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The goal of this study was to compare the growing degree-days (GDD) and predictive equations for alfalfa quality (PEAQ) for the prediction of lucerne quality and to test their accuracy and suitability in the first cut period in Central Bohemia. Several additional stand parameters were verified in order to increase the accuracy of the quality estimate under these environmental conditions. In 2004-2007, the measurement and sampling were repeatedly realized from the late vegetative to the early bloom stage in six replications. For the GDD model across the years, the obtained R² for NDF, ADF and CP were 0.40, 0.57 and 0.65, respectively. It seems that the forage quality response to accumulated GDD was related to the stand development and it could be the reason for low R² across all the years. For the PEAQ model, R² were 0.62, 0.92, and 0.85, respectively. Similarly like in the GDD model, the effect of stand development across the years on changes in the slopes of equations was observed. The accuracy of the model combination was not higher in comparison with the PEAQ model. The count of stems per plant, density of stems per m², dry matter yield and average stem weight improved the NDF content prediction within a four-year period. In these models, variables which represent the stand development should be taken into account.

In former Czechoslovakia, grass breeding was located in the three distinct regions of Southern Bohemia and Northern Moravia during the 1920's; and later in Slovakia in the 1940's. This resulted in the development of 45 cultivars of 17 grass species which originated from local ecotypes and were named after the place of their breeding (e.g. Táborský, Větrovský, Rožnovský, and Levočský). Most of these historical cultivars were not preserved in any national germplasm collection, and the number of missing accessions amounted to 27 of the 34 deleted varieties. Using the findings about unpreserved materials of Czechoslovak origin in the European Central Crop Databases, as well as the EURISCO web catalogue, it was possible to repatriate 7 historical cultivars (Arrhenatherum elatius Větrovský, Festuca pratensis Větrovská, Festuca rubra Rožnovská, Lolium perenne Táborský, Phleum pratense Větrovský, Poa nemoralis Rožnovská, and Poa pratensis Levočská) from the gene banks of the neighbouring European countries. The accessions were regenerated, and their seed has been stored ex situ in the Gene Bank of the Crop Research Institute in Prague.

The biological efficacy of some biorational and conventional insecticides against different stages of Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) was evaluated under laboratory and semi-field conditions. Seven different commercial products were tested, including the biorational insecticides: Spinosad, Mectin, Fitoverm, Match, Neemix in addition to two conventional insecticides: Actara and Actellic. Data indicated that all tested insecticides showed low toxic effects to L. decemlineata eggs, but most hatching neonates died shortly after hatching. All tested insecticides at their field rates showed high toxicity to larvae of L. decemlineata. The highest mortality was obtained in earlier instars, as compared to older ones, and mortality increased with the time of exposure. Moreover, the lower concentrations (up to 25% of the field rate) of Actara, Mectin, Spinosad, and Fitoverm showed high efficacy against L. decemlineata third instar larvae. Also, Actara caused the highest mortality in L. decemlineata adults, followed by Spinosad, Mectin, and Fitoverm as compared to Actellic, Match, and Neemix. In pupal bioassay, Fitoverm caused the greatest reduction in L. decemlineata adult emergence followed by Mectin, Actara, Actellic and Spinosad. In translocation bioassays, Actara caused the highest mortality in L. decemlineata 3^rd instar larvae or adults followed by Spinosad and Mectin. The residual activity of tested insecticides against third instar larvae was also evaluated. Actara, Spinosad, and Mectin were more persistent under field conditions, consequently the mortality rates after 30 days of application were 46.67%, 44.44%, and 35.56%, respectively.

