FERNANDA V.D. SOUZA's research while affiliated with Embrapa Labex and other places

Pineapple is among the most produced and consumed fruits worldwide, and consequently, its agroindustrial production/processing generates high amounts of agricultural waste, which are routinely discarded. Thus, it is crucial to seek alternatives to reuse this agricultural waste that are in high availability. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate the chemical composition of a specific residue (leaves) of seven commercial varieties of pineapples, to attribute high added value uses, and to evaluate its potential as a source of secondary metabolites and minerals. Thereby, twenty-eight metabolites were annotated by UPLC-QTOF-MSE, including amino acids, organic acids, and phenolic compounds. The following minerals were quantitatively assessed by ICP-OES: Zn (5.30-19.77 mg kg-1), Cr, Cd, Mn (50.80-113.98 mg kg-1), Cu (1.05-4.01 mg kg-1), P (1030.77-6163.63 mg kg-1) and Fe (9.06-70.17 mg kg-1). In addition, Cr and Cd (toxic materials) present concentration levels below the limit of quantification of the analytical method (LOQCr and LOQCd = 0.02 mg kg-1) for all samples. The multivariate analysis was conceived from the chemical profile, through the tools of PCA (principal component analysis) and HCA (hierarchical cluster analysis). The results show that pineapple leaves have similarities and differences concerning their chemical composition. In addition, the cytotoxicity assays of the extracts against tumor and non-tumor strains shows that the extracts were non-toxic. This fact can corroborate and enhance the prospection of new uses and applications of agroindustrial co-products from pineapple, enabling the evaluation and use in different types of industries, such as pharmacological, cosmetic, and food, in addition to the possibility of being a potential source of bioactive compounds.

Brazil is the world's second leading producer of papaya. However, to sustain future production and growth particularly in the face of climate change, the development of new cultivars adapted to the country's various producing regions is a priority, mainly taking climate change into consideration. Research on the flowering phenology of papaya germplasm can facilitate choice of the most favorable moment to perform hybrid combinations for improvement. In this study, we analyzed the flowering phenology of 119 accessions of the Embrapa Papaya Active Germplasm Bank. The variables temperature, relative humidity and precipitation were collected from a nearby meteorological station and the data on average number of flowers produced per hermaphrodite plant were submitted to multivariate cluster analysis. The flowering of these accessions was influenced by environmental conditions, mainly rainfall patterns, characterizing seasonal behavior. The results showed two flowering peaks, the first coinciding with spring and the second with winter. In addition, we observed the formation of three different groups regarding flower production. The results obtained allow zoning of the flowering throughout the year for the 119 accessions, helping to improve the planning of hybridizations of interest. As far as we know, there are no reports in the literature of this type investigation with such a representative number of Carica papaya varieties.

The family Bromeliaceae Juss. is a large one, with 78 genera and 3659 species. Ananas is considered the most important genus from an economic perspective, and Brazil ranks third worldwide in the production of pineapple. Fruits of Ananas comosus (L.) Merril.) are most consumed and are widely appreciated all over the world. However, the chemical profile of its leaves and the potential for the production of secondary metabolites have been little explored. Further, the taxonomy of the genus is constantly revised due to the agricultural profile of the genus. In this work, for the first time, we carried out an untargeted metabolomic approach based on liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, followed by multivariate statistical analysis to obtain the metabolic fingerprints of 35 leaf samples of individuals belonging to the two species of Ananas (A. comosus and A. macrodontes) and five botanical varieties of A. comosus (var. microstachys, bracteatus, comosus, erectifolius, and parguazensis) from the Pineapple Active Germplasm Bank, located at Embrapa Cassava and Fruits, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Brazil. The metabolomic data of the 35 samples and their taxonomic information were combined to characterize the genus based on the chemical profile of the species and varieties, and, for the first time in the literature, 46 substances were annotated in the two species. Based on multivariate statistical analysis by Principal Component Analysis and Orthogonal Projections Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis using the metabolomic data, it was possible to discriminate among the species and varieties based on their chemical profiles. Our results show that the chemical composition of Ananas leaves can be used to assist in taxonomic identification.

Vriesea bahiana, Hohenbergia castellanosii and Encholirium spectabile are endemic Brazilian species that are considered endemic or endangered. Development of strategies to conserve these species is important to prevent irreversible genetic erosion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the post-seminal development and seed cryopreservation of three endemic or in danger of extinction bromeliad species in Brazil, to obtain a protocol that can safeguard the genetic variability of these species. In the seed cryopreservation assay, we evaluated five desiccation periods. The seeds in the cryotubes were taken from the desiccator and immediately plunged into liquid nitrogen. For the analysis of post-seminal development, seeds in different germination stages were collected and evaluated by light and scanning electron microscopy. Vriesea bahiana seeds frozen in liquid nitrogen presented almost 100% germination, indicating dormancy break of this species. Vriesea bahiana can be cryopreserved with 5.9% water content after being dried for 24 hours. Hohenbergia castellanosii and E. spectabile seeds did not need to be desiccated before being cryopreserved. The most relevant morphological traits for differentiation of genera and subfamilies of Bromeliaceae are the shape and type of seed appendages. In this study, all three species presented well-differentiated size and shape of their structures.

