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Assessment of energy generated by biogas production in the educational industrial unit of the University of Szeged, Faculty of Agriculture, with special regard to biomass originating from agriculture and the food industry
137-140Views:103The importance of waste treatment is increasing. Environmental aims are the main driving force. Stricter regulations for landfills lead to the development of alternative treatment methods for waste. For agro-mechanical research, wastes from animal rearing and the food industry, secondary-tertiary biomass, is of deep concern. Available technology is versatile and relatively simple to use as a reliable and effective means of producing a gaseous fuel from various organic waste. The most common application has been the digestion of animal dung, agricultural, and food-industrial waste. This was studied by our department in our pilot farm of our Faculty. The 50-dairy cow, family sized model farm was built in the summer of 1991, as a result of a Dutch – Hungarian cooperation, on the property of the Faculty. The new pig farm, with 30 sows, and the new goat farm, with 100 nannies, was given to the Faculty on 25 April 2001. On the basis of livestock data, the annual dung production and the producible energy were determinate. The energy was calculated by biogas production coefficients in literature.
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The Developmental Possibilities for Methods of Real Estate and Farm Property Evaluation in Agriculture
241-247Views:95Different methods for evaluating property have gained greater importance in agriculture since the change of regime. The open market evaluation could be the best method if the agricultural property had significant turnover, which could serve as a reliable comparison. However, there is no notable turnover, and selling is scarce. And, when there is some, the sales contracts are not available. On the other hand, the open market evaluation is almost the only one assessing method in Western Europe and in the United States. The matrix comparing market data in my methodological development helps to estimate the effects of the elements which determinate real estate value of farms.
Another method for evaluating farm property is the discounted future earnings. Enterprises are able to produce series of income continuously during their working periods, which can be considered as perpetuity. This is the base of the discounted future earning evaluation. Determination of income generating capacity is not an easy task. It is also difficult to choose the proper rate of capitalization. If this rate is higher than the usual level, the property will be underestimated. If it is lower, the property will be overrated. According to my calculations the profitability of certain farms of animal breeding may be evaluated under different operating conditions. Furthermore, the capitalisation interest rate may be determined in an objective way.
The problem of applying the depreciated replacement cost evaluation method is that there are big deviations among investment costs in tenders of contractors; moreover the estimations of special depreciation forms are rather subjective. One of the process’s greatest difficulties for reliability is that it is doubtful whether depreciated replacement cost could reach the real market value. The utilisation of this method may be spread further in the future by standardising average gross replacement cost of building as well as by measuring depreciation more objectively. -
Contradiction in the agrofinancial regulation of agricultural producers
97-107Views:103Hungary is a country of favourable conditions with agropotential, for this reason the regulations regarding agriculture is constantly the bone of legislative contention. The
purpose of this study is to present the actual agropotential contradictions concerning the agricultural producers, specifically focusing on certain problems without any detailed representation of the valid rules of law. The agrofinancial anomalies referring to agricultural producers can be found mostly in the system of the personal income tax (allowance, tax immunity), the value added tax (special agricultural legal position) as well as the social insurance.
The severity of the problem is supported by the agricultural producers’ behavioral types of paying taxes, globalisation process of these days and our place in the European Union. The resolution of the contradictions in agriculture does not lie by any means in the proper way of making the rules of the law of taxation, but in a comprehensive economic policy, which is to be waited for. -
Examination of the presence and effect of udder edema in Holstein-Friesian cattle
125-130Views:181Mastitis is the most common disease of dairy cows and the most expensive in terms of treatment. For this reason, great emphasis must be placed on its prevention. Based on literature sources, it can be said that there is a positive correlation between the prevalence of udder edema and the occurrence of mastitis. Our studies were carried out in a dairy farm in Csongrád-Csanád county. So far we have collected data from 64 cows with udder edema. The severity of udder edema was evaluated on a scale of 0–3 points one week before calving and for 3 weeks after calving. We observed that udder edema occurred in 78% of the studied cows at the time of the first calving. After calving, the length and diameter of the four udder teats were examined. Both anterior and posterior teats were shortened in severely edematous cows. When examining the diameter of the teat, we found that, depending on the severity of the edema, the anterior and posterior udder teats were 2.5 and 1.6 and 1.6 and 1.5 mm thicker respectively than those of cows without edema.
