Scientia Agricola is a journal of the University of São Paulo edited at the Luiz de Queiroz campus in Piracicaba, a city in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Scientia Agricola publishes original articles which contribute to the advancement of the agricultural, environmental and biological sciences.

Scientia Agricola has been edited since 1992, replacing the Anais da ESALQ (Annals of ESALQ) and incorporating the journal Energia Nuclear e Agricultura (Nuclear Energy and Agriculture).

Manuscripts must be submitted through the online system at the site www.scielo.br/sa by clicking on Submission of manuscripts. When submitting manuscripts for publication, authors should follow the Instructions to authors.

The abbreviated title of the journal is Sci. Agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.) and should be used in bibliographies, footnotes and bibliographical references and strips.

The Scientia Agricola is exclusively published in its electronic version from 2017, with the printed version being discontinued.

Articles published in Scientia Agricola are indexed or  abstracted by:

• Agris
• Agrobase
• CAB - Abstracts
• Chemical Abstracts
• INIS
• Tropag & Rural
• Current Contents^®/Agriculture, Biology, and Environmental Sciences, Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch^®)
• Scopus
• DOAJ

All content of the journal, except where identified, is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY.

The Scientia Agricola is available online in open access.

Scientia Agricola receives accreditation and financial support of the:

• Programa de Apoio às Publicações Científicas Periódicas da Universidade de São Paulo, Comissão de Credenciamento

• Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento do Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

• Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

• Jorge Alberto Marques Rezende (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)

• Carlos Guilherme Silveira Pedreira (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Francisco de Assis Alves Mourão Filho (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• José Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Klaus Reichardt (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)

• Luís Reynaldo Ferracciú Alleoni (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Ricardo Antunes de Azevedo (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)

• Adriano Costa de Camargo (Universidad de Chile, Chile)
• Alberto Soares Corrêa (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Alencar Xavier (Corteva Agriscience, USA) 
• Alice Kazuko Inoue-Nagata (Embrapa Hortaliças, Brasília, DF, Brasil)
• Antonio Carlos da Gama-Rodrigues (Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brasil)
• Antonio Faciola (University of Florida, USA)
• Axel Garcia y Garcia (University of Minnesota, USA)
• Carmen Josefina Contreras-Castillo (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Cesar Valmor Rombaldi (Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brasil)
• Daniel Scherer de Moura (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Diego Noleto Luz Pequeno (CIMMYT, Mexico)
• Eduardo Alvarez Santos (Kansas State University, USA)
• Eliseu José Guedes Pereira (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brasil)
• Erick Sigisfredo Scheuermann Salinas (Universidad de La Frontera, Chile)
• Fábio Ricardo Marin (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Felipe Klein Ricachenevsky (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil)
• Feng Lin (Michigan State University, USA)
• Fernanda Batistel (University of Florida, USA)
• Fernando Dini Andreote (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Fernando José Garbuio (Instituto Federal Catarinense, Santa Rosa do Sul, SC, Brasil)
• Francesco Montemurro (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy)
• Gabriel Ramatis Pugliese Andrade (Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brasil)
• Gerson Barreto Mourão (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Graziela Baptista Vidaurre (Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Jerônimo Monteiro, ES, Brasil)
• José Belasque Júnior (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• José Fernando Machado Menten (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Katherine Martin Rainey (Purdue University, USA)
• Leandro do Prado Ribeiro (Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária e Extensão Rural de Santa Catarina, Chapecó, SC, Brasil)
• Leonardo Oliveira Medici (Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil)
• Lincoln Zotarelli (University of Florida, USA)
• Luís Guilherme de Lima Ferreira Guido (University of Porto, Portugal)
• Luiz Alexandre Peternelli (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brasil)
• Luiz Fernando Pires (Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, PR, Brasil)
• Maria Carolina Quecine Verdi (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Melissa Izabel Hannas (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brasil)
• Mohammad Bagher Hassanpouraghdam (University of Maragheh, Iran)
• Otávio Camargo Campoe (Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG, Brasil)
• Pedro Esteves Duarte Augusto (Université Paris-Saclay, France)
• Ricardo Enrique Bartosik (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Argentina)
• Rodrigo da Silva Marques (Montana State University, USA)
• Simone Aparecida Vieira (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil)
• Thiago Libório Romanelli (Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Thomas Kumke (UCB BIOSCIENCES GmbH, Germany)
• Vinícius Nunes de Gouvêa (Texas A&M AgriLife Research, USA)

