Virtual water in agricultural production

Virtual water refers both to water consumed during the process of production and water remaining as the constituent of the product. Apart from its quantity, easily calculated, it can also be determined in qualitative terms, through the water footprint, which describes the amount of water used by any biological entity. It can be presented as three-portion system, comprised of blue, green and gray water. The attempts to solve agricultural problems in the countries suffering from water shortage, the importance of green water has been emphasized, pointing to adequate water management. Virtual water concept enabled understanding of the international water trading ways, as it remains within the products traded. Adjusting export oriented food production any country can save significant amounts of domestic water, thus implementing its water sustainability that is important for all the countries. Since large quantities of good quality water for agricultural irrigation are the utmost requirement, it is often a limiting factor, implying that new methodology of water-food transformation should be developed

Anticoccidian effects of the Artemisia absinthium L. extracts in broiler chickens

SUMMARY Herbs are common resources in, both pure products and traditional drug production. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of artemisinin in Artemisia absinthium L .and test the anticoccidian effects of plant extract in broilers. Anticoccidial effects of the plant extract were tested on chicken challenged with Eimeria tenella. The in vivo investigation was carried out on 150 heavy line broilers (Arbor acres) of both sexes. One hundred fifty, 21 day old chickens were divided into five groups consisting of 30 chicks each. At the age of 21 day, the chicken from first four groups (A to D) were infected with Eimeria tenella sporulated oocysts at a dose of 20.000 per chicken. The negative control consisted of group E chickens that were not infected or treated. The infected chickens were treated with absinthium extracts at the dosages of 1, 2 and 3 mg/kg per day. The results indicated that Artemisia absinthium extract can reduce the severity of coccidial infection induced by Eimeria tenella. The anticoccidial effects of A. absinthium extracts caused significant decrease in output number of oocysts per gram of faeces in chickens challenged with Eimeria tenella

Virtual water in agricultural production

Virtual water refers both to water consumed during the process of production and water remaining as the constituent of the product. Apart from its quantity, easily calculated, it can also be determined in qualitative terms, through the water footprint, which describes the amount of water used by any biological entity. It can be presented as three-portion system, comprised of blue, green and gray water. The attempts to solve agricultural problems in the countries suffering from water shortage, the importance of green water has been emphasized, pointing to adequate water management. Virtual water concept enabled understanding of the international water trading ways, as it remains within the products traded. Adjusting export oriented food production any country can save significant amounts of domestic water, thus implementing its water sustainability that is important for all the countries. Since large quantities of good quality water for agricultural irrigation are the utmost requirement, it is often a limiting factor, implying that new methodology of water-food transformation should be developed

Uticaj genotipa i predsetvenog đubrenja na prinos baštenskog graška

During the two-year study on the influence of presowing fertilization on growth and development of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) in three different experimental setups, five genotypes of peas were used, two of Dutch origin and three that were created at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which different genotypes and complex NPK fertilizer influence the yield per plant. The average yield per plant for both years was 16.86 g. The influence of genotype on grain yield per plant was statistically significant (p lt 0.01). Tamish cultivar showed significantly lower yields during both study years, in comparison with other genotypes tested, except when compared with the Danube cultivar in year 2007. There was no regularity in the influence of pre-sowing fertilization on grain yield per plant. Regression analysis of the pea genotypes, revealed a slight reduction in yield per plant as a function of increased use of complex fertilizer. Grain yield per plant was in high positive correlation (p lt 0.01) with yield components, and with the length of the stem. The number of pods was in strong correlation with grain numbers and weight of pods. Number of grains and the absolute weight were in highly statistically significant correlation with the mass of pods.U dvogodišnjem istraživanju ispitivan je uticaj predsetvenog đubrenja u tri različite varijante na rast i razviće kod baštenskog graška (Pisum sativum L.). U radu je korišćeno 5 genotipova graška, od kojih su 3 stvorena na Institutu za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo u Novom Sadu, a 2 su holandskog porekla. Cilj je bio da se ustanovi u kojoj meri različiti genotipovi i kompleksno đubrivo NPK utiče na prinos po biljci kod konzumnog graška. Prosečan prinos po biljci za obe istraživane godine iznosio je 16.86 g. Uticaj genotipa graška na prinos zrna po biljci bio je na nivou statističke značajnosti (p lt 0.01). Sorta Tamish imala je vrlo značajno manji prinos u obe istraživačke godine u poređenju sa ostalim ispitivanim genotipovima, izuzev u odnosu na sortu Danube u 2007. godini. Nije zabeležena pravilnost kod uticaja predsetvenog đubrenja graška na prinos zrna po biljci. Regresiona analiza kod ispitivanih genotipova graška pokazala je da sa povećanjem primenjenog komplesnog đubriva dolazi do neznatnog smanjenja prinosa po biljci. Prinos zrna po biljci bio je u visoko pozitivnoj korelaciji (p lt 0.01) sa komponentama prinosa, kao i sa dužinom stabljike. Broj mahuna je u jakoj korelaciji sa brojem zrna i masom mahuna. Broj zrna i apsolutna masa su u visoko statistički značajnoj korelaciji sa masom mahuna

