Las semillas forestales constituyen uno de los primeros insumos básicos para la conformación de toda cadena de producción de madera. Los diferentes componentes de su calidad (morfológica, fisiológica y genética) son decisivos en los procesos de producción de plantas para plantaciones comerciales, forestación a pequeña escala, cortinas cortavientos y arboles individuales. En términos económicos, en comparación con el conjunto de los eslabones de la cadena, el costo de las semillas es muy poco significativo.

Nowadays, there is a great interest in using lignocellulosic materials as substrate for the production of biorefi nery products. Eucalypti are good options to use as crops to obtain different kinds of biofuels and derivatives, since their plantations show high adaptation potential to soil and weather conditions in Uruguay. The basic process steps involved in the obtainment of biorefi nery materials are:pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation and products separation.

ABSTRACT. Growth curves are useful for describing the sigmoid shape of an animal?s weight pattern over time. The purpose of the present study was to describe, for the first time, a complete growth curve for pasture-fed Angus cows in Uruguay and to analyze the major fixed effects that affect the estimation of mature cow weight (CW). A total of 22,743 records from 5,284 cows belonging to 73 herds were used in the statistical analysis.

ABSTRACT. Leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks.) is an important disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Uruguay; therefore breeding for resistance to this disease has been a long-term objective for the INIA wheat-breeding program. Information on the identity of resistance genes present in the program is required to design strategies to breed for effective and more durable resistance. The leaf rust resistance genes present in seven adapted cultivars that have been extensively used in crosses were studied.

ABSTRACT. In 1999, INIA Uruguay initiated a plant breeding programme on Lotononis bainesii Baker, a subtropical forage legume from Southern Africa. Seeds from nine different geographical origins were grown and subsequently hand-crossed. Ninety crosses were generated and their variability was used to improve disease resistance, and forage and seed yield. Fusarium oxysporum, a fungal pathogen responsible for crown and stolon rot, is common in Uruguayan soils and the only public cultivar available is reported to be susceptible to this pathogen.

ABSTRACT. To establish the effects of access time to high-quality temperate fresh forage (FF) on intake and performance of cows fed a total mixed ration (TMR), 9 Holstein cows were assigned to three 3 × 3 Latin squares with 20-d periods with sampling in the last 10 d. The following treatments were evaluated: 0 (T0), 4 (T4), and 8 (T8) h of daily access to FF. Forage (Lolium multiflorum) was cut daily and offered ad libitum beginning at 0800 h in individual stalls, and a TMR was offered ad libitum during the period when cows had no access to FF.

ABSTRACT. To establish the effects of access time to high-quality temperate fresh forage (FF) on intake and performance of cows fed a total mixed ration (TMR), 9 Holstein cows were assigned to three 3 × 3 Latin squares with 20-d periods with sampling in the last 10 d. The following treatments were evaluated:0 (T0), 4 (T4), and 8 (T8) h of daily access to FF. Forage (Lolium multiflorum) was cut daily and offered ad libitum beginning at 0800 h in individual stalls, and a TMR was offered ad libitum during the period when cows had no access to FF.