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Forest soil acidification and depletion of nutrient cations have been reported for several forested regions in North America, predominantly in the eastern United States, including the northeast and in the central Appalachians, but also in parts of southeastern Canada and the southern U.S. Continuing regional inputs of nitrogen and sulfur are of concern because of leaching of base cations, increased availability of soil Al, and the accumulation and ultimate transmission of acidity from forest soils to streams. Losses of calcium from forest soils and forested watersheds have now been documented as a sensitive early indicator and a functionally significant response to acid deposition for a wide range of forest soils in North America. For red spruce, a clear link has been established between acidic deposition, alterations in calcium and aluminum supplies and increased sensitivity to winter injury. Cation depletion appears to contribute to sugar maple decline on some soils, specifically the high mortality rates observed in northern Pennsylvania over the last decade. While responses to liming have not been systematically examined in North America, in a study in Pennsylvania, restoring basic cations through liming increased basal area growth of sugar maple and levels of calcium and magnesium in soil and foliage. In the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California near the west coast, the pH of the A horizon has declined by at least 2 pH units (to pH 4.0-4.3) over the past 30 years, with no detrimental effects on bole growth; presumably, because of the Mediterranean climate, base cation pools are still high and not limiting for plant growth.

The European integration process is very important and it has been paid attention to for the last 15 years. The abstract deals with the negotiation field and position in the structure of the current expanded EU. For better orientation in this equivocal situation, a modern cartography method of relationship in the arbitrary group called dynamic sociometry was used. The method is based on classical sociometry Morena and furthermore it uses the instrument of fuzzy set, typology and structural analysis. The output of this method is a sociomap. The map holds information on the relative closeness or the distance of individual elements, their configuration but also some quality information. The graphic chart is similar to a topographic map. In our case, the sociomap was created from the data of foreign business among the member countries. The following analysis of the sociomap we detected and described characteristic features of the analysed group. It consists of formal and informal links in the group, the role and the position of each member within the group, the structure and relations in the group. In the concrete, we attained data to answer the questions about the present climate in interrelationships in the EU, which means the relationships among the members as the whole entities but also the relationships separately among members themselves. The position analysis of the Czech Republic in the system of the created sociomaps was considered as very important. According to the allocation of the Czech Republic in sociomaps, we easily defined the position of the state, the closest partners for negotiation, and also the possible problem relations which might complicate the negotiation in the EU. From the resultant sociomaps, we also tried to determine the sociometric star, i.e. the leader of the European Community. We anticipated that it would be rather an aggregation of several states than an individual state. The contribution focuses on the negotiation field and position in the structure of the current expanded EU. The sociomap created using foreign business data of member states gives the bases for answering questions about present climate in interrelationships in the EU which means the relationships between the members as whole entities but also the relationships separately between the members themselves.

Limited information is available regarding the source-sink alterations on soybean yield under whole plant light enriched conditions. The differential responses of yield components for two old and two new cultivars were investigated. The yield sensitivity of the old cultivars to the changes in source strength and light enriched conditions was much greater than that of the two new cultivars. The yield of the new cultivars was more likely sink-limited, and source-limited for the old cultivars. The increased yield by light enrichment was in part due to an increased branch contribution. Pod number per plant was more responsive than seed number per pod. The reduction in pod number by source-sink manipulation was more severe in the old cultivars. Light enrichment increased pod number in the two old cultivars but not in the two new cultivars. Seed size was responsive to changes in the source-sink ratio and changes in the environment. Both pod number or seed size may be increased or decreased if environmental conditions for seed filling are altered.

