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Sewage sludge application in agriculture is the simplest method of its management. Its content of organic and inorganic toxic components is a barrier to such management. Particular attention should be paid to the content of heavy metals whose presence in sewage sludge and later in soil poses hazard for plants, animals and people. The investigations aimed to determine the effect of vermicomposts obtained from tannery sludge on development of the root system and biomass of shoots as well as heavy metal concentrations in these organs. In the first year after the vermicomposts application their effect on the maize biomass increase was equal to the farmyard manure treatment but significantly worse than the mineral fertilization. The consecutive fertilizer effect of vermicomposts of tannery sludge ted on the increase in biomass of the shoots and roots of winter rape, sunflower and oats was comparable with the farmyard manure effect but notably better than the mineral fertilization. Heavy metal concentrations in individual plants were diversified; in the plants from vermicompost treatment they were as a rule lower than in the plants from mineral or farmyard manure treatment. Absorbed heavy metals accumulated primarily in the root systems, whereas the extremely high chromium content in vermicomposts did not cause its excessive accumulation in the cultivated plants.

A laboratory incubation experiment with zeolite and glucose was performed to evaluate the effects of zeolite amendment in heavy metal contaminated soils from two smelter areas on some microbial characteristics [Kremikovtzi (K1, K2) in Bulgariaand Příbram (P1, P2) in the CzechRepublic]. The content of microbial biomass showed a tendency to decrease in Kremikovtzi soils whereas in Příbram soils no significant effects were found after zeolite amendment. Respiratory activity and metabolic quotient (qCO2) decreased on the second and third day in Kremikovtzi soils amended with zeolite, no effects were observed in Příbram soils. Heavy metals decreased the content of microbial biomass in Kremikovtzi soils whereas the contaminated soil from Příbram area had the highest microbial biomass compared to non-contaminated soil during incubation, probably due to lower mineralization of carbon. The respiratory activity did not show any significant effects of zeolites on the evolution of CO2 and qCO2 in heavy metal contaminated Příbram soil. The respiratory activity in non-contaminated Příbram soil remained during the experiment lower in comparison to contaminated one, however the addition of zeolite increased qCO2.

Data collection, data processing, data presentation and data application in the System of Precision farming guarantee a success of this system in the market. Difficulties of technologies, which are currently and continually involved in this system, argue against its practical using by farmers. In this case, service company wants to create a suitable environment not only for data collection, but also for the high quality of the information distribution to customers. One of such tools is the MapServer placed on Internet web sites.

Four protein fractions: 1 - albumins and globulins, 2 - gliadins, 3 - glutenins (extracted in NaOH), 4 - glutenins (extracted in SDS) separated by SDS-PAGE were used as biochemical markers for evaluation of polymorphism level in three spelt wheat cultivars - Hercule, Altgold and Rouquin, three new-breeders' spelt lines - H92.27, H92.28 and M92.20 (originated from hybridisation between spelt and common wheat) and reference common wheat cultivar Brea. Electrophoretic phenotypes and zymograms were evaluated by means of digital image analysis and Nei and Li coefficient of similarity was used to evaluate the relation of analysed genotypes. Entire evaluation of all four-marker systems showed differences between common wheat cultivarBreaand spelt cultivars and spelt breeders' lines. Also significant differences between old spelt cultivars (Hercule, Altgold and Rouquin) and new spelt breeders' lines were found. The reality of the mutual passing of protein fractions (gliadins and glutenins), based on Osborne extraction was confirmed. In this sense it is necessary to see both fractions as dynamic overlapping structures.