• Statistics reviewers
  Alan Rodrigo Panosso (Universidade Estadual Paulista, Jaboticabal, SP, Brasil)
  Luiz Alexandre Peternelli (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brasil)

• References / Citations
  Adriana Bueno Moretti (USP/ESALQ, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)

• Claudete Pereira Trinca (USP/ESALQ, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Luzia Fátima dos Santos Possato (USP/ESALQ, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)
• Themilin Camille Franco Oliveira (FEALQ, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil)

Scientia Agricola is a journal of the University of São Paulo edited at the Luiz de Queiroz campus in Piracicaba, a city in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Scientia Agricola publishes original articles which contribute to the advancement of the agricultural, environmental and biological sciences.

The journal covers a broad spectrum of topics, including Crop and Animal Production, Agricultural Engineering, Agroindustrial Technology, Forestry, and Applications in Agricultural, Environmental, Soil, and Biological Sciences.

Four manuscript categories can be submitted: original research article, note, review, and point of view.

Original research articles are grouped by subject matter into the following categories: Agricultural Engineering; Agricultural Microbiology; Agrometeorology; Animal Science and Pastures; Biometry, Modeling, and Statistics; Crop Science; Ecology; Entomology; Food Science and Technology; Forestry Science; Genetics and Plant Breeding; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology and Biochemistry; Soils and Plant Nutrition; and Zoology.

Scientia Agricola journal supports the good practices of Open Science, which results in a more transparent editorial process. This way, manuscripts deposited in the SciELO Preprints  server can be submitted to our journal. However, the peer-review process for the manuscripts already posted as preprints will be decided by the journal’s Editorial Board. Preprints are considered an author’s version of the manuscript before the peer-review process, which is posted on a free access website. Preprints can be posted at any moment during the peer-review process, it is not considered a formal publication, and it will not compromise the submission of any manuscript to Scientia Agricola. Once the manuscript is approved and published by Scientia Agricola, the preprint version should be changed to present a link directed to the final version published by our journal.

Articles published in Scientia Agricola are indexed or abstracted by Current Contents ^®/Agriculture, Biology, and Environmental Sciences, Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch ^®), Scopus, DOAJ, CAB Abstracts, SciELO, AGRIS, AGROBASE, Chemical Abstracts, INIS and Tropag & Rural.

Original manuscripts evaluated by the Editorial Board may be submitted to peer review or rejected without further review.

Copyright

All articles published on Scientia Agricola will be copyrighted to the authors. The articles are licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 open-access license so that they can be downloaded and read by anyone. Furthermore, the article can be reused and cited if the original published version is cited. In this way, the study will have maximum exposure, and the authors will receive due credit.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

• Start the submission process by reviewing the Instructions for Authors to ensure that the article is in agreement with Scientia Agricola standards. To submit original research article, note, review, and point of view, the authors should check the specific instructions. As these pages are updated periodically, it is strongly recommended that you read them even if you have done so previously.
• Please read the checklist carefully before submitting your manuscript.
• Authors should submit manuscripts through the online system at www.scielo.br/sa by clicking on "Submission of manuscripts".
• All authors must have an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID iD), which will be required during the submission to ScholarOne^TM.
• A manuscript submission file in Microsoft Word (or a compatible format) is required. Avoid using of word processing features such as automated bulleting and numbering, head and subhead formatting, internal linking, or styles.
• Publication of a short or extended abstract in a scientific event is not considered a previous research publication. However, research results published previously as a complete manuscript in scientific events will not be accepted.
• There are no submission or manuscript evaluation charges. The authors will be required to pay a publication fee just after the manuscript acceptance.