The amelioration of aflatoxicosis in broiler chickens was examined by feeding two concentrations of yeast component (esterified glucomannan; EG). EG, incorporated into the diet at 0.5 and 1 g/kg, was evaluated for its ability to reduce the detrimental effects of 2 mg total aflatoxin (AF; 82.72% AFB₁, 5.50% AFB₂, 10.20% AFG₁ and 1.58% AFG₂) in diet on growing broiler chicks from 1 to 21 d of age. A total of 240 male broiler chicks (Ross-308) were divided into 6 treatment groups [control, AF, EG (0.5 g/kg), AF plus EG (0.5 g/kg), EG (1 g/kg), and AF plus EG (1 g/kg)]. Compared to the control, AF treatment significantly decreased body weight gain from week 2 onwards. AF treatment also caused significant decreases in serum total protein, albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose, inorganic phosphorus, creatinine levels and alanine-aminotransferase (ALAT) activity but increased the aspartate-aminotransferase (ASAT) activity. Red blood cell, haematocrit, haemoglobin, thrombocyte, and lymphocyte counts and tibial crude ash levels were significantly reduced by AF treatment, while significant increases were seen in heterophil counts. The addition of EG (1 g/kg) to an AF-containing diet significantly improved the adverse effects of AF on haematological parameters, total protein, albumin values and ASAT activity. EG (1 g/kg) also partially improved body weight gains (59%) and the other biochemical parameters influenced by AF treatment. The addition of EG (both 0.5 and 1 g/kg) to the AF-free diet did not cause any considerable changes in the investigated values. These results clearly indicated that EG (1 g/kg) addition effectively diminished the adverse effects of AF on the investigated values. Also, the higher dietary concentration of EG (1 g/kg) was found more effective than the lower concentration (0.5 g/kg) against the adverse effects of AF on the variables investigated in this study.

The effect of partial and total replacement of soybean meal (SBM) with extruded chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) and partial replacement of SBM with raw chickpeas on pig growth and carcass characteristics was determined in a 17 week experiment. Sixty growing-finishing pigs were allocated to five dietary treatments: CKP0, ECKP100, ECKP200, ECKP300 and CKP100 of 12 animals each, and received a diet ad libitum. The diet for CKP0 treatment had no chickpeas (control), while those for treatments ECKP100, ECKP200 and ECKP300 included 100, 200 and 300 kg/t of extruded (at 120°C for 20 s) chickpeas, respectively, and for treatment CKP100 it included 100 kg/t of raw chickpeas. Body weight (BW) gain linearly increased (P < 0.05) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) linearly decreased (P < 0.05) with the inclusion of increasing levels of extruded chickpeas during the growing period. However, in both the growing and finishing period, there were no differences between extruded chickpea inclusion treatments in final BW, BW gain, daily feed consumption (DFC), FCR, and carcass yield traits. Partial replacement of SBM with raw chickpeas negatively affected (P < 0.05) BW gain and DFC during the finishing period. Extrusion offers a practical method for the heat processing of chickpeas for use in pig diets. Thus, extruded chickpeas can be used as an alternative protein source to SBM at inclusion levels up to 300 kg/t of diet.

The distribution of Apple chlorotic leafspot virus in pear cultivars in selected orchards of three different districts in the Czech Republic was evaluated by ELISA. The same procedure of DAS - ELISA as in apple trees, was used for the detection of ACLSV in pear trees. The detection of ACLSV in pear flower petals by ELISA was more sensitive than the ACLSV detection in leaves. ACLSV was detected in pear leaves in the reliable way only in June. The presence of ACLSV was not proved by ELISA in nine tested pear rootstocks. The different distribution of ACLSV was detected in pear cultivars Lucasova máslovka and Boscova lahvice grown in different orchards. Low occurrence of ACLSV was found in cultivars Konference, Pařížanka and Dicolor. ACLSV was not detected in cultivars Madame Verté and Bohemica.

