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  • A practical means of setting the scene for evaluating aggregated absorption risk in EU co-funded programmes related to project failure
    63-66
    Views:
    106

    The main purpose of the mid-term evaluation of grant programmes is to assess relevance, progress, effectiveness and efficiency. There are several methodologies, tools and techniques applied in various evaluations to assess these programme aspects. An important area of the evaluation of both the financial progress and the effectiveness of the programme is to evaluate the risk of absorption which is indicated by various factors, inter alia risk of supported project failure. If a project fails in any EU co-funded programme in the stage of preparation or implementation, then the fund already committed to that particular project (assumed to have already been absorbed or “spent”) is to be reused again or is to face decommitment (funds have to be paid back to the EU). There are strict EU regulations governing the time scale of this re-use (n+2, n+3 rules), therefore it is of major importance to assess the risk severity (measured as the resultant of the volume of grant at risk and the chance of project failure) and build up an early warning mechanism which indicates if the risk reaches a critical level that requires immediate intervention.

  • Measuring projectmanagement efficiency by Data Envelopment Analysis
    121-124
    Views:
    145

    I suppose that there is a relation between the success of EU-funded projects and the effectiveness of project management teams which implement them. To examine the accuracy of the assumption and the nature of the relationship I needed a measurement method that was suitable for measuring the effectiveness of project management teams implementing EU funded projects in a given construction. Since Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has already been used to measure the efficiency of decision making units in other areas, it seems suitable for measuring project management effectiveness and indirectly measuring project efficiency.

  • Relationships of the sport and the life quality in the University of Debrecen
    87-96
    Views:
    153

    In the sport- life of the University of Debrecen there has been a demand formulated on the making of a comprehensive, long-term development plan, which obviously incorporates all
    fields of sport. This document guides the way for people in the sport- life of the university how they could organise their activities connected with sport on a calculable, predictable level.
    Necessarily, the preliminary collection of professional informations has been a basic requirement for the establishment of this document.
    The program provides foreseeable instructions to the organisation of sport pursuits both for sport people in the university, and members of the sport spehere in a wider sense. It
    offers a cohesive solution for all kinds of tasks defined with the sport life, and also gives a guidance for the various ways of realisations of these challenges. Thus it can answer such questions as for example how the university can conduce the initation of conditions for the healthy living through spare time sporting, how it can participate in the financing of contest sport with the contributing project of reinforcement training and how the university can support the sport life of handicapped people. The project also contributes to the cultivation of the sport traditions of the university by bankrolling not only the official university sport
    life but also the leisure time sporting of the students.
    On the basis of rethinking the situation of sport at the university with its future possibilities the program paraphrases the tasks of the university in the sport life, the long term aims of
    university sport politics with its operative aims that should be performed and also the possible steps which lead to these purposes.
    The target of the project is to turn the University of Debrcen in every field into a “Sporting University”. It means, that beyond the development of quality sport and outstanding contest sport a much wider range of university people should be included in sporting in order to utilize all the advantages of sport. With this the physical culture could become not only a substantial form of spending our free time, but with getting one of our natural everyday activities it can also become our lifestyle.
    Sporting prominently contributes to both the university students’s and the whole society’s mental and physical wellfare, and it also helps to improve our helthstate on various fields of life:
    with its special functions it is a means for establishing a healthy nation, for promoting common relationships, for nourishing the economic activity of people and also for strengthening the national values and one’s self-esteem through providing equal opportunities.
    The prosperousity of contest sport at the university and the maintaining and protesing of its efficiency fortifies our selfregard, as it is able to hold appropriate sportsmen up as examples
    to both present and future universtity students, and also offers exacting ways of entertainment. Besides all these the advataged purpose of the project is to find and delibaretaly include those
    necessary mechanisms which are needed for the working of the sport market.