COVER LETTER (must be written in English)

• The content of the cover letter must present the warranty that the manuscript is original, has not been published before, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere in its final form neither in printed nor in electronic format. If the manuscript has already been deposited in the preprint server, please inform the DOI. If the manuscript is accepted for publication in Scientia Agricola, it is the responsibility of the corresponding author to communicate the fact to the preprint repository. The corresponding author must sign the cover letter on behalf of all authors. Upload your cover letter in a separate file in the designated area on the submission page.
• Authors should insert five highlights (maximum 100 characters including spaces for each highlight) explaining the importance of their work and how and why their significant findings relate to the scope of the journal.

MANUSCRIPT STYLE

• Define all abbreviations at their first mention in the abstract and text, and again in the tables and figures. Once an abbreviation is used, keep it throughout the entire article, except at the beginning of a sentence.
• The Latin name or binomial (or trinomial) nomenclature and authority must be used at the first mention of all plants, insects, pathogens, and animals.
• The active ingredient and chemical name of pesticides must be given when first mentioned.
• Identify soils using the USDA soil taxonomy up to the second level (suborder) or if possible up to the fourth level (subgroup). FAO classification may be used up to the second level. Free translations of soil classifications or names are not allowed.
• The International Units System must be used in all manuscripts.
• Check any Greek characters and figures carefully.
• Spell out numbers one through ten, except when used with units. For decimal quantities <1, place a zero before the decimal point.
• For the decimal marker use a period.
• Denote and interrelate units as positive or negative powers, not with slashes, e.g.: kg ha^-1, not kg/ha.
• Leave a single space between units, e.g.: g L^-1, not g.L ^-1, or gL ^-1.
• Use the 24-h time system, with four digits for hours and minutes: 09h00; 18h30.
• Dates should be written with the day first, then the month, and the year last: 18 Mar 2000; 01 Feb 1987.
• Abbreviate months with more than four letters, e.g.: Jan, July, Sept, etc.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Cover page

• For Editors and Reviewers to properly analyze the work presented in your manuscript, text and illustrations must be written in concise and grammatically correct English to be understood. USA orthographic and grammatical rules must be applied. Before submitting the manuscript to Scientia Agricola, please ask a colleague proficient in English to review it or send it to professional editing service of your choice that will undoubtedly improve the English, avoiding problems during proofreading.
• Manuscripts should be organized as one file containing the main document. MS Word for Windows or compatible software should be used for the main document, with 12-point Times New Roman, 3.0-cm margins, and double spacing. Organize the main document in the following order: Cover Page, Abstract (maximum of 250 words), Keywords (maximum of five), Introduction (30 lines), Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments (optional), Authors’ Contributions, References, Figures and Tables with their respective legends.
• A well-founded conclusion should provide closure for your research work. It should summarize the research's findings and their importance, discuss unclear data, what contribution your study has made to the existing literature, and recommend further investigation.  A Conclusion section is optional and  should come after the Discussion section when used. The Results and Discussion section may be combined, and the Conclusion may be incorporated into the Discussion.
• All manuscripts must have a section describing the contributions of each author using the relevant CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). The corresponding authors are responsible for providing this information. It is expected that all authors agree to their contributions. Any other contribution that does not meet the relevant CRediT roles should be considered as subject of acknowledgment.
• Keep the manuscript to a maximum of 30 pages (A4 paper), with continuous line numbering and consecutive page numbering, including illustrations and tables.
• Tables and Figures must be included at the end of the main document.
• Each manuscript must have a cover page with a simple, brief, clear, and attractive title to tell readers about the research paper. Authors’ full names and institutional affiliations must be informed in the original language of the institution, except for those which do not have the Latin alphabet.
• A running title of 40 characters or fewer (in addition to the full paper title) should also be provided.
• Authors should select a category from the following: Agricultural Engineering; Agricultural Microbiology; Agrometeorology; Animal Science and Pastures; Biometry, Modeling, and Statistics; Crop Science; Ecology; Entomology; Food Science and Technology; Forestry Science; Genetics and Plant Breeding; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology and Biochemistry; Soils and Plant Nutrition; and Zoology.
• The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk and an institutional e-mail must be provided.
• Please provide as detailed information as possible regarding author's present institutional affiliation.
• The corresponding author assumes full responsibility for the manuscript, including compliance with journal policies, and will be the primary contact with the journal office. The submitting author may assume this position if indicated in the cover letter.