Mercury (Hg) is one of the major pollutants in soils because of the annual import of toxic Hg into the agricultural lands. The aims of the present studies are to investigate the effect of Hg on chlorophyll content in winter wheat var. jinan No. 17. Moreover, calcium (Ca) levels and bioaccumulation of Hg in wheat leaves were studied with the technique of inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometer (ICP-SF-MS). The study conducted a range of Hg concentrations from 0~500 mg Hg/kg in the dry weight soil. The soil was artificially contaminated with Hg as follows: 0, 100, 200, and 500 mg Hg/kg as HgCl₂. At early stages of the wheat growth, both low and high concentration of Hg stimulates chlorophyll content, but inhibits chlorophyll content at later stages of the wheat growth. Furthermore, the concentrations of Ca and Hg in wheat leaves increased with the increasing concentration of Hg on the thirty-fourth day with the technique of ICP-SF-MS. The results indicate that Hg can accelerate the absorption of Ca in winter wheat and Hg stress may affect Ca levels in wheat leaves.

This paper analyses the development of agricultural foreign trade in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic with the aim of uncovering the changes that have impacted the Central European agricultural trade over the ten year period (1999-2008). It issues from the results of the analysis of agricultural trade in the aforementioned countries, which has changed dramatically in terms of the commodity structure, the territorial structure and primarily the value structure. The main changes to have caused most of the changes to the individual characteristics of agricultural foreign trade in the particular countries under analysis are the process of the EU enlargementy, the adoption of obligations to ensue from the EU membership and the concentration in the internal market of the EU countries. We can see the actual changes in the commodity and territorial structure of the trade carried out in the individual countries under analysis. The changes which have occurred resulted in a dominant share of the member countries of the EU 27 in the agricultural trade of the individual countries under analysis.

Through data analysis of 7 571 883 pig carcasses slaughtered from 2004 to 2007 the means of quality classes (QC) 2.32, lean meat percentage (LM) 55.83%, carcass weight (CW) 87.21 kg, muscle thickness (MT) 61.95 mm and fat thickness (FT) 15.95 mm were determined. The highest correlation coefficients are between QC and LM (r = -0.920), LM and FT (-0.900) as well as QC and FT (0.828), the lowest between FT and MT (r = -0.084). Quality class as the dominant indicator is influenced mainly by LM, which explains from 77% to 89% of variability in the case of linear regression. Among the eight methods of pig carcass classification the FOM apparatus was used the most frequently (46.5% carcasses) followed by the ULTRA-FOM 300 apparatus (15.6%), another apparatus (13.2%) and by the IS-D-05 unit (9.8%). In the statistical models used all effects (differences) are statistically significant because of the large size of the data set. The results from the separate evaluation of each cross-classified effect are that EV has the largest influence and year-season and methods have a smaller influence. The time trend (42 months) documents stable CW and MT, a slight increase in LM and improvement of QC. The estimated results indicate the successful introduction of pig carcass classification in the CR after accession to the EU.

The fractionation of Cd, Cu, Mo, Ni, and Zn species in extracts of rye (cv. Fernando) seedlings (grown up in both standard and Cd²⁺-enriched medium) and rye flour was performed by SEC/ICP-MS method. The majority of Cu, Zn, and Ni in all samples were bound in the 1-2 kDa fraction. Molybdenum occurred in all samples in the fraction of 3 kDa. During five days of cultivation in a solution of 30 µmol/l Cd²⁺, the plants accumulated as much as 5 mg/kg fresh matter of Cd, but its soluble portion represented only 12-15%. The prevailing portion of Cd complexes was contained in the fraction of 3 kDa, while the minor part occurred in the fraction of 20 kDa. The speciation of elevated Cd in plants differs from that of other metals present at a physiological level. The metal-rich fractions of the extracts of all samples (i.e. those of 1-2 kDa) were refined by immobilised metal affinity chromatography. The isolated ligands of trace elements were peptides rich in dicarboxylic aminoacids.