Four kinds of cereal crops were grown without farmyard manure application. The effect of farmyard manure was supposed to be replaced by post-harvest residues (PH treatment) or by ploughing the total by-product, i.e. straw (PZ treatment) into soil. After seven years of application, this soil farming system did not influence the contents of Cox and Nt in soil. The amount of organic carbon had declined after the first year, but in the following years it remained at the same level (1.2%). The total nitrogen content increased from 0.143 to 0.166% without any considerable difference between the treatments. The amount of microbial biomass (C_mic) in PH treatment had been varying and in 2000 it decreased approximately by a half (from 215.96 to 132.00 mg C/kg of soil dry matter). The input of organic matter due to ploughing the whole by-product (PZ treatment) into soil acted favourably and the value of C_mic in 2000 was quite comparable with the average values of the individual years of 1994-1997. This land management and cereal growing caused a reduction of the ratio of microbial biomass carbon to soil organic carbon (C_mic/C_org). In the year 2000, the values decreased from 2.59 to 1.09% and from 2.88 to 1.82% in PH and PZ treatments, respectively. The amount of the biologically releasable nitrogen (Nbiol) and the intensity of nitrification were the highest in the year 2000. There was a moderate negative correlation (r = -0.474) between the N_biol values and biomass amount values in PZ treatment, and a very close negative one (r = -0.972) in PH treatment. This relation became strong in both treatments when the values Cmic/Corg and Nbiol were compared, i.e. r_PH = -0.863 and r_PZ = -0.921. The results confirmed that the amount and the quality of organic matter influence microbial biomass and its activity which is responsible for the nutrient release.

During the shallow soil tillage after winter wheat harvest the tractor JOHN DEERE 8200 with disc tiller DOWLANDS 4500 operation was monitored. For dependence of the set field speed within plots acreage the function of type y = 0.43 Ln x + 10.76 was chosen. Average Diesel fuel consumption at first skimming on plots of total acreage 611.4 ha was 7.98 l/ha, for evaluation of Diesel fuel consumption dependence on particular plots acreage was chosen a logarithmic model of function y = -0.81 Ln x + 10.35. For the engine Diesel fuel consumption dependence on average length of working drives through the plots the logarithmic model of function y = -1.83 Ln x + 18.95 was chosen. After first skimming by disc tiller on the soil surface has remained 31.1 wt % of winter wheat post-harvest remainders, in depth of 0-50 mm was found-out of 31.0% of post-harvest remainders, 37.9 wt % of crop remainders was found-out in depth of 50-100 mm. After the second skimming by the blade tiller most of the post-harvest remainders was worked-in to the depth of 50-100 mm (54.3 wt %). After the following pre-seeding soil preparation by combinatory was recorded dislocation of most of crop remainders to depth of 0-50 mm (58.4 wt %).

Extensive forest areas were ameliorated by large-scale liming in the last years in order to prevent proceeding acidification and degradation of forest soils. The hitherto knowledge of liming effects on the function of forest soils still appears insufficient for an unambiguous evaluation. Sorption properties of soils and acidity are favourably affected by liming and the favourable effect is usually manifested in the layer of forest floor humus and in mineral soil within ten years. Reduction of soil acidity stimulates development of a bacterial component of microflora, soil edaphon, and good prerequisites are formed for a release of nutrients from soil organic matter. Improvement of some physical parameters of soils and negative effect of liming on the depth of rooting in spruce, availability of nutrients at some sites and in connection with mechanical soil preparation were also described. A key point of liming effect on forest soils is nitrogen dynamics. Mineralization of nitrogen is stimulated at nitrogen-rich sites with C/N < 30. Nitrogen-limited sites show nitrogen mineralization inhibited by liming with signs of pronounced deficiency in spruce nutrition. A positive effect of liming on nutrition with bases is generally accompanied by an adverse influence on N dynamics in acidic soils under spruce monocultures. Therefore it is possible to state that liming induces relatively marked changes in the soil but the actual growth response of woody species cannot be derived only from these changes.

One of the conditions of accession of Slovakia into the European Union is the existence of a developed land market. At present, the official land price is mostly used in the evaluation of agricultural land. The price was calculated on the basis of normative production and normative costs required to achieve such production. As the land market gradually develops, market prices come into being; reflecting the effect of real market forces. With the full-fledged market prices, the task of official prices will be just an informative one. The land market prices will gradually assume all the tasks of the current official prices of the agricultural land.