  • Preface
    5
    Views:
    29

    In the frame of a common “Hungarian-Ukrainian Intergovernmental S&T Cooperation Programme” which title is “Change of soils ecological characteristics of Ukraine and Hungary in the conditions of anthropogenic transformed ecosystems and optimization of biological processes of plants primary feeds elements mobilization” a Workshop was held in Debrecen. The member institutes of project participated with different presentation in this program.
    The title of Workshop was: “Anthropogenic effect on the properties of Middle and Eastern European chernozem soils and on the sustainable agricultural production”.
    The aim of the Workshop was to give relevant information about the present situation of the Middle and Eastern European Chernozem soils, especially emphasize the effect of different loading on the quality (properties) of chernozem soils. With the Workshop we would like to create a tradition for discussion about the anthropogenic effect on the soil properties and through it on the productivity of different soils. It was a forum for discussion of research results related to problems and possibilities for prevention of soil quality. With this possibility we would like to contribute to the sustainable agricultural production.
    The papers were read for the publisher and we would like to show them in a separate supplement of Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Acta Agraria Debreceniensis as one of the results of the project.
    The papers comply with the requirements of the scientific issue except those two which show the university and the department of the Ukrainian partner taking part in this project.
    The participant Institutes of the project:
    - Dnepropetrovsk National University, Faculty of Biology and Ecology;
    - Kryvyi Rig Botanical Garden NAS of Ukraine, Plant Physiology & Soil Biology Department;
    - Department of Agrochemistry and Soil Sciences of Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economics;
    - Research Institute of Karcag, Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economics. The collaboration with Ukrainian partners was successful and we have confidence in the further cooperation in scientific research.

  • Valuation of the National Agricultural Environmental Management Project’s Extensive Grassland Farming Target Project in Two Counties
    20-25
    Views:
    64

    The National Agricultural Environmental Management Project’s (NAEMP) extensive grassland farming project is aimed at extensive cultivation on of nearly 1.1 million hectares of grassland, and at improving the state of grasslands with nature- and environment protecting methods. By using the 2002 data (the NAEMP’s first year’s data), I came to the following conclusions: Within the Extensive grassland farming project, a state subsidy was applied for on 8.94% of Hungary’s total grasslands. In Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg and Hajdú-Bihar counties, applied for state subsidies covered 12% of the grassland of the counties.10.45% of the projects arrived from the county of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, and 28.56% from the county of Hajdú-Bihar. In Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, the support was 37.7% of the total subsidy, while in Hajdú-Bihar, it was 37.1%, unlike nationwide, which was 30.1%.The intensity of the applications is respectively 1.7 and 2.5 times more than the National (1.24) value.
    In my view, in some fields, which are not between nature protected areas you’d better consider permitting intensive cultivation, simultaneously with grazing, with the observation of nature- and environmental regulations.

  • Implementation alterantives of the CIVAQUA complex water management program in the Debrecen region
    71-73
    Views:
    117

    Hungary is one of the countries in Europe which has the largest amount of water supply because of its geographical conditions. Water comes from the surrounding mountains makes this water supply even more bigger. This precious water base needs to be treated responsibly and the most efficient way. The Civaqua program is a project with the above-mentioned conditions, made by the Local Government of Debrecen and the Water Directory of Trans-Tiszanian Region. This project deals with the exploitation of the East-Main Chanel’s water for social welfare, agricultural and inverimental protection purposes in Debrecen and its agglomeration. The aim of this paper is to give an overall insight into the investment plans of Civaqua program and it is also examines its positive direct and indirect effects on the region.

  • Analysis of the Hungarian National Action Plan for Employment in the Framework of RuralJobs International Project
    77-86
    Views:
    75

    Employment and creation of new jobs getting more and more attention both on national and on European level. The examination of this topic is especially important in rural areas of
    Europe. There were several European and national researches dealing with this question, and there are new upcoming works which try to find solutions for citizents to decrease unemployment in rural areas. The RuralJobs, EU Framework 7. project presented in the paper is one of these researches. After a short introduction of RuralJobs and the task under workpackage two of the research, which analysis strategies, policies and programmes from the aspect of rural jobs, one of the documents reviewed under this task, the Hungarian National Action Plan for Employment is presented, in line with the most important stages of the EU’s
    employment policy.

