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XII. World Forestry Congress have been held in Quebec, Canada from September 21 to 28, 2003. Forestry issues were discussed on three basic areas: Forests for People, Forests for the Planet, People and Forests in Harmony. The Czech Republic was represented by 9 contributions.

The article provides an overview of software applications designed and available for Czech farmers according to two criteria: business function within which the decisions are facilitated, and type of decision-making support the application is built on. The survey shows that most of the applications have a rather narrow focus facilitating only one business function, often only part of it, and that the applications are mostly data-driven, while the vast expertise in the field of agriculture is somewhat neglected.

The main aims of this study are to describe how much the economic role of agriculture decreased, and this decrease comes mainly from some economic difficulties, for example weak income position of producers based on weak capital accumulation. So agricultural producers need financial supports to improve their production and favourable credit conditions. In 1990s during the last decade, the role of agriculture in the national economy decreased, which contributed to its decreasing share in GDP and real value of agricultural GDP. In 2001, in spite of the fact that the plant production considerably increased and the animal husbandry stagnated, the whole agricultural production volume was by 20 percent under its level of 1989. Finally by the end of 2001, the share of agriculture declined to 4 percent of GDP and together with food industry, their share was about 7 percent. The agricultural scissors increased considerably, namely from 126.5 percent in 1992 to 138.4 percent in 2001.The income conditions made a significant influence on the capacity of the agricultural sector in fields of investments and accumulation. The main problem was the decline of real value of investments. For example the real value of investments in 2001 had not implemented half of investments realised in 1989. This situation showed the low level of technological and technical development in the agricultural sector during a longer period, than a decade. It was important to increase different kinds of supports for agricultural producers, for example: export subsidies, interests of credits, supports for establishing new farmland structure. The share of supports for agricultural production and food industry was 12-14 percent of the two sectors' GDP in 1990s. The development of the main factors of agricultural incomes was determined by index calculations based on the data of the APEH (Hungarian Tax and Financial Supervising Office) and EAA (Economic Accounts for Agriculture). The supports are needed, which are as follows: based on the APEH data, the profit before tax of 23 billion HUF in 1997 decreased to the loss-level of 8 billion HUF by the end of 1990s. The main aim for agricultural producers was to increase their capital accumulation to implement improvement of production in order to be competitive on the world and domestic markets. There is a difficulty that at the end of 1990s, only about 30 percent of the supports was directly provided for agricultural producers. In Hungary, without taxes and other different deprivals, the current value of production supports was over the level of incomes obtained in agricultural sector, but according to the calculation methods of the OECD, the value of PSE (PSE= Producer Support Estimate) index was at a very low level and it had a decreasing tendency, which could not ensure enough income for agricultural producers in Hungary. So the development of agricultural production cannot be realised additionally to the unfavourable background conditions for the sector. Comparing the support structure experienced in the OECD with that in Hungary, it can be declared, that within the PSE (Producer Support Estimate) during 1997-2000, the MPS (Market Price Support) declined, similarly it was in Hungary. In the OECD, the 8-9 percent share of payments based on input use has remained at s

A full liberalisation of the sugar market is hardly acceptable for Slovakia, because it would significantly affect not only the economic performance and employment across different sectors, but also their production structures, particularly in the farming-intensive regions. We nonetheless believe that the reform is necessary as the sugar sector remains the last unreformed CAP sector in the EU, which puts it in a better position vis-ŕ-vis other producers and farms. On the other hand, the justified claims of producers for the compensation of losses, similarly as the claims laid during the 1992 CAP reform, would disrupt the EAGGF budgetary framework through 2013, because only the claims of Slovak sugar beet producers would amount to some € 200 million during 2010-2015. We believe that the solution and consensus lies in the combination of reforms based on the scenarios of fixed quotas and falling prices, and/or the application of the "Midway situation" after 2011. The alternative setting of quotas, based the administratively assessed production efficiency levels for the individual EU countries, would also be unacceptable for Slovakia. In the recent past, the volume of investments in the Slovak sugar industry has been considerable and the most viable sugar refineries have already emerged from the selection process. The situation in the sugar beet sector is similar and the results of the "Fall in Prices" scenario until 2011 are largely similar to the situation before the accession to the EU.

Tilletia controversa and Tilletia caries were specifically detected in wheat plants by PCR using primers TILf (5´-CAC AAG ACT ACG GAG GGG TG-3´) and TILr (5´-CTC CAA GCA ACC TTC TCT TTC-3´). DNAs from uninfected wheat, rye, barley and triticale were not amplified. Natural infection of control plants by other species of fungi as Alternaria spp., Erysiphe graminis and Fusarium spp. proved the specificity of the test because even in this case no unspecific products were formed. This method can be very useful both for seed producers and for state officers checking the seed quality.

