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Research was conducted to determine the content of total polyphenols (TP) in table potato tubers obtained in a three-year field experiment arranged as a split-plot design with three replicates. The first experimental factor included two potato cultivars: Oberon and Malaga, the second one being an application of the following biostimulants: PlonoStart, Aminoplant, Agro-Sorb Folium and the herbicide Avatar 293 ZC (clomazone + metribuzin). The polyphenol content of potato tubers was determined in the fresh tuber mass by the spectrophotometric method with the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. The tuber content of polyphenols was affected by cultivars and test biostimulants. Cv. Malaga accumulated more polyphenols than cv. Oberon. Biostimulants + herbicide significantly increased an accumulation of polyphenolic compounds compared with tubers cultivated in the control unit which was not treated with the test products.

In recent decades, farmland markets have risen sharply due to their attractiveness as safe investment and savings allocation instruments. This growth has occurred globally at different rates due to the uneven expected returns, and potential land uses in different regions. This paper provides evidence of the convergence of Italian farmland markets between 1990 and 2019 by using data on average land prices with a geographically detailed resolution that considers both administrative and altitude aspects of territories. The analysis combines traditional economic convergence approaches with spatial data exploration techniques. The results are consistent and show that territorial disparities in Italian farmland markets tend to increase over the study period. This proves that divergence patterns reflect the well-established North-South dualism and disparities in socio-economic characteristics.

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) and porcine sapelovirus (PSV) are two viruses that can cause diarrhoea in pigs and bring great economic loss to the pig industry. In this research, a duplex real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay based on SYBR Green І was developed to simultaneously detect PDCoV and PSV. No specific melting peaks were found in other porcine diarrhoea-associated viruses, indicating that the method developed in this study had good specificity. The detection limits of PDCoV and PSV were 1.0 × 10¹ copies μl^–1 and 1.0 × 10² copies μl^–1, respectively. The duplex real-time qPCR assay tested two hundred and three (203) intestinal and faecal samples collected from diarrhoeal and asymptomatic pigs. The positive rates of PDCoV and PSV were 20.2% and 23.2%, respectively. The co-infection rate of PDCoV and PSV was 13.8%. To evaluate the accuracy of the developed method, conventional PCR and singular TaqMan real-time qPCR assays for PDCoV/PSV were also used to detect the samples. The results showed that the duplex real-time qPCR assay was consistent with the singular assays, but its sensitivity was higher than conventional PCR methods. This duplex real-time qPCR assay provides a rapid, sensitive and reliable method in a clinic to simultaneously detect PDCoV and PSV.

This study aims to verify the application effect of Fluvic acid (FA) with different molecular weights (MW) on the growth and quality of winter wheat. FA extracted from lignite was divided into 3 MWs (W1≤3000 D, 3000 D<W2≤10000 D, and W3>10000 D) by dialysis, and its structure was analyzed. Three application rates were set for each MW FA in the pot experiment, which were 10, 25 and 50 mg/kg in soil, respectively, and water was the control. There were significant interactive effects of MW and application rates of FAs. Compared with the control, all the FA treatments significantly increased grain yields, nitrogen uptake efficiencies, grain iron concentration, and soil available nitrogen concentration. Heatmap analysis revealed that the W1C2 (10 mg/kg W1) treatment had the most significant impacts for all analyzed indexes, whereas W3C3 (50 mg/kg W3) showed the weakest impacts. The results showed that at a low application rate (10 mg/kg in soil), the promotion effects of the three MW FAs were similar. W1 showed the most significant promotion effects, which was attributed to the combined effects of its lower MW and functional group characteristics.