The importance of plant genetic resources in agroecosystem

Monitoring and conservation of plant genetic resources are essential for the development of modern agricultural production. Biodiversity of plant resources in agriculture is a biological basis for ensuring quality world food, acting as the basis for creating new varieties through conventional crossing process or application of biotechnology. Since the laboratory and field experiments can not assume all the possible interactions that may occur in the ecosystem, monitoring is necessary in natural environment, bringing to light the necessity of collaborative interdisciplinary involvement and research

Sustainable agriculture and environmental protection

Human population growth caused the World Commission on Environment and Development to call attention to necesity of changes in strategies for attaining security in food production and conservation of natural resources and enviromental protection. Sustainable agriculture goals may be shortly abridged to stable market supply by biologically quality food, on employment of rural population and suppressing of poverty, as well as natural resources management and environment protection on local and global level. For the system of such sustainable and organic agriculture, ecology provides basic conditons through the development of diversified agroecological systems. Integration of plant and animal biodiversity which improves ineractions and sinergy is the advantage. It enables biological regulation of harmfull organisms, nutrition circling, biomass production and accumulation. The end result is improvement of economical and ecological agroecology system maintenance. In accomplishing these aims new initiatives in education, application of economical stimulations and development of relevant new technologies are included

The effect of different acute concentrations of cadmium chloride on the frequency of micronuclei in AO rats

Cadmium (Cd) is highly toxic heavy metal which may cause severe biological effects in vivo and in vitro. In this study, an evaluation of the acute Cd ability to trigger micronuclei (MNi) formation was carried out on 3-monthold male and female Albino Oxford (AO) rats using micronucleus (MN) test. Experimental animals were treated intraperitoneally with three different concentrations of cadmium chloride (CdCl2): 0.5, 1, and 2 mg CdCl2 per kg of body weight. Control animals received equal volume of sterile phosphate buffered saline. The results showed that 2 mg CdCl2 per kg b.w. concentration caused a highly statistically significant (P < 0.001) increase in MNi formation in the bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes (PCEs), exerting a clear-cut concentration-dependent effect. Lower concentrations of CdCl2 used (0.5 and 1 mg/kg b.w.) also caused MNi formation, but with lower statistical significance. Sex differences in MNi production in bone marrow PCEs after acute exposure to different experimental concentrations of CdCl2 were not observed in our study. Our results indicate the ability of CdCl2 to exerts genotoxic effects in bone marrow of AO rats, and complement previous data on the genotoxicity of this important environmental contaminant, burdening the body from different sources - major being industrial exposure, food and cigarette smoking. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III46002

Assesing ecological aspects of biosaffety of genetically modified crops to environment