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Plant clinic in Nepal: An overview
5-10Views:127Plant clinics play an important role in supporting farmers in growing healthy crops and achieving higher productivity in Nepal. The development and operation of plant clinics in Nepal are assessed in this study through a comprehensive analysis of the institution via literature review and interaction with key stakeholders. The plant clinic approach of the agriculture extension system started in Nepal in 2008, followed up with engagement with CABI and the Government of Nepal. Enhancement of farmers' knowledge and skill, encouraging sustainable farming methods, and ultimately increasing crop yields are the impact of plant clinics. However, there are some challenges faced during the implementation of plant clinics in the existing agricultural extension systems. In Nepal, the plant clinics are primarily operated by agricultural technicians with expertise in plant protection, as well as IPM farmer facilitators and community business facilitators after attending an intensive plant doctor's training. Plant clinics have been integrated into the agricultural extension system by agro-advisory service provider of the government of Nepal. Despite institutionalisation, policy support needs to be strengthened to ensure the sustainability of the different components of the (e.g., data management, validation, monitoring, localised content, etc.) plant clinic in Nepal.
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Competence modules of the agro-environmental engineering bachelor course in Hungary
229-236Views:101One of the most important goals of the Bologna Process is to introduce the three circle system: bachelor, master, doctorate courses. In Hungary from 2006/2007 academic year 132 bachelor courses are launched. One of the launched bachelor course is environmental engineering of which the scientific background and economical sector are rapidly changing. Hence, to help graduates from this area to find a job, it is very important to examine working activities, expectations of employers, to study requirements of the training programs, the system of competencies. Having examined these points, frameworks of professional requirements have been worked out by 27 validation tests. In this publication, the results of the research work related to the environmental engineering bachelor program were presented.
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Centre of Agri-Knowledge – a Web-Based Integration of Information and Decision Support Systems for Agriculture
64-66Views:96The University Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences acts as the centre and co-ordinator of agrarian higher education and consultation in the eastern region of Hungary. New internet technologies afford new chances to accomplish the institute’s mission to develop agriculture, environment and countryside in the area. As the main framework of integrated e-learning, e-business and research in the agrifood sector the development of an internet portal, the „Centre of Agri-knowledge” (CAK) has been started in the recent past.
To support our students and education, to stay continuous in touch with our agricultural engineers we consider very important to build internet communities, where students, farmers, traders and researchers can share their knowledge and experience.
In Europe same as in Hungary agriportals born and disappear continuously. Although CAK is still in its early stage of development, its comprehensiveness, professional backend and the experience of the Centre of Agricultural Sciences guarantee a new standard of online services in the Hungarian agrifood sector -
The future of apple growing in the Northern Great Plain region
35-38Views:146We revealed and assessed those macroeconomic data which enabled us to identify the outstanding role of agriculture and within it that of fruit production. Based on this, it can be said that soil is the most important natural resource of Hungary. The appropriate combination of the additional resources required for production, labour and assets can provide a comparative advantage for the Northern Great Plain Region.
The Northern Great Plain Region is one of the most underdeveloped regions in Hungary, so its development is a political objective. When analysing the economic sectors in the region, the important role of agriculture is obvious and it is also clear that the industry and the tertiary sector can only have an alternative income generating role in the future also. Therefore, it is important that the regional development funds of Hungary and the European Union are directly or indirectly aimed at improving agricultural development and competitiveness. -
Hungarian total foreign trade after the change of regime
145-154Views:88Hungary’s total foreign trade has changed a lot since the change of regime. Several factors played a role in this process. The collapse of COMECOM, set of the world economy, WTOagreement, Agreement of Accession and CEFTA-agreement and accession to the EU affected this situation. After the change of regime Hungary had to react rapidly to these new events: one of the most goals was to find new markets. Hungary’s total foreign trade balance is negative but this deficit has declined after EUaccession. The foreign trade in agriculture has realised positive balance for a long time. This balance is declining after 2004, in spite of that the agricultural export grows, but the import grows more dynamically.
Share of the Visegrad countries – join at the same time to the European Union as Hungary – from Hungarian agriculture exports gets higher, especially in the case of Poland.
Hungary’s trading partners of exports and imports are stabile and they come from old Member States. One hand is positive, but the other hand is not acceptable. It is important to get markets, because we strongly depend on Europe.
The situation of Hungary’s external trade is determined by the future of CAP and WTO Doha Round (reducing of agricultural customs, ceasing of export subvention system and etc.).