Environmental pollution of heavy metals from automobiles has attained much attention in the recent past. The present research was conducted to study heavy metal contamination in roadside soils of northern England. Roadside soil samples were collected from 35 sites in some counties of northern England and analysed for four heavy metals (cadmium, copper, lead, zinc). Their concentrations and distributions in different road verge zones (border, verge, slope, ditch) were determined. Lead concentration was the highest in the soil and ranged from 25.0 to 1198.0 μg/g (mean, 232.7 μg/g). Zinc concentration ranged from 56.7 to 480.0 μg/g (mean, 174.6 μg/g) and copper concentration ranged from 15.5 to 240.0 μg/g (mean, 87.3 μg/g). Cadmium concentration was the lowest in the soil and varied from 0.3 to 3.8 μg/g (mean, 1.4 μg/g). Though the levels of heavy metals in roadside soils were higher as compared to their natural background levels in British soils, their concentrations in general, however, were below the 'critical trigger concentrations' for the contaminated soils. All the four heavy metals exhibited a significant decrease in the roadside soils with the increasing distance from the road. The border zone had the highest mean concentration of the four metals whereas the ditch zone exhibited the lowest mean concentration.

This paper describes the automated classification of tree species composition from Ikonos 4-meter imagery using an object-oriented approach. The image was acquired over a man-planted forest area with the proportion of various forest types (conifers, broadleaved, mixed) in the Krušné hory Mts., Czech Republic. In order to enlarge the class signature space, additional channels were calculated by low-pass filtering, IHS transformation and Haralick texture measures. Employing these layers, image segmentation and classification were conducted on several levels to create a hierarchical image object network. The higher level separated the image into smaller parts regarding the stand maturity and structure, the lower (detailed) level assigned individual tree clusters into classes for the main forest species. The classification accuracy was assessed by comparing the automated technique with the field inventory using Kappa coefficient. The study aimed to create a rule-base transferable to other datasets. Moreover, the appropriate scale of common image data and utilisation in forestry management are evaluated.

The abundance and species spectrum of cockchafers of the genus Melolontha and characteristics of the tribes in four forest regions of theCzechRepublic was explored. We used light traps, automatic meteorological stations and field investigations to study the course of swarming, species composition, abundance of the respective tribes, sex ratio during swarming and the dependence of swarming on the average daily temperature. Studies will continue in the next years and the objective is to use the results for prognosis of the occurrence of cockchafers and the damages subsequently caused by grubs in forest cultures.

The primary goal of our analysis is to evaluate the effects of changes in the Slovak agriculture subsidy system on the selected farms located in different production areas between the years 2003 and 2004. Our comparative analysis divides the farms into two groups: The first group represents all those farms that operate in good farming conditions i.e. primarily the land is more productive (PA). The second group of farms operates in less favorable farming conditions (LFA). The regions differ from each other in terms of geographical position, location, production and climatic conditions, as well as the quality of land. We analyzed data of 119 farms.

The paper deals with identification of some forms of potential competitive advantage that can be applied by the Slovak agrarian enterprises after the accession to the EU. The capacity of the economies of scale is being analyzed, as well as the potential of the labor productivity growth, and input management in controlling of intensification process. The paper is targeted at verifying the extent of application of competitive advantages by agrarian enterprises, and identifying the reasons of obstacles that hinder their full utilization.

In 1995-1997, the population dynamics of the flea beetles Chaetocnema tibialis and Phyllotreta vittula, associated with Amaranthus retroflexus (wild species) and Amaranthus caudatus (cultivated species), were studied at the locality Nitra-Malanta (48°19'N, 18°09'E) in south-western Slovakia. On both plant species, the number of C. tibialis adults was usually very low until the beginning of July. During July the number of C. tibialis increased, but sooner on cultivated amaranth. An increased number of C. tibialis adults was observed on both amaranth species until the middle of September. The results showed that amaranth plants are a very important reservoir of C. tibialis during summer. P. vittula was a common flea beetle on amaranth during the whole summer, but its numbers never exceeded more than 10 adults per 25 plants. Low temperatures in winter had a negative effect on populations of C. tibialis on both amaranth species and also on populations of P. vittula on A. retroflexus. The lower the precipitation was in July, the higher were the populations of C. tibialis on both amaranth species and the populations of P. vittula on A. retroflexus.

