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Foliar treatments of Sugar beet
55-59Views:415The yield and quality of the sugar beet are mainly determined by the plant production system, thus we studied the effect of mineral fertilization. Our field trials were carried out in 2005 and 2006 in Hajdúböszörmény, at two sites. We studied the effect of sulphur (Cosavet DF), copper (Kelcare Cu) and two foliar nutrients with high active agents. Treatments were replicated four times.
We took root and leaf samples at 4 week intervals, starting in August. The quality of root (sucrose, potassium, sodium and alfaamino N content) was determined from filtrated beet broth, by an automatic beet laboratory system, called VENEMA. Leaf samples were measured with ICP-OES.
We found that the crop and the sugar yield were significantly influenced by the foliar treatments. -
The effect of crop coverage on the daily dynamism of the soil’s CO2 emission
97-102Views:379Nowadays one of main goals of international ecosystem research the measurement of greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O and CH4) in different places. The fluctuation of these greenhouse gases – quantity and trend in the case of CO2 and CH4 – could be diverse with atmosphere because it depends on several effects of factors like climate, soil type, vegetation. In grassland out of the three greenhouse gases which fill a part in gas emission, in the case of CO2 soil and vegetation are the most important factors (Soussana et al., 2007).
In the aspect of global carbon balance grasslands are very important by their large area extension, total carbon content, organic content store (10% of the global carbon storage) (Lemmens et al., 2006). In this summer measurements were carried out to determine CO2 emission of the soil from different soil surfaces like grass covered and bare soil surface during a whole day. -
Optimized balance between crop productivity, restoration and maintenance of vital soil functions and soil carbon sequestration and storage – the SmartSOIL (FP7) project
213-215Views:257Soils provide the most indispensable function of supporting the production of food and feed for a growing human population. At the same time they provide a range of regulating and supporting functions related to climate change and removal of greenhouse gases. The majority of the soil functions are closely linked to the flows and stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC); low levels of both flows and stocks may seriously interfere with several of the essential soil functions and thus affect the ecosystem services that soils deliver. Soil degradation is considered a serious problem in Europe and a large part of the degradation is caused by intensive cultivation practices in agriculture. The aim of the SmartSOIL project is to link the results of different scientific fields through a holistic and multidisciplinary approach and as a result develop a decision making tool contributing to sustainable development.
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Agrarian sector of Ukraine in the global world
57-60Views:256Characterization of Ukraine as a “bread basket” for the world have been done. In our study using database of State statistical service of Ukraine and FAO we showed changes of harvest areas and volume of production of cereals and protein-oil crops during this century.
As a result we showed that Ukraine has increased its share in the world gross harvest of cereals up to 2.17% and protein-oil crops up to 3.4%. Each economically active agrarian produced 22.6 tons of cereals and 3.5 tons of protein-oil crops, increasing this index in comparing to 2000 in 11 and 12 times accordingly.
Ukraine has a great potential for increasing crop production because of use genetic potential of varieties only for 60–70%. Here are shown changes in cattle, poultry breeding and dynamic of livestock production. We also included export of cereals and livestock production.
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Portable snapshot spectral imaging for agriculture
221-225Views:429High-resolution proximal and remote sensing applications can consolidate sustainable, prevention- and precision-oriented crop management strategies to decrease production risks. This paper shows significant perspectives, own developments and technical aspects of high resolution remote sensing in the context of field applications. Moreover, we provide an overview of snapshot hyperspectral imaging and potential field video sensors to identify areas of interest for their future development. One of the main conclusions of our paper is that non-scanning snapshot hyperspectral imaging technology may enable researchers to overcome the gap in the “point to image” transition of field sensing, while providing a flexible solution for regular variable-rate applications.
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Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) harvest and plant replacement methods in aquaponia
91-98Views:405The aim of the study is to investigate the potential of basil leaf mass production under aquaponic conditions with different harvest and plant replacement methods. Aquaponics is a combination of soil-less crop production hydroponics and aquaculture and it is can use and clean the wastewater of intensive aquaculture systems. Three groups were established in the 6 units during the six-week harvest and seedling rotation cycles. Group 1 individuals remain in the units throughout the breeding season. Group 2 individuals were replaced every 12 weeks, while Group 3 individuals were replaced every six weeks, at the same time as harvest. Data from the experiment were analysed to determine how the harvest and replacement protocol of basil plants influences the amount of leaves harvested, the percentage of leaves harvested relative to the plant stem, and the changes in plant height, SPAD and NDVI during harvest and replacement. A continuously maintained and harvested healthy basil stock under aquaponic conditions can provide a consistent leaf mass all year round without the extra cost of replacing and producing seedlings.