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a clinical syndrome exhibiting elevation of expired carbon dioxide, hyperthermia, muscle rigidity, rhabdomyolysis, acidosis and hyperkalaemia, as well as cardiac dysrhythmia and renal failure. The syndrome manifests itself as a response to anaesthetic agents, such as e.g., halothane, desflurane, and succinylcholine. Depending on the animal species, MH is characterised by autosomal dominant or recessive inheritance, and so far two genes have been identified whose mutations can be linked to MH: RYR1 and CACNA1S. In different species, various mutations of the RYR1 gene have been described which may underlie MH. One of these mutations in dogs is T1640C, which results in the substitution of alanine for valine of the amino acid 547 (V547A) in the RYR1 protein. In our work, we aimed to investigate MH at the DNA level by identifying the T1640C mutation in a group of 50 dogs. For this purpose we used the PCR-RFLP technique, and in six dogs also direct sequencing of PCR products and subsequent comparison of their sequences with the RYR1 gene sequence in an online database. The results of our study show that none of the dogs analysed had any mutant allele of the RYR1 gene, indicating that none should be affected by MH.

The efficiency of different conservation practices on soil loss from road side slopes is scarcely identified in the Hyrcanian forests of Iran, which could retard the implementation of these management practices. Sediment of 48 plots on the cut slopes and fill slopes of forest roads were collected to explore their responses to soil conservation practices, including straw bale (SB), living hedge (LH), dead hedge (DH), geo-cell (GC), geotextile (GT), and bare soil (BS). Moreover, the efficiency of conservation practices was evaluated to find a cost-effective approach. Sediment traps were installed at the toe of side slopes in the ditch and end of each treated plot. Sediment volume was measured monthly for six months. The results demonstrated that the lowest soil loss occurred in autumn and fill slopes treated with GC (5.05 g·m^–2) and the highest in winter and cut slopes treated with SB (41.81 g·m^–2). In all cases, soil loss from BS (126.74 g·m^–2) was significantly higher than in plots treated with conservation practices. GC performed well under certain circumstances due to two-dimensional protections of contiguous wooden lumbers. Moreover, it was found that in a short time there were not any significant differences between LH (28.78 g·m^–2), DH (36.01 g·m^–2), and GT (30.61 g·m^–2) in soil loss control ability. Regarding implementation and installation costs, GC (USD 16.67 per plot) was the most expensive, while LH (USD 3.33 per plot) was the cheapest. Regarding GC, it is necessary to conduct long-term research to determine economic efficiency, durability, maintenance, and repair costs. Until then, it is possible to use affordable treatments such as LH, which have yielded favourable results in efficiency.

Micropropagation has enormous potential in the forestry industry for the mass production of elite genotypes. A limiting factor that hinders a wider adoption of this technique is its high associated cost, dissuading small producers and laboratories from its use. Thus, it is important to develop low-cost protocols to increase the competitiveness of micropropagation. The goal of the present study was to elaborate a low-cost culture medium that would allow plant growth without diminishing plant quality and production. The replacement of laboratory sucrose with commercial sugar as a carbon source, and laboratory agar with locally produced agar as a gelling agent was tested. To validate the effects of the medium for woody species micropropagation, two relevant forest species, chestnut and birch, were used and several phenotypic characteristics were recorded. Our data indicated that the substitutions made in the media composition did not alter growth or rooting parameters. Substitution of laboratory sucrose and Bacto agar by table sugar and local commercial agar provides a valuable alternative for forest species micropropagation and for increasing their potential profitability.

This study uses rheological models to describe the mechanical behaviour of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) under compression loading. The oil palm empty fruit bunches were obtained from North Sumatra, Indonesia. The rheological models for different fraction sizes of the mechanical behaviour under compression loading were developed based on a mathematical concept involving spring and dashpot components. The dependencies between fraction size, viscosity, and modulus elasticity were determined and mathematically described for each branch of the rheological model. The general rheological model was developed based on the defined dependencies, considering the deformation and fraction sizes. The determined rheological models and their components could be used as a fundamental building block of digital twins of oil palm empty fruit bunches, and they could be used to optimise the compressing technology and increase the efficiency of the entire pressing process.

