Brigita Popović

Mineral fertilization and liming impact on maize and wheat yield

The soil analyses for the field trials started in the spring of 2003 at site Donji Miholjac in eastern Croatia. Two different soil types were chosen with distance less then 1 km: silty loam dystric luvisol and silty loam calcaric regosol (limey substrate was excavated for the melioration canals and redeposited as top soil layer in 1986). The dystric luvisol was very acid (pHKCl 4, 02) with 1, 66 % humus, 149 mg kg-1 P2O5 and 167 mg kg-1 K2O. The calcaric regosol was slightly alkaline (pHKCl 7, 14) with lower content of humus (1, 42 %), phosphorus (139 mg kg-1) and potassium (109 mg kg-1). In the spring of 2003 the dystric luvisol was limed with 0, 10 or 20 t ha-1 carbocalk (total Ca content 344 g kg-1 and P 4, 6 g kg-1) on soil depth 30 cm. In the autumn of 2003 and 2004 the both soils (dystric luvisol and calcaric regosol) were fertilized first for maize and in second year for wheat with three different nutrient amounts: no fertilization, standard mineral fertilization and doubled phosphorus fertilization. Dystric luvisol pH reaction was influenced by liming and fertilization and changes are measured one year after liming (before maize sawing) and two year after liming (after wheat harvest): 10 t ha-1 carbocalk raised pH value for approximately 1 pH unit and 20 t ha-1 for 2 pH units. Influence of mineral fertilization on soil pH is evident especially on liming treatment with 20 t ha-1 carbocalk. Liming without fertilization resulted in increased pHKCl from 4.02 to 6.33 and 6.22 after first and second year, respectively. At the same time, liming with standard fertilization raised pHKCl up to 5.83 and 5.98, and with doubled phosphorus fertilization reached pHKCl was 5.72 after first year and 5.81 after second year. Liming did not affect maize yield but did slightly increased wheat grain yield and phosphorus removal by wheat grain. Mineral fertilization influenced significantly on yield and phosphorus and calcium removal comparing to production without fertilization. Although doubled phosphorus fertilization increased wheat yield and nutrient removal, only significant increasing comparing to lower phosphorus fertilization was phosphorus removal by wheat straw. Wheat and maize grains removed much more phosphorus and less calcium than straws.

Total and plant available micronutrients in acidic and calcareous soils in Croatia

Maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes wit It improved nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUE) are of interest to growers. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the total N uptake in the aboveground biomass and NUE (kg grain per kg of N absorbed in the aboveground biomass). Four commercial hybrids of similar maturity ranking were grown under the high-N (200 kg N ha(-1)) and low-N (1100 kg N ha(-1)) fertilization rates over three years. Growing conditions significantly affected hybrid performance for NUE, which ranged from 42 kg grain kg N-1 in the low-yielding (dry) environment to 55 kg grain kg N-1 under higher yielding environment, When compared to the low-N rate, the average N uptake was by 32% higher at the high-N rate, whereas smaller differences occurred for the aboveground biomass (12%), grain yields (14%), stover N (28%) and grain N (13%) concentrations. Significant differences existed among tested hybrids for grain yield, aboveground biomass, grain and stover N concentration, N uptake and consequently NUE.Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) were evaluated as cover crops during two vegetation seasons in the Mediterranean and Continental area of Croatia. Better tolerance to low winter temperatures was observed for crimson clover. Higher plants (10 to 3 1 cm) before winter and in spring (67 to 117 cm) were measured for hairy vetch, while crimson clover had higher yields of fresh biomass (33.7 to 113.1 t ha(-1)). Concentrations of N (1.53 to 3.34%), P2O5 (0.55 to 1.04%) and K2O (2.02 to 5.32%) in plant tissue were higher for hairy vetch. However, due to higher yields of dry matter, crimson clover accumulated more N (105 to 239 kg ha(-1)), P2O5 (28 to 83 kg ha(-1)), and K2O (105 to 440 kg ha(-1)) than hairy vetch. According to our results crimson clover could be recommended as a cover crop in Mediterranean and Continental area of Croatia.