The level and structure of cigarettes taxation are considered to be very discussed field in these days by the effect of preference trends of taxation of consumption at the expense of direct taxation, stressing the health risks of consumers of tobacco products, externalities caused by this consumption and by the effect of existence of distortions in the market with the tobacco products in the EU states. It is possible to achieve various aims in the field of fiscal and agricultural policies of state, consumption of cigarettes, protection of national market and in the other field by the regulation of excise duty imposed on cigarettes in the EU states. The question is, in frame of excise duty imposed on cigarettes in the EU member state, whether this tax should be imposed through specific rate, ad valorem rate, or by their combination. The choice between these options depends on the laid down aims of tax policy in each EU member states.

The aim of the paper was to analyse congenital disorders in the Czech cattle population in 1986-2001. The offspring of 474 sires - 215 Czech Simmental, 236 Holstein, and 23 beef - were diagnosed with congenital disorders which were unevenly distributed because only 18 occurred in the progeny of 10 and more sires, in contrast to 88 occurring in the progeny of 1 sire only. Umbilical hernia was the most frequently noted disorder, and 136 sires fathered progeny with limb anomalies. The most frequent gestational accident was schistosomus reflexus, the results suggesting a familial burden. Three sires fathering offspring with the afflicted spinal column and limbs were heterozygous for Complex Vertebral Malformation (CVM) though they had not been reported as such. Foetal defects and stillbirth were quite frequent, and the calves affected were fathered by 56 sires. In rare disorders with a low incidence, an accurate genetic analysis or even simple discrimination between inherited and acquired defects is problematic. It would be our recommendation that those sires with a higher incidence of defects among their offspring should be disqualified from fathering stock bulls, or culled.

The mycological conditions on study plots established in forests growing on former agricultural farm lands were studied. In young spruce stand (8-10 years) reduced and unstable spectrum of macromycetes was found. After approximately 50 years of forest growth the situation became stable and spectrum of macromycetes together with development of mycorrhizal status were similar to a situation found in stands on forest soils. Slightly increased occurrence of saproparasitic species of fungi (e.g. Heterobasidion annosum at others) was observed in older growths.

We can see that the today's management level of informations is not quite fully controlled in most businesses. Nowadays generation of information systems creates support for business processes with the aim of optimalization of these processes on the bases of experiences with similar business processes. Today's information systems are at the level of data management or information management. Quite a few manage information processes in the area of tactical and strategic planning and almost no one manages processes in the areas of gathering, distribution and sharing of knowledge in business. We can say, that investments to the information technologies do not guarantee the successful way to the management of information and knowledge in business.

The possibility of knowledge maps use in the decision-making process in agriculture and rural development is discussed in this paper. Each knowledge map presents a visualization of knowledge using different tools, where a mathematical model can be applied as one of them. The hierarchical structure of a knowledge map conforms to the general structure of a mathematical model. The mathematical model, when successfully solved and correctly read, is a knowledge map in itself. The parallels exist also between the creation process of a mathematical model and of a knowledge map. In general, every phase of a system approach can lead to a special knowledge map. The following paper explains this process and demonstrates it on the farm production structure optimisation problem solved by using a linear programming model.

The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 in the former Czechoslovakia opened the way to the renewal of the democratic political system. One of the most visible aspects of the Czech political development consisted in the renewal of the essential functions of elections and political parties. On the local level, however, the political process - as well as in other post-communist countries - continued to be for a long time influenced by the remains of the former centralized system wherein the local administration used to be subjected to the central state power. Municipal elections took hold in these countries, however, the local government remained in the embryonic state and a certain absence of real political and economic decision-making mechanism on the local level continued to show. The public administration in the Czech Republic had to deal with the changes in the administrative division of the state, the split of the Czechoslovak federation as well as the fragmentation of municipalities whose number increased by 50 percent. Decision making mechanisms on the local and regional level were suffering from the incomplete territorial hierarchy of public administration and from the unclear division of power between the state administration and local administration bodies. Only at the end of the 1990s, the public administration in the Czech Republic started to get a more integrated and specific shape. Citizens participation in the political process represents one of the key issues of representative democracy. The contemporary democracy has to face the decrease in voter turnout and the low interest of citizens to assume responsibility within the political process. The spread of democratising process following the fall of the iron curtain should not overshadow the risk of internal weakness of democracy. The solution should be looked for in more responsible citizenship and citizens political participation. The degree of political participation is considered (together with political pluralism) to be the key element of representative democracy in general terms, as well as of democratic process on the local and regional level. The objective of this paper is to describe the specifics of citizens local political participation in the Czech Republic and to show the differences between rural and urban areas. The paper concentrates on voting and voter turnout but deals also with other forms of citizens political participation.

