EJPAU, 2006, Volume 9, Issue 3

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9(3) #01
03 Jul 2006
Environmental Development
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Due to an important role of organic substance, particularly humus acids in forming chelate complexes with heavy metals in soil, research was carried out aimed at determining quantitative and qualitative composition of organic substance in sewage sludge and the amount of heavy metals bound by it. Organic substance in sewage sludge of municipal origin retained more cadmium and zinc, whereas in tannery sludge more chromium and lead. Comparable amounts of copper and nickel bound by organic substance were detected in all researched sewage. Total contents of trace metals in the sludge is not a sufficient criterion for the assessment of its usability for agricultural use, because the occurrence of considerable amounts of some elements in organic compounds (recognized as potential source of trace metals) may pose a hazard of their excessive uptake by plants. Contents of carbon and fractional composition of organic substance in the investigated sewage sludge point to them as a possible source of humus forming substances once they meet the microbiological and chemical requirements.

9(3) #02
05 Jul 2006
Forestry
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The study makes an attempt to ascertain radial and axial variability in the proportion of sapwood and heartwood in the stems of Scots pine trees which developed in different conditions of growth and development.

In general, pine trees growing in conditions of former farmlands were characterised by a greater proportion (in the forest site types which were taken under consideration) of heartwood and smaller proportion of sapwood than pine trees which developed in conditions of typical forest soils.

Both in the case of pines derived from the former farmlands and those that developed on typical forest soils, a greater proportion of heartwood was observed on the fresh coniferous forest (fresh coniferous forest) site type, while sapwood was found prevalent in pine trees which developed in conditions of the mixed fresh coniferous forest (mixed fresh coniferous forest) site type.

The authors found radial and axial irregularities in the process of heartwood formation in the stems of Scots pines which developed in conditions of the former farmlands and forest soils on fresh coniferous forest and mixed fresh coniferous forest against the background of biosocial classes. The vertical range of heartwood may be affected by a number of factors of which the tree crown appears to be the most important one.

It is further believed that the proportion of the sapwood zone and the rate and course of the heartwood formation process may be influenced by the size and the transpirational efficiency of tree crowns, development of water blockages in the conducting elements, tree biosocial position in the stand as well as the type of soil on which a given tree is growing.

A significant impact of the crown on the formation of the sapwood zone in tree trunks is confirmed by the obtained high determination coefficients R2 for the dependence of the mean width of the sapwood zone on the volume and surface area of crowns.

9(3) #03
10 Jul 2006
Food Science and Technology
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The evaluation of the raw material and blanched, cooked and frozen carrot prepared for consumption was carried out after 0, 4, 8 and 12 months of refrigerated storage at –20°C and –30°C. The investigation covered the traditional production method using blanched raw material and a modified method of freezing cooked vegetable; in this case the product merely requires to be defrosted and heated in a microwave oven. Fresh carrot contained 13.02 g dry matter, 8.9 mg vitamin C, 11.6 mg carotenoids, 7.0 mg beta-carotene and 20.9 mg polyphenols/100 g; its antioxidative activity was 19.4% RSA. After 12-months storage carrot prepared for consumption retained 36-45% of vitamin C; 50-77% of carotenoids; 70-80% of beta-carotene; 73-78% of polyphenols while its antioxidative activity was reduced to 30-39% of the initial level, depending on the investigated sample. Frozen carrot produced using the modified technology contained statistically greater amounts of the investigated constituents, apart from polyphenols, after 12 months of storage. The lower storage temperature resulted in better retention of carotenoids, beta-carotene and antioxidative activity. After storage at the lower temperature frozen products prepared for consumption, including those produced using the modified technology, showed a higher sensory quality.

9(3) #04
11 Jul 2006
Wood Technology
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Healthy and comfortable sleep is an essential factor helping protect health and maintain high human physical efficiency. That is why mattress designers and manufactures should reach out for tools based on the latest technologies allowing appropriate design of furniture constructions and ensure their best ergonomics. The system ‘Force Sensitive Applications’ presented in this article makes it possible to design more human-oriented mattresses characterized by better properties than those designed using traditional tools without possibilities of a dynamic and easily accessible verification of the correctness of the employed materials in upholstered systems.

