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Evaluation of the use of leaf fertilizers and growth regulators in winter wheat: A review
77-82Views:374Winter wheat is a leading cereal on a global scale, however, yields remain variable due to increasing weather extremes. This review synthesizes evidence (1971–2024) on the effects of foliar fertilizers and plant growth regulators/biostimulants on wheat growth, yield and quality. Across studies, appropriately timed foliar micronutrient applications (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, B, Mo) tend to enhance chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity, and grain quality traits, while selected copper- and zinc-based products frequently increase grain yield and crude protein. Biostimulants—such as amino acids, humic/fulvic acids and seaweed extracts—generally improve stress tolerance (drought, cold) and may raise grain number and thousand-kernel weight. Plant growth regulators (e.g., lodging control agents) can reduce plant height, strengthen stems and improve stand stability, thereby contributing to yield security. Evidence magnitude varies with soil supply, cultivar, and phenophase-specific timing. We summarize practical windows of application, expected responses, and limitations, and highlight research gaps in standardizing doses and reporting effect sizes. Overall, foliar nutrition and growth regulation are promising tools to increase yield stability and quality under increasingly variable growing conditions.
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The role of self regulation and market mechanisms in tertiary education
91-97Views:225The social functions of tertiary education have gone through considerable changes with the transformation of economic environment in the more than two past decades. In the decade after the political transformation the number of students in the tertiary education increased more than threefold. Personal interests, social needs and the demands of the society lay different claims to the performance of this sector. The needs for structural transformation of the tertiary education system are connected with the development of social and economic processes. The changes of legal regulations determining the operation of the sector are induced by these factors, which refer to the autonomic characters of the public participants. Tertiary education possesses a specific market environment each of whose characters – both the supply and demand sides – strive for the enforcement of self-regulatory mechanisms.
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Adequate responses to plant protection policy
33-35Views:197The head of crop protection in the Central Agricultural Office offers a survey of the lately reconstructured official structure, outlines the sections of Central Directorate, sketches the roles of County Government Bureaues. To keep the standard of knowledge changes are necessary to make in the higher education of plant protection specialists. The prersentation will concern the contacts between researches made on universities and agricultural official directorates. It is analized the regulation of present and future pesticide usage, the possible alternatives of reduced quantity pesticide usage including the application of Integrated Plant Management (IPM) as well. The tasks of national activity according to the EU direcives about sustainable pesticide usage touch the problems of plant protection machinery and environment safety. It is summarized the tasks of official directorate, chamber of crop protection specialists, moreover practice of plant protection for the nearest future.
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Post-control of agricultural subsidies provided by EU
31-35Views:214The greatest part of the incomes (nearly fifty percent) of the European Union is spend on the agriculture and the agricultural policy is the most complex field among the common policies. In Hungary the payments from Guarantee Section of EAGGF are carried out by one Paying Agency (Agricultural and Rural Development Agency), the post audit of payments are carried out by Investigation Network of Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard on the base of Council Regulation No. 4045/89. A full co-operation of the business operators is expected during the audit, which means the presentation of the complete accounting file related to subsidies. To avoid declarations on irregularities during the audit and the following order on repayment of the subsidy, all requirements of gaining subsidies have to be kept. The state authorities, in present case the customs authority should pay special attention to the risk analysis activity, and its harmonising with the proposals and guidelines of the Commission. Getting acquainted and using in practice the actual requirements and proposals of the Commission’s guidelines is expected at all levels of the control service of the HCFG, but primarily the Special Service has to continue its present practice in this field. The measures mentioned above, respectively the effective period taken under analysis teens from the date of accession until June 2005.
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The effect of different dietary manipulations on haematological properties in Japanese quail
35-41Views:320Quantitative and qualitative dietary conditions are crucial for physiological functions. Blood haematology, the indicator of immune regulation, is critically affected by dietary conditions. Despite their importance, the effect of macro- and micronutrient manipulation remains unknown. We used feed restriction, energy or protein restriction, and supplementation of leucine, methionine, or both on top of restricted-feeding to study the effect on haematological properties in Japanese quail. Fifty-six birds of six weeks of age were distributed into seven treatments; control, 20% feed restriction, 20% energy restriction, 20% protein restriction, supplementing 20% leucine, 20% methionine, or both on top of restricted feeding. Haematological properties, including white blood cell count, number and percent of lymphocytes, mid-range (eosinophil + basophil), granulocytes, red blood cell count, haemoglobin levels, packed cell volume, mean corpuscular volume, and mean corpuscular haemoglobin were analysed. We found that quantitative feed restriction, energy restriction, and amino acid supplementations showed no significant effect compared to the control group. However, protein restriction reduced all indices, suggesting the importance of proteins in maintaining leukocyte and erythrocyte indices. The present study revealed that neither moderate calorie restriction nor moderate specific amino acid supplementation have an impact on blood haematology, while 20% protein restriction has a notable effect.