In changing growth conditions, methodical procedures should concentrate on the investigation of processes currently under way in forests. Many studies have shown that present models of forest growth parameters differ from previous surveys as far as for instance the height is concerned. Causes of these phenomena have not been satisfactorily explained although various hypotheses are investigated. In our study, we present partial results of the investigation of height growth within a sixty-five-year period, based on the analysis of data obtained from seven forest management plans in the management-plan area of Kostelec nad Černými lesy (Kostelec n. Č. l.) and continuous measurements on pilot research plots in the period of 1965-1994. The comparison of mean height growth curves obtained by the curve fitting of the values of empirical data signifies by their different course and increasing kurtosis a dependence on the calendar year when the measure was taken. It signifies an increasing height growth trend of both species in the given area.

The present investigation was conducted to know the impact of bio-inoculants in low input field conditions on the magnitude and direction of gene effects and mean performance of some morphological and productivity traits in three wheat cultivars WH 147 (medium mineral input), WH 533 (drought tolerant), Raj 3077 (drought tolerant) and six generations namely P₁, P₂, F₁, F₂, BC₁ and BC₂ of three crosses i.e. WH 147 × WH 533, WH 533 × Raj 3077 and WH 147 × Raj 3077. The experiment was conducted in randomised block design with three replications and three treatments i.e. control (C, without inoculation), inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF, Glomus fasciculatum), and AMF + Azotobacter chroococcum (Azc). Mineral fertilizer (80 kg N/ha + 40 kg P/ha + 18 kg ZnSO₄/ha) was applied in all the three treatments. The application of bio-inoculants, AMF and AMF + Azc had a positive effect on plant height, peduncle length, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index in various populations of all the crosses. However, in some of the generations the impact of bio-inoculants was insignificant. The joint scaling test revealed that additive-dominance gene effects were mainly operative in governing expression of peduncle length, tillers per plant, plant height, grains/spike, grain yield and all traits except days to flowering and harvest index in crosses WH 147 × WH 533 and WH 533 × Raj 3077. The application of bioinoculants influenced gene effects for days to flowering, days to maturity, flag leaf area, spike length, grains/spike, 1000 grain weight and harvest index where complex genetic interactions were changed to simple additive-dominance gene effects in the cross WH 147 × Raj 3077. Likewise, additive-dominance gene effects were altered and digenic interactions exhibited for days to maturity, flag leaf area in WH 147 × WH 533 and days to flowering, plant height, flag leaf area in WH 533 × Raj 3077. Flag leaf area and plant height were governed by additive gene effects while for days to maturity and 1000-grain weight both additive and dominance gene effect were important. Duplicate epistasis was important in all the three crosses for days to flowering and harvest index and in the cross WH 147 × Raj 3077 for grain weight grains per spike and flag leaf area.

In the period between 2001 and 2003 selected biological, morphological and technological characteristics were experimentally investigated in the pepper assortment. 12 traits that are important characteristics of individual varieties were studied for different growing methods and for utilisation in breeding work.

The Hymenoptera (Aculeata) fauna was studied in birch stands (Betula pendula Roth) of colder areas of Northern Bohemia using the method of Moericke's yellow traps. Altogether 159 species were trapped; the most important were Andrena lappona, Vespula vulgaris, Halictus sp., Trypoxylon minus and Vespula rufa. Only 12.7% of the species are widely spread in this ecosystem type. In 1990-1994 and in 1995-1999 we compared the abundance of the fauna and discovered that many species of the families Apidae and Sphecidae receded from the birch stands due to changing site conditions (light, weed infestation).

Restoration of forest soil character after the change of agricultural land use has not been studied yet despite the large areas reforested since the late 40ies of the last century. This process takes place throughout Europe to an increasing extent at present. The reformation of forest soils was studied in the area of Český Rudolec town: Natural Forest Area 16 - Czech-Moravian Uplands, altitude 600-630 m a.s.l., bedrock is built of granites and gneisses, soil type is Cambisol, forest site type 5K1. The process of restoration of a new humus form was analysed in plantations of American red oak (Quercus rubra), Swedish birch (Betula pendula), European larch (Larix europea) and Norway spruce (Picea abies), the site was homogeneous. The particular tree species accumulated 12.81, 13.81, 46.57 and 44.76 t/ha of surface organic matter during the last 30-40 years, these values are typical of forest sites at lower and middle altitudes and corresponding tree species composition. The effect of broadleaved species and conifers was markedly different, in the first case pH in KCl ranged 3.8-3.9 (mineral soil) and 3.5-5.2 (holorganic horizons), being 3.5-3.8 (mineral soil) and 3.1-5.1 (holorganic layers) for the conifers. Visible effects of the particular tree species were also evident in the soil adsorption complex and in the contents of plant available and total nutrients. The results can be summarised and generalised: - the forest soil character is reformed at lower and middle altitudes in a relatively short time from the aspect of surface humus accumulation and basic soil chemistry (30-40 years), - birch exhibited the best revitalisation effect among the studied species, - American red oak and Norway spruce humus accumulation potentials were different although the soil chemistry was comparable, - Norway spruce did not show a remarkable degradation effect until now, - on the contrary, European larch appeared as a site degrading species.