9(3) #05
31 Jul 2006
Economics
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The substitutability of fixed capital and labour in agricultural production of ten European Union countries, in the 1980-2002 period, is considered in this study. The elasticity of substitution of these input factors was estimated with the use of the CES production function supplemented by a disembodied Hicks-neutral effect of technical change. On this basis we present and compare price changes and their influence on the use of input factors in agriculture of selected UE countries. The productivity of labour and capital are also investigated.

9(3) #06
09 Aug 2006
Food Science and Technology
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The amount of selenium in some Nigerian foods was determined using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The analytical results showed that foods which were particularly rich in selenium included: cereals, milk, kolanut, pawpaw, beans and yam (5 mg · kg-1) while fish and sugar, nuts, legumes, vegetables and other foods produced no values for selenium. In comparing our results with the literature values, our results were higher. The differences could be due to the geographical origin, the soil content of selenium and analytical methods used. The values obtained were far below those intakes referred to as undesirable dose.

9(3) #07
10 Aug 2006
Food Science and Technology
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A dynamic development of rapid, instrumental analytical methods can be observed during the last years which make possible to evaluate both food products in final form as well as during processing process. Owing to that it is allowed to combine the information about composition and properties of item with its price, which influences consumer in their purchase decision, ready to pay for true quality of product. Some examples of analytical techniques based on near-infrared spectrophotometry and used for rapid chemical composition assessment of meat and milk products are given in this publication. Taking into consideration food distribution system, the water activity of food was indicated as one of the most important parameter, which can be quick determine by the use of different measurement instruments. However, it must be emphasized that the selection of specific analytical method is always affected by various factors, and first of all, depend on the current financial possibilities and material and technical conditions of the lab.

9(3) #08
11 Aug 2006
Agronomy
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The paper is an attempt at evaluating changes in the weed community in winter wheat grown in short-term monoculture as a result of the application of 100, 75, 50, 25 and 0% of the recommended dose of Puma 069 EW (fenoxaprop-P-ethyl) and Aminopielik 450 SL (2,4D + dicamba). A two-factor field experiment carried out over 1997-2000, which involved tillage method and herbicides doses, provided data analyzed in the present paper, limited to the reaction of weeds to the herbicide doses only. Relative abundance of weeds, representing a given weed community was determined, based on species frequency and relative density of individuals which occur in test area (Ra index). The experimental data were verified with multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis. The data were analyzed separately both in successive research experiment years and field weed infestation evaluation dates, namely I – prior to herbicide application, II – about 15 days after application and III – prior to winter wheat harvest. Significant differences between the average Ra values resulting from herbicides doses were found at all the dates analyzed, except for the spring date (II) in 1999. Besides, with the Mahalanobis distance square (M2) revealed that 75% of the recommended dose caused the greatest changes in the average relative weed abundance throughout the research period. However, with such inconsiderable dose differences, the graphic representation of the discriminant analysis results was hardly clear. Therefore three doses of herbicides (zero, low and high) were applied and at high M2 values species strongly related to the dose at respective dates were demonstrated. Dose-specific species pattern was changing depending on the observation date; most frequently such changes were found in APESV, LAMAM, LAMPU, CHEAL, VIOAR, VERAR. There also species connected with one dose only (e.g. CAPBP and MATIN – zero, GALAP, MYOAR – low and STEME – high). In successive experiment years the dynamics of changes in the average relative abundance (Ra) increased. The multivariate statistical methods used are applicable to evaluate changes in the weed community affected by the herbicide dose. The more diverse the levels of the factor studied, the more clear the representation of changes.

