Life Cycle Assessment Method – Tool for Evaluation of Greenhouse Gases Emissions from Agriculture and Food Processing

The chapter focuses on the use of the Life Cycle Assessment method to monitor the emission load of foods from different systems of farming production. The products of the conventional and organic farming production intended for public catering are compared within the SUKI and UMBESA international projects. Conventional farming is mainly characterized by high inputs of mineral fertilizers, chemical pesticides, the use of hormones and stimulants in animal husbandry. It is a system based on the highest possible yields without respecting the natural principles of nature. Conversely, organic farming is a system of production established by the legislation that respects fundamental natural cycles, such as crop rotation, ensures welfare of animals, prohibits the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other substances of synthetic origin. However, lower yields are a big disadvantage. In the Czech Republic, only about one tenth of the agricultural fund is currently used for organic farming. Arable land constitutes only about 10% of the total area of agricultural land, other areas are mainly grasslands and orchards. The work primarily aims to answer to the question whether the selection of foods may contribute to decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, which is a part of the objectives of many policies. Besides the comparison of agricultural production, processed and unprocessed foods, local and imported foods and fresh and stored foods were compared as well. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is used to assess environmental impacts of products and services throughout their entire life cycle, was used to quantify the emission load. This method may be briefly characterized as a gathering of all inputs and outputs that take place during the production in the interaction with the environment. These inputs and outputs then also determine the impact on the environment. The LCA consists of four successive and iterative phases: This concerns the definition of objectives and scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation of the results. The LCA was originally developed for the assessment of impacts of especially industrial products. Certain methodological problems and deficiency, which bring a level of uncertainty of the results, have been caused by its adaptation to agricultural product assessment, but this method is still recommended for comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts of agricultural production and the comparison of different agricultural products. In this study, a Cradle-to-Gate assessment was performed, which means that the impacts of products (in this case the emission formation) were evaluated only to the delivery of foods to public facilities, further treatment and waste management was not assessed. About 20 most frequently used foods for school catering facilities were compared. The results of the project confirm the general assumption about the less emission load of unprocessed, fresh and local products. It may not clearly state that products from organic farming produce less emissions when comparing agricultural systems. It always depends on the particular crop. The absence of synthetic substances such as fertilizers and pesticides reduces the emission load of organic farming, on the other hand, a higher number of mechanical operations and especially the lower income clearly increase the emission burden, therefore, in several cases, lower emission loads of crops were achieved using the conventional farming system. However, less emission may be achieved within the organic farming system. Among 11 evaluated agricultural products, 8 organic products and only 3 conventional ones go better. The situation is different regarding the following phases of food production, processing and transport. The transport phase significantly worsens the environmental profile of organic foods, because transport distances are too far due to insufficient processing capacity and underdeveloped market networks, and often exceed the emission savings from the agricultural phase. On the contrary, conventional foods are carried within relatively short distances, therefore the final emission load of conventional foods is in many cases fewer than the load of organic foods. This fact is also confirmed by the result of the study, because among 22 evaluated foods, organic food goes better in 11 cases and conventional food in 11 cases as well

Drought impact on the germination of selected energy grass species

Za účelem získání dostatečného množství fytomasy pro potřeby ekoenergetiky jsou dnes na orné půdě zakládány monokulturní porosty trav. V souvislosti s měnícím se klimatem a častějšími obdobími sucha je důležité hledat druhy a odrůdy, jež jsou schopny těmto stresovým podmínkám odolat. V článku jsou popsány výsledky vlivu sucha na klíčení semen čtyř vybraných travních druhů vhodných pro energetické využití. Zkoumanými druhy byly ovsík vyvýšený (Arrhenatherum elatius L.) – odrůda Median, srha laločnatá (Dactylis glomerata L.) – odrůda Padania, maďarská tráva Elymus elongatus – odrůda Szarvasi-1 a lesknice rákosovitá (Phalaris arundinacea L.) – odrůda Chrastava. Ačkoliv se druhy mezi sebou lišily v klíčivosti (p 0,05).In order to gain a sufficient amount of phytomass for the needs of eco-energetics, there are monocultural grasslands established on the arable land. In the context of the changing climate and more frequent periods of drought, it is important to look for grass species and varieties that are able to withstand these stress conditions. Influence of droughtness on germination of four selected energy grass species is decribed in paper. The investigated species were tall meadow oat (Arrhenatherum elatius L.) - the Median variety, orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) - the Padania variety, tall wheatgrass (Elymus elongatus) - the Szarvasi-1 variety and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) - the Chrastava variety. Although the species differed in the germinability (p 0.05)