The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) serves as an alternative source of protein in poultry production. However, there is little available information on feeding live black soldier fly larvae (LBSFL) to hens. The present study filled this gap by testing the effect of dietary LBSFL on laying hen performance, feed economy, egg quality, and yolk fatty acid composition. In total, one hundred forty-four 25-week-old Charoen Pokphand Brown laying hens were assigned to four groups. Experimental birds were provided a basal diet supplemented with 0.0 (T1), 10.0 (T2), 20.0 (T3), or 30.0 (T4) g/kg LBSFL. Our results indicated that no effects on body weight gain, egg yield, egg weight, or egg mass (P > 0.05) were observed in any of the dietary LBSFL groups. The addition of 10.0 g/kg LBSFL decreased feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and feed cost (P < 0.05), contrary to two higher doses of LBSFL. Similarly, the egg quality parameters were not influenced (P > 0.05) by the dietary LBSFL except for the egg yolk colour which significantly decreased with increasing LBSFL levels. Furthermore, the values for lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*) of the egg yolk were different (P < 0.05) between the four treatments. Paler egg yolk was found in the 20.0 and 30.0 g/kg LBSFL groups compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Significantly lower deposition of C18:3n6 was found for 30.0 g/kg, whereas there was a significant decrease in deposition of C22:6n3 with all LBSFL groups (P < 0.05). C20:3n6 levels, on the other hand, increased significantly in the 20.0 g/kg LBSFL group (P < 0.05). Thus, feeding LBSFL has no potential to increase the proportion of anti-inflammatory n-3 fatty acids. From an economic point of view, it is advantageous to feed the hens a dose of 10 g/kg LBSFL.

In potato tubers of four cultivars, the impact of drought and waterlogging stress on total carotenoid content (TCC) and individual carotenoids profile variance and total carotenoids, chlorophylls (a, b, a + b) content in leaves during period 71 days of stress in two-year pot greenhouse experiments were investigated. The different response between potato cultivars was observed after exposure to drought stress (an increase of TCC was in Marabel and Laura cultivars) and after waterlogging stress (in Milva and Marabel cultivars). On average, of all cultivars, both drought and waterlogging stresses caused total carotenoid content to increase with a higher impact of drought stress. In potato tubers, eight carotenoids were identified with the most represented violaxanthin, luteoxanthin, antheroxanthin and lutein. Significant differences in individual carotenoid amounts between cultivars have been determined. On average, drought and waterlogging stresses of all cultivars significantly increased contents of violaxanthin, 9'-(Z)-neoxanthin and luteoxanthin, while antheraxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin levels decreased. In leaves, both abiotic stresses decreased chlorophyll contents (a, b, a + b) with a very destructive impact of drought stress. While carotenoids accumulated in tubers as a result of stress, the opposite trend was characteristic in leaves, where their content decreased depending on the duration of stress.

Today, there is widespread concern about the potential health effects on populations from consuming contaminated leafy plants and vegetables. In this study, heavy metal content is present in commonly consumed leafy plants (Atriplex hortensis, Spinacia oleracea, Urtica dioica, Beta vulgaris, and Brassica oleracea) from the mining area near Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina was determined. After the preparation of the samples by wet digestion with HNO3, the flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry was used. According to the results, the lowest concentration in leafy plants was obtained for Cr 0.08 mg/kg (Brassica oleracea) and the highest for Fe 539.15 mg/kg (Spinacia oleracea). The novelty of this study was to estimate health risk assessment for selected leafy plants. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of Pb, Mn, Zn, and Cd from consuming leafy plants was higher than the maximum tolerated daily intake. For adults, the total target hazard quotient (THQ) calculated based on EDI of the heavy metals was found to be > 1 for Pb and Cd due to all leafy plant consumption and for the children risk level of THQ was observed for most heavy metals. The hazard index due to the intake of toxic metals from ingesting leafy plants was much > 1. According to the total carcinogenic risk index for adults and children, the carcinogenic risks for all samples were higher than the tolerable range. Based on the results of this study, there is a significant non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risk to the population associated with the consumption of leafy plants cultivated in the mining area.

While even-aged forestry is the dominating forest management system in Sweden, there is an increasing interest in Continuous Cover Forestry. Consequently, the conversion of even-aged stands into uneven-aged ones using e.g. selection cutting can be expected to become more common in Sweden. However, there are no up-to-date studies available on harvester productivity during selection cutting under Nordic conditions. Studying harvest intensity during selection cutting is of interest because lighter harvest intensities lead to higher volume growth and better-preserved forest ambience than heavier intensities. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of harvest intensity on harvester productivity during selection cutting. The field study entailed harvesting either 14%, 28% or 48% of a mature stand’s basal area. Harvester productivity was mainly explained by piece size (stem volume), while other factors, including harvest intensity, had only minor effects. This reality means that during selection cutting (thinning from above), piece size increases with decreasing harvest intensity, which in turn increases harvester productivity. Moreover, we observed a mild tendency that operators could select the stems’ felling directions and order more freely when fewer trees are harvested. This amelioration increases productivity additionally during lighter harvesting intensities.