The aim of study was to verify a possibility of adding boron to multi-nutrient soil tests: Mehlich 3, water (1:5) and 0.5M NH₄-acetate extraction. Thirty-six different soils from topsoils of agriculturally farmed field were used for the study. The basic set of 36 soils was doubled when the same soil samples with gypsum addition at an equivalent dose 2 t Ca/ha were used. The closest correspondence between B in soil (n = 72) and B in plant was found out by the NH₄-acetate soil test. This test proved its good universality and independence on a radical intervention in soil chemistry by gypsum treatment. It responded to an increase in B-availability to plants after gypsum treatment of soil. The adjustment of NH₄-acetate boron by the percentage difference between the actual and the desired pH of soil improved the closeness of the correlation. Although the H₂O soil test showed its lower universality, it is assumed to use the H₂O soil test for prediction of B-status in soil when the history of previous fertilisation of the field will be known. The Mehlich 3 soil test did not prove to be suitable for diagnostics of B-status in soil.

The objective of the study was to quantify differences in the carcass composition of pig carcasses with different lean meat proportions. Totally 132 carcasses with lean meat proportions ranging from 45 to 65% were analysed. The average lean meat proportion in the analysed set of carcasses was 55.38% (s = 4.319). The carcasses were classified into the groups according to their lean meat proportion (R, 45.0 to 49.9%; U, 50.0 to 54.9%; E, 55.0 to 59.9%; S, more than 60.0%). Carcasses from each group were cut into primal cuts and the main cuts (leg, loin, shoulder and belly with bones) were further separated into different tissues. Carcass value was markedly enhanced by the increasing carcass lean meat proportion. Average leg percentages in the groups R, U, E and S were 17.88% (s = 0.918), 19.32% (s = 0.889), 20.88% (s = 0.817) and 21.88% (s = 0.827), respectively. Average proportions of fat over leg expressed as percentages of leg weight in these groups were 5.82% (s = 0.402), 4.87% (s = 0.556), 4.05% (s = 0.479) and 3.21% (s = 0.321), respectively. Lean meat proportions of leg weight were improved from 84.93% (s = 1.136) in the group R to 88.12% (s = 0.986) in the group S. The most distinct differences were found in lean proportions of belly weight. The observed averages in the group R and S were 43.90% (s = 2.729) and 62.10% (s = 2.219), respectively. Actually, in carcasses with a high classification score the belly can be considered as a cut with the predominant muscle tissue. The results of the study proved the efficiency of carcass evaluation based on the lean meat proportion. Such a method can significantly contribute to the overall improvement of pig production.

The production of adult steers for beef could be a profitable use of the territory in some mountain areas in the south of Europe, where this production is nearly inexistent, owing to an increase in the demand for meat from adult animals in specialized markets. The objective of this study was to evaluate the profitability of beef production in three breeds adapted to these areas but varying greatly in their mature size. The studied breeds were a specialized meat breed Limousin, a dual-purpose breed - Brown Swiss breed and - a Spanish local breed Asturiana de los Valles. Higher growth rates (P < 0.05) and higher carcass weights (P < 0.05) were achieved by Brown Swiss and Limousin. In relation to carcass value, better results of dressing percentage (P < 0.001), conformation (P < 0.001) and saleable meat percentages (P < 0.001) were obtained byLimousin. Due to preferences of the adult steers market for carcass with high fatness, Brown Swiss and Limousin could be more suitable to make this production profitable than Asturiana de los Valles (4.7 and 4.2 vs. 2.7, respectively, on the EUROP scale).

The haematological parameters of the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), the dynamics of changes in blood count parameters with regard to the season of the year and reproduction status, and the effects of sex and body condition on the haematological parameters of blood were studied. In total, 574 blood samples were collected. The samples were collected from pheasants from the age of 6 months, prior to the laying period, and after the laying period. Packed cell volume and haemoglobin concentration significantly increased in males during the period of growth and decreased during the period of reproductive activity. Significantly higher values were detected in males compared to females in erythrocyte count, packed cell volume, haemoglobin concentration and in mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration. A statistically significant positive relationship was detected between weight and the values of most of the parameters related to red blood cells.

