EJPAU, 2015, Volume 18, Issue 4

In Poland and other European countries studies are conducted over replacing soya bean meal with domestic species of legumes. In these studies the problem of the amount and quality of oil is generally underestimated. The aim of this work is to review and assess the Polish lines and cultivars of species from the genus Pisum in regard to the oil content in seeds and the profile of their fatty acids. Field pea genotypes that were analysed comprised 9 with colourful blossom and 38 with white blossom. Mean crude fat content in both groups of cultivars was the same and amounted to 2.0%, but the coefficient of variation in the group of cultivars with colourful blossom amounted to 0.22, whereas with white blossom 0.10. The highest percentage in the fatty acid profile had linoleic acid (44–48%), and then oleic acid (22–26%). The highest variation in both groups of cultivars was shown by alpha-linolenic acid, and its content ranged from 0.08 to 0.13. From the nutritional point of view, oil from pea seeds, and particularly from the cultivars with white blossom, is characterized by a very favourable n-6/n-3 acids ratio in respect of nutritional value, staying within the range from 2.9 to 5.9.

In order to study the effect of Azotobacter and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the growth characteristics of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) in different irrigation regimes, an experiment was conducted in 2010 at the greenhouse of Agricultural Faculty of Mohaggegh Ardebili University of Ardebil, Iran. The experimental design was factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments comprised of four irrigation regimes (field capacity, 20, 40 and 60% of drought stress) and four biological fertilizers (None-inoculated, inoculation with AMF and Azotobacter and their mixture as a mix-inoculated). Growth, yield and chlorophyll content of safflower decreased with increasing water stress. Seeds inoculation by combination of Azotobacter and AMF, increased leaf chlorophyll content, root and shoot length, shoot and root dry and fresh weight, grain yield at all irrigation levels. The highest safflower yield was for mix-inoculated at no stress treatment by 2.4 g per palnts. According to the results, seeds inoculation can alleviate the negative effects of drought stress on safflower plants, especially mix-inoculated treatment.

On the basis of initial screening of Yarrowia lipolytica strains, performed in the shake-flasks experiment using a glycerol medium, three strains with different ability of erythritol production were selected. The yield and dynamics of the biosynthesis by chosen strains were examined in bioreactor cultures and the activities of enzymes responsible for glycerol consumption and erythritol synthesis were analyzed during the process. The comparison of  relationship between erythritol production ability and activities of the examined enzymes indicated erythrose reductase (ER) as the key enzyme responsible for erythritol overproduction in Y. lipolytica cells grown on glycerol. In the culture, the activity of ER in the effective phase of erythritol biosynthesis reached 0.068–0.248 U mg^-1, whereas erythritol production was from 44.7 to 75.9 g L^-1 with the yield of 0.31–0.51 g g^-1. The cells ability of erythritol formation depended slightly on the glycerol kinase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of both the growing method and the cultivars/lines characteristics on the seed stalk architecture and the yield and quality of red beet clusters. The plant material, consisting of 16 mono- and multigerm breeding lines and commercial cultivars, were grown in the field and under plastic tunnels. Most of the morphological traits, such as the seed stalk height, the number of shoots and the percentage of bushes with main stem plants, were comparable in both growing methods. The method of cultivation also had no effect on the yield and the 1000-cluster weight. The clusters collected in the tunnels germinated slower but resulted in higher germination capacity than the clusters harvested in the field. Most of the individual lines and cultivars grown at the same time in the tunnels and in the field presented comparable values of the studied features during generative development of plants. The results of this experiment confirm the possibility of using tunnels for growing red beet seed plants during the seed production of both mono- and multigerm cultivars.

The objective of the presented study was to induced mutation in two liatris species L. ligulistylis and L. pycnostachya using ethyl methane-sulfonate (EMS) at a concentration of 2.0 and 5.0 mM and characterization of the obtained mutants. The resulting phenotypic changes observed in liatris were mainly related to anthocyanin discoloration on shoots and inflorescence petioles, changes in the anatomy of inflorescence petioles and leaves, as well as the uneven rising of inflorescence buds. The EMS mutagen concentrations used in the experiment revealed an inhibitory effect on features such as the height and width of plants, the circumference and weight of bulbs and the number of buds on the bulb. It was found that, the frequency of all observed phenotypic changes in L. ligulistylis and L. pycnostachya was higher after the application of 2.0 mM EMS solution (11 and 3%, respectively).

For the assessment of genotypic changes at the DNA level the inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were adopted. Based on the dendrogram produced from a study analysis of the similarity coefficients using UPGMA it was found that the mutants under study showed a 43.5–75.7% similarity to each other.

The growth of seedlings in the juvenile phase and the distribution of biomass in oak seedlings (Quercus robur L.) are significantly affected by seed weight. For the purposes of separation, what is important is the density of seeds, used in practice as the separative feature. The aim of the study is to determine the properties of oak acorns, such as mass, volume and density, depending on their vitality. A hypothesis was made that the degree of development of the embryo and the mummification of acorns affect the above physical characteristics. In order to measure the mass and determine the density, an analytical balance was used with a set applied to determine the density of solids; vitality was determined by slicing, performing a macroscopic examination of embryonic development, cotyledon tissue condition, the root ovary and the internal damage caused by fungi and insects. It was shown that the density of the acorns, and to a limited extent also their mass, depend on vitality; therefore they may be regarded as distributive characteristics. There is, however, no possibility to separate only the healthy seeds; healthy seeds together with half-spoiled seeds can be separated from the remaining, spoiled ones.

