivar. This study...

Brackish water can promote physicochemical changes in the soil. Aiming to mitigate the effect of excess salts in the soil, the use of organic matter promotes restructuring. The aim was to evaluate the productive and nutritional characteristics of cactus pear under different brackish water depths (ID) and levels of organic matter (OM). A factorial a...

Gerir adequadamente água na agricultura irrigada é o principal meio para garantir a sustentabilidade e a qualidade dos produtos nos sistemas de cultivos irrigados. Conhecer a real demanda hídrica das culturas é fundamental para o manejo eficiente da irrigação e para o avanço da agricultura intensiva e sustentável. Desse modo, objetivou-se determina...

Brackish water can promote physicochemical changes in the soil. Aiming to mitigate the effect of excess salts in the soil, the use of organic matter promotes restructuring. The aim was to evaluate the productive and nutritional characteristics of cactus pear under different brackish water depths (ID) and levels of organic matter (OM). A factorial a...

Variations in rainfall patterns in the Northeast region of Brazil (NEB) are high and multiscalar, increasing susceptibility to extreme drought and/or flood events. The objective of this study was to characterize rainfall patterns and monthly dry-wet periods using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) from 1990 to 2019 in the South Coast of NEB...

Simulation models are useful tools for estimating plant response and contributing to the development of management strategies and yield predictions in crops. This study aimed to calibrate and evaluate the AquaCrop-FAO model for the forage cactus imposed on different cropping systems in the semi-arid region of Brazil. Four experiments were conducted...

The fast and effective monitoring of agrochemical residues is essential for assuring food safety, since many agricultural products are sprayed with pesticides and commercialised without waiting for the pre-harvest interval. In this study, we investigated the use of spectral reflectance combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial le...

Monitoring areas susceptible to desertification contributes to the strategic development of regions located in environments of extreme hydric and social vulnerability. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the process of soil degradation in the Desertification Nucleus of Cabrobó (DNC) over the past three decades using remote sensing...

Water scarcity is a problem that affects agricultural production around the world. Increasing forage production in the semiarid region is necessary to maintain animal production, and consequently food security. Different agronomic management can improve growth and productivity responses and the water-economic indexes of the crop. Therefore, this st...

Changes to forests due to deforestation, or their replacement by agricultural areas, alter evapotranspiration and the partitioning of available energy. This study investigated seasonal variations in the energy balance and evapotranspiration in landscapes under different levels of anthropogenic intervention in the semi-arid region of Brazil. Microme...

The objective of this study was to evaluate growth and development in an irrigated forage cactus–sorghum intercropping system under different strategies for improving agricultural resilience. The research was carried out from 2018 to 2020 in Serra Talhada, Pernambuco, Brazil, in four experiments in a randomized block design, each with four replicat...

The simulation of rainfall interception by vegetation is essential to water resource management, considering both changing land use and climate change effects. In the rainfall interception models, the evaporation rate is frequently estimated by means of the Penman-Monteith method, but the Priestley-Taylor equation appears as a promising approach wi...

The objective was to diagnose the perceptions of farmers in the Moxotó Irrigated Perimeter (Pimox), Pernambuco, Brazil, in relation to the history, activities, uses, and socio-environmental impacts of the Prosopis juliflora invasion. 30 family farmers aged 18 to 65 were interviewed, during June to July 2020 using the Snowball technique. Content ana...

Sesame irrigation is essential in drought-prone regions. However, information about the water needs of sesame is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine crop evapotranspiration (ET c) and the sesame crop coefficient (K c) during the rainy (S1) and dry (S2) seasons in the coastal tablelands of Alagoas, Brazil. The BRS Seda cu...

Study region: Mimoso Alluvial Valley, Semiarid Brazil. Study focus: This study aims to assess the influence of climate variability and exploitation on groundwater accessibility, quantity and quality, based on a spatiotemporal data analysis from long-term monitoring field campaigns, conducted monthly from 2000 to 2019. This study successfully identi...

Soil and climatic conditions limit forage production in semi-arid environments. Planting crops adapted to these elements, combined with management practices such as intercropping and irrigation, can ensure the sustainability of animal feed. The aim of this study was to evaluate growth, forage productivity, soil water balance, water indices and the...

The proposal for a method of identifying the occurrence of desertification that has a strong association with in situ data leads to more assertive results when analysing the contribution of climate and social and economic factors to advancing the process. This study aimed to develop a methodology called the RisDes_Index to evaluate the evolution of...

The ‘Kent’ mango is one of the main cultivars produced in the São Francisco valley. However, due to a lack of data, water management was carried out using coefficients from the Tommy Atkins cultivar. Thus, aiming to achieve greater water management efficiency, the aim of this study was to evaluate the growth, radiation and energy balance, evapotran...

A mosaic of landscapes can be seen in the semi-arid region of Brazil as a result of anthropogenic activity (i.e. deforestation). These changes can lead to a reduction in soil carbon (C) and nutrient stocks, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. With this in mind, was evaluated both C and nutrient stocks dynamics in various landscapes in the sem...

Supplementary irrigation can be strategic for forage cactus, aiming to guarantee higher levels of productivity and economic return. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the growth dynamics, productivity, evapotranspiration, and water economy indices of three forage cactus clones under different water regimes. The study was carried out in the Bra...

Sabe-se que a evapotranspiração (ET) é um fenômeno afetado pela vegetação local, logo, conhecer o índice de vegetação da região tal como o Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) permite analisar sua influência na estimativa de ET. Neste trabalho, objetivou-se construir e avaliar modelos de interpolação espacial de dados de ET de referência (...