Cereals have a significant position in land farming in Slovakia. Important commodities are wheat, barley and maize. In the years 1999-2000, a research showed that Slovakia's natural production was lagging behind the developed countries of the EU. Extraordinary low yields were recorded in the economic year 2000/2001 due to drought during the vegetation period. In this paper, there are analyzed the production prices, costs, cereals efficiency and profitability costs. We have also calculated the break-even point in yields, in costs and in production prices of cereals. In addition, we have done some suggestions and recommendations on how to analyze the results.

The objective of the paper was to determine an appropriate concentration of available sulphur in soil for the initial growth of plants. Based on previous researches two methods of soil extraction were used to acquire information on the soil reserve: water extraction (H₂O 1:5, w/v) and extraction in 0.5M ammonium acetate with addition of NH₄F (KVK-UF soil test). Spring barley was used as a test crop to determine the soil reserve of sulphur and its response to sulphur addition to the soil. A collection of 48 samples of topsoil from agriculturally important localities in the CR was made up for this purpose and the parameters of the nutrient status of the soil were remarkably different. A set of soils was used to establish short-time vegetation experiments in a plant growth chamber according to the scheme: A) control - without sulphur application and B) response variant with application of 30 mg S/kg of soil in the form of (NH)₄SO₄; nitrogen in variant A was adjusted by application of NH₄Cl. Index of nutrient efficiency (IE = Y/N where Y = yield and N = nutrient concentration in the plant) and boundary lines of the point field were used to evaluate the efficiency of barley nutrition with sulphur. The efficient soil reserve of sulphur for the soil test H₂O (1:5) when the ICP analytical technique was used was indicated in the range of 8-11 mg S/kg; 6-10 mg S/kg for sulphate detection on a SKALAR analyser. The efficient utilisation of sulphur by barley plants for the KVK-UF soil test was in the range of 7-12 mg S/kg. The conversion of the KVK-UF S-test to the index of soil reserve of sulphur by adding up a variable portion of the CEC value to the value of sulphur determined by the soil test (0.0167CEC + 9.1667) improved the closeness of the relationship between soil and plant.

In the Czech Republic the increased utilization of the biofuels, especially for diesel engines, has been registered in the last ten years. The rape-seed oil based fuels - called biodiesel, is the most extended. The use of rape-seed oil brings a good ecological and agronomic aspect, e.g. positive energetic and CO₂ balance, biological decomposition, etc. A special attention should be paid for the emissions. The paper presents the practical results of the performance with the commercially available biodiesel and their mixtures with different quantity of fermented ethanol. The testing was realized with an unmodified AVIA 712.18 truck engine and an unmodified ZETOR 7701 tractor engine according to thirteen-points homologation test method EHK R49 (ČSN EN ISO 8178-4). Biodiesel NATURDIESEL, according to the Czech Standard ČSN 65 6508, served as a basis for fuel blends and such a comparison fuel. Based on the experiment, it can be said, that the most suitable fuel blend is biodiesel + 2% addition of fermented bioethanol according to following points. This addition significantly reduces the NO_x emissions. At the AVIA engine the reduction is about 54% in comparison with non-additived fuel. With the Zetor engine, it is decreased 88% of its primary value. Even in cause of smokiness, the situation is similar favourable. The power output parameters are almost constant. No significant increase of fuel consumption has been observed. However, there is higher share of unburned hydrocarbons in dependence on increased alcohol content. In this case, the lower concentration of alcohol in fuel blend is advantageous, which is in accordance to the biodiesel with 2% addition of alcohol. Higher share of ethanol is not interesting from the point of view of fuel requirement and even from the economic point of view, because the price of these fuel blends increases, due to the co-solvent addition.