  • Evaluation of supporting in Derecske-Létavétes micro-regional area
    179-188
    Views:
    64

    The occasion that joining to the European Union general several new opportunities which are supporting development, changes and increasing disadvantages. We tried to capitalizing these resources less or major rate in national and international level too. These opportunities are projects, tenders whose longterm effects are measured difficulty, it is a hard task. In spite of this fact I feel it has got basement importance to determine project activity forming future developments and ways. 
    In my study I deal with Derecske-Létavértes Sub-region. My aims to survey economic background of this sub-region, seeking contexts between economical factors, influential agents and project activity or results. In a settlement level it is essential what kind of supporting forms are available for entrepreneurs, civil organization, economic development and local government, what are the founds could be realized their development plans.

  • Marginalisation and Multifunctional Land Use in Hungary
    50-61
    Views:
    75

    Our 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.

  • Interpretation of rurality and the situation of land use in Hungary
    79-85
    Views:
    160

    The summarizing data collection of our study has been carried out in the scope of the FP7-REGPOT-2010-1 ’UD_AGR_REPO’ project as a part of the cooperation with the University of Lincoln. The University of Lincoln is an important partner of the project, the knowledge transfer activities that have been carried jointly with them are multilateral. One of the most important cooperation areas is the analysis of rural areas, rurality itself, determination of breakout points, exploration of alternative income sources, diversification possibilities. Some part of the work of the University of Lincoln on the field of rural development is based on the assessment and documentation global similarities and differences of rural areas. Present study also contributes to that work, it has been prepared on the request of the University of Lincoln with the aim of providing insight into the special political and economic changes/processes that took place in Hungary, and through them into the structure and operation of the unique Hungarian rural areas.

    The study first positions the definition of rurality and rural areas into context on the basis of official EU and Hungarian legal classification. Then it covers the important agricultural nature of Hungary, which significantly determines the possibilities and properties of Hungarian rural areas. The further description of rural areas is completed by some historical summary, the introduction of ownership changes, detailed description of employment and income conditions and finally by the listing of breakout points of rural areas as a conclusion.

  • The measurement of successfully completed projects funded by the European Union
    9-12
    Views:
    134

    Projects funded by the European Union contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of Hungary, its increasing competitiveness, thereby the local people's general level of satisfaction, their ”happiness and prosperity”. Successful spending from the Union's funds, successful project implementation directly impacts all actors in the Hungarian economy and society. Therefore, to examine the factors that support or jeopardize the implementation of the projects is a priority at EU and national levels. My research and doctoral dissertation aims to develop a methodology to assess the management efficiency of projects supported by the European Union, implemented in Hungary taking into account all measurable factors (technical and special expertise) and the "suspected" factor (EU thinking learning).

    I intend to draw up guidelines for future EU funded project management teams to realize projects successfully for the benefit of Hungary.

  • Optimized balance between crop productivity, restoration and maintenance of vital soil functions and soil carbon sequestration and storage – the SmartSOIL (FP7) project
    213-215
    Views:
    93

    Soils 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.

  • Today’s judgment of sub-statistical regions, the sources of development in the most disadvantaged areas, and the experiences of their utilization in the Sarkad area
    105-110
    Views:
    56

    The system of our nation’s sub-statistical regions is before a change; its role in the Hungarian public administration has to be settled, which will be one of the most significant tasks of the forthcoming years. A prevalent question among the learned professionals is whether the sub-statistical regions will become local governments or they will keep their regulating and taskperforming functions? Public administration system of sub-statistical regions can be framed around three functions, which also determine the complements of the establishment: local government function, area development function, polity function. A strategic question is the equalization and development of the most disadvantaged. Here is where the LHH project, aiming at the development of the most disadvantaged sub-statistical regions, provides support. The main message of the program initiated by the government is “we will not abandon anyone”. In my article, the current state of the program in Sarkad’s sub-statistical region,
    the area of my study, will be discussed.