A high level of communicative capabilities as an integral part of social skills in managers is an essential prerequisite of success in managerial position. The paper points out an opportunity of quantifying the level of communicative capabilities, as well as the way of delimiting deficiencies in communication and planning the process of development of communicative capabilities. The testing was done on a sample of 230 students of the Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, i.e. in the future agromanagers.

The hypothesis, that hypoiodemia of goats causes such a compromise of the immune system, which during subsequent Toxoplasma gondii infections results in clinically more pronounced signs of toxoplasmosis, was verifying in laboratory mouse. Hypoiodemic mice (fed by wheat and supplied by water), normoiodemic mice (fed by wheat and supplied by water containing 1.25 mg KI/l) and the majority of standard mice (fed by commercial grain mixture containing 0.83 mg I/kg) were experimentally infected with T. gondii oocysts or tachyzoites. The susceptibility to acute T. gondii infection was evaluated according to mortality rate. As a criterion of cell-mediated immune function has been chosen the spleen-lymphocyte transformation test (LTT). We observed no difference in LTT between hypoiodemic and normoiodemic mice infected with T. gondii oocysts or tachyzoites and no difference in mortality of both infected groups. Four days after the exposure to 100 tachyzoites of T. gondii (K24 strain), all experimentally infected groups of mice showed statistically significant decrease (P = 0.004) in spleen cells responsiveness to stimulation by all mitogens used - as compared to non-infected standard mice group. Reduced responsiveness of cells was probably caused by T. gondii infection itself - the relation to iodine deficiency has not been found.

Dependently on planting conditions caraway fruits contain 1-9% of essential oils consisting of about 30 compounds. Carvone and limonene account for the main portion, about 95%. To evaluate the quality of various registered caraway (Carum carvi L.) cultivars (Kepron, Prochan and Rekord) planted during 1998-2000, regarding the effect of sample grinding and preparation, plant treatment and time of harvest, the amounts of essential oil and the carvone/limonene ratio were determined. Both whole and ground caraway seeds were extracted. As obvious from the results, SFE is not suitable for the determination of essential oils in whole seeds since the results are lower in comparison with those of ground caraway. The way of grinding was also examined. Of the three mills used, a splintery mill VIPO seemed to be the most suitable. Further, the amount of essential oil was studied in caraway gathered at the beginning of maturation (sample A) and at full ripeness (sample B) of caraway seeds. It was found that the samples gathered at full ripeness (samples B) had more essential oil. It was also concluded that the use of the regulator Roundup Bioaktiv during caraway maturation to unite the ripening of achenes in the main umbel and the first-order umbels, and the use of fungicides (Alert S and Prelude 10) affected positively the amount of essential oil in caraway. Possibilities of SFE application for the essential oil determination in small samples gathered during breeding were investigated. The results were used as a one of the criteria during breeding. Classical way of the essential oil determination does not allow this option. An alternative method for the isolation and determination of essential oils - supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) - was investigated in this study.

Achievements and prospects of wheat breeding for disease resistance in the world and in the Czech Republic are reviewed. Attention is paid to rusts, powdery mildew, leaf blotch, glume blotch, tan spot, fusarium head blight, common and dwarf bunt, eyespot, barley yellow dwarf virus on wheat and wheat dwarf virus. Genes for resistance to rusts and powdery mildew in the cultivars registered in the Czech Republic are listed. Promising resistance genes and sources of resistance to the above mentioned diseases are reviewed. Prospects of resistance breeding including application of methods of molecular genetics and development of synthetic hexaploids are outlined.

Caraway fruits contain 1-6% of essential oils consisting of about 30 compounds, from which carvone and limonene account form the main portion, about 95%. To evaluate the quality of various caraway cultivars, the amounts of essential oils and the carvone/limonene ratio were measured. The most common method of essential oil evaluation is steam distillation in accordance with Standard ČSN 58 0110, but an alternative method - supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) - was also investigated in this paper. Ground caraway fruits were extracted under different SFE conditions (pressure, temperature, use of modifiers). Released compounds (carvone and limonene) were quantified by GC.