Reduced Dietary Selenium Impairs Vascular Function by Increasing Oxidative Stress in Sprague-Dawley Rat Aortas

This study aimed to determine whether low dietary Se content affects the function and mechanisms mediating the vascular relaxation of rat aortas, and to test the role of oxidative stress in observed differences. Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were maintained for 10 weeks on low Se (low-Se group; N = 20) or normal Se content (norm-Se group; N = 20) rat chow. Dose responses to acetylcholine (ACh; 10−9–10−5M) and the response to reduced pO2 were tested in noradrenaline-precontracted aortic rings in the absence/presence of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), the cyclooxygenase 1 and 2 (COX-1, 2) inhibitor Indomethacin, and the antioxidative agent Tempol in tissue bath. mRNA expression of glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1), catalase (CAT), and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) was measured in rat aortas. Oxidative stress (Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances; TBARS), antioxidative plasma capacity (ferric reducing ability of plasma assay; FRAP), and protein levels of GPx1 were measured in plasma and serum samples, respectively. Reduced ACh-induced relaxation (AChIR) (dominantly mediated by NO) in the low-Se group compared to the norm-Se group was restored by Tempol administration. Hypoxia-induced relaxation (HIR) (dominantly mediated by COX-1, 2), TBARS, and FRAP as well as GPx1 serum concentrations were similar between the groups. mRNA GPx1 expression in rat aortas was significantly decreased in the low-Se compared to the norm-Se group. These data suggest that low dietary Se content increases the local oxidative stress level, which subsequently affects the NO-mediated vascular response.

Phosphorus fertilization and liming impact on soil properties

Liming caused a significant changes in soil properties modifying soil acidity, nutrients and heavy metal availability. The paper is based on four-year filed trials conducted on two sites near Donji Miholjac in eastern Croatia: dystric luvisol and calcaric regosol. Conducted experiments confirmed that the lowest yield of all four crops was achieved on calcaric regosol. Liming dystric luvisol with 10 and 20 t ha-1 of carbocalk resulted in yield increasing. The highest influence of liming with 20 t ha-1 was on wheat yield increase, than on soybean and the lowest impact was on cabbage and maize yields. Ammonium-lactate soil P test and plant P removal data are sufficient for soil P balancing at low levels or no applied P fertilizer, but more fertilizer indicates that correction factor should be used for calculation impact of applied P fertilizer on increasing soil AL extractable P.

Comparison of Two Soil Phosphorus Analytical Methods in Croatia

Abstract The purpose of this article was to compare soil phosphorus (P) extraction by sodium bicarbonate solution (Olsen P) and by ammonium lactate (AL P) and to create a model for prediction of Olsen P using ordinary soil‐fertility control data. The soils data used in this study included Olsen P, pHKCl, pHH2O, organic matter, AL P, and AL K. Soil pHKCl ranged from 3.5 to 8, organic matter up to 5%, AL K up to 400 mg kg−1, and AL P up to 200 mg kg−1. Olsen P and AL P were significantly correlated, and the difference between them was influenced by soil pH. Regression models included all soil data grouped by soil pH range, which significantly decreased the difference between predicted and measured Olsen P. The validation of the model was conducted on new data sets from field fertilization trials. The results show that Olsen P can be related to AL P and used for fertilizer recommendations instead of AL P.

Four‐Year Dynamic of Potassium on Two Sites Interpreted by Different Soil Tests

Three soil–potassium (K) tests were compared using soil and plant samples collected during fertilization and liming experiments in Croatia on very acid dystric luvisol and slightly alkaline calcaric regosol. Soil samples were analyzed for pHKCl, pHH2O, organic matter, and ammonium lactate (AL, pH 3.75)–extracted phosphorus (P) and K. In addition, K was extracted with ammonium acetate (AA, pH 7) and with ammonium acetate ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (AAEDTA, pH 4.6). In spring 2003, the dystric luvisol was limed with 0, 10, or 20 t ha‐1 carbocalk (by‐product at sugar beet processing, effective neutralizing value 69.1%). During the next four seasons, four different crops were grown without fertilization, with standard fertilization, and with doubled P amounts. All three soil K tests showed highly significant correlations of fertilization impact on extractable soil K and can be efficiently used for fertilizer recommendations. Balance calculation is closer to results of extractable K on fertilized plots than on control plots and use of AAEDTA or AL than AA extraction.