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Biofuel regulations in the USA and the EU
25-31Views:339Climate change, the increasing dependency on crude oil and other fossile fuels, the expanding import and the increasing energy costs make the world’s societies and its economies vulnerable.
The development of effective renewable energy resources has been a priority for the US since the first oil embargo. While there was only little progress for around two decades, biofuel use and production has been showing a rapidly increasing tendency since the mid 90’s.
The EU’s objective of renewable energy resources is one of the main priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy. The European Union aims to increase the share of energy produced from renewable resources in the whole energy supply and by 10% in the transport-related energy supply by 20% until 2020.
The renewable energy sector is the only one which is able to reduce GHG emission and pollution while utilising local energy resources and stimulating cutting edge industrial sectors; therefore, it is indispensable to develop a proper framework and regulation for supporting renewable energies.
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Application of environmental accounting tools for agricultural companies
60-68Views:246Today there is an ever stronger requirement for companies to consider the environmental aspects of their operation. The incorporation of these aspects into the economic practise of agricultural firms in our country is still in its infancy and, moreover, it usually follows from outside coercion (legal regulation) rather than voluntary behaviour.
Consequently, in the Hungarian agrar-economics – contrary to the example of Western Europe – the application of environmental accounting in agriculture is a barely researched subject; this has been so even though the environmental policy of companies can be made more conscious by adding an environmental dimension to the organizational information systems.
The aim of our investigation is two-fold. The first goal is to form a method that quantifies the environmental load of companies, is capable of comparing environmental performance of companies with different sizes, and takes into account the specific attributes of agriculture as well. The second is to apply this method in practice, to prove that estimating the environmental load of companies is possible by processing already available data (fiscal, accounting and statistical) using new concepts.
In this publication we present the joint application of three methods – each belonging to the toolset of environmental accounting – for two companies dealing with both crop and animal farming in the Pannonian region. The three methods are partly built upon each other and partly complementary. The company-level environmental balance is capable to show the relations between a given firm and its surrounding, but realistic comparison between environmental performance of different companies or periods is only possible by using specific index quantities. -
Marginalisation and Multifunctional Land Use in Hungary
50-61Views:193Our study prepared as a brief version of National Report in the frame of EUROLAN Programme. We deal with the interpretation of some definitions (marginalisation of land use, multifunctionality of land use, marginalisation of agriculture, multifunctionality of agriculture), with sorting and reviewing indicators of marginalisation and finally with the analysis of functions of land use. We suggested a dynamic and a static approach of marginalisation. We can explore the dynamic process by time series and the static (regional) one by cross-section analyses.
It is very hard to explain the perspective of the future of marginalisation of land and of agriculture in Hungary. The process of marginalisation seems faster in the agriculture in the coming years, but it depends on the utilisation of new possibilities given by the EU financial resources and by the Common Market. At this moment agriculture seems one of the big losers of the accession.
In the long term we should face considerable challenges in the land use. It is necessary to take into account that there is a supply market of foods and traditional fibre production world-wide. There are limited possibilities to produce and to market for example biodiesel (fuel), bioethanol, or maybe biogas. Thus the environment and landscape preservation becomes more and more real land use alternatives.
The environmental interpretation of the multifunctionality of land use: activities (functions) of environmental preservation and nature conservation in a certain area, which aim to preserve natural resources by the existing socio-economic conditions.
Preservation of rural landscapes is the task mainly for land-users, who can be commanded by legal means and can be encouraged by economic measures to carry out the above activity. In the recent past measures of „command and control” type regulation were predominant, however nowadays, especially in the developed countries, the role of economic incentives increases.
As a conclusion of our analysis we can state that as long as the main land-dependent activities (agriculture, forestry, housing, tourism, local mining) cease to be viable under an existing socio-economic structure, then it is hardly possible to sustain the rural landscape on an appropriate level by non-commodity products (such as environment preservation, cultural heritage, nature conservation, employment etc.).
1 The study was prepared in the frame of EUROLAN (EU-5 Framework Project), QLK5-CT-2002-02346, as a compiled version of the Hungarian National Report, The national project co-ordinator: Prof. Dr. Gabor Szabo.