Hungary can keep in competition, if it extends its competitiveness, diminishes of costs, and improves of quality, logistic and marketing. -
Foreword
9-10Views:191The higher education of economics and agriculture in Debrecen started 150 years ago. The historical roots of our institution reach back to the middle of the 19th century. In the 1850s, the wise leaders of the city of Debrecen realised that the development of agriculture is the sole opportunity which can make the region of the Tisza River and the Trans- Tisza region the most valuable pantry of the nation. Due to the generous support of the citizens of Debrecen, as well as the enthusiastic work of scientist and teachers, the National Higher Education Institute of Farming was established on 22nd October 1868 as the first agricultural higher education institution of the Great Hungarian Plain.
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Effect of sufficient and deficit irrigation with different salt inputs on the yield of cucumber
19-25Views:111Soil salinisation is considered one of the major environmental hazards threatening agricultural productivity and can be accentuated by climate change as well as the use of low-quality water in irrigation. This is the case in our study area which is affected by secondary salinisation due to the use of saline irrigation water for horticultural production. Deficit irrigation technique is implemented especially in arid and semiarid regions due to its potential to optimise water productivity while maintaining or increasing crop yield. The main objective of this study was to compare the effect of irrigation with sufficient (SD) and deficit (DD) doses. This research was carried out in Karcag in 2020. Cucumber was grown on a meadow chernozem soil and was irrigated with SD and DD of two irrigation water qualities. Soil moisture was monitored and crop yields were recorded. Despite the differences in quality and quantity of water, the application of less water by DD maintained the same yield as SD. We found a non-significant difference between the average soil moisture contents under the treatments (15.5 v/v% for SD and 13.5 v/v% for DD). Deficit irrigation can be an efficient technique due to its potential for improving water use efficiency, maintaining sufficient soil moisture content favourable for proper crop development and yield.
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Nutrient deficiency and effects of various nutrition technologies on crop health
109-113Views:295The impacts of climate change on crop production are increasingly noticeable. Extreme weather conditions – such as devastating droughts, which occur more often – have serious effects on crop conditions, thus damaging their defence ability against pathogens and pests. Therefore, in order to achieve high-quality and high yielding crops, it is urgent to elaborate new technologies that improve general condition of crops and prevent development of nutrient diseases. Those crops which suffer from the lack of certain nutrients are more sensitive and their tolerance against diseases are decreased. Nitrogen – as the most influencing macronutrient in yield – is also essential in maintaining crop health. Nevertheless, due to the complicated processes in soil (such as leaching, denitrification), the utilization of nitrogen is not nearly complete, therefore nitrogen stabilizers may be needed to maximize this factor. The use of these stabilizers can be promising where plants with high nitrogen content are grown, although further experiments are needed in which impacts of nitrogen stabilizers on crop protection aspects are examined as well, since there is a close correlation between exaggerated nitrogen fertilizing and sensitivity to pests. During my research I am going to examine the combined effect of foliar fertilizer and nitrogen stabilizer on crop health. Furthermore, my goal is to find clear correlation between pathogens and the different technological variants of nutrition.
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Development of a Decision Assisting Soil Information System in Agriculture
130-133Views:81Hungarian agriculture may be characterized by the industry-like, conventional farming of the past decades. This form of management concentrated exclusively on functions aimed at production. We have to decrease this disproportion, especially when joining to the EU, by reducing the intensive agricultural regions and adjusting to the goals of the 2000-2006 NAEP programmes, forming such an agricultural system which integrates the advantages of both environmental protection and complex agricultural systems based on rational foundations. Nevertheless it’s a rational decision to make the soil information system with an exact spatial informatics background as a foundation of agricultural system, because this promotes easy handling as well the connection to possible subsequent modules.
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Role of living bacteria and other amendment in early development of maize
53-56Views:126Different bacteria and wood ash, as a possible micro-nutrient, and liming material, was examined in our experiment on the early growth of corn seedlings.
The development of renewing energy resources includes the use of energy grasses and energy forests. The intensive land use in forestry and in agriculture may cause the acidification of soils due to the harvest, or leaching of cations. To maintain the sustainability of soils necessary to maintain it’s the buffer capacity, and pH. Beside the lime the wood ash can is one of the most effective sources to provide the sustainability of intensive land use. The soil born micro organisms play a significant role in the maintenance of soil quality. The bio fertilizer, that contains soil originated bacteria (Azotobacter, and Bacillus sp.), was used in the experiments. The plants release several organic acids by their roots lowering the soil pH, and make more available the sparingly soluble minerals. The amounts of released organic matter depend on stress intensity, as the high pH is. The soil life has a significant role to keep the soil conditions on sustainable level, since there are several similarities in nutrient uptake mechanism between the bacteria and higher plants. Advantageous effects of bio-fertilizer were observed in our experiments.