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Utilization of Climatic Natural Resources in Domestic Crop Production
101-106Views:1661. Több évtizedes kutatómunka során megállapítást nyert, hogy a hazai szántóföldi növénytermesztés bár jelentős fejlődést mutatott, amely a termések növekedésében nyilvánult meg, azonban a termésingadozások nagyságát és viszonylagos értékét elsősorban a klimatikus tényezők okozzák.
2. A szántóföldi növénytermesztés egy olyan agroökológiai rendszer, amely óriási mennyiségű energiát használ fel és egyidejűleg átalakít, és biológiai energiát szolgáltat. A modern magyar szántóföldi növénytermesztés keretében a főbb termesztett növények energia-hasznosítása, illetve efficienciája eléri a főtermékre vonatkoztatott energiamennyiség 10-11%-át. Ez utóbbi érték jelentősen meghaladja az általánosan ismertetett 1,5-2,5% értéket.
3. A produkció növekedése a szén beépülése jelentős arányú. Főbb szántóföldi növényeink (búza, kukorica) évjáratonként 20 t/ha bruttó produkció esetén közel 30 t szén-dioxid mennyiséget hasznosít, amelyet legnagyobb hányadában a légkörből von el.
4. A növényi produkció növekedésével a vízhasznosulás egyre kedvezőtlenebbé válik. Míg a múlt század elején 5-6 kg képződését engedte meg 1 mm-nyi csapadékmennyiség, jelenleg a vízhasznosulási tényező 15-30 kg/mm közötti, de szélső esetekben elérheti a 40 kg/mm értéket is. Ez azt jelenti, hogy 100 év alatt a vízhasznosulási tényező a produkció megtízszereződését fejezi ki.
5. A talajok vízháztartási tulajdonságai a vízhasznosulási értéket jelentős módon befolyásolják: a talajok vízforgalmi tulajdonságainak romlásával az egységnyi vízmennyiségből előállítható növényi szárazanyag-termék mennyisége csökken. -
The Role of Cultivation Systems in Quality Sugar Beet Production
134-138Views:670Producing sugar beet, as it is a demanding field crop, has contributed to the raising standard of plant production. It has an outstanding place among the plants that are cultivated in the intensive plant production system. Rentability of sugar manufacture is determined by the stability of yield and the quality (saccharose content) of sugar beet. In this way, the fundamental interest both of the producers and the processing industry is high yield and quality, year by year. The yield and the quality of the sugar beet are mainly determined by the plant production system, so we studied the effect of fertilization, irrigation and plant protection.
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Study of some physiologic properties of different genotype sweet corn hybrids
105-110Views:259The effect of nutrient-supply (control, N120+PK) and two different genotypes on the physiologic properties of sweet corn has been investigated in the crop-year of 2011 on chernozem soil in the Hajdúság region. The experiments were carried out at the Experimental Station of the University of Debrecen in Debrecen-Látókép. The experiment was sewn in two different sowing times: the 21st April can be considered as an early, while the 19th May as a late sowing time. The two involved hybrids were Jumbo and Enterprise. The applied plant density was 65 000 plants per hectare.
Our aim with this experiment was to study the plant production, just as the main affecting factors of its development and dynamics, like nutrient-supply and genotypes. We aimed to study and analyse the relationships between these factors and plant production. In this study following parameters were measured and calculated: photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll-content (SPAD-value), leaf area index (LAI) and leaf area duration (LAD). Regarding the analysis of photosynthetic activity values no obvious relationship between the measured values and the applied hybrids, just as nutrient-supply has been revealed.
Analysing the SPAD-values it can be stated that the chlorophyll-content of the measured leaves showed an increasing tendency due to the nutrient-supply. The highest values have been measured in the intensive cob development phase of the early sowing time plots.
