Sorin Stanciu

SUSTAINABILITY OF GRAPEVINE PRODUCTION THROUGH MORE EFFICIENT SYSTEMS OF SOIL MAINTENANCE AND AGRO-BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS

Tillage practices in viticulture are very important, with major effects on quantitative and qualitative production, on vines phenology and stages of growth. In this study the aim was to identify the most appropriate vineyard floor management, located on flat land or mild slopes, with medium or high soils fertility. The research was carried out during 2011–2013 in the vineyard of the BUASVM Didactic Station from Timisoara and focusing exclusively on several variants of soil maintenance in order to replace the need for manual labor. Leaf area was estimated by concentric circles method and sugar concentration was evaluated by refractometry. Total acidity in must and wine was determined by titration. Grape yield was estimated by bunches counting and weighing, for each variety and productive potential (kg ha -1 ) was appreciated by multiplying the average yield per vine with the number of vines per hectare. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 6. Performance of Burgundy variety for superior red wines group and Silvania table grape variety – with a medium ripening, were analyzed in the experiment. For both Burgundy and Silvania varieties the sixth variant (V6–bare soil by tillage middles row (tractor and rotary hoe)/rotary hoe undervine (tractor and adjustable offset rotary tiller) registered the highest grape yield during the research. The lowest grape yield fulfils to the seventh variant of vineyard floor management. Burgundy variety had the average must sugar content of 195 ± 4.27 g l -1 and that of the leaf area of 7.09 ± 0.58 m 2 while in Silvania variety the average of grape must acidity was 4.66 ± 0.35 g l -1 H 2 SO 4 and the leaf area of 7.42 ± 0.51 m 2 /vine. Between must sugar content and leaf area, in Burgundy and Silvania variety has been established a significant positive linear correlation (r = 0.94 ***) and (r = 0.88 **; p <0.001) respectively, variables being virtually indistinguishable. Keywords: grapevine, leaf area, soil, sugars, sustainability, variety, wine. Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2015.022

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ROMANIAN AND THE MAIN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES’ NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEMS

In the European Union, forests and other wooded areas cover a total of 177.8 million hectares, which represents approximately 40% of the EU total area and an area similar to that used for agricultural purposes (183.9 million hectares). Germany, Spain, France, Finland and Sweden make up over three-fifths of the area covered by forests in the EU. Our paper shows the distribution of forested areas in the EU and their importance in comparison with the agricultural area of each Member State. In 2014, the EU represents about 12 % of global timber volume harvested timber from forests and woodlands on its surfaces rising to 392.9 million m 3 . Forestry, logging and related services covering timber production and extraction and harvesting of forest products that grow in the wild. In addition to industrial round wood, forests produce firewood, too. In some regions, non-timber forest products are also an important source of local income. In the research approach, we considered necessary and appropriate to perform a comparative analysis of the situation of Romanian forest similar to that of the main European Union countries, to identify measures that some of them have tried, and even managed to increase a rational exploitation of afforested areas forest resources. The results conducted to a comparative analysis of the National Forest and the main EU countries’ Systems, to identify possible starting points for grounding new sustainable development strategies, given their similar experience. Key words: economical, forest, management, exploitations, public and private property. Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2015.039