We came to the conclusion that the use of wood ash is recommended instead of lime for the improvement of acidic soils, on the evidence of its pH increasing effect. The wood ash contains several micronutrients in an optimum composition for forestry and agricultural plants. The solubility of heavy metals is very low; therefore there is no risk to use the wood ash in the agriculture and in the horticulture by our experiments. The retardation of growth at higher ash doses can be explained by the modification effect to the soil pH, as far as the original soil pH was pH 6.8, and when ash was given to the soil, the pH increases to 7.8 pH, that is unfavourable for the uptake of most nutrients.
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Polymorphism of the bovine GH and LEP genes in a population of Slovak spotted bulls
19-23Views:107The aim of this study was the detection of polymorphism in the bovine growth hormone and leptin genes using the PCR-RFLP method. A
polymorphic site of the growth hormone gene (Alul loci) that results in amino acid change at position 127 of the protein chain (leucine, L to
valine, V) has been linked to differences in circulating metabolites, metabolic hormones and to milk yield. The polymorphism in bovine leptin
gene is situated in the intron between two exons, which results in an amino acid change at position 2059 of the protein chain (cytosine, C to
thymine, T). The polymorphisms were studied in a group of 58 bulls of the Slovak spotted breed. A strategy employing PCR was used to amplify 428 bp (GH gene) and 422 bp (LEP gene) products from blood samples. Digestion of PCR products with restriction enzymes AluI and Sau3AI revealed alleles: L and V; A and B for GH gene and LEP gene, respectively. The growth hormone gene is a candidate gene for body weight gain in cattle, since it plays a fundamental role in growth regulation. Leptin plays an important role in the regulation of feed intake, energy metabolism, growth and reproduction of cattle; therefore, animals with higher leptin gene expression will probably have lower daily weight gain than others with similar forage offer and nutritional condition and will also likely have longer calving intervals. -
Impact of weather on the spring crops yield in Croatia with emphasis on climatic change and the 2014 growing season
41-46Views:194Main field crops in Croatia are maize, soybean, sunflower and sugar beet. By these crops are covered (status 2014) close to 50% (385 234 ha) of utilized arable land. Global warming, have often adverse influence on field crop yields. Aim of this study was testing precipitation and temperature regimes on spring crops yield in Croatia in 15-year period (1999–2013) and elaboration of the 2014 growing season with aspect of climatic change.
Four growing seasons (2000, 2003, 2007 and 2012) were less favorable for maize because annual yield was bellow 5 t ha-1 (average 4.38 t ha-1), while in four more favorable years (2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010) annual yield was above 6.8 t ha-1 (average 7.32 t ha-1). Average precipitation and temperature for the April-September period in Osijek were 226 mm and 496 mm, 19.6 oC and 18.6 oC, for less and more favorable years, respectively. Yields of soybeans and sugar beet have mainly similar trend as maize yields in function of weather conditions, while sunflower is more susceptible to extremely moist growing seasons (for example, 2001 and 2005: 650 mm and 697 mm precipitation and very low yields in level 1.7 and 1.6 t ha-1, respectively). On the other side, under drought conditions of 2003, 2007 and 2012, yields of sunflower were above average in range from 2.5 to 2.7 t ha-1), while at same period yields of maize, soybean and sugar beet were drastically reduced.
Average precipitation in the April-September period of 2014 for eight selected sites of Croatia was 756 mm or for 68% higher in comparison with the long-term average 1961–1990 with variation among the sites from 520 mm in Osijek to 910 mm in Varazdin. On the other side, average air-temperature in 2014 was 17.8 oC or for 0.7 oC higher with variations among the sites from 17.2 oC in Daruvar and Varazdin to 18.2 oC in Osijek and 18.3 oC in Gradiste. Under these favorable weather conditions, annual yields of maize (8.1 t ha-1), soybeans (2.8 t ha-1) , sunflower (2.9 t ha-1) and sugar beet 63.6 t ha-1) were considerable higher than usual.