A part of places with high ecological values coincides with the areas with unfavourable agricultural endowments and underdeveloped micro-regions. We think so that the marginalisation preserves the non-environmental-sound activities and hinders the development of multifunctional agriculture and this process can change only by joint utilisation of endogenous and exogenous resources and methods. Thus the successful programmes for agri-environmental protection and multifunctional land use can serve the moderation of negative effects of marginalisation or maybe the marginalisation process itself. -
Tending operation model for red oak stands
133-136Views:373Red oak (Quercus rubra L.) is our most important exotic oak species, that possesses growing culture with almost one hundred years in our country. Plantation character of red oak growing predominates principally by applied regeneration method (mostly artificial), regular planting space, applying defined method and planting space regulation system. Forest tending model for red oak, that considered stopgap in the native literature is intended to serving the latter. Especially important equation in the viewpoint of stand growing, that describes relationship of stem number (N, in hectare) and diameter at breast height (D1.3 in cm) is: N=e9.80220-1.12607lnD1.3.
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Contradiction in the agrofinancial regulation of agricultural producers
97-107Views:213Hungary 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. -
Mitigation and adaptation measures in the hungarian rural development programme
245-250Views:202In the Hungarian Rural Development Programme (RDP) climate change adaptation is addressed through the measures in Axis 1, 2, 3 and 4. Under Axis 1 farmers can receive support for farm modernisation that will help them adapt to climate change. The processing industry will also be able to use the available resources for capital expenditure on buildings and new equipment. Axis 2 and especially the soil and water package within the agrienvironmental
measure aim to support production methods, which protect soil quality and will help adaptation to climate change. Measures of Axis 3, such as basic services for the economy and rural population, village renewal and development will provide local communities the opportunity to identify actions that can be undertaken to deal with the effects of climate change. On the other hand, the extension of forest resources contributes to climate change mitigation and enhances carbon sequestration. New methods have been elaborated to the sustainable regional water management, irrigation, water regulation, defence against internal water, and soil protection established. Water management contributes to the balance of water quantity on one side, but also to mitigating the climate change on the other. -
Agri-environmental schemes in the European Union
111-117Views:224Some details on agri-environmental measures in EU have been presented in this paper. Territorial, financial and regulation-specific aspects have been investigated based on statistics from EUROSTAT and ENFRD reports. It has been concluded, that AES shows a much diversified picture in the EU. For example, by 2009 the old members and new member states of EU had different proportions of agricultural area (25% and 10%, respectively), where AES had been introduced. Differences in AES are remarkable both at the level of member states as well as in the amounts of payments per hectare. The reasons behind this are the different national conditions and approaches on AES as well as differences in time these measures had been introduced in member countries. The final conclusion is that further increases may be expected in the coming years regarding the area involved in different agri-environmental measures and the total amount of AES payments in the EU.
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Food allergy, safety and analytics
323-326Views:201The food allergy is a hypersensitivity reaction against naturally occurring proteins in food. These types of disease can cause not only personal inconvenience to the patient but serious health, food safety and food analysis, social-economic problems. The only effective treatment for these illnesses is a life-long diet avoiding the allergenic foods or components of food. In the interest of the patients’ health 14 allergenic components must be labeled on the food packaging. To meet the requirement of regulation reliable and valid analytical methods are necessary which for the most allergenic foods are not available.
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Comparative study of honeys and herbhoneys quality paramertes
117-120Views:494Honey is one of the oldest known and consumed food. Besides the pleasant sweet taste it has been consumed because of the favorable health benefits. In addition to large number of honey plants there are many popular herbals which cannot serve as a nectar source. The herbhoney has been developed that consumers can joy the pleasant properties of herbals and honeys positive impact on the same product. In our research we compare the quality parameters of honeys and herbhoneys to each other and with the relevant regulation.
