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Ecological value of wood energy plantations in the support of some animal groups
143-148Views:230Today, some environmental problems have reached such severe proportions that it is no longer enough to recognise them, but environmentally friendly solutions must be used to reduce them. The reduction in the area of natural forests of native species is causing problems in several ways.
This research aimed to highlight how environmental, conservation and economic interests can be reconciled. In addition to natural forests, wood energy plantations are becoming increasingly important. Energy import dependency is a problem for most countries, for which wood energy plantations can partly offer an alternative. Native forests can be protected, and their area increased where possible. Meanwhile, energy plantations can be established in areas with low agricultural productivity.
In this experiment, I studied a plantation of Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur), a Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and a Paulownia (Paulownia Shan Tong). I selected burrowing birds and ground-dwelling arthropods as indicator groups. I did this by establishing a nesting colony and soil trapping. I wanted to demonstrate that, in addition to natural forests, wood energy plantations have a role not only in economic terms but also in maintaining certain animal groups. Soil trapping tests were carried out in all three tree plantations.
The obtained results showed that in the Paulownia plantation, the occupancy rate of nest boxes was almost 100%, while in the Black Locust plantation it was around 30%. Among the species that occupied the nesting sites, the Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) were more abundant, while Great Tit (Parus major) was present in the Black Locust plantation. These are opportunistic species for which nesting opportunity is the most important factor, since their feeding area (in the case of the Common Starling and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow) is not typical of the nesting area. The soil trap investigations show that there are no significant differences in the composition of the arthropod group (beetles, spiders) in the study areas.
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Goose Production Responses to Grass-Based Diets
26-28Views:407A feeding trial with 4 week-old goslings was conducted in 2003 using different proportions of chopped grass and grain pellets in the diet. Proportions of chopped grass and grain pellets in diets for Treatments 1, 2, 3 and 4 were 25:75; 50:50; 75:25 and 0:100, respectively. Weekly and final live weights of geese and the feather quality were measured. Treatments with higher grain contents produced higher live weights, and better feather quality.
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A partial botanical survey of a gamepreserve
27-30Views:526Hungary is internationally well known for its high level game management. An important part of game management is indoor game keeping. In Hungary more and more game preserves were founded all over the country. The role of these game preserves to retain forest stands outside of the closed area. According to the law, in the game-preserves the game bearing capacity is not the most important parameter, because in these areas the feeding is continuous. In practice it means that in game-preserves we find a much higher density of games than in nature. This causes a relative big loading of the area (of the herbaceous and arboreal), where the game-preserves are located. Our aim is to study the ecological and management issues of forest- and game resources. The scene of these work is a game-preserve related to the Nyírerdő Corporation (Nyíregyháza).
We have done a botanical survey (plant coverage, life-form spectrum) in the three previous units and in the control area (outside of the game-preserve) as well. Our results show the difference in case of the state of herbaceous plants between areas with higher and lower game density. -
The effects of bioactive feed additives for the production parameters of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) fingerlings in intensive recirculating system
35-41Views:519For the appropriate quantity and quality of fish meat the pond farmers need to use up to date nutrition and feeding technologies. Recently the intensification of the carp production is stepping up with the availability the proper quality of the artificial feeds. The using of different feed additives make a better feed conservation ratio, faster growing rates and more uniform stocks.
In our experiment what is made with common carp (duration of the experiment was 8 weeks long) we compared two different kinds of feed additives in different doses. One of them contains only natural mineral elements and the other additive is a natural origin probiotics. Both additives were used in the quantity of 0.5, 1 and 2% of the total feed. By the result of the 8 weeks experiment it could be said, that the using of the humic acid based mineral elements feed additive. Makes a better FCR comparing with the control stock, but was not as good as the using of the probiotics. At the humic acid treatments the more doses, the better FCR value, but at the probiotics it wasn’t true. The 0.5% probiotic treatment gave the best result. It is concluded that the using of the probiotic feed additives always gave a better performance of the fishes (average weight, biomass, FCR) than the humic acid treatments. The using of the feed additives hasn’t got an influence for the survival rate of the carps.