9(3) #09
23 Aug 2006
Biology
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The study covered field and pot experiments which involved 16 papilionaceous plant species under provocative conditions with artificial inoculation. The infection was performed about six weeks after sowing, spraying plants with the suspension of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides conidia from white lupin. The observations of the occurrence of the disease and the spread of infection were made every seven days. Over the technical plant maturity, sampling 4 x 50 plants of each of the sixteen species investigated for further research, and then making microscopic preparations, the presence of the pathogen was confirmed. There was determined the size of conidia derived from the plants species tested which were infected with C. gloeosporioides. In the pot experiment, at the emergence stage the plants were sprayed with the suspension of conidia of the pathogen. Over full maturity, 10 plants of each species researched were sampled from each of the 4 pots and there was determined the percentage of plants infected with the pathogen. Another aim of the pot experiments was to verify whether the isolates of C. gloeosporioides isolated from infected species of the plants tested remained pathogenic towards lupin. Out of the 16 species of papilionaceous plants investigated, 13 species were infected with lupin isolate of C. gloeosporioides. These species can then maintain their inoculation potential of the pathogen. Black medick, white melilot and soybean did not show disease symptoms.

9(3) #10
28 Aug 2006
Economics
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The paper presents results of the research on purchase habits of Polish consumers, conducted in following years: 1992, 1995, 1997-2005, describing changes of their preferences and habits’ trends. Polish consumers’ purchase behaviour has been changing, becoming similar to the European standards. Concerning evaluation of economic potential of households, some transformations of the goods’ purchase process as well as changes in consumer purchase opinions and preferences were recognized.

9(3) #11
05 Sep 2006
Civil Engineering
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The object of considerations is a thin linear-elastic cylindrical shell having a periodic structure (i.e. a periodically varying thickness and/or periodically varying elastic and inertial properties) in both directions tangent to the shell midsurface. Such shells are called biperiodic.

The aim of this paper is to propose a new averaged non-asymptotic model of biperiodic shells, which makes it possible to investigate parametric vibrations and dynamical stability of the shells under consideration. As a tool of modeling we shall apply the tolerance averaging technique. The resulting equations have constant coefficients. Moreover, in contrast with models obtained by the known asymptotic homogenization technique, the proposed one takes into account the effect of the period lengths on the overall dynamic shell behavior, called a length-scale effect. It will be shown that this effect plays an important role in the dynamical stability analysis of the shells considered in this paper.

9(3) #12
06 Sep 2006
Wood Technology
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Properties of particle boards with varying contents of rape straw were investigated, depending on the type of the applied bonding agent. Rape straw as a substitute of wood chips was added in the manufactured boards in the amounts of 0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 75 and 100%. Tests showed that it is possible to partially substitute wood chips with rape straw in the manufacturing process of particle boards resinated with MUPF, PF and PMDI resins. An up to 30% replacement of wood chips with rape straw in case of MUPF resin and up to 50% for PF resin makes it possible to produce particle boards, the mechanical properties of which meet the requirements of standard PN-EN 312-3. However, the addition of rape straw to boards resinated with MUPF and PF resins resulted in a considerable deterioration of their water resistance, proportional to the amounts of straw particles added to chips. In turn, the application of PMDI resin as a bonding agent makes it possible to manufacture boards with high water resistance and mechanical properties even at a 100% substitution of wood chips with rape straw.

9(3) #13
07 Sep 2006
Wood Technology
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The quality of briquettes produced of a mixture of wood particles, sawdust and dust by perpetual screw briquette machines with a heated mould matrix was tested and the stability of the production process was analysed. The moisture content and fractional composition of the waste products used for briquettes production along with the moisture content, density and degree of pressing of briquettes were determined. The quality of briquettes assessed on the basis of the macroscopic structure and physical parameters was very good. Their density was close to 1200 kg·m-3, the moisture content of about 3%, their external surface was smooth and their cross-section structure homogeneous. The good quality briquettes were characterised by proportional contribution of particular fractions of the lignocellulose blend. The most important reason for the instability of briquette production process was found the inhomogeneous distribution of wood dust and not the size of its fraction in the bulk of the lignocellulose mass introduced into the briquetting machine.

9(3) #14
08 Sep 2006
Agricultural Engineering
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The paper presents a new method of optimization of the choice of agricultural machines, which consists in determining the conditions that should be fulfilled in order that the purchase of a machine will be profitable for a farm. The method means making use of functional relations describing the dependence of unit costs of exploitation of an aggregate for organic fertilization with liquid fertilizers on the efficiency and the yearly time of the use of an aggregate. The results were analyzed in three aspects. The first referred to the profitability of the purchase of a machine for one’s individual use. The second concerned the profitability of rendering the services, while the third – determining the conditions in which it will be profitable to use the purchased machine or device.