Regarding the LAI-values we have found significant differences between the fertilizer treatments in both sowing time treatments. In case of the leaf area duration values – that is derived from the LAI values – nutrient-supply has positively affected the duration of the assimilation area. -
Development of technology elements for growing of perennial sorghum
15-17Views:240Optimal sowing time for perennial sorghum under irrigation is when soil temperature at the depth of sowing reaches up to 10–11 °С, harvesting for the green mass has to be done when panicle is situated on the stem in 10 sm from the flag leaf and hight of cut must be 11 sm.
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Study of plant physiological parameters in winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus var. napus f. biennis L.) production on chernozem soil
111-115Views:613We made plant physiology examinations in Arkaso winter oilseed rape hybrid substance: relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) and leaf area index (LAI) measurements. The experiment was set in University of Debrecen Agricultural Sciences Center at Látóképi Experimental Station in four replications, in two different sowing times (I. sowing date on 08/22/2014 and II. sowing date on 09/09/2014 sowing againhappened because of the incomplete germination in the second subtance 01/10/2014) Three different plant density 200, 350 and 500 thousand ha-1, under the same nutrient supply, 45 cm row spacing. The experiment was green crop of winter wheat. The relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) and leaf area index (LAI) measurements were made in seven different times. We measured the maximum value of chlorophyll content in the first sowing time at 500, and the second sowing time at 350 thousand ha-1 plant density. The measurement results proved that there was a linear relationship between the number of plants and the LAI. The maximum leaf area index values we measured in both the sowing time at 500 thousand ha-1 reached.
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The effect of fertilization and plant protection in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) production
57-63Views:466Sunflower is the most important oil crop in Europe which is grown on the biggest area of all the oil crops. The area of producing sunflowers in Hungary was changing to 524–704 thousand hectares in the past decade in comparison with approximately 100 thousand hectares in the 1970’s. In our experiment different sunflower hybrids were examined. The doses of fertilizers were the following in 2017 and 2018: 0–30–90–150 kg ha-1 N, 0-50-90-90 kg ha-1 P2O5 and 0–70–110–110 kg ha-1 K2O. Three different treatments of plant protection were used in the experiment to protect them from fungal infections. A rise in the dosage of nitrogen resulted in increasing infection. The biggest fungal infection was identified in 150 kg ha-1 N, 90 kg ha-1 P2O5 and 110 kg ha-1 K2O treatment. The largest infection was measured on plots without plant protection at the highest N doses, both in leaf and disc diseases. We measured the highest 41.25% in 2017 and 53.1% in 2018 Diaporthe helianthi infection, and 24.5% in 2017 and 25.5 % in 2018 Sclerotinia sclerotiorum disc infection in these plots. kg ha-1
Average yield was changing between 2.96–4.67 t ha-1 in 2017/2018. The lowest yield was obtained in the absolute control plot (without plant protection and without nutrient) in both years, which was 2.96 t ha-1 in 2017 and 3.14 t ha-1. The yields increased due to growing nutrient supply and excellent plant protection. The highest yields were 3.67 t ha-1 in 2017 and 4.67 t ha-1 in 2018 (150 kg ha-1 N, 90 kg ha-1 P2O5 and 110 kg K2O active substance). Purpose of the experiment at analysing the impact of different treatments on the profitability of sunflower production.
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Changes in the Quality of Winter Wheat Varieties in a Comparative Experiment
179-183Views:585The hungarian seed grain supply offers more and more varieties from the field crops for public cultivation in every year. The number of the admitted varieties by state doubled from 1996 to 2001. The question is what changes can the varieties newly inproved show in the quality parameters.
32 varieties admitted in different years was examined on quality parameters as wet gluten content, valorigraphic value and falling number from period 1996-2001. We established that the newer varieties surpassed the traditional varieties of the variety-comparativing experiment in accordion to they wet gluten content. In connection with formation of valorigraphical value we saw that the new varieties got place in the varieties admitted for public cultivation in quality based examining. The varieties showed different reaction of fertilizer on the formation of these two parameters. In connection with the formation of the value of falling number the examined varieties suited for the requirements of quality crop production in the experimental years excepted some of them. -
The effect of season and fertilizer on the LAI, the photosynthesis and the yield of the maize hybrids with different genetic characteristics
27-34Views:400The experiment was carried out in Debrecen, at the Experimental Station of the University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Crop Production and Applied Ecology. We tested 10 various hybrids with their own genetic characteristics for five different fertilizer doses, in addition to the parcels without fertilization. The three factors of production technology jointly determine the successfully of maize production, but in different measure. The yield and the stability of yield of maize can be increased with hybrid-specific technologies.