Cover image submissions

The cover of Scientia Agricola may feature an image representative of an article published in that issue. Authors are invited to submit scientifically compelling and visually appealing cover images. Images should be high-resolution (300 dpi) and should measure 17 x 17 cm. Cover images can be photographs of organisms, habitats, montages of photographs, diagrams, maps, or data. Illustrations need not be reprinted in the article but should represent the work. Images should be original. Upload the image as an additional supplemental file and a separate text file that includes a brief one-paragraph description of the image  and its relevance to the published manuscript. If an author does not hold the copyright for a submitted image, he is responsible for obtaining the necessary permission to use it.

Tables and figures

General information

• Manuscripts including material published by other journals or publishers, figures, tables, and images must be uploaded to the system as a supplemental file.

Tables

• Number tables sequentially using Arabic numerals; tables should be created with the "Tables" function of MS Word or in MS Excel (manuscripts showing tables pasted as figures will be returned to authors).
• The title of the table should appear immediately above the body of the table.

Figures/Graphs

• Graphs should be created using MS Excel.
• Supply photographs as tagged image format files [TIFF], 300 DPI.
• Number figures consecutively in the order they appear in the text.
• Figures should provide enough information that the reader can understand them without referring to the text.
• For figures that contain more than one panel, designate the panels with capital letters (no parentheses and no periods following letters) in the upper left-hand corner of each panel, if possible.
• The wording in the figures must match the rest of the manuscript regarding capitalization, italics, and the use of symbols.

Equations

• Math equations should be created with the "Equation Editor" function of MS Word or use MathType.
• If some or all the manuscript equations are simple (on a single baseline), use standard text and fonts.
• Equations should be numbered consecutively beginning with (1). The number should be enclosed between brackets and set at the right of the equation in the same line. Equations should be referenced within the text as "Eq. (x)." When a sentence is started concerning an equation, it should be spelled out, e.g., "Equation (x)."

COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

• Manuscripts that evaluate the bioactivity of chemical and/or biological products, including growth regulators of insects, spiders, fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and weeds, will not be considered for publication in Scientia Agricola.
• Manuscripts that evaluate tissue culture improvements or protocols based on tests of additives, explants, or growth conditions or that fail to demonstrate a substantial improvement that could not be deduced from the existing literature, will no longer be considered for publication in Scientia Agricola.
• Manuscripts based on a single field experiment will not be considered suitable for publication in Scientia Agricola, except when the authors can prove the high relevance and novelty of the study. Even manuscripts with more than one field experiment will be immediately rejected if the data collected do not have enough variability to achieve conclusive results.
• Manuscripts that report first occurrences or are simple descriptions of pests, pathogens, and diseases will generally not be considered for publication in Scientia Agricola. Exceptionally, these manuscripts could be considered in the NOTE format when: 1) reported organisms are of high relevance to agriculture; 2) the data are originated from a broad survey; and 3) organisms/problems are characterized extensively using several methods and aspects under investigation.
• Manuscripts that involve experimentation with living animals (including human's beings) must provide evidence that they were performed according to local ethical guidelines. Authors are expected to adhere to established ethical best practices. The “Materials and Methods” section must officially state this evidence, describing that the study was evaluated and approved by an appropriate ethical committee (including the process number).
• Manuscripts must follow the criteria established by the International Codes of each area.
• Opinions and concepts expressed in the articles are the authors' exclusive responsibility.
• All submitted manuscripts will be subjected to the journal’s screening policy for plagiarism and self-plagiarism.

References

Scientia Agricola does not allow authors to cite congress or workshop abstracts, technical articles, dissertations, and theses. References in Portuguese or any language other than English should be limited to those essentially crucial to the study. Up to four references written in languages other than English will be allowed without justifications. More than that will only be allowed if the authors explain why they keep them in the text. If allowed by the Editor-in-Chief, these extra references must be cited in English with the text in the original language provided at the end of the reference, in the following format: (in Portuguese, with abstract in English).

Scientia Agricola does not recommend that authors cite statistical analyses or software packages as references. These tools should be mentioned in the text (Materials and Methods) by including the specific procedure and the name of the software with its version and/or year, e.g., “…statistical procedures were conducted using PROC NLIN in SAS (Statistical Analysis System, version 9.2)”.