In 1986, the UN ECE established the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (hereinafter ICP Forests) to respond on the growing concern about forest damage caused since the beginning of eighties by air pollution load. Pan-European grid of the (ICP Forests) monitoring plots represents one of the most important systems of forest ecosystems assessing and checking. The Czech Republic is unfortunately well known due to this problem and so the country joined ICP Forest Programme since the very beginning. The paper presents general information on Czech forest stand condition that gained through various methods in the past as well as in the frame of ICP Forests. The participation in the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) represents a contribution of the EU candidate country to the fulfillment of the Reg. (EEC) No. 3528/86. However it seems that effects and importance of air pollution are decreasing, a lot of new stress situations exists and there is a need for continuing the programme.

The economic evaluation of agricultural enterprises in mountain and sub-mountain areas in South Bohemia results from a financial analysis. Financial ratios enable to identify and measure the state and development of individual economic aspects of these enterprises and their synthesis through solvency model makes financial health possible to be elicited.

The paper is examining the productivity of production factors in the EU-15 and some of the New Member States. International comparison shows that Slovakia is considerably lagging behind the EU-15 countries in the productivity of land and productivity of labour, but it is rather competitive in productivity of the fixed and variable capital. In order to get comparable data, the author adjusted figures on production of agricultural activities published in the Economic Accounts of Agriculture, and excluded the influence of different price - and support levels in the EU-15 and New Member Countries.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa Mill. is an introduced species in the Czech Republic. It is recorded roughly from 300 localities. To the end of 2002, the occurrence of chestnut was verified at about 140 macrolocalities. The most northern locality recorded so far was Choustníkovo Hradiště in the region of Hradec Králové. Chestnuts occur generally to an altitude of 500 m (80% of all examined localities), at higher altitudes they suffer from climatic extremes particularly late frosts. The occurrence of chestnut was recorded at 27 localities (ca. 20% localities under investigation) where altitudes exceed 500 m. The highest location of chestnut is locality Nejdek, Karlovy Vary District where chestnut trees thrive at an altitude of 678 m. At altitudes over 600 m, two other localities were recorded. The health condition of chestnut is relatively good. At some localities, however, crown drying occurs as a result of not quite ideal climatic conditions. Within our research, quarantine Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr. was determined for the first time in the Czech Republic at the only examined locality.

The tree species composition of forests in the Czech Republic has changed due to the human impact over the time. Nowadays, the idea of reducing the area with spruce stands and of increasing the area with broadleaved stands is widely discussed. The paper compares the target species composition with the presentone and creates four groups of areas with the largest and/or negligible differences between the target and the actual tree species composition using the Czech typology school.

In a controlled pot trial, plants of birch (Betula pendula Roth) were treated in six variants: acid watering (pH 3), acid watering with spraying, drought, ammonium sulphate fertilisation, ammonium sulphate fertilisation in combination with drought, and control. The response to the treatment with ammonium sulphate in terms of the increment was discordant as it increased the sensitivity of birch to frost. Drought had a negative effect on increments. A combination of ammonium sulphate and drought; drought; ammonium sulphate and sprayed acid watering delayed the shedding of leaves; this was due to a longer vegetation period, significantly higher nitrogen content in these variants, with the exception of drought.

The paper reviews experiences from the accession process of Poland and the Czech Republic, two countries with different accession conditions regarding the agri-food sector. The paper has two main aims. First is to discuss the scope of action in the EU and in the acceding countries from a game theoretical view. The second aim is to identify the reasons for successfully providing beneficial accession criteria. Investigating two selected agricultural sectors does this: milk and beef production. Our overall argument is that the actions, which nations and interest groups have undertaken with regard to the EU accession and future policy direction are, at least partially, a function of different external restrictions and internal national patterns; i.e., the relevance and structure of agriculture and the bargaining power of interest groups.

The rural area is a very important multifunctional space, with landscape enhancement value and function. These factors are then necessary for the directions of development process in rural communities. The countryside creates an important part of economic and social state system. The area of work and the employment of population into the productive age present ones of significant macro-economic indicators of the capacity of national economy. Changes of economy in the market space, transformation of companies of agricultural primary production to new legal form, restructuring of production and manpower in agriculture caused leaving of part skilled of the workers, as well as other workers to another branches of national economy. In 1990's, especially in the beginning during the transformation of Czech economy, there was a big boom of private business and new forms of business activities and subjects emerged. Traditional lifestyle, which continues in the Czech countryside, determined that small enterprise prevails here. Current economics clearly shows that small and medium enterprises have an unsubstitutable role in our economic development and greatly contribute to creating new jobs in individual regions.