Greenhouse gases emissions from selected crops growing within organic farming

As part of the study, growing of selected crops (strawberries, garlic, carrot) in conventional and organic farming systems in the Czech Republic was evaluated. For evaluation, the simplified LCA analysis was used. It is focused on the production of greenhouse gases expressed in the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per one unit of production. Emissions were calculated for agricultural phases – agricultural technology, fertilizers, pesticides and field emissions – using the IPCC methodology. There are evident differences in subprocesses and in the total emission load between conventional and organic farming systems. With strawberry growing, the GHG emission production is higher within the organic farming system due to low yields. With carrot and garlic growing, the organic farming system is more environmental friendly in terms of GHG emissions.Keywords: organic farming, GHG emissions, plant production, LC

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km² resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e., offset) between in-situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km² pixels (summarized from 8500 unique temperature sensors) across all the world’s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in-situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Production of greenhouse gases within cultivation of garlic in conventional and organic farming system

Agriculture and related processes significantly contribute to the production of anthropogenic emissions. Considering the increasing pressure on the environment and an expected expansion of agricultural habitats and intensification of their cultivation, it is important to look for ways to reduce the environmental load, including also the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions. This reduction can be achieved, inter alia, by the proper choice of farming system and by reduction of some processes, especially transport and processing of agricultural commodities. Within the study, garlic growing within the conventional and organic farming system was evaluated. Garlic has been traditionally grown crop in the Czech Republic and now it is massively replaced by imported production from Spain and China. For evaluation, the simplified LCA analysis was used. This is focused on the production of greenhouse gases expressed in the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Emissions were calculated for agricultural phases - agricultural technology, fertilizers, pesticides and field emissions - using the IPCC methodology. Between conventional and organic farming systems, there are apparent differences in particular processes, where e.g. within the agrotechnical phase, there is a higher load within the organic farming system (0.19972 kg CO2e/kg of garlic as compared with 0.1251 kg CO2e/kg of garlic within the conventional farming system), which is due to different yields and a higher agrotechnical demand of the organic farming system. Conventional farming releases more CO2e within fertilization, pesticide use and filed emissions. The overall results show that, after conversion to one kg of garlic production, organic farming is by 42.39% more environmentally friendly as compared with the conventional one in terms of GHG emissions productio

Comparison of germination of selected energy grasses species within different water regimes

Grasslands in the landscape fulfil not only a number of important functions but they are also relevant in terms of production. One of the ways how to utilize biomass effectively is its use in power engineering. Currently, several technologies which are able to obtain energy from phytomass are known. Anaerobic digestion and direct combustion belong among the most common ones. Due to the phytoenergetic development, there are monocultural grasslands established. Grasslands appear to be the most appropriate for these proposes. Selection of species and varieties depends on many factors. The energy obtaining technology is the most important. Also the growing method and harvesting dates are dependent on it. With an assumed climate change, also the grass drought resistance is becoming more important. This property is important not only in the vegetation period but especially during seed germination and seedling emergence. In this article, based on the results of laboratory experiments, the germination of seeds of selected grass species within two water regime types is assessed and compared. Experiments were carried out in a laboratory at a constant room temperature (21 °C) without the influence of direct sunlight and 16 repetitions were taken. The monitored species were orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) - Padania species, reed canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) - Chrastava species and Szarvasi (Agropyron elongatum L). One of the water regime variants was the simulation of water stress during germination. This way, the seed drought resistance was verified and compared. The highest germination under conditions of water stress was achieved with Agropyron elongatum L. seed. The germination of this seed always reached values of ≥ 70% in all 16 repetitions. The difference in germination between different seed kinds within the variant simulating water stress ranged from ≥ 22% to ≤ 80% in all 16 repetitions. Germination of seeds in the second permanently irrigated variant does not drop below 78% with Agropyron elongatum L., 68% with Dactylis glomerata L. and 30% with Phalaris arundinacea L