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From Organic to Precision Farming (Contemporary Publication)
81-86Views:79The paper presents a short review of the different types of farming systems:
Biofarming, Organic farming, Alternatíve farming, Biodynamic farming, Low input sustainable agriculture (LISA)
Mid-tech farming, Sustainable agriculture, Soil conservation farming, No till farming, Environmentally sound, Environmentally friendly, Diversity farming
Crop production system, Integrated pest management (IPM), Integrated farming, High-tech farming
Site specific production (SSP), Site specific technology (SST), Spatial variable technology, Satellite farming.
Precision farming
It concludes that the various systems are applicable in different ratios and combinations depending on the natural and economic conditions.
The author predicts an increase in precision technologies , the first step being the construction of yield maps compared with soil maps and their agronomic analysis. Based on this information, it will be necessary to elaborate the variable technology within the field, especially for plant density, fertilization and weed control.
The changes in weed flora during the past fifty years based on 10.000 samples within the same fields using the weed cover method are presented. -
Management of phytopathogens by application of green nanobiotechnology: Emerging trends and challenges
15-22Views:325Nanotechnology is highly interdisciplinary and important research area in modern science. The use of nanomaterials offer major advantages due to their unique size, shape and significantly improved physical, chemical, biological and antimicrobial properties. Physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of metal nanoparticles have received much attention of researchers. There are different methods i.e. chemical, physical and biological for synthesis of nanoparticles. Chemical and physical methods have some limitations, and therefore, biological methods are needed to develop environment-friendly synthesis of nanoparticles. Moreover, biological method for the production of nanoparticles is simpler than chemical method as biological agents secrete large amount of enzymes, which reduce metals and can be responsible for the synthesis and capping on nanoparticles.
Biological systems for nanoparticle synthesis include plants, fungi, bacteria, yeasts, and actinomycetes. Many plant species including Opuntia ficus-indica, Azardirachta indica, Lawsonia inermis, Triticum aestivum, Hydrilla verticillata, Citrus medica, Catharanthus roseus, Avena sativa, etc., bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis, Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria, Pseudomonas stutzeri, Lactobacillus sp., Klebsiella aerogenes, Torulopsis sp., and fungi, like Fusarium spp. Aspergillus spp., Verticillium spp., Saccharomyces cerevisae MKY3, Phoma spp. etc. have been exploited for the synthesis of different nanoparticles. Among all biological systems, fungi have been found to be more efficient system for synthesis of metal nanoparticles as they are easy to grow, produce more biomass and secret many enzymes. We proposed the term myconanotechnology (myco = fungi, nanotechnology = the creation and exploitation of materials in the size range of 1–100 nm). Myconanotechnology is the interface between mycology and nanotechnology, and is an exciting new applied interdisciplinary science that may have considerable potential, partly due to the wide range and diversity of fungi.
Nanotechnology is the promising tool to improve agricultural productivity though delivery of genes and drug molecules to target sites at cellular levels, genetic improvement, and nano-array based gene-technologies for gene expressions in plants and also use of nanoparticles-based gene transfer for breeding of varieties resistant to different pathogens and pests. The nanoparticles like copper (Cu), silver (Ag), titanium (Ti) and chitosan have shown their potential as novel antimicrobials for the management of pathogenic microorganisms affecting agricultural crops. Different experiments confirmed that fungal hyphae and conidial germination of pathogenic fungi are significantly inhibited by copper nanoparticles. The nanotechnologies can be used for the disease detection and also for its management. The progress in development of nano-herbicides, nano-fungicides and nano-pesticides will open up new avenues in the field of management of plant pathogens. The use of different nanoparticles in agriculture will increase productivity of crop. It is the necessity of time to use nanotechnology in agriculture with extensive experimental trials. However, there are challenges particularly the toxicity, which is not a big issue as compared to fungicides and pesticides.
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Impact of precision irrigation on the unit income of maize production
157-162Views:80The study of the economic/economic impact of precision farming should be a priority area in digital agriculture, as the results, profitability, and efficiency indicators can have a significant decision-support effect on the development of both the agronomic and the technical regions of individual farms both in the longer and shorter term. Individual firms, companies, farmers, and family farms quantify the effectiveness of their farming processes. The modern age offers the possibility of digitally recording all the elements of farming technology, making it possible to analyse the cost-effectiveness of a farm more effectively and, in some cases, to carry out more detailed analyses. Nevertheless, the number of farms demonstrating their profitability with such precise economic calculations is still minimal.