  • Effect of fish feeds with high vegetable oil and low fish oil content on the growth performance and innate immune system of common carp (preliminary results)
    7-12
    Views:
    76

    Fish meal and fish oil are very important components of fish feeds used by aquaculture. They contain poly-unsaturated fatty acids, which are essential nutrients both for fish and human nutrition. However, sources of fish meal and fish oil are limited, there is a need for new feed components to supply the increasing fish production and the increasing demand for fish feed. The aim of AQUAMAX project, supported by the European Union is to replace the fish meal and fish oil with vegetable oils. As a participant of this project, group of immunology in Research
    Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation (HAKI) examined the effect of three different fish feeds on the growth performance, innate immune response and resistance against Aeromonas hydrophila infection of common carp in an in vivo experiment. Fish feed supplemented with Camelina oil, but still containing fish oil significantly increased growth performance of experimental fish and their resistance against the infection. Fish feed containing linseed oil only did not enhance the growth performance, and it had a negative effect on resistance against infection. Based on the experimental results it can be concluded that fish oil used in fish feeds cannot be replaced effectively with vegetable oils, but can be supplemented with them. 

  • Study of animal welfare status in dairy cow herds in Hungary – looking for causes of lameness
    25-29
    Views:
    116

    In the last 20-30 years, lameness in cattle was found to be third the most influential disease next to mastitis and reproduction disorders. Studies have been established to explore reasons for lameness and prevention. The problem with more robust prevention plans is that knowledge and research evidence is not strong enough to run an effective prevention plan. The aim of the research is to look for reasons of lameness by observing number of cows on 6 farms during 2 lactations. Performance data will be put together to body condition score (BCS) and lameness scores. Other examination is focused on monitoring of 40 farms. This part of the project is more related to extension, collecting and sharing solutions for decreasing lameness. Producers are advised what kind of measures are possible to reduce occurrence of lameness. Effectiveness of those actions will be measured at the end of the study. The first preliminary results show lack in almost all preventive measures needed to be taken in minimizing lameness. Those areas are related to poor facilities, lack of straw, problems with labor and basic management.

  • Cross-Sectional Examination of Agricultural Firms in Relation to the Leaders’ Attitude
    261-269
    Views:
    30

    As a PhD student at the Management Department of Debrecen University my project was to find examine circumstances of agricultural business entities in connection with structural, social and economic changes. This topic is integral part of the research program „Functional Study of Business-Management”, specified the topic „Structural Management Researches”.
    My setting of objectives were to find any connection between changes and attitude of leaders. I tried to explore the direction, tightness and tendencies of these relations, to choose some special management-method, which ones are much more succesfull than the other ones during the change-managing process. The base of my experiences are the results of special questionnaires, which were sent to several member of different type of enterprises relating to agricultural activity.

  • A new model for predicting carbon storage dynamics and emissions related to the waste management of wood products: introduction of the HWP-RIAL model
    75-81
    Views:
    93

    The ability of wood products to store carbon allows for their significant contribution to the climate mitigation efforts and the emission reduction commitments set by the EU. In order to optimise the carbon storage capacity of wood products, it is important to take climate mitigation aspects into consideration as much as possible during their production, use and waste management. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of product development, recycling, and waste management technologies on carbon storage and emissions. In the frame of the ForestLab project, a new model and decision support tool was developed, which is able to predict the duration of carbon storage of wood products and the evolution of emissions from them. The developed HWP-RIAL model (Harvested Wood Product Recycling, Incineration And Landfill model) uses the methodology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to calculate emissions, which is also used in the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory report. It combines the IPCC waste model with equations describing the carbon storage and emissions of wood products, and the model is also supplemented with a self-developed recycling and waste routing module. This paper provides insight into the operation of the model by following the life cycle of 200,000 m3 particle board.