Twenty seven Pasteurella multocida rabbit isolates were characterised by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) generated by restriction endonuclease ApaI, and examined for the presence of capsule and fimbriae, and tested of haemolytic activity and endotoxin release in presence of rabbit plasma. Among the isolates a high number (n = 20) of different PFGE types was observed. All isolates were found to be encapsulated and four of them also possessed fimbriae. Although the presence of the aphA gene, conferring a haemolytic phenotype for Escherichia coli under anaerobic conditions, was indicated in all of the isolates by PCR, clear haemolytic activity was observed in only one isolate when grown anaerobically. All of the isolates grew easily in the presence of rabbit plasma which showed a high capacity to bind the released endotoxin.

In three test years an assortment of 15 varieties of vegetable pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) were grown in field conditions to study experimentally some of their morphological and biological properties. Mean plant height ranged from 435.7 mm (cv. Lastočka) to 636.7 mm (cv. Srbská). The smallest fruits had cultivars Čerešňová and Kecskeszarv with the weight of 4.86 g and 17.68 g. Average weight was the highest at varieties Pola kapia (92.23 g) and Melišor (91.92 g). The biggest length of mature leaves over 100 mm was measured at varieties Dolmy, Podarok Moldavy and Tuba; the smallest leaves according to length and width had variety Čerešňová. The mean vitamin C content in fruits about 2,000 mg/kg at green mature stage was found in cv. Bohatýr, Čerešňová and Podarok Moldavy. The highest vitamin C content in red fruits was analyzed at cv. Čerešňová (2,551.0 mg/kg) and Lastočka (2,422.2 mg/kg). Other observed characteristics were colour, shape and taste of fruits, colour of leaves and fruit wall thickness.

The article deals with economic aspects of sustainable forest management. The analysis stems from Plíva's typological system. Several hundreds of variants were calculated for forest silviculture profitability classified according to management intensity, target management system, proportion of ameliorating and improving species, proportion of natural regeneration, and set of forest types. The results show a possibility of labour saving and also marked differentiation of the effect of wood production function depending on natural and production conditions and management intensity.

How does an organization utilize knowledge for the reproduction of its culture in innovations, it was a key-point of the question for an approach based on the methodology of social process in the recent past. Then the formation of knowledge was considered a process of power politics with the consequences for knowledge management. In the framework of those projects, attempts were made in organizations to extract the knowledge from experts and specialized professionals that it might be codified and saved in extensive databases; only then the remainder of employees ought to have possibility to consult them and add the results of their own ideas to these databases. Poor success of such attempts only illustrates the methodological failure of utilizing information technologies for knowledge formation, its storage and transfer. Moreover, when a new fact was soon discovered even in the framework of the new approach, that there was an abyss-like difference between information (that information technologies operate with) and the knowledge, then the significance of personality increased again. The research that was done with the "champions of organizational learning" in the framework of knowledge management emphasized their import in catching the best experience, knowledge codification and its distribution in the organizations. Among other qualities, the knowledge is strongly personalized: it means it is connected with personal experience, attitudes, and evaluations. On the other hand, an advantage of new methodology was that the possible social actions, connected with the knowledge management, search for a strategy, and implementation were studied. These very changes in methodology have been a valuable contribution even for the research into the role of personality within this social process, however. They induce circumstances and means for studying the infrastructure of relationships that make possible the impact of individual authority in organization in general. In this paper, we also pay attention to this social process in teams as compared to collectives and how team-leaders emerge within them.