Our analyses were conducted on a 56,02 ha field of Balogh Farm-Tépe Ltd. The agricultural operations carried out were fully documented so that the inputs (seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, crop enhancers) were recorded in coordinates and kind, as well as the specific yields, grain moisture data, irrigation norms, and irrigation rotations. At the same time, the company's owner provided the data's monetary value. The main econometric indicators (yield, production value, cost of production, income, cost price) related to the evaluation of the enterprise management were evaluated along with the spatial data in the irrigated and non-irrigated tables. Our calculations show that a given year's climatic and market characteristics fundamentally determine the cost and income relations of a plot of land (and thus of an entire farm). In addition to additional inputs, introducing some elements of precision farming and intensification and increasing yields improves yield security and allows for excellent yield stability.
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Hungary’s correspondence with the EU regulations regarding liquid bio fuels
119-128Views:88During the recent years researchers from different countries have found that our environment is at risk. It has been recognised by the leaders of the member countries and they have made decisions together concerning environmental protection in several agreements, contracts. Unfortunately, these decisions have been weakened and adumbrated on numerous occasions by certain interests.
However, the energetic exploitation of the biomass has been supported by the economic and social changes of the previous years, more specifically, that of the bio fuels. The significant increase in the price of the traditional energy sources, the import dependency of the countries, the foreseeable exhaustion of the resources, the changes occurred due to joining the EU are all such problems that facilitates the application of bio fuels, as a good solution.
Our country decided to modify the then existed bio fuel component rate of 2% to 5.75% which has to be achieved by 2010. Since then, in March 2007 it has been expanded to 10% until 2020 (concerning energy content). This decision was taken knowing that this year (2006) the bio fuel rate has been 0.5%. However, the rate of 2% has not been achieved even in the EU. One can understand that the implementation cannot be fulfilled without significant political decisions and support. The main reason for this is that the price of bio fuels is not competitive with the present fossil-origin energy prices in Hungary. So in 2007 several regulations were modified. The most important one is perhaps the regulation of the revenue tax, which caused the successful tax-differentiation concerning bio fuels in more member states between 2007 and 2008. Its essence is that the revenue tax is not decreased, but if the fuel does not contain a bio fuel component of 4.4 bulking percentage per litre, „punishment” tax has to be paid. Moreover, on behalf of the implementation, regulations concerning bio fuels and bio fuel components are improving
At present the production and the application of bio fuels without any support are not economical yet. That is why it is important to emphasize the support policy of our country. After joining the Union, the new members can receive some shares from the direct disbursements, but only a tan increasing rate, we can achieve the 100% in 2013, though there is an opportunity for national contribution. Energy plants produced in agriculture receive separate supplementary support which is an advantageous opportunity for the farmers of the sector. Bio fuels cannot only be supported through agriculture, of course, but by research development, investment etc.
All in all, it can be concluded that Hungary seeks to fulfil the EU responsibilities taken and by this, to contribute to the maintenance of the sustainable progress, decrease of environmental pollution and the import dependency of energy sources. -
Using sensors in precision crop production
267-270Views:160Proper plant nutrition that takes into consideration both the requirements of plants and ecological conditions is one of the most important precondition of successful plant production. An important element of the N-fertilization of wheat is that the optimum zone of nitrogen supply is significantly narrower than that of other plant species, therefore it can easily happen that we apply higher or lower nitrogen doses than the optimal one. A possible solution to this problem can be precision agriculture. Applying the methods of precision agriculture we can take into consideration the heterogeneity of fields. By applying precision methods either online or offline we can intervene faster than if we would rely only on regular soil and plant analysis procedures. The determination of the doses of nitrogen and the timing of application are influenced also environmental and
economic aspects. The chlorophyll content of the leaves indicates the nitrogen status of plants, since there is a relationship between the nitrogen content and the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves. According to plant analysis results there was a strong and significant relationship between the values of the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)and the total nitrogen content measured in the leaves. -
What does precision crop production hold for the future of soil science and plant nutrition?
411-421Views:226The concept of precision agriculture is straightforward at the scientific level but even basic goals are blurred at the level of everyday practice in the Hungarian crop production despite the fact that several elements of the new technology have already been applied. The industrial and the service sectors offer many products and services to the farmers but crop producers do not get enough support to choose between different alternatives. Agricultural higher education must deliver this support directly to the farmers and via the released young graduates. The price of agricultural land must be higher if well-organized data underpin the production potential of the fields. Accumulated database is a form of capital. It must be owned by the farmers but in a data-driven economy its sharing will generate value for both farmers and the society as a whole.
