RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FIBRE FLAX YIELD AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF NITROGEN IN THE SOIL

Research on fibre flax yield response to the amount of different nitrogen forms in the soil was carried out at the Upytė Research Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (LIA). Humus content (as a source of nitrogen) (%), total nitrogen (%), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+) (mg kg-1), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-) (mg kg-1), total mineral nitrogen (Nmin) (mg kg-1) were measured in the soil samples collected from the plough layer, and the correlation between the mentioned - above soil variables and fibre flax yield was calculated. In most cases the relationships were weak but significant. Seed, stem, and long fibre yields responded to the soil nitrogen differently. The strongest correlation was established between flax yield and humus content

Natural Occurrence of Fusarium Mycotoxins in Oil Crop Seed

Oilseeds are a perfect medium for microfungi spread and mycotoxin production. With increasing demand for oil crop produce such research has gained a special relevance since research evidence on this issue is scarce. During 2007-2009, prevalent fungi genera, including Fusarium genus, potential producer of deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEA), T-2 toxin (T-2) etc. were determined in our tests. The ELISA immunoenzymatic method and Veratox Fast kits were used to identify and quantify mycotoxins, while Fusarium fungi species were identified using conventional fungi determination techniques. Higher Fusarium fungi contamination level was found on linseed compared with that on spring or winter rapeseed. The difference was even more obvious in different experimental years, however, having identified Fusarium species, F. avenaceum and F. oxysporum were found to be prevalent in the seed of all crop species tested. In 2009, spring rape samples were found to contain F. dimerum which is a significant human pathogen.The presence of DON was identified in 18.2-100%, ZEA in 40 -100%, and T-2 toxin in 100% of seed samples of all oil crop species tested. From the food safety viewpoint, the concentrations determined did not exceed the levels hazardous for health, laid out in the EU regulations, however, the effect of low toxin concentrations is slow and the negative consequences manifest themselves only after some time and in various forms, which poses a serious health risk for humans and animals

Nettle Fibers as a Potential Natural Raw Material for Textile in Latvia

In Europe, attention is devoted to the methods of obtaining nettle fibers for technical textiles. Several new nettle plant clones have been created. From wild nettles they differ in the higher number of fibers. The nettle can be grown for 10 – 15 years in one place without much care. The wild nettle grows in Latvia very well. Therefore, the task has been to determine the possibility of cultivating nettle in Latvia for fiber needs. It has been determined that the obtained yield of fiber is less than that of flax and hemp. Experimental results have shown that the bast content in nettle straws is approximately 20%. Average fiber strength is similar to that of flax and hemp fiber – 33-58 cN/tex. It has been also determined that from older plants more fibers can be obtained and they are even stronger. The increase in the plant spacing distance not only decreases the number of nettle fibers but also their mechanical properties

Fiber Flax Breeding in China and Europe

In Western Europe fiber flax breeding was started in the Netherlands in 1816, and pedigree selection was introduced in 1900 in the Netherlands also. Therefore, the commercial breeding of fiber flax started at the end of the 19th century. Flax breeding in other European countries started in the early 20th century. Before Western European variety became available, European varieties seeds were imported from Russia. In China, breeding work on fiber flax began at 1950s. After the end of the 20th century, flax breeding technologies developed more rapidly. The flax breeding methods now include hybridization, induced mutation, interspecific hybridization, utilization of male-sterility, ploidy breeding, tissue culture, gene transformation, marker assisted selection, etc. Despite of new breeding methods, the cross breeding is still the main breeding method for fiber flax. The history of flax breeding, germplasm collection, breeding goals, breeding programs, breeding methods, and new varieties are presented in the article. Some problems about flax breeding were analyzed, and some suggestions were presented