GIS Modeling of Site-Specific Fertilization Requirements

This study examines the relationship between climate change and undernourishment and its negative impact on child health. The focus of this study is Palghar District (which was formed on August 1, 2014, in State of Maharashtra, India). This paper examines the efficacy of the role of healthy government initiatives and their awareness among people in overcoming the adverse effects of climate-change. The study is based on interviews with the District Collector, various government officials and anthropologists working in the area, as well as secondary data collected from the Palghar District Collectorate. As the data made available by the government were limited, the study is unable to supply extensive information about such aspects as the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes, project costs and cost analysis. Palghar district has reported 64 per 1000 child deaths and 44 per 1000 infant deaths between April and October, 2016. The researcher tried to find links between various potential variables and child mortality in this administrative region. The researcher hopes that by giving voice to a localised issue and discussing possible solutions for curbing the problem of child mortality due to undernourishment, it may be possible to find a long-term and comprehensive model for a solution for the same problem around the world.In modern conditions of globalization, the quality of static data of foreign economic relations of the country plays an important role in decision-making about the foreign economic sphere of the country. This is without their quality leading to wrong static analysis of the indicators of foreign economic relations and methods of evaluation. As a result, it is impossible for correct decision not to be made by the government. Also, there are questions about what are the important priorities in the development of foreign economic relations of the country. According to the analysis of static indicators of foreign economic relations of Syria before and during the crisis, we noted that there was a deterioration of all indicators of foreign economic relations due to armed conflict. This includes the increase in the external debt 2.75 times in 2014 compared with the period before the crisis, the decline in exports and imports, and the improvement of egovernment. In addition, work without high-quality cannot control foreign trade transactions.Liability of the custodian or custodian body for the damage caused by the persons totally divested from the ability to act due to mental disability is a kind of liability for the damage caused by the actions of the other person. In this case, his/her custodian or custodian body that is liable for his/her supervision shall be liable even for the damage caused by the person with mental disabilities. Obligation for supervision and care of the custodian or custodian body for the person with mental disabilities shall be the reason based on which they should respond in cases when the person with mental disabilities causes a damage to the third person. In order this kind of liability to come into consideration, in advance, there should be met some conditions as follows: 1. The damage is caused, 2. The damage is caused by the person that is incapable to judge and by the person who is under custody, 3. The damage has been caused since the custodian has not exercised adequately the supervision function as required according to the Law, decision of a body or any contract. These conditions should be fulfilled together in order that this kind of liability to come into consideration. Theoretical treatments regarding these kinds of liabilities, not in all cases, have brought the due clearance. In theoretical treatments of various authors that have treated this kind of liability there are presented dilemma which require a different analysis and approach in order that there to be identified some cases that have been left untreated until nowadays. Those authors, in their theoretical treatments, have ascertained that the custodian or custodian body shall be released from the liability for the damage caused by the person with mental disabilities or with mental slowdown development or any other circumstance according to which they could not judge his/her actions, if they can prove their innocence whether they have exercised adequately the supervision towards the person with mental disabilities or with mental slowdown development but the same authors have not given further explanations that who will be liable in such cases if the person with mental disabilities does not have economic conditions to make the compensation of the damage. This issue is regulated with legal framework of some countries treated in this paper. We have done this comparative analysis between the legal framework of these countries with the purpose of identifying the similarities and differences between them in regulating this liability. Even that there are some differences in legal determinations, we should say that Kosovo, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, France, Italy, Germany and Spain have approximately similar regulation regarding this liability since all these countries cover this kind of liability with their legal framework.This study is an effort to characterize the legal and social aspects of the polish regulations relating to the employment of people with disabilities in sheltered conditions. In Poland, the role of activation of the disabled in the protected labor market performs three types of operations: sheltered workshops, factories professional activity, and social co-operation. Authors discuss the formal requirements to obtain the status, specific rights, and the obligations of employers who are employing the establishment of protected or reinsured activity. The research included in the study was supplemented by an analysis of available statistical data based on the number of operators protected labor market and the number of disabled people employed in these workplaces.Starting from 1st May, 2004 countries of European Fifteen have gradually opened their labour markets for the new EU members, including the Poles. The first to take this step was Great Britain, Ireland and Sweden, the last - Germany and Austria. For the new EU citizens, emerging opportunities were connected with benefits and wide possibilities, but also with limitations and adaptation difficulties. They had to deal with the language barrier as much as the different culture, accepted behaviours, traditions, work culture and model of spending leisure time. Mentality of migrants – whether they were able or not to immerse into the “new” – had impact on finding themselves in another environment. Most of those, who left Poland did not plan to settle, they were leaving “for some time”, temporarily. Mentally, they were still connected with previous place of residence, more interested in environment left behind than new one. Such behaviour was not conducive to adaptation; on the contrary, it made adaptation harder. Migrants through listening to Polish radio, watching Polish television stations, using the Polish Internet