The reduction of NaCl content in cheeses is nutritionally desirable but quite challenging due to NaCl's key role during cheese production and ripening. We focused on reformulated Dutch-type cheeses ripened for 120 days and their microbiological and sensory characteristics, including of determining organic acids (electrophoresis) and volatile substances (SPME-GC-MS analysis). Experimental batches contained 0.64, 0.90, and 1.19% NaCl or 0.77% NaCl together with 0.33% KCl. The influence of salts on lactose and citrate metabolism (the formation of lactic, acetic, and formic acid, ethanol, diacetyl, acetoin and 2,3-butanediol), proteolysis (the formation of glutamic acid), lipolysis and β-oxidation of fatty acids (the formation of 2-butanone, 2-butanol, hexanal, hexanoic and octanoic acid) was undetected. Contrarily, brining conditions affected the contamination of cheese surfaces with yeasts and halotolerant microorganisms and cheese consistency. While a typical consistency was formed only in the cheeses with 1.19% NaCl acceptable saltiness was declared in the cheeses with the content of salts 0.90% or higher. The partial replacement of NaCl with KCl caused metallic off-taste in the cheeses that ripened longer than Consistent acceptance seems to be the most limiting factor for the tested reformulation appears.

Listeria monocytogenes is not only a pathogen causing a serious food-borne disease in humans but can also occur as a saprophyte in the natural environment. This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of L. monocytogenes obtained from the natural environment of the Czech Republic (hereinafter Czechia) and Slovakia in 2016–2018 and to compare the clonal relationship of strains circulating in the environment with the strains originating from the food chain and humans. Altogether, 217 samples of mud, surface water, vegetation and soil were collected in 61 locations. Samples were processed according to the modified EN ISO 11290-1 standard. The obtained L. monocytogenes isolates were characterised using serotyping, macrorestriction analysis, followed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, whole genome sequencing (WGS), and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. L. monocytogenes were detected in 8.8% of the examined samples and were isolated in 15 locations, mainly from the mud from the banks of the surface water sources. Altogether, 25 L. monocytogenes strains were obtained from 19 positive samples. Serotypes 1/2a, 4b, and 1/2b were detected among the strains. Twenty combined AscI/ApaI pulsotypes were obtained by macrorestriction analysis. Altogether, 12 sequence types (STs) were detected using Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) by WGS, with ST451 being the most frequent. The core genome MLST analysis revealed a heterogeneous population of environmental strains. No phenotype resistance was detected by antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Screening of antimicrobial-resistance genes using the platform ResFinder revealed the genes fosX in 24 isolates and blaTEM-116 in one isolate. The occurrence of L. monocytogenes in various samples from natural environments within wide altitude range during different seasons of the year may highlight this bacterium's remarkable adaptability and exceptional tolerance to external factors. Serotype distribution of the strains circulating in the natural environment of Czechia and Slovakia seems to reflect distribution in the human population more than in the food chain.

The objective of this study was to quantify the concentration of acrylamide in biscuits, bread, and cake obtained from industrial and local bakeries, classified based on their colour intensity as light, medium, or dark. The analysis was performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Sugar, moisture, and asparagine analyses were also carried out simultaneously. The results demonstrated that the acrylamide content in biscuits, bread, and cakes varied according to the colour (light 109.9 ± 7.95, 214.7 ± 27.40, and 128.6 ± 7.05; medium 176.3 ± 15.16, 387.0 ± 87.71, and 804.3 ± 17.16; and dark 407.6 ± 105.13, 555.8 ± 16.20, and 1 015.0 ± 83.68 µg·kg^–1, respectively). Statistically, significant differences were observed between acrylamide content and product colour density (P < 0.05). It can be concluded that the acrylamide content increases as the product colour intensity rises due to the increased baking temperature at which the reaction between reducing sugars and asparagine takes place, resulting in the formation of acrylamide. The results suggest that selecting commercial bakery products based on colour may be beneficial for reducing the daily intake of acrylamide by consumers. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid dark-coloured bakery products.