In 2004-2005 experiment years the favorable results reached were due to the rainy season. There were significant difference between the productivity of maize hybrids. The N 40, P2O5 25, K2O 30 kg/ha treatment caused the highest increase of yield (3-5 t/ha) compared to the control (parcels without fertilization). The reaction of hybrids to the further fertilizer doses was different. The agro-ecological optimum of NPK fertilization was N 120, P 75, K 90 kg of the most hybrids.
During the experiment, we tested the moisture loss of the five hybrids. The seed moisture content at harvest was higher than in previous years due to the rainy seasons. The seed moisture content of harvest of FAO 200-300 hybrids were about 20%. It changed between 21-24% in the case of hybrids with longer vegetation period (FAO 400), the seed moisture content of Mv Vilma (FAO 510) was 24.21-25.04% in the average of fertilizer treatments. There is an important difference between the moisture loss ability of hybrids which changed 0.2-0.6%/day. The moisture loss of hybrids changed depending on the fertilizer treatment; usually, it was more favorable in the optimal fertilizer dose (N120+PK).
In the case of tested hybrids, we measured the highest LAI and photosynthetic activity at the optimal treatment, N 120, P2O5 75, K2O 90 kg/ha in the respect of efficiency and environmental protection, and the yield was high also for this treatment. There are significant difference between the LAI, the photosynthetic activity and the yield of hybrids, and these values could change depending on the treatment of fertilization. -
Yield of herbicide tolerant sunflower hybrids due to the different herbicide treatments
121-125Views:272Sunflower is our most important oil-plant grown on the largest area in Hungary. In Europe sunflower has been grown since the 16th century. In recent years sunflower growing area is between 450-500 thousand hectares. Weed management in sunflower production is getting more and more difficult in case of annual and perennial dicotyledonous weeds, especially in dry springs. Two active ingredients, imazamox and tribenuron-methyl could be a solution for farmers for the control of these weeds in herbicide tolerant sunflower hybrids (Christensen-Reisinger 2000, Hódi-Torma 2004, Nagy et al. 2006). Most of the farmers choose the Clearfield technology and the use of tribenuron-methyl herbicides. In 2009 imazamox- (IMI) and tribenuron-methyl- (SU) tolerant sunflower hybrids were produced on 200 hectares in Hungary, of which 150 hectares was IMI, while 50 hectares was SU-hybrids. Small plot experiments were carried out to investigate the phytotoxicity of herbicides on imazamox (IMI) and tribenuron-methyl (SU) tolerant sunflower hybrids under field conditions. At harvest we measured the moisture content of achenes and average yield.
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Pest-fauna of grasslands and seed-grass varieties
56-59Views:229The present paper deals with various herbivorous species living in grassland ecosystems. The research focused not only on the complexity of pests in grasslands but also on individual pest species; their biology and the severity of damage, with special regard to seed feeders of some frequent herd’s grass species. The observed pests are showed in two ways, both taxonomically and according to their localization on the crop that is where they cause damage. An attempt was made to present the results being easily understandable for practitioners.
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Influences of water deficiency on the productivity of young plants at different sites
371-378Views:289Water deficiency has become one of the most limiting factors of crop production in Hungary as the tendency in annual amounts of precipitation shows a decreasing tendency; therefore, it has become similar to those of Southern Europe. The most significant decrease in precipitation occurs typically during spring, approximately 20% of the data expressed in the averages of the last century. Studying the relationship between water deficiency as a stress factor and nutrient supply is important in order to improve the production efficiency of crops. Nowadays, this problem receives outstanding attention presented in numerous papers both in Hungary and globally, however, there are several questions yet to be answered. Our pot experiments were carried out under controlled greenhouse conditions in order to establish new data on these relationships. Experimental soils were typical for Western Transdanubia, taken from long-term field experiments representing four different site characteristics of the region. It was concluded from the results that drought periods during the early growth stages (i.e. 4–5 weeks after emergence) of plants may result in significant decreases in both dry matter production, nutrient concentrations, nutrient uptake and shoot:root ratios. Better nutrient supply, especially potassium, plays a significant role in reducing the negative effects of water deficiency.