We examined the impacts of variation in overstory structure and burning regime on understory vegetation in the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forest of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia, U.S.A. On sandy upland sites surrounding the Okefenokee Swamp and on islands, we established five randomly-located 0.04-ha plots within each of six study areas. The plots varied in overstory density, past management and fire regime. We measured overstory tree size of longleaf pines in the 0.04-ha plots and percent cover of ground cover species in five 1-m2 subplots nested within each 0.04-ha plot. We also calculated diversity indices for the ground cover species. There was no significant relationship between overstory basal area and any diversity measure. Even at the subplot level, there was no significant relationship observed between the diversity measures and distance to the nearest tree, presumably a surrogate for overstory density. The diameter (DBH) of the nearest tree exhibited a slight influence over the Shannon Index, and the nearest tree's height was significantly related to evenness in each subplot. There were varied relationships between individual species and fire regime or nearest tree measurements. There was a definite, but statistically insignificant, trend of decreasing diversity with increasing years since the last burn. Height of the nearest tree positively influen­ced evenness, probably reflecting the influence of stochasticity and amount of needle deposition (influencing fire behavior) over a wide area. Within the generally equal fire-return interval across sites, individual fire-events and site-specific behavior apparently influence understory diversity. It is not surprising that the last burn would affect species richness, even more so than the number of growing-season burns, other studies support this observation. The presence of obligate seeding and (clonal) sprouting as dominants in the ground cover suggests that the fire-return interval is not regular. The cycling of fire-return intervals, even within the manage­ment-prescribed 2- to 4-year range, and the variation by microsite appear to provide sufficient variability of disturbance to create diversity in the ground-level cohort. Site-specific relationships between particular species and the nearest tree suggest that even a narrowly-prescribed fire management regime can provide sufficient diversity.

The paper analyses the economic and policy gap between the agriculture in Slovakia and the EU member states from the perspective of the future accession of this country to the Union. As it concludes, the deterioration of terms of trade during the transition period creates also problems for the accession negotiations, because this fact seems to legitimate the equitable implementation of the CAP in all member countries after the East-enlargement of the Union. The paper is arguing, on the basis of income simulation, that that the Commission proposal on reduced direct payments for the newly admitted countries would, in case of Slovakia, generate an improvement of the sectoral income only if they are topped by rural development measures.

The paper deals with statistical analysis of the registered regional unemployment rate in regions and districts of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. Regional unemployment reaches significantly different levels; moreover, within the examined period, differences were increasing: variance between the minimum and the maximum increased approx. from 12% to 20% in the respective districts. By means of cluster analysis, regions are divided into more homogenous groups according to the registered unemployment rate by 31 December 2002. The following districts may be identified as the best ones: Praha-západ (Prague-West), Praha-východ (Prague-East), Praha (Prague) and Benešov; the following as the worst ones: Most and Karviná. Concerning regions, the lowest unemployment level may be identified in Praha (Prague); on the contrary, the highest levels were reached in Ústecký region and Moravskoslezský region. Variability, skewness and peak characteristics were calculated to evaluate the development of regional unemployment distribution. The average rose from 5.63% to 9.94%, the standard deviation rose from 2.53% to 4.15%, the variation coefficient stayed around 0.4. Thus, together with the increase in unemployment level, the absolute variability rose while the relative variability stayed approx. constant. The rate distribution was left-sided and increasing; the peak was only slightly higher than the standard peak. The development trend of the characteristics was evaluated by means of linear functions and higher order polynomials; their seasonal variation is described by seasonal indices differing in the degree of their seasonality and distribution in the course of a year. A correlation matrix demonstrates the relations between the trend of the characteristics and their seasonal indices.