  • Special landscape values of the settlements in “Érmelléki löszös hát” geographical micro region
    45-50
    Views:
    118

    The objective of this study is to present the concept and significance of special landscape values. The research explains special landscape values within landscape protection using Hungarian scientific literature as well as international and national law. In the last decades the measurement and conservation of non-protected landscapes and landscape elements were emphasised by landscape protection. One of the biggest research of the last years was TÉKA project, done by Corvinus University of Budapest Faculty of Landscape Architecture. The program dealt with surveying Hungarian landscape values. In this paper I am going to analyse the types of special landscape values and their frequencies on a plain region using an open database prepared by TÉKA program. In addition to the definition of special landscape values in the Érmellék loess ridge geographical micro region the study intends to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using the database.

  • Effect of vitamin e and selenium supplementation on the antioxidant content of milk and dairy products in dairy cows
    9-12
    Views:
    113

    In 2007, the aim of the Ányos Jedlik program and the call for tenders was to support application-oriented, strategic research and development projects, which can increase the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy. In the framework of our project, we intended to examine whether non-protected antioxidants - in this case: vitamin E and selenium – used as feed-additives can increase the antioxidant content of milk. The milk with an increased level of vitamin E and selenium content can be used for producing functional foods which will represent competitive products on the current market of milk products. Our results show that the use of vitamin E and selenium as feedadditives can significantly increase the amount of vitamin E and selenium in the milk and also in the diary products.

  • Using integrated remote sensing methods in the Nagyerdő Natura 2000 area
    19-24
    Views:
    143

    The more widely use of GIS, remote sensing technology provides appropriate data acquisition and data processing tools to build several national and international biodiversity monitoring system of environmental protection and natur conservation. The ChangeHabitats 2 is a similar international project, which uses airborne hyperspectral and airborne laser scanning (airborne LiDAR) sources beyond traditional data collection methods to build a monitoring system of Natura 2000 habitats. The goal of our research, on one hand, was to separate the most typical species of trees which can be found in the largest coverage in the research plots of Debreceni Nagyerdő Nature Reserve from field and airborne remote sensing data, use image classification that based on spectral and geometry (height) characteristics of the trees. On the other hand our goal was to evaluate the efficient use of the integration of mobilGIS, airborne hyperspectral and airborne LiDAR data collecting methods to complement or substitut of the traditional, field data collecting methods. We used ArcGIS 10.2 and Exelis 5.0 GIS software for data evaluation, in which the mosaicing, the selection of plots and the spectral image processing were carried out.

  • Effect of using antioxidants as feed additives in the diet of dairy cows on the vitamin E and lycopene content of milk
    69-72
    Views:
    99

    In 2007, the aim of an Ányos Jedlik program and call for tenders was to support application-oriented, strategic research and development projects, which can increase the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy. In the framework of our project, we intended to examine whether non-protected antioxidants – in this case: vitamin E and lycopene – used as feed-additives can increase the antioxidant content of milk. The milk with an
    increased level of vitamin E and lycopene content can be used for producing functional foods which will represent competitive products on the current market of milk products. Our results show that the use of vitamin E as feed-additive can significantly increase the amount of vitamin E in the milk. The use of lycopene as feedadditive also gave good results. At the beginning of the experiment, the lycopene content of the milk was below the detection limit, while in the post-feeding milk samples the lycopene became detectable. Based on our results, we are of the opinion that further experiments and analyses are needed regarding the quality of food of animal origin and animal health.