There still exist the differences in the legal frame of VAT, its interpretation and application of the rules in practice between the EU member states. The application of VAT during providing management services to an enterprise in other EU state directly or through a subsidiary in the state of the recipient is different as well. Questions of the VAT application during the provision of management services were searched by using standard methods of the scientific work in the frame of five selected EU countries - Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Tax harmonization in the European Union has the greatest development in the field of value added taxation, but differences still can be found. Those differences influence not only the farming business. The paper is aimed on five European Union member states - Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Hungary. Based on the European Union regulations in the field of value added tax and the practical experience during its application, it is possible to identify the critical areas and to contribute to its correction and to provide the value added tax neutrality and efficiency on the European Union territory.

The article presents an overview and brief characteristics of the selected soil information systems in the Czech Republic. It suggests synchronisation of their development, particularly some convergence of the Land Evaluation Information System and Soil and Terrain Digital Database. In the pilot area of Litoměřice district, it demonstrates the application of the SOTER methodology for the construction of middle- and detail-scale soil maps, using the data from the General survey of agricultural soils. It not only shows the variety of the district soil conditions, but it also supplements them with the data gathered in the 2006 soil survey.

The objective of this paper is to show the mediation between citizens and political power by political parties in Czech rural areas. The position of political parties in rural municipalities is demonstrated in two perspectives. The top-down perspective is based on the distribution of several tens of thousands mandates in local municipal councils between political parties. The opposite perspective provides the bottom-up point of view - from the level of the individual municipalities, their party systems and party organisational structures. The analysis of the municipal election results reveals clearly that the role of political parties in local politics depends namely on the size of the given municipality. In this sense, the Czech Republic represents a very interesting example as it is characterised by a dense and heavily fragmented population settlement with a large number of small rural municipalities. In rural municipalities, we encounter incomplete party spectra and the absence of political parties in the smallest municipalities. Besides, the lists of candidates in rural municipalities reveal the weakness of the local party organisations that cannot avoid cooperating with the independent candidates. The small distance between the citizen and the elected body in a rural community significantly determines the forms of the local politics; the ideological and party mediation is superfluous, in fact, it is often seen as something harmful which divides the rural community.

On the 1^st of January 2009, the Slovak Republic should implement the Euro currency and enter the European Monetary Union. The implementation of the Euro currency is in currently the most important theme in our country. Business companies will benefit most, but they will also bear most of the single-shot costs. Up to 80% of the costs are constituted by the adaptation of information systems (IS). At the end of the year 2007, only 14% of Slovak companies were prepared in the terms of the Euro adaptation in IS. This condition of the business sector is very important and also alarming. Accelerated preparations of the changes in IS are needful, but this project is highly complicated, primarily in big business organizations. The quality of the realized project and the continuous transmission of IS will be a critical point of the firm success on the Slovak and European markets.

www technologies are developing very fast. The new technologies make possible the easier creation of the web applications, which support business activities. Small and medium size enterprises, which serve as the driving force for innovations and thus for economic development, can utilize these technologies for the creation of relatively inexpensive applications, which can be tailor-made for the given enterprise by using the open source software (OSS). This contribution presents several practical examples of how to create - update - the web site of an enterprise and how to supplement it with an e-shop option. Examples from the area of flower selling have been selected.