As, Cd, Pb and Zn accumulation in the aboveground biomass of seven clones of Salix spp. and changes in element uptake by plants after element addition to soil were studied in a pot experiment. Unpolluted Chernozem (Suchdol) as a control and soils with addition of As (100 mg/kg), Cd (40 mg/kg) and either Pb (2000 mg/kg) (Suchdol-Pb) or Zn (2000 mg/kg) (Suchdol-Zn) were used for the experiment. Significant differences were found in the accumulation of elements between willow clones and also between different element additions to the soil. Although As and Cd uptake slightly increased in Suchdol-Zn soil compared to Suchdol-Pb soil, the element removal from soil was significantly higher in Suchdol-Pb soil due to a significant reduction of aboveground biomass yield in Suchdol-Zn soil caused by Zn phytotoxicity. The yield reduction decreased the uptake of plant-available elements by biomass, thus higher plant-available portions of As and Cd were found in Suchdol-Zn soil. Element removal from soil was more dependent on element contents in willow tissues in Suchdol-Pb soil than in Suchdol-Zn soil, where willow plants exhibited physiological symptoms of phytotoxicity.

The effects of different tillage systems and dose reduction on the efficacy of triasulfuron & chlortoluron mixture in the post-emergence control of annual broad-leaved weeds in winter wheat and spring barley were studied on lessive pseudogley soil in north-eastern Croatiaduring 1997-2000. Total dry biomass production in untreated plots was significantly influenced by tillage and it was lowest in continuous mouldboard ploughing (99 kg/ha), medium and similar in mouldboard ploughing/disk harrowing alternating every second year and in chisel ploughing (218 kg/ha) whereas the biomass was highest in continuous disk harrowing (422 kg/ha). Thereby the proportion of annual broad-leaved weed biomass was 70, 63, and 28%, respectively. Chenopodium album L., Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., Ch. polyspermum L. and Polygonum aviculare L. are the most abundant annual weed species in all tillage treatments. One half and one quarter of the recommended rate decreased the control efficacy of total weed biomass by 12 and 19%, respectively in wheat and by 6 and 15%, respectively in barley compared to the highest dose but they still provided a very good biomass control of main annual weeds (94-96 percentage units). The efficacy of reduced herbicide doses in the control of annual broad-leaved weeds did not vary significantly between tillage treatments and growing seasons. Significant interaction with continuous disk harrowing tillage and one-quarter herbicide dose was detected in the last year of wheat trial when perennial weeds increased their biomass proportion 8 times compared to four years before.

The paper deals with problems of thinnings in a mixed stand (spruce-fir-beech) situated in the sixth altitudinal forest zone. Three of the five investigated plots were tended by free crown thinning for a long time, and two were left without any planned silvicultural treatments as control. Dynamic changes in tree species composition, stand structure, qualitative and quantitative production were evaluated for a period of 30 years. The changes were compared with respect to differences between the plot with long-term silvicultural treatments and the control plots (without treatments).

The applied skidding technology strongly influences the impact of harvest on the ecosystem and success of natural regeneration. The impact of skidder SLKT 81 and high-lead system Larix 3T on forest soil and natural regeneration was compared under analogical site and stand conditions in a production beech forest in the environs of Brno, Czech Republic. The skidder was found to have greater effects on the soil surface consistency, soil properties and natural regeneration than the high-lead system operations. Although high-lead system operations are more friendly to all parts of forest ecosystem, the skidder may not cause excessive damage when applied under suitable terrain and climatic conditions.

In all partial aspects, subsidies can be effectively realised only if the adequate system of information is set up and used both on the level of subsidy suppliers (government) and on the level of subsidy recipients (agricultural organisations). It is essential to control and evaluate the usefulness of providing the support. The GPS technologies are ones of many options how to contribute to this effort. The proceeding rapid progress and upgrade of these technologies, miniaturisation of the apparatus along with the decreasing price and increasing technological efficiency, accuracy and reliability are together granting significant preconditions for their practical utilisation in agriculture. GPS is practically being used in agriculture in the system of precise agriculture and our experts belong among the world-wide recognized specialists in this direction. The GPS utilisation is additionally offered at the allocation of LFAs as well as at marking the places suitable for agro-environmental measures. In combination with the IACS system and its databases and registers, it is functionally and operatively useful at the land control of fulfilling the conditions of support programmes.