DNA Electric Charge Oscillations Govern Protein–DNA Recognition

International audienceThe transcriptional activity of the serum response factor (SRF) protein is triggered by its binding to a 10-base-pair DNA consensus sequence designated the CArG box, which is the core sequence of the serum response element (SRE). Sequence-specific recognition of the CArG box by a core domain of 100 amino acid residues of SRF (core-SRF) was asserted to depend almost exclusively on the intrinsic SRE conformation and on the degree of protein-induced SRE bending. Nevertheless, this paradigm was invalidated by a temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy study of 20-mer oligonucleotides involved in bonding interactions with core-SRF that reproduced both wild type and mutated c-fos SREs. Indeed, the SRE moieties that are complexed with core-SRF exhibit permanent interconversion dynamics between bent and linear conformers. Thus, sequence-specific recognition of the CArG box by core-SRF cannot be explained only in terms of the three-dimensional structure of the SRE. A particular dynamic pairing process discriminates between the wild type and mutated complexes. Specific oscillations of the phosphate charge network of the SRE govern the recognition between both partners rather than an intrinsic set of conformations of the SRE

Greenhouse gases emissions from oat production within conventional and organic farming

Climate changes and the anthropogenic impact have been a frequently discussed issue in recent years. The GHG production is significantly influenced by industry, transport, as well as by agriculture which ranks among the five largest producers. Agriculture produces 9,2 % of the total GHG and therefore it is the fourth largest producer of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Agriculture is considered one of the sectors where it is possible to look for mitigation possibilities. Oat grown in organic and conventional farming systems is evaluated within this study. The oat life cycle was assessed in the SIMAPro software (the ReCiPe Midpoint (H) Europe method). The functional unit was 1 kg of grain. This method includes a farming stage (field emission, seeds and seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides, agrotechnical operations). Basic data from the farms was supplemented from the Ecoinvent database. The conversion of GHG emissions to CO2e is based on the formula CO2e = 1x CO2 + 23x CH4 + 298x N2O. The total emissions in the agricultural phase within the conventional farming system are 0,650 kg CO2e / kg of oat grains, within the organic one, they are 0,303 kg CO2e / kg of oat grains. Therefore, we can achieve a significant reduction in the emission load per the production unit if the farming system is changed

Production of recombinant soluble dimeric C-type lectin-like receptors of rat natural killer cells

Working at the border between innate and adaptive immunity, natural killer (NK) cells play a key role in the immune system by protecting healthy cells and by eliminating malignantly transformed, stressed or virally infected cells. NK cell recognition of a target cell is mediated by a receptor “zipper” consisting of various activating and inhibitory receptors, including C-type lectin-like receptors. Among this major group of receptors, two of the largest rodent receptor families are the NKR-P1 and the Clr receptor families. Although these families have been shown to encode receptor-ligand pairs involved in MHC-independent self-nonself discrimination and are a target for immune evasion by tumour cells and viruses, structural mechanisms of their mutual recognition remain less well characterized. Therefore, we developed a non-viral eukaryotic expression system based on transient transfection of suspension-adapted human embryonic kidney 293 cells to produce soluble native disulphide dimers of NK cell C-type lectin-like receptor ectodomains. The expression system was optimized using green fluorescent protein and secreted alkaline phosphatase, easily quantifiable markers of recombinant protein production. We describe an application of this approach to the recombinant protein production and characterization of native rat NKR-P1B and Clr-11 proteins suitable for further structural and functional studies.Peer Reviewe

Effect of fertilization on the yields of tall wheatgrass harvested once a year

With the growing demand for energy, the requirements for energy sources have been growing too. In advanced countries, there has been a substantial development of renewable sources. In the conditions of Central Europe, biomass seems to be the most promising option. It is possible to utilize not only waste biomass but also the biomass grown on the purpose. Particularly in locations endangered by erosion, the growing of energy grasses is recommended since they not only provide protection against erosion but also perform a number of further ecosystem services. The methods of transformation of grassphytomass into thermal or electric energy include anaerobic digestion and direct incineration. This article presents the results of an experiment verifying the effect of various fertilization management schemes on the yields of the perennial energy grass called tall wheatgrass(Elymus elongatus subsp. ponticus cv. Szarvasi-1) harvested once a year. The experiment carried out on small parcels compared three levels of fertilization intensity. This involved mineral fertilization and fertilization with digestate;the control variant was not fertilized at all. The yield parameters were monitored for three years from spring 2013 when the experiment was commenced. The obtained results show a positive effect of fertilization of the grass on the grass yield. In the first two production years, the variant involving mineral fertilization showed, on average, a 22% increase in the dry matter yield than the variant without fertilization. The grass fertilized with digestate provided a 32% higher dry matter yield than the control variant