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The effect of plant density to the yield results and the yield components of maize hybrids
89-93Views:307Maize is the crop that is produced on the second largest area in our country, in Hungary. It is planted on nearly 25% of the country’s growing area and it was produced on 1 090 439 hectares in 2016. Despite the continuous development of the biological basis and production
technology, the growth of the yield results is not constant, its fluctuation is significant. It can be even up to 60%, because of the extremity of the years. The exploitation of the yield potential of modern hybrids is possible if we harmonize the effects of the ecological factors and properly applied instruments of agro technology and by these we ensure their interaction to reach a favorable outcome. The applied plant density is an important, well researched, but at industrial level a not enough utilized element of the maize production.
The results of the extensive tests, done between 2009 and 2015, showed that the genotype, the year effect and the plant density are in strong correlation with each other determining the yield results. In the past seven years the examined genotypes reached the highest yield
performance at the highest plant densities. The early hybrids (RM90–95, FAO 200–300) are capable of producing them at higher plant density, while in case of the mid and late maturity varieties the further increasing of the density after reaching the optimum level led to yield depression.
According to our experimental results, the yield is in close positive correlation with the increase of the plant density. The effect of the growing season has great significance in forming the yield results and this determines the applicable plant density too.
The yield of maize is determined by a resultant of components. The main component is the number of ears per plant and the amount of kernels per ear, which is calculated from the number of kernels on an ear and the weight of them. The number of the kernels on an ear is
calculated from the number of rows on the cob multiplied by the number of seeds in one row on the cob. In dry years, at lower yield levels the yield decreases because of the shorter ears, while at the higher levels the number of kernels in a row and the thousand-kernel weight decreases,causing yield depression this way. From our examinations it turned out that the plant density reaction of a genotype is individual, every variety reaches its maximum kernel number per hectare – in other words the maximum yield - in an individual way. -
Plant clinic in Nepal: An overview
5-10Views:441Plant 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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Economic issues of crop based ethanol production for energetic uses
90-94Views:246The United States Congress passed the “Clean Air Act” in 1990, which targeted the creation and use of so-called “green fuel”. This Act came into full force on January 7, 1995. Its essence is that an oxygen rich component is added to fuel by which it burns more cleanly and harmful emissions of vehicles are reduced by 25%. This oxygen rich component is basically ethanol and its ether ETBE, made of domestically produced grains.
America’s traditional grain exporter status could be converted into a stabile income resource during production, many more valuable by-products – should this program succeed – are also produced, giving the opportunity for further utilisation either in the foods or form feeds industries, or as export products.
Ethanol or ETBE production is also important to replace fuel imports from any specific country, the additive which is necessary for producing the fuel is the imported product MTBE.
This programme therefore simultaneously assisted in environmental protection, agricultural and foreign trading issues as well as some market regulation issues. At the same time, based on grain production, it has an effect on the social strata by creating new jobs, especially in those areas which can be considered in recession due to the lack of any large-scale industrial cities.
In the future, the European Union should carry out this project and it will affect Hungary, as well. -
Usage of Different Spectral Bands in Agricultural Environmental Protection
123-126Views:232Hyper and multispectral imaging systems are widely used in agricultural and environmental protection. Remote sensing techniques are suitable for evaluating environmental protection hazarsd, as well as for agriculture resource exploration. In our research we compared aerial hyper and multispectral images, as well as multispectral digital camera images with the background data from the test site. Hyperspectral records were obtained using a new 80-channeled aerial spectrometer (Digital Airborne Imaging Spectrometer /DAIS 7915/. We have chosen two farms where intensive crop cultivation takes place, as test sites, so soil degradation and spreading of weeds can be intensive as a result of land use and irrigation. We took additional images of air and ground with a TETRACAM ADC wide band multispectral camera, which can sense blue, green and near infrared bands. We had detailed GIS database about the test site. Weed and vegetation map of the area in the spring and the summer was made in 2002. For soil salt content analysis, we gathered detailed data frome an 80x100 m area. When analyzing the images, we evaluated image reliability, and the connection between the bands and the soil type, pH and salt content, and weed mapping. In the case of hyperspectral images, our aim was to choose and analyze the appropriate band combinations. With a TETRACAM ADC camera, we made images at different times, and we calculated canopy, NDVI and SAVI indexes. Using the background data mentioned above, the aim of our study was to develop a spectral library, which can be used to analyze the environmental effects of agricultural land use.