The image of a shop is the perception of the attributes of trade chains which are stated by consumers or the target market. The part of the shop image can be the assortment, the production quality and price, services of the shop, organization, the location and atmosphere of the shop, advertising and the shop reputation. The basis for conceiving this paper was an assumption that the image of a shop is one of the determining factors of the shopping place choice. The individual attributes of a shop can affect the perception of a consumer and therefore affect his decision about the choice of a shop and buying goods. The image analysis of trade chains was processed on the basis of a 5-point scale which shows the respondents' attitude toward each and every of 29 attributes of the researched trade chains. The basic data were gained by the means of a questionnaire research in the field of Slovak consumers' behaviour and the results were analysed by the means of the semantic differential method. The shop image analysis hands out information which can be a starting point for understanding the importance of the attributes of the trade chains from the point of view of the consumer perception and attitude. Based on the image analysis of the foreign trade chains in the Slovak market, we can say that the consumers are satisfied with the opening hours, shops location, cleanliness and appearance of shops and the sufficient number of shopping trolleys. Minuses were noticed in the field of promotion activities and the waiting time at the registers.

The paper deals with the current trends in development of communication infrastructure which is, above all, represented by high-speed Internet connection (broadband). It is focused on conditions of the Czech Republic; or more precisely, on its rural areas, including possibilities of further development in the following period in context of trends in the world, in the OECD and the EU countries.

Farm-sale, also known as direct sale, provides major opportunities to farmers in the future. This kind of sale is of increasing popularity in Europe, but farmers have to be familiar with the regulations concerning processing and sales. Mainly small and medium farmers prefer direct sale. In this activity, they must compete with an increasing number of hypermarkets, supermarkets and wholesale markets. When talking about direct sale, it means that farmers sell their products directly to customers. There are more options: (i) sale in their own shop, (ii) through a catalogue and (iii) delivery to restaurants and shops. It has to be mentioned that the development of special local products means the products representing a common local value and principally those that can be associated with a specific village due to their historical heritage or tradition. There is no standard or official definition for special local products that includes all the possible factors. Efforts of marketing and rural development experts are needed to identify and market these special products to the appropriate consumers. Meanwhile it has to be noticed that, mainly in Europe, the definition and the possibilities of product regulation concerning geographical origin, are clearly defined and well-known. However, the "protection of geographical origin" is not the same issue as "special local products" mentioned above. In a wider sense, these can be described from a marketing point of view as "local product, common product" that interconnect and integrate villages, people and approaches, but are not regulated and protected legally. These products mentioned above reach the consumer in relatively small quantities, through direct sale, and they are often attached to the services of rural tourism. The local products are also developed to ensure high quality products for the consumer or to attract tourists. People can be proud of them since they cannot be bought anywhere else. Advisers are also helping farmers choose the right sales channels to diversify their marketing activities.

This paper deals with the problems of destination management. It focuses on describing the crucial principles of destination management and consecutively on proving the functionality of these principles in practice in an area with a high potential for tourism development. In the selected South-Moravian region (JMK), we have explored whether an existing organization of destination management can be found in this region (DMC Destination Management Company) and to which extent it participates in the management and efficient development of tourism. To reach the set targets, we have used a secondary analysis of current data, a depth interview with a destination agency manager and an orientation questionnaire survey among business subjects. The results have shown that the level of cooperation between the destination agency in the JMK and the subjects of tourism is not on such a level and not as intensive as proclaimed by the South-Moravian Tourist Authority (CCRJM - the organization established with the aim of destination management in the JMK). For example, 50% of the addressed subjects have not been aware of the existence of this organization and only 10% of the companies have been addressed to cooperate with the CCRJM. The insufficient cooperation of public and private sectors appears to be the weakest segment. This causes an inconsistent presentation and isolation in preparing projects for the region development. It is the task for destination management, a new organization of tourism, to find the way how to cope with these difficulties and how to make the JMK a unified and quality destinations that would be attractive for tourists.