Pineapple is the third most important tropical fruit traded after banana and mango. In recent years, pineapple producers have faced production challenges due to unpredictable weather patterns as a consequence of climate change. In order to develop new genotypes with improved tolerance to these biotic and abiotic stresses, it is necessary to have access to a diverse gene pool, however, the germplasm currently stored in field gene banks are at risk from prevailing environmental conditions. Therefore, there is a need to develop and implement supplementary strategies to conserve plant germplasm under controlled conditions in the laboratory and cryopreservation represents the most viable option for this. To date, methods have been developed for cryopreservation of pineapple shoot tips but there is a lack of information on whether extended periods of storage in liquid nitrogen (LN) has any effect on the regeneration capacity and field performance of cryostored germplasm. Hence, the current study investigated the field performance of pineapple shoot tips after storage for 24 h, one, two and three years. Results were collected following nine months for plant morphological characteristics and 14 months for evaluation of fruit and nutritional characteristics. The results indicated that storage of pineapple shoot tips for up to three years did not have any adverse effects on field performance of plants or on fruit characteristics. This provides evidence that cryopreservation offers a suitable tool for the long term storage of germplasm.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the stigma morphoanatomy and receptivity in ten promising papaya accessions, to expand knowledge useful for genetic improvement of the culture. The morphoanatomy was analyzed by light and scanning electron microscopy, and the stigma receptivity was investigated by application of hydrogen peroxide and α-naphthyl-acetate with fast blue B salt, in pre-anthesis, anthesis and post-anthesis. The papaya accessions presented dry stigma surface, presence of one to six erect stigmatic lobes, with structures joined to the upper base of the style and covered with numerous elongated unicellular tubular papillae, distributed on both faces of the epidermis. The morphoanatomy had a similar pattern in all the accessions, differing only in the timing of floral development. The stigma receptivity in some accessions occurred even before floral opening, continuing with greater intensity in anthesis and post-anthesis. Pre-anthesis is the stage least propitious for controlled hybridizations due to the weak or absent stigmatic receptivity. The results obtained provide information on the floral stage that is most propitious for fertilization, as well as supporting future investigations of the botanical morphology of the species.

Cryopreservation of pineapple shoot tips has been established from various protocols, including droplet vitrification. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the morphoanatomical conditions of the starting material over different times (30, 45 and 60 days) of culture before freezing and its correlation with the survival percentage of the cryopreserved shoot tips. Four accessions, Ananas comosus var. comosus (BGA-009); var. bracteatus (BGA-119); var. parguazensis (BGA-376), var. erectifolius (BGA-750) from the Pineapple Active Germplasm Bank (BGA Pineapple) and two hybrids from the Embrapa Genetic Breeding Program, FIB-ROX1 (var. bracteatus X var. erectifolius) and FIB-ROX2 (var. erectifolius X var. bracteatus), recently introduced in the field from in vitro storage, were used. Histological sections before freezing and the percentages of survival after freezing were obtained taking into account the different times of cultivation of the donor plants. The results showed a significative interaction between genotypes (accessions and hybrids) and the culture period. The accessions BGA-009 and BGA-119 showed the highest survival rates, with 95% and 90% respectively for the 30-day culture time. Different results were obtained for each genotype, showing the need for improvements in the standardization of starting material, which would allow better repeatability of the protocol.

The in vitro rescue of immature embryos can be employed both for preservation of mango germplasm and rescue of hybrids produced from crosses to obtain traits of interest. The objective of this work was to establish a protocol for in vitro rescue of immature embryos aiming to preserve mango germplasm. Immature embryos of two mango varieties, ‘Carlota’ and ‘Ubá’, were inoculated in MS/2 medium supplemented with 100 mg L-1 of cysteine, 0.5 mg L-1 of gibberellic acid (AG3) and 30 g L-1 of sucrose. The experimental design was completely randomized with 30 repetitions, each composed of two embryos/flask. After in vitro growth for 84 days, some of the plantlets were transferred for acclimatization. The parameters evaluated were plant height, number of leaves and leaf, stem and root dry weight. The germination began on the sixth day after seeding, and the immature embryos presented a high oxidation rate, with 60% oxidized after 72 hours. The plantlets from immature embryos showed better development than those from aborted embryos. The results showed the viability of rescuing mango embryos in the immature phase and of their in vitro conservation for a period of 12 months.

Due to the increasing search for renewable resources, plant fibers have become an alternative when creating new products. Studies demonstrate the potential use of pineapple fibers in composites. The objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic diversity and verify any association between ISSR (Inter Simple Sequence Repeats) bands and quality of pineapple fibers for use in cements in the civil construction. The study analyzed the genetic variability of 11 pineapple genotypes, as well as the possible association of 131 bands from 16 ISSR markers with fiber quality characteristics. Eleven bands were selected based on their high correlations (0.64578* to 0.72457*) with three fiber quality variables. Of these, two bands were purified, sequenced, and blasted against sequences in GenBank at NCBI. These markers can be used in marker assisted selection to genetically improve the quality of pineapple fiber. Bands that returned no hits in the NCBI BLAST search can be deposited as new sequences in the GenBank. Therefore, the SCAR markers, once validated, can be useful in pineapple genetic breeding programs worldwide by using molecular marker assisted selection for fiber resistance, which could subsidize the development of more promising genotypes for industrial use and contribute to the sustainability of this new production sector.

The cellulose sheets used in packaging applications depend on the hydrophilic properties of the cellulose fibers. However, the development of hydrophobic cellulose from new sustainable materials obtained from renewable sources is still poorly reported in the literature. Thus, a green method to obtain hydrophobic curaua cellulose sheets was studied. The sheets were dip coated multiple times to achieve layer-by-layer deposition, in carnauba wax micro and nanoemulsions. In this way, different sizes of carnauba wax particles penetrated the small cellulose pores between entangled fibers, leading to different properties. The nano carnauba emulsion presented the best performance since the sheets showed lower moisture permeability, slightly higher contact angle and stronger cellulose-wax adhesion than the other samples. Besides that, the overall process is cheaper, making it more useful in industrial applications.