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Experience at Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy on introduction and integration of precision agriculture technology
73-76Views:209Traditional and precision agriculture technologies are compared on the basis of the field experiment. Problems of soil and crop survey and mapping are discussed.
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The significance of biological bases in maize production
61-65Views:324The comparative trial has been set up in the Demonstration Garden of the Institute of Crop Sciences of the University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic Studies, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management in 2012, with 24 hybrids with different genetic characteristics and growing periods. The soil of the trial is lime-coated chernozem, with a humus layer of 50–70 cm.
The weather of the trial year was quite droughty; the monthly average temperature was 3–4 oC higher than the average of 30 years. High temperature, together with lack of precipitation occurred during the most sensitive phenophases of maize (flowering; fecundation, grain saturation).
The following characteristics have been observed: starting vigour, date of male and female flowering, plant and cob height, dry-down dynamics during maturation and the change of yield composing elements has also been quantified. The yield was recalculated to 14% moisture content grain yield after harvesting.
The beginning of the growing period was advantageous, therefore the analysed hybrids could grow a high (above 300 cm) and strong stem. The yield of the hybrids changed between 10.33 and 11.87 t ha-1, but as a result of the unfavourable climatic extremes, their genetic yield potential prevailed only at a rate of 30–40%. However, moisture content by the time of harvesting was good despite its early date (12th September); it remained under below 14% in most cases. Dry-down was measured on a weekly basis between 14th August and 5th September.
The analysis of the qualitative parameters of the maize hybrids (protein %, oil % and starch %) resulted in significant differences. The most significant difference has been observed in the case of protein content (LSD5%=2.01). Oil content was the most advantageous in the case of hybrids belonging to the mid-late growing group (FAO 400). The X9N655 and 36V74 hybrids had the highest oil content (around 4%), while hybrids P9915 and 37F73 had significantly lower oil content. Starch content was above 70% in the case of every hybrid.
Hybrid selection is highly important in terms of yield and yield security of maize, as well as the application of modern biological fundamentals and hybrid specific technology for the improvement of the level of cultivation technology.
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Impact of weather on the spring crops yield in Croatia with emphasis on climatic change and the 2014 growing season
41-46Views:324Main 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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Soil microbial biomass and community responses to long-term tillage and fertilizer regimes in corn under corn-winter wheat rotation
33-41Views:37Agrotechnical interventions, namely, tillage and fertilization have a great influence on soil microbial activities and biomass, hence it is important to investigate their effect in long-term experiments. This study aimed at evaluating the impact of long-term tillage and NPK mineral fertilizer application on soil microbiological parameters in corn grown under corn-winter wheat rotation. The soil samples were collected in June of 2024 from the long-term experiment of the University of Debrecen at Látókép established in 1991. The treatments included control (no fertilizer), NPK fertilization (160 kg ha-1 N, 60 kg ha-1 P2O5, 90 kg ha-1 K2O) and tillages (Moldboard tillage-MT, Strip tillage-ST and Ripper tillage-RT). The soil microbial biomass and composition of its community (Actinomycetes, saprophytic fungi, Gram-positive bacteria, Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Gram-negative bacteria) was measured by PLFA analysis of soil extract. Results indicate that NPK fertilization affected only the biomass of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and Actinomycetes, whereas tillage greatly influenced the soil microbial biomass and community composition for all the microbial groups. Generally, the microbial biomass and community composition were highest under RT followed by ST and lowest under MT. In conclusion, conservation tillages are more favorable for soil microbial life than conventional tillage.