Bunts (caused by Tilletia caries and T. controversa) belong to very important diseases of winter wheat because contaminated commodities (seeds, foods and feeds) affect the marketability of the crop on both domestic and export markets. They can be relatively easily controlled by chemical seed treatments. Due to the availability of effective chemical control, the reaction of wheat cultivars to bunts has so far not been an important trait for plant breeders in some areas of the world. However, if synthetic chemicals are not allowed, like in organic farming, untreated seed may quickly lead to a build-up of bunt to levels that render the crop unmarketable. The use of wheat cultivars partially or fully resistant to bunts could greatly contribute to ease the bunt problem. The reaction of winter wheat cultivars was evaluated in field tests. Seeds of winter wheat were inoculated with teliospores of T. caries. The reaction to T. controversa was studied under heavy natural infestation with spores in the soil. With T. caries, the heaviest infection was found in cvs Drifter and Ebi, while cvs Nela, Brea and Samanta had the lowest. The average level of infection with T. controversa was higher than that of T. caries. The cvs Niagara, Brea and Versailles had significantly lower numbers of bunt ears of T. controversa in 2002. The incidence of both bunts in grain samples that had not been cleaned and sorted after harvest was monitored for 4 years. A total of 1 058 samples collected from various locations in the Czech Republic were analysed for the presence of bunt spores and the species determined. The investigation demonstrated a rather widespread occurrence of bunts across the Czech Republic, with T. controversa being more frequent.

Fertilization with tannery materials positively influenced the soil pH and increased the content of alkaline cations in soil. After four years of investigations organic carbon content decreased most in the soil fertilized with untreated sludge, mineral salts and in the control soil. Irrespective of fertilization used and year of studies cadmium occurred mainly in most mobile fractions (mobile, exchangeable and bound to manganese oxides). Copper was mainly bound in fractions less available to plants. After four years of studies an increase in mobile copper forms was registered in all treatment soils. Lead in the soil was present mainly in the form bound to organic matter and amorphous iron oxides. Distribution of lead points to the small share of this metal in the mobile and exchangeable forms, both immediately after fertilization applied and after four years of studies. Chromium became fixed in fractions less available to plants, mainly bound to iron oxides and in residual fraction. On the other hand, an apparent effect of fertilization with materials of tannery origin on this element total forms content was registered.

This study compares effects of 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) and flavonoid quercetine (Q). In spite of the fact that both these compounds are inhibitors of the polar transport of auxin, a number of experiments demonstrated that their properties are different. If the flax seedlings were decapitated and one cotyledon was removed, the axillary bud of the remaining cotyledon grew up more intensively while TIBA (0.5% applied in the form of a lanolin paste on the remaining cotyledon) induced a correlative reversal so that axillars of removed cotyledons grew up more intensively. However, when Q (0.5%) was applied on the remaining cotyledon in the form of a lanolin paste, this inhibition was not significant. In the lamina-deprived petioles of apple trees TIBA accelerated abscission while Q caused an inhibiting effect similar to that of auxin. TIBA applied on epicotyls of pea seedlings inhibited their growth by 35% while Q only by 15%. As far as the release of ethylene by pea seedlings is concerned, both compounds showed promoting effects similar to the effect of auxin.

The aim of this study was to investigate an association between aggressiveness and high level of feeding in a half-open feedlot production system. An experiment was conducted on 72 head of beef cattle of different breeds. The animals were at about 10 months of age. Medium quality silage was offered ad libitum and supplemented with high (HE) and low level (LE) of barley (2.5 and 1.5 kg/day/head, respectively) and supplemented without (nil) or with (+) extracted soybean meal (0.45 kg/day/head). Several types of animal behaviour were observed such as those parameters that are categorized to be main aggressive behaviours, butting, being butted, mounting and being mounted. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in butting, being butted behaviours between HE and LE treatment groups. Mounting and being mounted behaviours were significantly different (P < 0.05) in steers and heifers and between the seasons as well. Steers performed more incidents of mounting behaviour than heifers and it was the same for spring, during which animals had more mounting behaviours. It was concluded that there was a close relationship between high-energy diets and aggressive behaviour, which necessitates some management measures to be taken in order to ensure better animal welfare and beef production.