References and citations in Scientia Agricola articles should be formatted in the 'author, year' or 'name (year)' style. Remember to ensure that text citations match the list of references. Examples:

1. Single author: Reichardt (2000) or (Reichardt, 2000).

2. Two authors: Fiorio and Demattê (2009) or (Fiorio and Demattê, 2009).

3. Three or more authors: Rosso et al. (2009) or (Rosso et al., 2009).

4. Arrange references alphabetically and chronologically within brackets, and use semicolons (;) to separate multiple citations within brackets, e.g.: (Boleli, 2003; Boerjan, 2006; Muraroli and Mendes, 2003).

5. Order multiple citations 'same author-same date' with the aid of lower case letters, e.g.: (Cyrino, 2004a, b).

6. Use the "author-year" style to format the list of references, and: (i) do not abbreviate any other words apart from the first and middle names of authors; (ii) use all capitals only for acronyms, i.e., when the author is an organization; (iii) name all authors and capitalize authors' last name and initials, which should be separated by a period (.); (iv) separate authors by semicolon; (v) do not use ampersands (&) in the citations nor in the reference list; (vi) do not use bold characters to highlight any part of the reference; (vii) capitalize books and periodical titles; (viii) do not use a comma (,) to separate the title and volume of a periodical; (ix) separate the periodical volume from the page numbers with a colon (:); (x) use full page numbering; (xi) separate page numbers with a dash (-); (xii) separate page groups by a comma if the article was published in discontinuous pages; (xiii) indicate the number of a given edition of a book or manual, e.g., "2ed"; (xiv) for books and manuals, indicate the publisher or editorial office before the main locality of the publisher or editorial office; (xv) separate publishers or editorial offices from locality with a comma; and (xvi) in such cases, name city, state and/or province and country.

Include a DOI for all works that have a DOI, regardless of whether you used the online version or the print version.

6.1 Scientific journals
Guillard, R.R.L.; Wangersky, P. 1958. The production of extracellular  carbohydrates by somemarine flagellates. Limnology and Oceanography 3: 449-454. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1958.3.4.0449

6.2 Books

6.2.1 Books with authors
Pais, I.; Jones Jr., J.R. 1998. The Handbook of Trace Elements. St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA.

6.2.2 Books with editors/organizers
Day, W.; Atkin, R.K., eds. 1985. Wheat Growth and Modelling. Plenum Press, New York, NY, USA.

6.2.3 Books (and manuals) with an organization as author or editor/organizer
Association of Official Analytical Chemists - International [AOAC]. 2005. Official Methods of Analysis. 18ed. AOAC, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.

6.3 Book chapters

Sharpley, A.N.; Rekolainen, S. 1997. Phosphorus in agriculture and its environmental implications. p. 1-53. In: Tunney, H.; Carton, O.T.; Brookes, P.C.; Johnston, A.E., eds. Phosphorus loss from soil to water. CAB International, New York, NY, USA.

6.4 Electronic media sources

6.4.1 Required elements for listing website citations are:
Authorship, author or source. Year. Title of Web Document or Web Page (i.e., page’s main heading). [Medium] (date of update). Available at: full Uniform Resource Locator (i.e. URL / address) [Accessed Sept 14, 1992]

6.4.2 Required elements for listing publications available online are:
Authorship, author or source. Year. Title of Document or Web Page. [Medium] Producer/Publisher. Available at: full Uniform Resource Locator (i.e., URL / address) [Accessed Sept 14, 1992]

6.5 Listing references not written in English

Provide the English title and indicate the original publishing language of the journal at the end of the citation, as below:

Baretta, D.; Santos, J.C.P.; Figueiredo, S.R.; Klauberg-Filho, O. 2005. Effects of native pasture burning and Pinus monoculture on changes in soil biological attributes on the Southern Plateau of Santa Catarina - Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo 29: 715-724 (in Portuguese, with abstract in English). https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-06832005000500007

Mingoti, A.S. 2005. Data analysis using multivariate statistics methods: an applied approach = Análise de Dados Através de Métodos de Estatística Multivariada: uma abordagem aplicada. Editora UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil (in Portuguese).