Biotechnology alongside the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops is constantly providing new opportunities for increasing crop productivity and tackling problems in agriculture, such as diseases, pests and weeds, abiotic stress and nutritional limitations of stopple food crops. Crops possessing new traits enabling the use in pharmaceutical production are also being generated. As GM crops are being introduced into various locations with different ecosystems, agriculture, biodiversity and agriculture practice, a scientifically based understanding of the environmental effects of GM crops cultivation would assist decision markers worldwide in ensuring environmental safety and sustainability. The main important environmental assessment of GM crops deals wit their putative invasiveness, vertical and/or horizontal gene flow, effects on biodiversity and the impact on other products. These investigations are all highly interdisciplinary and complex. This paper deals with some of the most important problems related to entering GM crops into the environment, such as plant protection, ecological effects of HRCs, gene flow, biodiversity, stress, ecological risks of Bt crops, effects on soil ecosystems etc. There is a clear need to further assess the severity, magnitude and scope of risks associated with the massive field deployment of transgenic crops. When assessing GMC inter-relation with the existing cultivars, an increased knowledge base underpinning the development of GMC will provide greater confidence in plant science while assessing the risks and benefits of releasing such crops

Antimicrobial activity of selected essential oils against selected pathogenic bacteria: In vitro study

The worldwide problem of infectious diseases has appeared in recent years, and antimicrobial agents are crucial in reducing disease emergence. Nevertheless, the development and distribution of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains in pathogenic bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Typhi and Citrobacter koseri, has become a major society health hazard. Essential oils could serve as a promising tool as a natural drug in fighting the problem with these bacteria. The current study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial effectiveness of tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden and Betche) Cheel), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus obliqua L’Hér.), and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill) essential oils. The antimicrobial properties of essential oils were screened against four pathogenic bacteria, E. coli, S. aureus, S. Tyhpi, and C. koseri, and two reference bacterial strains, while for the testing, the agar well diffusion method was used. Gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometric (GC–MSD) analyses were performed on essential oils. The obtained results showed that M. alternifolia essential oil is the richest in terpinen-4-ol, R. officinalis and E. oblique essential oils in 1,8-cineole, and L. angustifolia essential oil in α-terpinyl acetate. In addition, the main bioactive compounds present in the essential oil of tea tree are rich in α-pinene (18.38%), limonene (7.55%) and γ-terpinene (14.01%). The essential oil of rosemary is rich in α-pinene (8.38%) and limonene (11.86%); eucalyptus essential oil has significant concentrations of α-pinene (12.60%), p-cymene (3.24%), limonene (3.87%), and γ-terpinene (7.37%), while the essential oil of lavender is rich in linalool (10.71%), linalool acetate (9.60%), α-terpinyl acetate (10.93%), and carbitol (13.05%) bioactive compounds, respectively. The obtained results from the in vitro study revealed that most of the essential oils exhibited antimicrobial properties. Among the tested essential oils, tea tree was discovered to demonstrate the strongest antimicrobial activity. The recorded MIC of S. Typhi was 6.2 mg/mL, 3.4 mg/mL of C. koseri, 3.1 mg/mL of E. coli, and 2.7 mg/mL of E. coli ATCC 25922, compared to M. alternifolia. Similarly, only S. aureus ATCC 25923 showed antimicrobial activity towards R. officinalis (1.4 mg/mL), E. oblique (2.9 mg/mL), and L. angustifolia (2.1 mg/mL). Based on the obtained results, it is possible to conclude that tea tree essential oil might be used as an ecological antimicrobial in treating infectious diseases caused by the tested pathogens

The importance of plant genetic resources in agroecosystem

Monitoring and conservation of plant genetic resources are essential for the development of modern agricultural production. Biodiversity of plant resources in agriculture is a biological basis for ensuring quality world food, acting as the basis for creating new varieties through conventional crossing process or application of biotechnology. Since the laboratory and field experiments can not assume all the possible interactions that may occur in the ecosystem, monitoring is necessary in natural environment, bringing to light the necessity of collaborative interdisciplinary involvement and research