9(3) #15
11 Sep 2006
Wood Technology
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In our paper we have concentrated on the study of chosen properties of less utilized wood of aspen. By purposeful treatment of its properties, it is possible to obtain the material, suitable for manufacture of furniture. In our study, we have concentrated on mechanical treatment of wood by pressing. We have studied strength properties of non-pressured and pressured aspen wood, namely its density, compression strength, bending strength with various moisture contents and compression degrees.

9(3) #16
12 Sep 2006
Horticulture
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The experiment was carried out in 2003-2005 at the Experimental Fruit-growing Station of the Szczecin University of Agriculture. Its purpose was to investigate possibilities of growing ‘Patriot’ variety of the American blueberry on tight soil of alkaline reaction covered with three types of organic bed in form of embankment. The plantation was irrigated with acidified water (pH 2.4-3.7) by means of T-Tape type drip system. The study covered the number and length of one-year shoots, yield and its features and chemical and physical changes in the bed. The experiment made it possible to find out that the regular irrigation of organic beds with high reaction of acidified water facilitates the growth and yield of the American blueberry. Peat and sawdust proved to influence the growth and yield of the plant best. The organic beds used throughout the experiment (peat, cocoa husk and sawdust) exhibited the similar ‘full water capacity’.

9(3) #17
13 Sep 2006
Agricultural Engineering
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Spelt wheat is the crop suitable for ecological farms, because it is disease-resistant, winter-hardy, less demanding for the soil and fertilizers and its seeds do not need dressing. The Schwabenspeltz is the best variety resistant to lodging.

Tests carried out in 2002-2003 defined the biometrical characteristics of the spelt wheat Schwabenspelz. Different meteorological weather conditions in both years had no significant influence to the biometrical characteristics of the plants. Combine harvesting of this spelt wheat variety at medium grain moisture content (15.8%) brought about the following: the ears broken by the reel amounted to 1.6%, the naked grain in the grain tank did not exceed 10%, the hulled grain equaled to 83%, the ear fractions made approximately 5% and the impurities did not exceed 2%. The hulls comprised approximately 35% of the overall grain mass.

Optimal adjustment of the threshing unit operating parameters has been substantiated by the laboratory tests. When the spelt wheat of medium moisture content was threshed the permissible load of the drum rasp bars of 1 m length was 3.3 kg·(m·s)-1, and that for the dry wheat (12% grain moisture content) was 4.2 kg·(m·s)-1. The load of the threshing unit has been limited by the permissible unseparated grain amount (20%), which falls with straw on the straw walkers. Damage of the naked spelt wheat grain did not exceed permissible 2%, less than 15% chaff and straw pieces were found in the materials separated through concave when the drum rasp bars load was not less than 2.5 kg·(m·s)-1 of the crop of the spelt wheat at the medium moisture the optimum clearance between the drum and the concave was set to 14-8 mm, the peripheral velocity of the drum reached 31.4 m·s-1. For the dry grain the appropriate setting were 16-6 mm and 28.3 m·s-1, respectively.

9(3) #18
15 Sep 2006
Economics
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The aim of this article was to show the level and structure of consumption expenditures in Polish households in the years of 2000 – 2004. The average monthly sum of money spent on various goods and consumers’ services was estimated on the basis of households’ budgets examining. There was also indicated the kind of expenses within the socio-economic groups. The results of the research show the changes of the financial policy of households in the period of time mentioned above.