The authors present two cases of borderline ovarian tumours with microinvasion in bitches with variable clinical significance. The first case documents a four-year-old female Weimaraner diagnosed with a tumour on the right ovary during a veterinary check-up, using USG examination, which was then surgically removed. Histological examination revealed a clear cell borderline tumour of the ovary with microinvasion. The second case is represented by a necropsy sample from a 52-month-old female German shepherd which died a day before the planned hysterectomy due to undertreated pyometra. During necropsy, a developed form of bilateral ovarian tumour was found. An additional histological examination diagnosed a serous borderline tumour with microinvasion of both ovaries. This paper discusses the histopathological and clinical aspects involved in the prognosis of borderline ovarian tumours in bitches, This concerns the possibility of a change for a more aggressive form of the behaviour of these tumours and their immunohistochemical profile, then the risk of implant metastases and, finally, the time point of diagnosis, intervention and therapy. Even histologically verified well-differentiated forms of borderline ovarian tumours with microinvasion in bitches can show variable clinical significance and, therefore, in similar cases, only a good or only a bad prognosis of the disease should not be expected.

Previous studies of the effects of elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) concentrations and heavy metal stress conditions on plant growth and physiology have mostly focused on crops rather than vegetables. In this study, we investigated the effects of Cd stress on the growth and antioxidant system of pak choi (Brassica rapa L.), water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.), cherry radish (Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus (L.) Domin) and pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) growing in pots under ambient CO₂ (aCO₂) or eCO₂ conditions. In general, Cd stress reduced plant biomass and SPAD values under aCO₂ and eCO₂ conditions; however, the reduction was smaller under eCO₂. Cd stress significantly reduced vegetable superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities under both aCO₂ and eCO₂ conditions; however, the decrease in cherry radish and pepper peroxidase and SOD activities and in pak choi SOD and CAT activities was significantly less under eCO₂. The Cd content of the edible parts of pak choi, water spinach and pepper was significantly lower under eCO₂ than under aCO₂. Our data suggest that eCO₂ concentrations could be beneficial for the growth of some vegetables and reduce the Cd content.

Plant-based indicators of water status, such as midday stem water potential (Ψ_stem) and leaf stomatal conductance (g_s), are used to optimise irrigation scheduling in horticultural crops because they integrate the effect of soil and climatic conditions and the internal physiological constraints. The use of these indicators relies on experimentally acquired thresholds that relate the value of the indicator to negative effects on yield. In five irrigation treatments, we monitored yield, fruit size and the courses of Ψ_stem and g_s throughout four consecutive growing seasons. We found that Ψ_stem was more sensitive to irrigation treatment than g_s. Both indicators increased with available soil water content (ASWC) and decreased with evaporative demands of the atmosphere (ET_C). On a seasonal basis, crop load had a stronger impact on g_s than Ψ_stem. In summary, our study explored the effect of environmental conditions and crop load on plant-based indicators of tree water status and can be useful for establishing thresholds for irrigation scheduling in apple tree orchards.

Weed identification and controlling systems are gaining great attention and are very effective for large productivity in the agriculture sector. Currently, farmers are facing a weed control and management problem, and to tackle this challenge precision agriculture in the form of selective spraying is much-needed practice. In this article, we introduce a novel framework for a weed identification system that leverages (hybrid) the robust and relevant features of deep learning models, such as convolutional neural network (CNN) and handcrafted features. First, we apply the image pre-processing and augmentation techniques for image quality and dataset size enhancement. Then, we apply handcrafted feature extraction techniques, such as local binary pattern (LBP) and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) to extract texture and shape features from the input. We also apply the deep learning model, such as CNN, to capture the relevant semantic features. Lastly, we concatenate the features extracted from a different domain and explore the performance using different classifiers. We achieved better performance and classification accuracy in the presence of the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classifier. The achieved results witnessed the effectiveness and applicability of the given method and the importance of concatenated features.

The fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is an important threat to wheat production because it can cause wheat stripe rust. The present study aimed to identify new stripe rust resistance genes and to provide a theoretical and practical basis for breeding wheat varieties with broad spectrum, stable, and durable resistance. Wheat leaves inoculated with wheat stripe rust fungus Chinese yellow rust 34 were collected at different time points for transcriptomic analysis based on the wheat stripe rust susceptible varieties AVOCET S (AVS) and AVSYr15NIL [near-isogenic line (NIL) derived from AVS]. The results showed that the number of upregulated genes in the two varieties was 294, 364, 398, and 604, and the number of downregulated genes was 520, 178, 570, and 345 on the 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, and 7^th days post inoculation, respectively. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes enrichment analyses found enrichment of differentially expressed genes in the peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor signaling pathways, plant–pathogen interaction, and styrene acrylic acid biosynthesis that encoded protein kinases, signal transduction, transcription factors, and functional protein components. Differentially expressed genes were randomly selected for quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis, and the change trend was the same as in the transcriptome data. The results of this study suggest that genes in AVSYr15NIL related to the stripe rust response could be valuable for understanding the mechanisms involved in stripe rust resistance.

Fourteen fungicides and three marine-derived fungi were tested for their activities in the promotion of rice seedling development and their efficacy in controlling rice sheath blight disease in two rice varieties, RD43 and KMDL105, under greenhouse conditions. The results showed that the rice seeds treated with carbendazim 50%SC and azoxystrobin 25%SC displayed the best promotion of rice growth in root length and shoot height at seven and 14 days in rice var. RD43. Rice seeds from var. KMDL105 treated with thiophanate-methyl 70%WP exhibited significant stimulation of rice seedling growth resulting in the greatest increase in root length and shoot height at seven and 14 days. In pot experiments with rice var. RD43, spraying with triforine 19%EC, propiconazole 25%EC, trifloxystrobin 50%WG, and validamycin 3%SL showed a high level of fungicidal activity in controlling sheath blight disease, with this evidenced by significant suppression of the disease severity by 71–75% and 61–73% at seven and 14 days after inoculation, respectively. The treatment of rice var. KMDL105 with validamycin 3%SL exhibited the best activity in controlling sheath blight disease by reducing disease severity by up to 62% and 64% at seven and 14 days, respectively. The antagonistic marine fungi tested in this study displayed low activity against sheath blight disease and low effects on rice seedling promotion compared to fungicides. Specifically, Trichoderma harzianum KUFA 0689 and T. asperellum KUFA 0677 reduced sheath blight disease severity by 42–46% and 27–37% at seven and 14 days, respectively.

The Colorado potato beetle (CPB) and the western corn rootworm (WCR) are among the world’s most expansive insect pests. The aim of the study was to assess, for the first time in Poland, the levels of susceptibility to deltamethrin and tau-fluvalinate in the WCR and to determine the current status of susceptibility to those active substances in the CPB. In addition, the role of oxidative metabolism in the detoxification of pyrethroids was determined using piperonyl butoxide (PBO). The study found pyrethroid resistance in the CPB populations. The WCR populations exhibited “high susceptibility”, “susceptibility”, “low resistance” and “medium resistance” to the pyrethroids tested. Experiments using PBO showed that oxidative enzymes are involved in the deltamethrin detoxification mechanism in the CPB, although the effectiveness of this mechanism in Poland is decreasing. PBO was found to be highly toxic to the WCR populations. The findings from this study should be taken into account when developing a strategy to prevent the development of resistance in the pest species. The results for the toxicity of PBO to Polish WCR populations demonstrated that the enzymes inhibited by PBO are involved in important metabolic processes, which should be considered when developing innovative control methods for this pest.