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The influence of channel network silting up at Žitný Ostrov to range of interaction between surface and groundwater
23-31Views:195The movement of water resources, especially the possibilities of their regulation by interaction between surface and groundwaters are the subject matter of attention particularly during the occurrence of extreme hydrologic situation. This work presents the overview of knowledge and results which were achieved at IH SAS in this question. It can show the ways how to optimize the adjudicated processes which emerge during the requirement of emergency intervention. The solution of this task was located at the Žitný Ostrov area because this territory with their existence of channel network is suitable for studying the surface and groundwater interaction. The channel network at Žitný Ostrov was built up for drainage and also to safeguard irrigation water. The water level in the whole channel network system has an effect on groundwater level on the Žitný Ostrov and vice versa. It was been necessary to judge the impact of the channel network silting up by bed silts on the interaction between channel network and groundwater on the Žitný Ostrov. The aim was to evaluate the changes of bed silt state of Žitný Ostrov channel network and consecutively their influence on interaction processes between groundwater and surface water along the channels in the period from 1993 to present. The measurements of bed silt thickness in Žitný ostrov channel network had been started from1993, later they continued at selected profiles of three main channels – channel Gabčíkovo-Topoľníky, Chotárny channel and Komárňanský channel (for checking of the silting up variability). From 2008 the detailed field measurements of cross-section profiles aggradations along these selected three channels have been started. The objective of detailed field measurements was the determination of the silt permeability which is expressed by parameter of saturated hydraulic conductivity. This parameter was determined by two ways – as the saturated hydraulic conductivity obtained from disturbed samples of silt Kp and as the saturated hydraulic conductivity obtained from undisturbed samples of silt Kn. In the first case the granularity of silts was determined as a first step and then was computed their Kp from the empirical formulas according Bayer-Schweiger and Spacek. From undisturbed samples of silts which were extracted along the channels from top, middle and bottom layer of silts, were determined the values Kn by the laboratory falling head method. The valid values Kp on channel Gabčíkovo-Topoľníky ranged from
4,33 10-7 to 4,46.10-5 m s-1, on Chotárny channel from 5.98 10-5 to 2.14 10-6 m s-1 and on Komárňanský channel fluctuated from 1.93 10-6 – 6.09 10-5 m s-1. The valid values Kn on on channel Gabčíkovo-Topoľníky ranged from 5.21 10-8 – 4.18 10-3 m s-1 , on Chotárny channel ranged from 8.54 10-8 – 2.70 10-4 m s-1 and on Komárňanský channel fluctuated from 4.72 10-7 – 1.26 10-5 m s-1. The remarkable results were noticed by comparison of values of saturated hydraulic conductivity from disturbed and undisturbed samples Kp and Kn. On Chotárny channel the values of silt saturated hydraulic conductivity from undisturbed samples Kn approximately hundredfold decreased (from 10-6 to 10-8 m s-1). On Komárňanský channel the comparison of values Kp and Kn shown that the values Kn from undisturbed samples approximately tenfold descended against Kp.Simultaneously, the bed silts‘ impact on the groundwater recharge (saturated hydraulic conductivity of silt) was also examined. Determination of the total recharge amount was done by numerical simulation (model SKOKY) and by the so-called method of interaction formulas. These two approaches were applied at the Žitný Ostrov channel network. There were field measurements performed in monitored three main channels and adjacent to obtain correct input data. These characteristics were used for simulation and computation of total recharge along the channels. The total recharge amount was calculated for four alternatives of the surface water levels in the channel and the surroundings groundwater respectively. We chose four simplified variants with the same geological conditions in surroundings area of channels, only water levels of groundwater and in channels were modified. The results of the simulations seem to show greater impact of the silt in the case of outflow from the channels to the surroundings than the inflow into the channel from the surroundings.
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Aflatoxin production on agricultural products
67-71Views:342Aflatoxins due to their toxicity pose significant economic and human health threat; therefore, it is important to avoid this type of contamination in agricultural products. Until now significant aflatoxin contamination occurred mainly in foods of tropical and subtropical origin because the optimal growth of the producer Aspergillus species is between 32–38 ºC. Nowadays the aflatoxin contamination is becoming higher threat in Hungary, due to the imported products, the rising average temperature and the climatic changes. There is a significant knowledge on the genetic and environmental effectors of the aflatoxin production; however, it is remained a great problem to control mold contamination and toxin production in farming and stock-raising. Here we attempted to summarize the knowledge on aflatoxin production and attempts of the elimination.
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Identification of environmental costs for agricultural companies – methodological questions and problems
177-183Views:186It is the consensus in the economic literature that corporate leaders do not know accurately the magnitude of environmental costs in their firms, and this lack of information is often a barrier to making environmentally-friendly decisions. For this reason, an important task of environmental accounting is identification of these costs, and a more realistic distribution of them among the products.
In this paper, we carried out identification of costs and expenditures for Hungarian agricultural companies.
We have dealt with this theme previously, but without detailing the related methodological questions. Detailed discussion is necessary because of the novelty of the subject (environmental accounting for agricultural firms).
Therefore, we elaborate the following questions: scope of determination of environmental costs and expenditures; methods for quantifying specific items; technique for their accounting. We also attempt to confront different viewpoints in the literature. Differences in accounting found between companies investigated are also presented.
The importance of our investigation is related to the significant increase in the number of environmental statutes that concern agricultural companies (e.g. rules for waste treatment, environmental taxation, introduction of charges and fees, regulation on liquid manure). Following these regulations puts an increasingly significant burden on the companies; therefore, the quantifications of environmental cost items has a growing
importance.