Longevity and milk production efficiency of Latvian local breeds during last decades

The aim of the study was to analyse the longevity and the amount of energy-corrected milk (ECM) per day of local dairy cattle breeds Latvian Brown (LB) and Latvian Blue (LZ). The study was based on the data of LB genetic resources (LB) 1770 and LZ 921 cows, which were born from January 1st, 2000 till December 31st year 2015. Milk productivity and longevity of the LB and LZ cows were analysed by birth year periods: 2000–2005, 2006–2010 and 2011–2015. LZ culled cows lifespan was in average 2,762.8 ± 55.14 days, or 7.6 years and it was significantly higher than for LB. The average lifespan of LB culling cows was 6.7 years. There are cows which had closed 7–12 lactations. On average, cows’ lifespan decreased during analysed period. In general, LZ cows are characterized by higher length of productive life and milking days. LZ cows produced more EC milk during their productive life; however, they had the lower milking day ECM productivity than LB cows

Trends in milk yield productivity and emissions from the dairy sector in Latvia

Received: January 31st, 2023 ; Accepted: May 8th, 2023 ; Published: May 26th, 2023 ; Correspondence: [email protected] cow productivity continuously increased in Latvia in recent years. Despite decreasing numbers of dairy cow population dairy farms have been identified as an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Dairy sector emissions create the largest share of enteric fermentation emissions as well as emissions from manure in housing facilities, during long-term storage and field application within agriculture sector total emissions. The main objective of this study is to present the results of trend analysis in the productivity of the dairy sector and corresponding emission in Latvia. Research is focused on analysis of dairy cow productivity and feeding strategies to quantify the effect of increasing milk yield on GHG emissions. In the framework of this research, emissions were calculated and evaluated for low and high productivity dairy cows according to the methodology of ‘2019 Refinement to the 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories’. During the last decade dairy cow productivity in Latvia has increased and the average milk yield in standard lactation was 8,320 kg per year in 2021. It was observed that 60% of the total number of dairy cows met the requirements of a high-productivity system, while 40% of the dairy cows belonged to low-productivity systems in Latvia. Research results show that total GHG emissions for high-productivity system can reach 5.3 kt CO2 eq. per 1,000 cows per year, however, for low-productivity system the total amount of emissions does not exceed 3.1 kt CO2 eq. per 1,000 cows

Discrimination of leaf diseases affecting faba bean (Vicia faba)

Faba bean is susceptible to several leaf diseases caused by pathogenic fungi. With the increasing importance of faba bean in northern European cropping systems, the importance of its leaf diseases is likely to increase. The aim of this study was to discriminate the diseases and to test agronomic strategies for limiting their spread in a five-year experiment. Chocolate spot disease caused by Botrytis spp. and leaf blotches caused by an Alternaria/Stemphylium complex dominated, the severity of rust was lower, and downy mildew occurred in only one year. The severity of the diseases depended on weather conditions and cultivar, but not on sowing rate. Application of fungicides significantly decreased the severity of chocolate spot, leaf blotch and rust, but not downy mildew, and in no case was the disease progress stopped. None of the cultivars showed strong resistance to disease. The Alternaria/Stemphylium leaf blotch is an emerging disease of faba bean in northern Europe. Work continues on the identification of the responsible species in the chocolate spot and leaf blotch complexes and the determination of their relative importance in causing disease.Peer reviewe

Vacuum treatments for hydrogen removal in 140 ton ladle for big ingots casting

Hydrogen removal can be accomplished via different steelmaking routes (VOD, ASEA, RH). Focus was givenon the first two technologies. As main differences between the systems based on a (multi)-plug equipped ladle,in VOD the vacuum chamber is obtained by coupling a roof with a tank, in ASEA plant–where electromagnetic melt stirring is also exploited - coupling occurs directly with the ladle, leading oftento a non perfect sealing. Moreover, VOD plant is able to perform under vacuum steel degassing treatmentat pressure values lower than usually reached in ASEA plant, and is also equipped with a oxygen lanceallowing to produce stainless steels with very low carbon and nitrogen content. The industrial needof achieving very low hydrogen contents for big ingots casting with an acceptable costs/benefits ratio calledfor a comparison between performances of different vacuum treatments strategies. A CSM numericaldegassing model was applied to 140 ton ladle conditions either after ASEA or VOD treatment

Nuove segnalazioni floristiche italiane 12. Flora vascolare (101–112)

Nuove segnalazioni floristiche italian

An overview of the Italian forest biodiversity and its conservation level, based on the first outcomes of the 4th Habitat Report ex-Art. 17

In 2019 the 4th Report ex-Art. 17 on the conservation status (CS) of Annex I Habitats of the 92/43/EEC Directive was expected by every EU/28 country, with reference to the period 2013-18. In Italy, the process was in charge to the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), on behalf of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection (MATTM), with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society (SBI). A large group of thematic and territorial experts elaborated the available data concerning the 124 types of terrestrial and inland water Habitats present in Italy, 39 of which are represented by Forest Habitats (Group 9),. The main aim of the work was the evaluation of the overall CS of each Habitat by Biogeographic Region (Mediterranean, Continental and Alpine), for a total amount of 294 assessments. A high proportion of these (92, corresponding to 31% of the total) referred to Forest Habitats, including 20 marginal types for which the CS was not requested. The analysis was carried out at different scales: a) administrative territory, through the data contained in the ISPRA database, whose compilation was in charge to the Regions and Autonomous Provinces; b) Natura 2000 site, with the latest updates available (Standard Data Forms updated to 2018); c) national scale, implementing the distribution maps for each Habitat based on the European grid ETRS89-LAEA5210 (10x10 km2 mesh); d) Biogeographic Region, scale of the final assessment. Cartographic outcomes, associated databases and additional data used for the assessments will be available online on the ISPRA Portal as soon as the validation process by the European Commission will be completed. A dedicated archive named "HAB_IT" has been created in the national database "VegItaly" (1), managed by the Italian Society of Vegetation Science, where the phytosociological relevés representative of the various Annex I Habitats in Italy will be archived and freely accessible. An overview of the results regarding the Forest habitats is here provided, including a comparison with the outcomes of the former reporting cycle, the 3rd Report ex-Art. 17 (2). In several cases (e.g. 9120, 91L0), the distribution maps have been remarkably improved due to better knowledge and more fitful interpretation. The conservation status resulted as Favourable (FV) for 6,7%, Inadequate (U1) for 58,7% and Bad (U1) for 32,0% of the 72 assessed forest Habitat types. In no case there was an improvement of the conservation status, while in 6 cases a worsening of the conditions resulted from the data analysis, pointing out the Habitats types with a higher need of action. Similarly to other projects carried out as a team by the network of Annex I Habitat experts of the Italian Botanical Society and the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (e.g. 3, 4), this is another step in the direction of supporting the implementation of the 92/43/EEC "Habitat" Directive in Italy and Europe. On this ground, the high biodiversity of the Italian forest Habitats could be emphasized, however results pointed out that some rare or endemic types (e.g. Alnus cordata or Betula aetnensis-dominated forests) are still scarcely acknowledged by the most prominent EU conservation tools such as the Annex I to the "Habitat" Directive. 1) F. Landucci et al. (2012) Plant Biosyst., 146(4), 756-763 2) P. Genovesi et al. (2014) ISPRA, Serie Rapporti, 194/2014 3) E. Biondi et al. (2009) Società Botanica Italiana, MATTM, D.P.N., http://vnr.unipg.it/habitat/ 4) D. Gigante et al. (2016) Plant Sociology, 53(2), 77-8