Two-year data from terminal study conducted to evaluate post-weaning growth and carcass traits of Texel, Suffolk and Columbia sired offspring were used to evaluate the effect of breed on cultural energy expenditure of lamb production. Each year whiteface ewes (n = 82) composed of primarily Polypay × Dorset ewes were exposed to Texel, Suffolk or Columbia rams for 35 days in the breeding season. The ewes were wintered outdoors on average-quality lucerne hay according to NRC (1985) requirements and were not provided any concentrate during late gestation or lactation. A total of 279 lambs were born with an average of 1.7 lambs per ewe and weaned lambs were used in the study. The lambs were weaned on average at 70 days of age and lambs from each sire breed were placed either in feedlot or on pasture. Texel and Suffolk sired lambs had higher weaning weight than Columbia sired lambs (P < 0.01). Lambs in the feedlot were fed shelled maize and pelleted protein supplement. Lambs on pasture grazed for 63 days and received 455 g concentrate daily and later they were placed in the feedlot. For the cultural energy analysis, pasture establishment and maintenance, feed in feedlot and on pasture, transportation, labour, machinery, electricity and other inputs were calculated and corresponding values for each input were obtained from literature. It was assumed for the analysis that 20 percent of ewes were culled and lambs sold after weaning were included in the analysis. Texel and Columbia breeds had a higher energy input per kg live weight than Suffolk breed (P < 0.04). There was no difference between breeds in terms of energy input per kg carcass (P > 0.4). Suffolk breed had a lower cultural energy ratio for the protein energy output than Columbia and Texel breed (P < 0.02). Energy output ratio defined as kjoule input/kjoule output was better for Suffolk breed and it was different from that of Columbia and Texel breed (P < 0.03).

The Web of Science database searched results for papers published from the Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic, were analysed. The Veterinary Research Institute has increased publication activity in 2001-2005; more than 4 times in comparison with the period 1990-2004. The impact factor of journals has increased 5.5 times. The collaboration with 31 foreign countries and 175 institutions resulted in the publication of 277 papers in 93 journals during the past five years. Positioning of the Veterinary Research Institute is now among the worldwide leading teams is evident in twelve research profiles. The Web of Science is an efficient tool for record analysis and researcher's and institution's publication activities.

In the course of a 3-year study the natural occurrence of storage diseases in ambient air storage with 1 to 2°C was evaluated on samples of 30 cultivars and advanced selections that were harvested from orchards with and without the use of fungicide treatments. Based upon the frequency of occurrence, bitter rot and grey mould were the most common diseases in this study followed by blue mould and brown rot. Fungicide treatments applied in the orchard with integrated plant protection reduced total fruit rotting with different cultivars two to four times. Significant losses caused by rotting usually took place in the last quarter of the normal storage life of each cultivar, but in the case of samples treated with fungicides it was mostly during the last month. Cultivars Angold, Gala, Florina, Melodie and Meteor proved to be partially resistant to the storage diseases, but the smallest shares of rotted fruits were recorded on apples of Zuzana andMelrose. Still, five advanced selections proved not to be so affected by fruit rotting asMelrose and Zuzana, from which HL 237 and HL 390 were the most remarkable. The majority of selections with resistance to storage diseases as well as Zuzana cv. contain Glockenapfel cv. in their pedigree.

In May 31, 2000, the Government of the Czech Republic, has adopted the Decision No. 532, assigning the minister of agriculture to realize liming and fertilizing in the Krušné hory Mts. and Orlické hory Mts. Based on the decision, in 2000-2003, liming of forest stands was done, at the area of 34,000 ha. Changes of soil and leaf chemistry two years after liming were studied in the Western Krušné hory Mts., Forest administration Horní Blatná. Slight pH increase layer was stated both in the humus layer, and in upper horizons of mineral soil. Increased contents of calcium and magnesium, same as nitrogen and potassium were also recorded. Content of basic cations, mainly of magnesium and calcium, in the sorption complex was increased, aluminium content was decreased. C/N ratio in the humus layer did not change, ratio of basic cations and aluminium in the humus layer was increased significantly. Analyses of the assimilation organs of spruce have proved increase of magnesium and calcium content. The increase was higher in the stands of originally lower values of these elements. While before liming, in about a half of the samples of second needle year class, magnesium was under the deficiency level, two years after liming no deficient values were recorded.