The genetic diversity and the relationships among rapeseed germplasm, including a collection of 20 Chinese, 25 Czech, 2 German, 2 French, and 1 English cultivars and breeding materials were evaluated using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A total of 79 different polymorphic amplification products were obtained using10 selected decamer primers. RAPDs revealed a significant level of polymorphism among the accessions. The diversity index (DI) ranged from 1.390 to 3.491, showing a sufficient potential of selected primers to differentiate among studied genotypes. Three different metrics were used to assess genetic diversity. The best fit between a priori knowledge about germplasm origin and a posteriori grouping was found using Hamman metrics. Cluster analysis based on Hamman pairwise distance comparison divided the studied accessions into three main clusters. The first group included only accessions fromChina, the second group only that fromEurope with the exception of Zhongshuang No. 2, a Chinese winter rape possessing European cultivars in the pedigree. The third group included accessions both fromChina andEurope. The results indicate the occurrence of a considerable genetic variation between Chinese and European accessions.

Non-symbiotic nitrogen fixation (potential nitrogenase activity - PNA) of soil samples originating from different plots of long-term field experiments (selected variants: Nil, NPK [mineral fertilisation: 64.6-100 kg N/ha/year], FYM [farmyard manure], and FYM + NPK from three blocks III, IV and B with different crop rotation) was determined in laboratory experiments. The symbiotic nitrogen fixation (total nitrogenase activity - TNA) of the same soil samples was evaluated in hydroponic experiments with pea (2001, 2002) and lucerne (2001) in which the soil samples were used as a natural inoculum. The high values of PNA were found in the variants fertilised with FYM in all three blocks and all experiments. Simultaneously, the variants fertilised with mineral NPK reached low values of PNA. The farmyard manuring enhanced the number of free-living bacteria Azotobacter spp. that were identified in all soil samples. In the hydroponic experiments with pea, the highest nonsignificant values of TNA were found in variants B 284 (FYM + NPK) and III 254 (FYM + NPK) in 2001, and B 214 (FYM) and III 214 (FYM) in 2002. Plants inoculated with soil from these variants formed also high amounts of nodules (significant differences in block IV in 2001) and plant biomass. In the experiments with lucerne, the nonsignificantly highest TNA values were found in variant III 154 (NPK). Variants from block III (214, 254) and IV (114 and 154) showed the nonsignificantly lowest TNA values. The rhizobia that effectuate symbiosis with pea were more active in the soil samples in 2001 than those forming nodules on lucerne.

The redox potential of flowers of Achillea plants was measured by means of a puncture method. Measurements were performed in 6 taxa (species and hybrids) in the stage of bud formation, full flower and flower shedding in 2000 and 2001. The content of essential oil was estimated in the period of full flower. Differences in the values of redox potential (177-213 mV) and contents of essential oil (1.5-6.1 ml/kg) measured in individual Achillea species and their hybrids were significant. The correlation between the content of essential oil and values of redox potential was closely below 95% of significance.

In the paper are presented results of grain outer quality loss investigation during its post-harvest treatment. Objective was to determine the grain damage during its transport by bucket elevators of type "SANFON" at bucket peripheral velocity 2.0 m/s and 2.8 m/sof capacity 40 t/hand 80 t/h, respectively. The damage was investigated at counter-flow and parallel-flow bucket filling. From the measured results resulted the conclusion, that the bucket elevators tend rather to grain crushing, i.e. fraction creation than to smaller damage. On basis of partial knowledge chain elevators have no significant tendency to fraction generation, but incline considerably to the transported grain total mechanical damage at performance significantly lower than is the nominal one. In that case total mechanical damage ranged from 1.78 to 1.98%. Auger conveyers tend rather to total mechanical damage of transported grain than to the fraction creation. This is caused mainly by the friction between the transported grain and transporting "trough". Total mechanical damage is in range from 1.36 to 1.73%. Belt elevators are friendly to transported grain and therefore are evitable for grain horizontal transport in lines for reception, treatment and storage of food grain crops.