Plant viruses, and aphids as their vectors, are limiting factors in sugar beet production. Viral plant diseases are currently impossible to treat but knowing the flight patterns of aphids can help in reducing the number of potential virus vectors. Monitoring of aphid flight activities in sugar beet fields was done using yellow water traps from April to the end of November. During the two years of investigation, a total of 5514 specimens from 75 different taxa were collected. The highest number of individuals was recorded at the end of May/beginning of June at all localities. This is the period when sugar beet develops intensively, so the risk of virus infection is the highest. The most numerous species were Aphis fabae Scopoli, Aphis spiraecola Patch., Phyllaphis fagi (L.), Myzus persicae (Sulzer), Rhopalosiphum padi (L.), Sitobion avenae (Fabr.), Acyrthosiphon pisum (Haris) and Therioaphis trifolii (Monell). The most important vectors are A. fabae, A. spiraecola and M. persicae. Aphis fabae is a species that feeds on sugar beet and causes significant damage both by feeding and by its vector activity. Myzus persicae was the most abundant in autumn, A. spiraecola was present throughout the whole flight-monitoring period. Among the caught aphids, twelve species alien to Europe were collected.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is normally used independently of the physical and temporal location of the product, process or service under analysis. This makes LCA results more easily comparable and globally accepted. At the same time, it has drawbacks though, e.g. land use will have the same impact regardless of location. However, the use of certain terrains in high erosion risk areas as compared to others in low erosion risk areas will have a different impact on the ecosystem. The availability of airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data (ALS) allows a quick and accurate morphogeometric analysis of any terrain. For this reason, this article offers a methodology, based on Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) method and airborne LiDAR data, for the straightforward detection of zones with high vulnerability to erosion problems. Based on these local erosion risk data, a method is developed to assess the environmental impact of land use, based on its location. In this way, the LCA methodology is incorporated to gather local data, dependent on the specific location of the activity under analysis. The methodology developed has been applied, as a case study, to a specific municipality in the high mountains of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja (Spain).

Forest thinning can be used as an adaptive measure to improve the growth and resistance of Norway spruce forests affected by climate change. The impact of different thinning intensities on sap flow, growth, and tree water deficit of 40-year-old Norway spruce was tested. High thinning intensity (–61% of basal area) resulted in increased tree-level sap flow compared to the control (+27%), but it caused a decrease in the stand-level transpiration (–34%) due to reduced leaf area index. Low-intensity thinning (–28% basal area), high-intensity thinning, and control showed similar responses of sap flow to vapour pressure deficit and global radiation, suggesting unchanged isohydric behaviour. Both low- and high-intensity treatments displayed greater radial growth than the control. There were no differences in tree water deficit between the treatments. The low-intensity treatment can be considered the best water utilisation treatment with increased growth and unchanged transpiration at the tree level. The high-intensity treatment had similar radial growth as the low-intensity but lower stand-level transpiration, implying improved soil water availability. The study expands the ecophysiological understanding of thinning as a valuable silvicultural practice for adapting forest management of Norway spruce to the effects of climate change.

In veterinary medicine, natural products provide an alternative to chemical agents for mite management. In the present study, the acaricidal efficacy of Urtica fissa leaf ethyl acetate extract against Sarcoptes scabiei mites was examined. The chemical composition of the extract was determined using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. The ethyl acetate extract was found to be extremely toxic to mites at a concentration of 100 mg/ml (m/v), killing all S. scabiei within two hours. The median lethal time (LT50) values for ethyl acetate extract concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 mg/ml against S. scabiei were 1.706, 1.204, and 0.750 h, respectively. The median lethal dosage (LC50) for S. scabiei was 19.14 mg/ml at two hours. The chemical composition of the ethyl acetate extract was evaluated using LC-MS, showing that the major components were schaftoside (8.259%), carnosol (6.736%), prostaglandin A2 (5.94%), 13(S)-HpOTrE (4.624%), nandrolone (4.264%), 1H-indole-3-carboxaldehyde (4.138%), 9-oxoODE (3.206%), and stearidonic acid (2.891%). In conclusion, these findings indicate that Urtica fissa contains promising new acaricidal compounds capable of successfully controlling animal mites.