This study tests the hypothesis that a more salt-excluder rootstock can attenuate salt stress in grapevine plants by enhancing photosynthesis and providing ionic and oxidative protection. Plants of ‘BRS Vitória’ variety, grafted with the rootstocks IAC 313 (salt-excluder) and SO4, were subjected to salinity by adding NaCl (0, 50, and 100 mM) for 30...

The objective was to produce an innovative biopolymeric ecofilm, using hydrotested and reused alcohol for mucilage extraction and incorporation of calcium lactate into the film. The mucilage of Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm‐Dyck was extracted with ethyl alcohol P.A. (99.8%) or reused alcohol after hydrodistillation (82%). Mucilage powder was hyd...

Precision agriculture requires accurate methods for classifying crops and soil cover in agricultural production areas. The study aims to evaluate three machine learning-based classifiers to identify intercropped forage cactus cultivation in irrigated areas using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). It conducted a comparative analysis between multispectr...

Context The application of nitrogen fertilization can promote different morphological, productive, and efficient responses in forage cactus. Objective Therefore, the objective was to determine the morphophysiological, productive, nutritional, and economic responses of the forage cactus clone Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw.)...

Simple Summary Because the spineless cactus has a low dry matter, neutral detergent fiber and crude protein content, its use alone is not recommended, and it should be combined with other bulky food sources, such as gliricidia, pornunça and buffel grass, as they are found in abundance in semi-arid regions and nutritionally complement the cactus. Th...

Drought is a recurrent natural event, and its evaluation is important in places susceptible to this phenomenon. This is the case of the extensively explored region known as MATOPIBA, acronym for the four states that compose it (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia). The objective of this work was to identify and understand the spatiotemporal variab...

Cactus pear is used in large proportions in diets for small ruminants in semiarid regions. However, its exclusive use is not recommended due to the low fiber and crude protein content and the high water and mineral content, leading to metabolic disorders, low dry matter intake, and weight loss. The use of mixed cactus silage associated with protein...

Cactus pear is used in large proportions in diets for small ruminants in semiarid regions. However, its exclusive use is not recommended due to the low fiber and crude protein content and the high water and mineral content, leading to metabolic disorders, low dry matter intake, and weight loss. The use of mixed cactus silage associated with protein...

Cactus pear is used in large proportions in diets for small ruminants in semiarid regions. However, its exclusive use is not recommended due to the low fiber and crude protein content and the high water and mineral content, leading to metabolic disorders, low dry matter intake, and weight loss. The use of mixed cactus silage associated with protein...

A agropecuária desempenha um papel econômico crucial no semiárido brasileiro. No entanto, a variabilidade climática representada por esse ambiente desafiador afeta negativamente a produtividade agrícola. Para superar esses desafios, é importante compreender as respostas das culturas ao ambiente de cultivo e adotar práticas de resiliência agrícola....

The banana (Musa spp.) is the most consumed fruit in the world. The Cariri region of Ceará has about 2.9 thousand hectares cultivated with banana, being one of the most productive regions of the country. Despite the importance of banana production for the region, studies related to the sustainability indicators of crops and chemical indicators of s...

Understanding the best strategies for growing forage plants is important in balancing livestock production, as is the improvement of management techniques aimed at increasing food production. Models that simulate plant growth are therefore important tools for agricultural planning. The aim of this study was to calibrate and validate the AquaCrop mo...

Different agronomic practices can change the morphological and productive responses of forage cactus to the cultivation environment. Therefore, studying the effects of the management adopted is essential to improve crop performance. The objective was to evaluate how the phenology, the morphophysiological indicators, and the cutting moment of cactus...

1. CONTEXT-Improving the use of natural resources (e.g., water, nutrients, and radiation) within production systems under different technologies (mulch and intercropping) is fundamental to intensifying sustainable agriculture. 2. OBJECTIVE-The objective was to quantify the parameters of water consumption and the efficiency of using natural resource...

The aim of this study was to assess how microclimate variables and irrigation affect the growth of sugarcane. The experiment was conducted using the VAT90-212 cultivar in the Semi-arid region of Brazil. The microclimate was monitored and by quantifying the irrigation depth. Nine campaigns were carried out in the field to collect morphological and b...

The growth and yield of important agricultural crops are severely diminished under heat stress, as well as being eminently affected by subtle changes in wind. Thus, the main objective of this study is to develop a geostatistical interpolator according to the spatial distribution of mean air temperature and wind speed in the state of Pernambuco. Ann...

The action of silicon as a salt stress mitigator has been investigated in isolation, and its combined efficacy with other salt stress mitigators needs to be addressed. This work verified whether silicon, in combination with organic matter and Trichoderma harzianum, enhances the production of forage sorghum under saline irrigation and its effects on...

The detection and monitoring of changes in land use and land cover play a crucial role in understanding land degradation and are fundamental to preserving agroecosystems. Their association with hydrological information allows essential responses to changes in hydrological patterns to be identified, contributing to water security in watersheds. Ther...

In semi-arid regions, is necessary to explore strategies to mitigate abiotic stresses such as water deficit and salinity. This study aimed to evaluate the stress tolerance capacity of three species subjected to different water regimes and salinity levels, based on dry matter production and water use efficiency (WUE). The species Handroanthus impeti...

Parâmetros estruturais da vegetação e quantificação de biomassa acima do solo (AGB) são importantes no monitoramento florestal para compreensão do ciclo vital dos ecossistemas. Em florestas tropicais sazonalmente secas como a caatinga, essa atividade é ainda mais desafiadora. Como alternativa aos métodos tradicionais, foi investigada a viabilidade...