The occurrence of powdery mildew after heavy spontaneous infections was evaluated on 2,500 apple seedlings of 54 progenies that were derived from crosses made in 1993 and 1994. At the same time, the response to mildew was also assessed on 47 cultivars or selections that were used as parents for the crosses. Scores of the strongest infestation were used for final ranking of every seedling or parent. The highest proportions (33 and 28%) of seedlings with complete resistance to mildew were attained in 2 progenies involving parents transmitting monogenic resistance to the pathogen. A few seedlings with this resistance were also found in other 7 progenies. Seedlings with partial resistance to mildew were distributed in the highest proportions (about 30%) among 7 progenies. In 6 out of these progenies, always one parent was derived from partially resistant selections that were selected in the first generation from the cross Spätblühender Taffetapfel × Court Pendu Plat. A very close relationship was found between mid-scores of parents and mean response to powdery mildew infection in progenies. Seedlings on average were significantly more infested than their parents. Progenies determined to have a columnar growth habit were somewhat less infested than progenies possessing a standard growth pattern only. This study revealed considerable improvement of some donors transmitting partial resistance to powdery mildew.

The paper proposes a method of assessing the potential risks of the future development of stands in relation to a climatic change. To assess risks of the future development of a stand simple point scales have been worked up based on primary properties of a site and a stand according to data of the forest management plan (FMP). In assessing the health condition, the risk of damage to stands by Armillaria sp. in the felling age was evaluated on the basis of a present attack by Armillaria sp. and also defoliation of the crown primary structure assessed during a simple field examination. The evaluation was carried out in the region of the Křtiny Training Forest Enterprise (TFE) Masarykův les, ranger district Proklest, in 2002. The study was conducted in 118 Norway spruce stands aged more than 20 years. The majority of evaluated stands ranked among the category of high and medium risk from the viewpoint of site and stand risks and among the category of high Armillaria sp. attack.

This article is divided into four parts: the first is concerned with the state subsidy and support policy in the year 2001. The second part of the contribution mentions the subsidy development in production and marginal areas in the period 1996-2001 and its influence on the economic result of an average farm. Another part monitors the grant volume and the economic result at a selective sample of the identical firms in the time period from of the year 1997 to the year 2001 in reference to the farm position. The last part will deal with an evaluation of the grant volume where the subsidies are divided according to the subsidy titles in the year 2001 in an average agricultural firm farming in a certain altitude.

The article deals with the identification and categorisation of economic power of Slovak regions on the base of collecting of unemployment support payment from the employers, employees, and natural persons entrepreneurs into the employment fund. The analysis shows that during the last years, the number of rich regions has decreased and there rises the number of counties which have to be supported by the division of means from the rich counties. The article consequently categorises the development of economically strong and weak counties of Slovakia in the years 1999-2002 and marks the causes of regional polarisation of Slovakia, lying in its economic and structural difficulties. Alongside increasing the regional polarisation in the rate of unemployment, there continues to rise the re-distribution of funds for labour-market policy from the economically stronger regions to the economically weaker regions, which are reliant on socio-spatial solidarity. The course of economic transformation up to date has had significantly different regional impacts and creates unequal chances for people as well as businesses in the afflicted areas.

New Economy deals with competitiveness analysed by international comparative advantage of commodity and regional trade. According to New Economy we are forced to quantify the contribution of tradable goods and services into international competitiveness. New Economy shifts the current national competitiveness into a higher comparative advantage of comparable commodities of the world competitiveness. The methodology of calculation of domestic inputs and outputs is expanded by inputs and outputs of the comparable countries, integrated territories or also international agro-commodity trade.

Twelve carbonaceous materials were investigated for adsorption of Cd, Cu and Ag from water solutions. Before the adsorption experiments the chemical and structural characterization of all materials were made. The batch adsorption experiment was used. The kinetic of the adsorption process was very fast for the first five hours but very slow for approximately the next 65 hours. Nevertheless the maximum amount of metal removed was achieved during the first stage of about five hours. Biological materials (milled wood, bark, cork) exhibited a very low affinity for adsorption of metals. The best results were obtained for materials in an intermediate degree of carbonisation with a high content of oxygen rich functional groups. Although the highly carbonised materials exhibited low ability to adsorb copper or cadmium, their capacity to bind silver was very high.

Vegetable juices processed by lactic acid fermentation bring about a change in the beverage assortment for their high nutritive value, high content of vitamins and minerals. Starter cultures of the genus Lactobacillus are added into juices to achieve their desirable properties. This review describes the manufacture of lactic acid fermented vegetable juices and beneficial effects of the lactic acid bacteria (mainly antimicrobial and anticancer effects). A separate part of research is devoted to nutrition aspects of lactic acid fermentation and to the occurrence of biogenic amines in lactic acid fermented vegetables and vegetable juices.