The article supplies the information concerning the transformation of informal MFIs to formal ones (Srnec, Havrland 2006). It underlines some risks of finance investors to the microfinancial segment of money market. Financial investors influence the possible development of MFIs and reverse. In contrary, MFIs can farcify or weaken the economic development in local areas and thus to decrease the financial effect and farm sustainable development.

Social and habitual changes of guests and a more difficult competitive situation are forcing the gastronomy industry to change. As one necessary reaction, restaurant operators need to apply a more specific and therefore a more effective communication policy. This research proves that there exist categories of guests, which react strongly positively to a certain mix of information content and information channel. Thus, communication policy is most effective, when such a communication mix is used. The explored factors are dimensions, not types; which means that each guest will show a different rate of interest in each of the defined dimension. The theory behind these dimensions is adopted from the applied personality theory, which has led to the development of the Big Five personality dimensions. The empirical analysis was exclusively conducted on the basis of the existing guests (189) of two pizzerias in Germany. The analysis mainly presents results for the relationship marketing, which focuses on the satisfaction of the already existing customers.

The effects of the changeover from conventional parlour to an automatic milking system (AMS) on behaviour and physiological parameters in dairy cows with and without previous experience in AMS milking were investigated. Heart rate increase was higher in unexperienced cows (UC) than in experienced cows (EC) during the first AMS visit (31 ± 2 and 12 ± 2 beats per min, respectively, P < 0.05). EC entered the automatic milking stall voluntarily without any intervention by the staff. In contrast, in UC the rate of voluntary visits was 4, 26, 40, 49, 63, 72, 76, 89, 91 and 94% during the first 10 d of AMS milking, respectively. Faecal cortisol metabolites were not affected by the changeover. In UC milk ejection was disturbed during the first visits, i. e. mean milk yield at the first milking in the AMS was significantly lower as compared to that in the parlour (67 ± 7%, P < 0.05), whereas milk ejection in EC was not disturbed. The total milk yield of the first 15 milkings differed significantly in UC (87.3 ± 2.4%) and EC (108.8 ± 3.3%) as compared to previous parlour yields (P < 0.05). In conclusion, cows with previous experience to AMS milking did not need a new adaptation period in the AMS after a transient period of parlour milking. In contrast, UC do need an intensive adaptation to the AMS in order to minimise production loss. Data clearly demonstrate that an adequate adaptation is crucial for successful milk production in AMS.

Portion of the electronically processed agendas and transactions of all kinds constantly increases and also the volume and importance of the processed agendas grows. Therefore, the need for supervision and inspection of these transactions is also increasing. One possibility is to accomplish control e.g. with the use of specialised mining instruments. The main disadvantage of this approach is the fact that the discovered suspicious transaction was completed long ago and it is impossible to change it. In such a case, we need to inspect and evaluate transactions in the real time still before their completion. But the complexity of real-time analysis of transaction rapidly grows with the increasing set of aspects of this assessment. This paper describes the conception, architecture and possibilities to utilize a system which contains mainly the on-line risk analysis and simultaneously it enables an automatic adaptation by the means of utilizing conclusions from a feedback analysis of mining instruments of the data warehouse. This system is suitable e.g. for the automatic on-line analysis of risks of credit card payments, authenticity of the submitted projects (at university), the submitted tax or customs declarations, etc. Without any detriment to generality, we shall use the last mentioned application domain for explaining the system properties.

A laboratory experiment of a completely randomised design and replicated four times evaluated the effectiveness to control the bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus in cowpea by the synthetic insecticide Actellic dust, and by the natural protectants ash, coconut oil, powdered cloves and black pepper. The data collected included the number of damaged and undamaged seeds, weight of damaged and undamaged seeds and the number of live and dead bruchids. Seeds treated with Actellic dust and black pepper powder had significantly low percentages of damaged seeds. Black pepper powder and coconut oil showed good potential in protecting cowpea against bruchid damage.