Polycyclic musk compounds are commonly used in personal care products to replace expensive natural fragrances. Due to their huge consumption, they have become a part of the aquatic environment. In the present study, a two-month exposure effect of tonalide on juvenile zebrafish (Danio rerio) was investigated. We determined the vitellogenin concentration to define the potential endocrine-disrupting effect of tonalide and also analysed selected indices to evaluate the induction of oxidative stress. The environmentally relevant concentration of tonalide (i.e., 500 ng/l) caused a significant decrease in the catalase activity (P < 0.05) and a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the lipid peroxidation. An increasing lipid peroxidation was also recorded for the highest concentration group tested (i.e., 50 000 ng/l). On the other hand, no significant changes were recorded in vitellogenin in all the exposed groups. Thus, based on these results, we have not demonstrated the endocrine-disrupting activity of tonalide in zebrafish. The results of the oxidative stress indices showed a significant impairment of the antioxidant defence after the two-month tonalide exposure, which could indicate part of the adaptive response to the tonalide toxicity.

Tillage intensity can affect soil quality through soil aggregates, which are strongly associated with organic carbon. In this study, we evaluated the effect of different intensity tillage (conventional ploughing (CP), shallow ploughing (SP), deep cultivation (DC), shallow cultivation (SC), no-tillage (NT)) on soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil aggregates at the 0-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm layers and root biomass at the 0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm layers. The field experiment on spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) consisted of a split-plot arrangement with four replications. Dry soil aggregates were evaluated using the mean weight diameter (MWD) index. Wet aggregates were assessed using a water-stable aggregate (WSA) index. We identified that tillage intensity significantly influenced the MWD index at four soil levels. Shallow tillage showed greater results at 0-5 and 5-10 cm depths. However, deep tillage increased the MWD at 10-20 and 20-30 cm depth. NT was dominated by evaluating the WSA at every level of the soil. SOC was correlated with WSA. The highest SOC was found under NT. The different tillage intensities did not significantly affect root biomass.

Surface runoff and soil losses in the case of potato cultivation using de-stoning technology on gentle slopes (Haplic Cambisol) were studied in 2020–2022. Different ridges shapes were compared: control (smooth shaped ridges), pits, pits plus loosening, pits plus loosening plus cover crop (Triticum aestivum L.) sowing in trail furrows. Runoff and soil losses were studied approximately 1 and 2 months after planting potatoes. The obtained results showed the highest reduction of surface runoff and soil losses in the treatment with cover crop sowing. In this variant, soil losses were reduced by 65–81% (1 month after planting) and 54–85% (2 months after planting) in case of simulated rainfall on the soil with natural moisture (or these losses were reduced by 51–93% and 50–76% in case of 15-min rainfall). On average, tuber yields reached 29.4 t/ha (pits + loosening) to 30.6 t/ha (pits) in 2020–2022. The different abilities of the tested shapes of ridges and furrows to retain water did not significantly affect the achieved yields of tubers, as rainfall was not a limiting factor in the monitored period. The yield differences among all tested treatments reached units of tons per hectare if the entire dose of nitrogen was applied at planting. Splitting the total nitrogen dose (50% at planting, 50% at loosening) gave significantly (P < 0.05) higher yields (34.2 t/ha) than a single application at planting. The treatment pits plus loosening with fertilisation provided a 19–26% higher tuber yield than pits plus loosening with a total N dose applied at planting.

Grafting is the most important means of breeding peach, plum, apricot, and other fruit trees, and the selection of the rootstock is crucial to the quality of the grafting and the yield of the products. The traditional commonly used peach rootstock is susceptible to root-knot nematode infections, resulting in a decreased yield, while a variety of cherry plum rootstocks, Mirabolano 29C, is resistant to root-knot nematode. In this study, root-knot nematode infection experiments on seedlings of traditional peach rootstocks and Mirabolano 29C confirmed that Mirabolano 29C was indeed more resistant to root-knot nematodes. At the same time, we compared the roots of the root-knot nematode uninfected and infected Mirabolano 29C by transcriptome sequencing and found 3 176 differentially expressed genes. A further functional enrichment analysis of these genes found that the secondary metabolites, phenylpropane and flavonoids, may be responsible for the high resistance of Mirabolano 29C to root-knot nematodes. These results can provide a reference value for the disease resistance breeding of rootstocks.