  • Study of animal welfare status and heat stress measures applied in dairy cow herds in Hungary
    79-82
    Views:
    91

    The following material focuses on dairy production and climate related issues in Hungary. All the data was gathered during PhD
    project: Study of animal welfare status in dairy cow herds in Hungary. Relations between animal welfare and climate changes expressed by
    increase in temperature are described. Extremely hot weather creates hard conditions for milking cows when animal welfare is highly
    compromised. From the preliminary results obtained one might formulate hypothesis that there are still areas on the farms where immediate
    actions should be taken to give a relief to cows in hot seasons. There was found significant number of farms with too many animals per one
    water trough, dirty water troughs, limited access to water troughs and hazardous surface for cows in critical places where many animals are
    gathered. Calves with not sufficient amount of water in hot days and other parts of the year were reported. Silage exposure to the sun and
    mouldy food in a silage clump was also found to be an important factor in monitoring impact of warm weather. Half of the farms letting
    animals to spend time on the pasture or paddock did not provide shade for animals. Low conception rate of first insemination was predicted
    to be influenced by heat stress, what is proved by lack of heat decreasing measures taken on the farms.

  • Comparative analysis of Carpathian Braunvieh’s morphological traits
    15-19
    Views:
    176

    The Carpathian Braunvieh cattle established by the cross-breeding of the Schweizer Braunvieh and the local breeds of the Carpathian basin approximately 150 years ago. The evolved three usage breed was durable and resistant, however in comparison with the high-productivity breeds was less competitive. The dramatic lay-off, and the endangered status of the breed requires a conservation programme. University of Debrecen took the investigation of the Hungarian population and it’s detailed genetic studies. Within this research project among others we carry out body measurements and rates of the body traits. Depending on these results, we may decide on the subsequent gene-reserving objects. Based on body measurements and live weight we established that the breed at Mikóháza favours to the one lived in Hungary in the 1960’s, and to another, named Ukrainian Carpathian Brown. Compared to the earlier data (Horváth, 1966) smaller body traits can be seen. Our livestock is proportionately smaller than the other breeds in height at withers, as well as in live weight. Based on the comparative analysis, we established, that – thanks to the aware sorting – the imported individuals represent the ancient, primitive Carpathian variant.

  • Study of animal welfare status in dairy cow herds in Hungary – looking for causes of lameness
    47-50
    Views:
    154

    In the last 20–30 years lameness in cattle was found to be third the most influential disease next to mastitis and reproduction disorders. Studies have been established to explore reasons for lameness and prevention. The problem with more robust prevention plans is that knowledge and research evidence is not strong enough to run an effective prevention plan. The aim of the research is to look for reasons of lameness by observing number of cows on 6 farms during 2 lactations. Performance data will be put together to body condition score (BCS) and lameness scores. Other examination is focused on monitoring of 40 farms. This part of the project is more related to extension, collecting and sharing solutions for decreasing lameness. Producers are advised what kind of measures are possible to reduce occurrence of lameness. Effectiveness of those actions will be measured at the end of the study. The first preliminary results show lack in almost all preventive measures needed to be taken in minimising lameness. Those areas are related to poor facilities, lack of straw, problems with labour and basic management.

  • The initial steps of the black grouse repatriation
    63-68
    Views:
    78

    The black grouse in Hungary is an extinct but a native and protected species now. In the 19th century, they used to be common in the so called Nyírség, the North-Eastern part of the Hungarian Great Plains.
    The project to re-patriate black grouse was started in 2005 by the Nyírség Company of Forestry. We studied the conditions of keeping and breeding black grouse from German and English specialists and we endeavoured to expand our breeding population in 2007.
    We also started to make a database of the whole bird stock, containing biometrical data from every individual specimen and data about the eggs (weight, length, width) and nestlings (weekly weight growth). In the future, we will continue our work to breed black grouse and re-patriate the new offspring, which will be nearby wild populations in a similar bio-geographic environment. In a few years it is hoped we will be able to accomplish a wild population in a natural habitat. Our work is now to breed these birds in captivity – similar to their natural habitat – prior to their release into the wild, in order to preserve biodiversity for our descendants through re-patriating black grouse here in Hungary as well.