In vitro propagation of Tilia platyphyllos Scop. has been achieved by axillary shoot proliferation and somatic embryo-genesis. The influence of tree age, explant source, genotype, and phytohormones on micropropagation of juvenile and mature trees of Tilia platyphyllos has been investigated. Nodal segments and shoot tips were used as initial explants for axillary shoot proliferation. Low concentration of cytokinin (BA, BPA, TDZ) plus auxin (IBA) stimulated fast shoot multiplication. Microshootsexcised from proliferating cultures were rooted on low salt medium and produced trees were planted in the field. Embryo-genic tissues were initiated from zygotic embryos cultured on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D. After transfer of embryogenic tissues with developing embryoids on media lacking 2,4-D and supplemented with low concetration of IBA, the development of somatic embryos was enhanced. Secondary somatic embryogenesis led to the formation of new adventive somatic embryos. Trees produced from somatic embryos were planted in the field and exhibited normal growth and morphology.

The objective of the trial in the test station was to evaluate productive performance with respect to sire-line No. 101, 102, 103 in C-position for LWs × (LW×L) genotype in pigs. The productive performance as to growth capacity, feeding intake and quantitative traits of slaughter value was examinated for 136 hybrid pigs divided in three groups of offsprings of LWs boar No.101, 102,103. The feeding of all pigs were ad-libitum. On the base of obtained results, one could say that inside the LWs-breed, considerable differences exist between lines, importantly affecting the overall economics of fattening.

In the framework of Slovakia entering into the European Union, there was done a PHARE-ACE survey in years 1999-2000. The name of this survey was "Micro-economic analysis of farming households restructuring in pre-accession period to the EU". The survey was finished in 2002. This survey was done in two regions of Slovakia, characterized by different natural conditions, production and economic conditions. This project was aiming not only at private farmers but also at other legal entities producing agricultural products. The monitored group consisted of 412 private farmers, farming in average 43.2 ha of agricultural land. Most of them are farming on 0-2 ha of agricultural land (20.8%) and on 25-100 ha of agricultural land (20.1%).

European winter wheat landraces and obsolete cultivars (121 accessions in set I and 101 accessions in set II) with modern check cultivars were evaluated in three-year field trials. Increased spike productivity in modern cultivars could be attributed mainly to increased number of grains in spikelet and increased HI, whereas TGW has marginal effect. Old cultivars had on average by 2-3% higher crude protein content in grain than modern ones. Among selected 10 characters, relatively wide diversity (C.V. 11-20%) has been estimated in spike length and characters of spike productivity (except of grain weight with C.V. close to 9%). It was difficult to distinguish the cultivars according to the country of origin, however, earliness and lower spike productivity seems to be characteristic for South-East origin whereas cultivars from North-West Europe showed opposite characters. Correlation analyses showed close relations between earliness in heading and in maturity and negative relation between late heading and grain filling period, which was positively correlated with TGW and HI (r = 0.26 to 0.38). Number of grains in spikelets was highly correlated with spike productivity and HI (r = 0.62 to 0.69) whereas relations between these two characters and TGW were lower (r = 0.20 to 0.51). Spike productivity characters, except of TGW, are in negative correlation with crude protein content in grain (r = -0.34 to -0.50). Regression analyses confirmed that main determining character for the spike productivity is number of kernels in spikelet (about 40% of variation) while effects of TGW are about half-size. Crude protein content was positively affected by plant height (15-30% of variation) impact of grain weight per spike was lower (14-17% of variation) and negative. Potentially valuable donors of earliness and longer grain filling period were identified for further studies and/or utilization in breeding programs. As especially valuable character can be considered very high crude protein content (around 18% in cvs Berg-land, Ukrajinka, Sippbachzeller, Innichen Nr. 25001 and Barbu du Finistre). High crude protein content combined with relatively good spike productivity and/or long grain filling period or earliness was found in cvs Visperterminen 640 E, Hatvan, Szekacz 1242, Berchtesgardener Vogel, Ble du Lot and Barbu du Finistere.