We present a methodological approach in which simple models were applied to predict yield by using only those yield data which spatially coincide with the soil data and the remaining yield data and the models were used to test different sampling and interpolation approaches commonly applied in precision agriculture. Three strategies for composite sample collection and three interpolation methods were compared. Multiple regression models were developed to predict yields. R2 values were used to select among the applied methods.
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Spatially Discrete GIS Analysis of Sampling Points Based on Yield and Quality Analysis of Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris L.)
32-37Views:106Fulfilment of the increasing quality requirements of sugar beet production can be analysed with sampling of plants and soil at the cultivated area. Analyses of the spatial characteristics of samples require exact geodetic positioning. This is applied in practice using GPS in precision agriculture. The examinations were made in a sample area located in north-western Hungary with sugar beet test plant. According to the traditional sample taking procedure N=60 samples were taken in regular 20 x 20 m grid, where besides the plant micro and macro elements, the sugar industrial quality parameters (Equations 1-2) and the agro-chemical parameters of soils were analysed. Till now, to gain values of mean, weighted mean and standard variance values, geometric analogues used in geography were adapted, which correspond to the mean centre (Equation 3), the spatially weighted mean centre (Equation 4), the standard distance (Equation 5), and the standard distance circle values. Robust spatial statistical values provide abstractions, which can be visually estimated immediately, and applied to analyse several parameters in parallel or in time series (Figure 1). This interpretation technique considers the spatial position of each point to another individually (distance and direction), and the value of the plant and soil parameters. Mapping the sample area in GIS environment, the coordinates of the spatially weighted mean centre values of the measured plant and soil parameters correlated to the mean centre values showed a northwest direction. Exceptions were the total salt and calcium-carbonate contents, and the molybdenum concentration of the soil samples (Table 1). As a new visual analysis, the spatially weighted mean centre values of the parameters as eigenvectors were projected to the mean centre values as origin. To characterize the production yield, the raw and digested sugar contents of the sample area, the absolute rotation angles of the generated vectors were determined, which indicate numerically the inhomogenity of the area (Figure 2). The generated spatial analogues are applicable to characterise visually and quantitatively the spatial positions of sampling points and the measured parameters in a quick way. However, their disadvantage is that they do not provide information on the tightness and direction of the spatial correlation similarly to the original statistical parameters.
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Land use, water management
81-87Views:258Due to the prognosed population increase to 9.2 billion people by 2050, the world’s crop production does not have any other chance than to increase production. This demand is a huge challenge for agriculture. Based on the forecasts, the growth rate of production of the main cereals will decrease as a result of the effect of soil, water, the increasing fuel and fertiliser prices and the impacts of climate change. Methods ensuring sustainability have to be preferred. Precision agriculture is the most effective method of crop production. We have to apply minimum cultivation in order to protect the soil surface, maintain its moisture content and increase its water reception ability. In addition to the localised use of fertiliser, sowing seed, irrigation and pesticides, it is also important to apply them in a targeted way on the basis of plot imaging. The use of the new technology results in significant cost saving and it could also reduce environmental load.
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Analytical overview of dairy industry in the Poltava region, Ukraine
47-51Views:136The author presents essential characteristics of the state and place of Poltava region in it. The study aims at identification and description of latest trends in Ukraine’s and Poltava’s dairy industry. The author stresses an important place of the dairy industry in the agriculture of Ukraine, and particularly in the Poltava region. This article also presents the information of main indicators of dairy industry of Ukraine in the comparison with other countries of the World. It describe sources of forming the main agricultural products and directions of their use for the calendar year, data on per capita consumption of main dairy products in Ukraine and the Poltava Region and per capita average daily consumption of basic micro- and macro elements in foods. The study contains basic indicators which characterize the social and economic state of agriculture in Ukraine and its regions for 1990–2012. There are also the data of gross production and main kinds of dairy products per capita and as well as some indicators of livestock’s productivity and so on.
The goal of the article is to describe the complex evaluation of the achieved level of milk production, consumption of milk and dairy products in Ukraine and the Poltava Region, to show the specifics of the national dairy cattle breeding, identifying the main challenges in it.