portals and reading national press, separated themselves from the new environment. All of these was due to the assumption that engaging in new place has no point since their stay is only temporary. Their attitude to the kind of work and workplace was similar. Majority of migrants from the EU-8 countries was taking up secondary employment, regardless of educational background. Wages comparable with Polish were supposed to compensate depreciation on the labour market. A wide spectrum of adaptation problems of Polish migrants is an issue raised in reports prepared by specialized research institutions, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Polish Community organisations.The system of support for women within the framework of the social policy of the Second Polish Republic included: the adequate regulations of work legislation, the rules of social insurance, the activities towards the maternity protection of the insured and, finally, social services directly or indirectly provided to women by the central as well as local governments. These activities were extensive and, in many cases, very modern. What is more, they were directed towards solving the most important social problems of women. However, rather than common, the scope of those activities was very limited and selective. Moreover, the implementation of those activities was not always in accordance with the plans and expectations of their authors. From the point of view of the existing social needs, the most advanced solutions were those which resulted from a privileged position of women in the work legislation and the system of health insurance. The problem of the insignificant influence always had its roots in the socio-professional structure of the country. Only women in employment or covered by the insurance could receive the benefits. For the rest the offer was no longer that beneficial.In a society genetically endowed with great cognitive potential, the paradigmatic failure of the post-communist education system divide young people into three categories: young elitists who join foreign universities and companies, well-prepared young people eager to study in their country and young NEETs. The increasing percentage of the latter ones is confirmed by the national results obtained in the PISA tests and high school dropout rates. No community in this world can be strong when the investment in education lacks. Non-aligned job policies to educational ones will give birth to worrying imbalances, highlighting the phenomenon of migration. Demographic decline and the lack of strategies to stimulate birth rate will increase the impossibility to ensure generational change within the active population and all these will lead to a block of the pension system. Romania, in the next 20 years will follow the model of the European countries, which face labor importation and the migration of non-European capital. Are there any solutions to counterbalance these trends? This is the question which, the whole rethink of theoretical-methodological analysis of some policies meant to give value to the huge Romanian qualitative human force, deprecated within the large globalization, is based on.The essay deals with the difficult relationship between fiscal responsibility and representation: it seems that the traditional rule “no taxation without representation” is less and less true, as the responsibility of the representatives, be they those of the national parliament or of the representative bodies of local institutions, is no longer a real guarantee. The case of the Italian system is significant: local taxes have been interpreted in a very singular way by the constitutional case law, as the representatives’ responsibility connected with local government levies is limited to the determining only of certain aspects of the fiscal phenomenon. One first goal is therefore to analyse the atypical fiscal and financial responsibility of local administrators. But a specific phenomenon of the Italian Regions with a special level of autonomy deserves attention. These special Regions have negotiated with the central government a specific regime: since the constitutional implementation process of 2009, they dispose of undeniably high percentages of their territories’ tax revenue. The profiles of derived finance have been eliminated and it has been decided to return to the self-financing model, understood as the prevailing allocation in a fixed share of tax revenues produced within the territory. The case of the special regional revenues of Trentino-Alto Adige is a peculiar one and it is specifically studied in this essay. This work discusses the question of representation regarding tax revenues in a different way, based on a particular type of relation between the wealthproducing context and the institutions.Today, internet plays an indisputable role as a means of communication, information flow, and as a point of meeting the needs of a growing number of people. The authors noted more and more important role that mass communication plays in social media. This article presents various definitions of the phenomenon and the proposed typology, and threats which entails using either incompetent social media today. This article is intended to facilitate the communication process for researchers, sociologists, media experts, and people interested in the study of the phenomenon of online communication.A change depending on the time of the flood wave moving in a stream using flood routing approach is examined. Flood routing of flood discharge along the river with their account and calculating the changes in the water level of flood protection structure size is determined to safety. The aim of this study, Sutculer flood event will be modeled by Genetic Expression Programing (GEP) method. The GEP method makes use of few hydrologic parameters such as inflow, outflow, and time. Simulation results indicate that the proposed a predictive model is an appropriate for the flood routing. Case study is presented to demonstrate that the GEP model is an alternative in implementation of the Muskingum model.

Comparison of Chemical Extraction Methods for Determination of Soil Potassium in Different Soil Types

Determining potassium supply of soil plays an important role in intensive crop production, since it is the basis for balancing nutrients and issuing fertilizer recommendations for achieving high and stable yields within economic feasibility. The aim of this study was to compare the different extraction methods of soil potassium from arable horizon of different types of soils with ammonium lactate method (KAL), which is frequently used as analytical method for determining the accessibility of nutrients and it is a common method used for issuing fertilizer recommendations in many Europe countries. In addition to the ammonium lactate method (KAL, pH 3.75), potassium was extracted with ammonium acetate (KAA, pH 7), ammonium acetate ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (KAAEDTA, pH 4.6), Bray (KBRAY, pH 2.6) and with barium chloride (

Compost production and composted manure quality evaluation

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