9(3) #19
18 Sep 2006
Veterinary Medicine
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In the posterior part of the body of the tongue there are two foliate papillae located on the dorsal-lateral part. Individual folia of foliate papillae are arranged parallel to one another and are separated by deep furrows. Numerous excretory ducts of posterior serous lingual glands (Ebner’s glands) open on the fundus of furrows of each foliate papilla. The epithelium covering foliate papillae varies in thickness as it forms epithelial streaks. In each folium of a foliate papilla there are two epithelial streaks. Sometimes in one folium papillae 3, 4 or 5 epithelial streaks were found. Some epithelial streaks divide. The connective tissue core of foliate papillae is formed by parallel folds of connective tissue separated by groove-like depressions. In each folium of a foliate papilla there is one central fold and two lateral folds. It is known from observations under a light microscope that folds of connective tissue area arranged between epithelial streaks. Some folds divide. Taste buds are found in the epithelium covering folia of foliate papillae from the side of the furrows, as well as in the epithelium directly surrounding papillae. Observations of the surface of foliate papillae confirmed the parallel arrangement of folia and furrows of papillae. Moreover, these observations showed that some folia papillae divide to form two secondary folia.

9(3) #20
21 Sep 2006
Animal Husbandry
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Material for the study, commencing a cycle of national research on trottters (including links between their body conformation traits and training advance rate), was provided by 60 young trotters of Danish and German breeding. During the research, which took place in automn 2004, the horses were on the initial stage of the training preparing them for the races. Twenty-three biometric measurements were taken of the trotters, based on which 15 indices of their body conformation were calculated. Additionally, the level of their training advance was established (WRW, WRW2, WDT, WTT), based on heart work parameters and pace, registered by means of telemetric devices. The evaluation was done during 3 repetitions of trot, from the slowest to the fastest, on a specially marked distance of the course. The results of the studies lead to the following conclusions:

  • the boniness index of the tested trotters shows the highest level of correlations with training advance (with negative WRW,WRW2, WTT and positive WDT), and their character is different from those obtained for shoulder length, hind limb and croup size (with mostly positive WRW2 and WTT and negative WDT),

  • the number of statistically significant correlations between body conformation indices and training advance rates is much higher than the one established earlier with regard to absolute biometric measurements of the tested trotters. This shows that proportions of conformation play a significant role in evaluating performance predispositions of young trotters,

  • the research is introductory but the range of the revealed tendencies clearly points out the need to continue it not only for young trotters but also grown-up racing horses.

9(3) #21
27 Sep 2006
Biotechnology
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In the present work we focused on the comparison of genome diversity of 23 strains of Geotrichum candidum isolated from different sources. The analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism after amplification of rDNA cluster with NS3-ITS4 primers (RFLP-PCR rDNA) and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis with four primers [(GTG)5, (GAC)5, (GACA)4 and M13] were applied for scanning the genome. In RFLP-PCR rDNA with Msp I the physiological classification at species level was confirmed, however two types of pattern were obtained with Hae III. The diversity among some strains was observed in RAPD. Microsatellite primer (GACA)4 was the most discriminating one, only one species specific product was observed. For 20 strains, primer (GTG)5 gave very similar pattern (>80%) allowing the determination of three species specific products (920, 720 and 510 bp). Species specific products were also found with (GAC)5 and M13 primers. The microsatellite overall dendrogram allowed the individual recognition of five strains of G. candidum, for which the patterns similarity was <70%. RAPD patterns similarity of 80% or more, obtained for the rest of strains, reflected rather low genome diversity of G. candidum.

9(3) #22
29 Sep 2006
Fisheries
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Vendace habitats in northeastern Poland has been carried out on the basis of commercial fish catches from 1951 to 1994. The occurrence of this fish, in various time periods and in different abundance, was confirmed in 463 lakes that covered a total area of over 106.1 thousand hectares. Based on the frequency of vendace occurrence in catches, the lakes were divided into three categories. For each category, the time-related dynamics in the number of lakes populated by vendace was described, and the relevant trend lines were plotted. Within the three categories of the habitats examined, some statistically significant differences were demonstrated between such parameters as maximum and mean depth, depth index and the percentage of the lake area occupied by pelagic waters. Vendace lived for the longest time-periods in habitats which are called vendace lakes because of their morphometric parameters. The migration of this fish species was observed. The most dynamic growth in the number of lakes where vendace was commercially exploited took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Against the background of intensive stocking operations vendace appeared, usually brief , in water bodies rather different in their morphometric parameters from vendace lakes.


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