The optimal conditions for the degradation of the cell wall of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast, leading to the release of intracellular proteins by hydrolases of Trichoderma and Aspergillus moulds, were determinated. Hydrolysis of Y. lipolytica yeast biomass was performed with the use of various amounts of concentrated or non-concentrated enzymes, as well as yeast biomass subjected or not subjected to thermal inactivation. The analysis of enzymatic hydrolysis process demonstrated that the most effective was the 8-hour hydrolysis of thermally not inactivated Y. lipolytica yeast biomass with 6-fold concentrated enzymatic preparation, which resulted in the release of 127.86 mg of intracellular proteins per 1 g dry biomass.

Sardine (sardina pilchardus) fillets were marinated by using three different marinade solutions prepared with vinegar (VM), grapefruit juice (GM) and pomegranate juice concentrate (PM). All marinade formulations contained 4% salt and 0.1% black pepper. Samples were stored at 4ºC for 28 days. Proximate composition, pH, acidity, salt content, moisture content, penetrometer value, peroxide value and TBA value of marinated samples were evaluated during storage of 28th days. Sardines marinated with grapefruit juice had the highest pH value at each evaluation period. On day 28 the highest acid value (0.94%) was obtained in VM samples and the lowest acid value (0.62%) was obtained in GM samples. No significant differences in salt content were found between marinade treatments at each evaluation period except day 28. At each evaluation period GM samples had higher (softer in texture) and PM samples had lower penetrometer values (harder in texture). PM samples had the lowest peroxide and TBA value at each evaluation period. It’s concluded that pomegranate sauce could be used as a functional marinade solution in sardine marination.

This paper pays attention to analysis of the economic impacts of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) occurrence in the Czech Republic, namely the financial compensations to the farmers whose herds had been affected and the costs of animal killing and carcass disposal in the rendering plant. Between February 2001 and the end of  2014, a total of 1 879 749 cows were examined and 30 cases of the BSE were detected. Consequently, 4243 cows in cohorts were killed and their carcasses were safely disposed of. The farmers whose herds had been affected were provided compensations for the losses suffered. The total of the compensations in this period reached EUR 7 752 000. Of these, 83.3% (EUR 6 458 000) were compensations for the value of the killed animals, 9.7% (EUR 752 000) for the related costs, i.e., killing, safe disposal of carcasses and the examination for the BSE, and 6.9% (EUR 535 000) for the losses due to non-materialised production. The average costs per 1 BSE-positive animal were EUR 258 400 and the average costs per 1 cohort animal were EUR 1827. In the rendering plant responsible for killing the infected and cohort animals and safely disposing of their carcasses, the total of 2342 tons of raw material was processed between March 2003 and 2009, and this cost EUR 363 777. The fact that there were only two last cases of the BSE in 2009 suggests a trend towards the disease eradication, which is in agreement with the situation in the other EU countries.

The studies were carried out in 2003–2006 in Didactic-Research Station in Sosnowica (East Poland) on peat-muck soil (Mt II). The meadow is located in a complex drained and reclaimed for agriculture in 1964–1966, situated in the middle reaches of the Piwonia river. Various meadow sward regeneration technologies and four levels of nitrogen fertilisation were used in experiment. The meadow subjected to overseeding and overseeding preceded by rototilling as well as by mechanical tillage had the significantly highest total dry matter yield in the four-year study period (2003–2006) while the meadow subjected to chemical tillage had the significantly lowest yield. The significantly lowest dry matter yield was obtained in the meadow not subjected to nitrogen fertilisation while the significantly highest for 180 and 120 kg ha^-1 dose of nitrogen. The plant species seeded in mixes had the highest yield in the meadow sward after the application of mechanical tillage and chemical tillage. The highest yields were recorded for the species Lolium perenne and Festulolium braunii, while the lowest for Trifolium pratense and Phleum pratense.

In this paper we provide an overview of key studies and analyze secondary data concerning economic aspects of production and distribution of sunflower seed oil in Poland and Ukraine.

In recent years, Ukraine and the EU-28 have taken leading positions in the global production and export of sunflower seed oil in terms of volume. While Poland has one of the largest arable land areas in Europe, its sunflower seed and oil production did not increased as quickly as Ukraine’s. In spite of improvements in average sunflower seed yields, Poland has increased its volume of sunflower oil imports since 1992.

We document that the average price of exported sunflower oil was lower in Ukraine than in Poland since 1992 and Ukraine had a positive trade balance in sunflower oil, while Poland had a sunflower oil trade deficit during the 1992–2010 period.

Residence and farm establishment is one of the elements that have been forming the landscape of Polish countryside for centuries and nowadays it is a historic heritage. Around 30 of such architectural and landscape units with distinctive and interesting composition as well as rich architectural detail were built in the Jelenia Góra Valley. After the end of World War II they were nationalised, as most of such objects, and they have been gradually degrading ever since.

In the last few decades there has been a growing interest in former estates, especially in their adaptive capacity for culture and hotel and catering purposes. Palace and farm units in Łomnica and nearby Wojanów are positive examples of modern transformation and they are presented in more details in this article. Currently, because of their model revaluation work and interesting cultural offer both of these objects attract a lot of attention. They are an attractive and unique showcase of Valley of Palaces and Gardens in the Jelenia Góra Valley.