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The boron (B) availability and uptake were studied in relation to different phosphorus rates applied into soils in a three-year field experiment (2015-2017). The experiment was carried out at the experimental station at Humpolec (Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, Czech Republic). Three rates of phosphorus (20-40-80 kg P/ha) were applied as triple superphosphate. The crop rotation was spring barley-winter oilseed rape-winter wheat. No systematic fertilization with B was used and the response of natural boron soil content to the different phosphorus supply was studied. The crop yields, B content in plants, B-uptake, and content of B (extracted by Mehlich 3 and NH₄ acetate methods) were determined. Spring barley and winter wheat B uptake was about one order of magnitude lower in comparison with oilseed rape. Significant differences in B content in soils, in crop tissues and B-uptake, were found mainly under higher phosphorus doses (40 and 80 kg P/ha). NH₄ acetate method showed better correlations between P and B contents in soils than Mehlich 3 method from the second experimental year. The P-fertilization may affect negatively the B-uptake by plants, particularly if the highly nutrient demanding crop is grown.

The paper deals with a general solution of semantic description related to various electronic data formats in the domains of agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, food industry, environment, horticulture and rural areas. The solution presented was developed on the basis of metadata formats analysis and then complemented with its own software superstructure. It is based on the VOA³R metadata application profile (AP) that was developed within the framework of the Virtual Open Access Agriculture and Aquaculture Repository project for the sake of describing research papers and scientific publications. However, thanks to its complexity and comprehensiveness, it is also suitable for different kinds of data and while combining it with the AGROVOC thesaurus, which is elaborated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it can become a robust and universal tool for data characteristics and semantic description. The potential of the proposed solution is illustrated by means of two examples. While the first example brings a metadata description of a photograph depicting anthocyanin pigmentation of barley straw caused by phosphorus deficiency, the second example is related to a research paper description. The developed system of metadata description is broadly applicable in agriculture such as in precision agriculture, in plant production or in ground cover monitoring and evaluation based on sensor or visual data.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a plant typical mainly for temperate climate and develops best at about 20°C. Heat stress due to increased temperatures is an agricultural problem in many areas in the world. The aim of our work was to assess the response of selected new potato cultivars to heat and drought stress during the subsequent stages of plant growth starting from buds forming. The pot experiment was carried out over the course of two years with the following early cultivars: Lord, Miłek, Gwiazda, Hubal, Oberon and Tetyda. The impact of heat (38°C/25°C) and drought stress on potato plants was tested in four periods of two weeks. In these periods half of the plants were watered to a level close to optimal while the other half remained without irrigation. Our studies demonstrated that tested potato cultivars' response to heat stress depends on the growth stage, in which the temperature acts on the plants and on the soil moisture. Besides the decrease in yield and tubers' diminution, the biggest problem was the presence of tubers with physiological defects, particularly of immature tubers. The response of cultivars was differentiated.

Three moss (Pleurosium spp., Polytrichum spp., Rhytidiadelphus spp.) and two lichen taxa (Hypogymnia physodes L., Pseudevernia furfuracea L.), were exposed for four weeks in six petrol stations, two consecutive years (2015-2016), in urban area of the Prešov city (Slovakia), to assess accumulation of selected airborne elements Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. Significantly highest (P < 0.01) ability to accumulate Zn, Ni, Co and Fe was found in Pleurosium spp.; Pseudevernia furfuracea was determined the best accumulator of Hg, whereas Rhytidiadelphus spp. was found as the least suitable for this purpose. No significant differences in heavy metal accumulation between moss and lichen taxonomic group were found. Samples of conifer (used as a moss/lichen bag holder) showed significantly lower content of heavy metals compared to mosses and lichens. Major content of heavy metals trapped in the air around petrol stations, did not originate from the petrol combustion, but predominantly from the car body, which is mechanically disrupted during fuelling.

Soils harbour enormously diverse bacterial communities that interact specifically with plants generating beneficial interactions between them. This study was the first approach to assess bacterial communities before sowing with three cotton genotypes, including both transgenic and conventional ones. The structure of bacterial communities was identified using the next generation sequencing analysis, ion torrent PGM (Personal Genome Machine™) sequencer technology, based on the V2-V3 16S rRNA gene region. Quantitative insights into microbial ecology pipeline were used to identify the structure and diversity of bacterial communities in bulk soil samples collected in the northeast of Mexico. Bulk soil textures and chemical properties, including most nutrients, were homogeneous in these bulk soil samples. Relative abundance analysis showed similar bacterial community structures. Dominant taxonomic phyla were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Bacteroidetes, whereas the main families were Bacillaceae, Chitinophagaceae and Rhodospirillaceae with an abundance average of BS1 (bulk soil sample), BS2 and BS3 (24.85, 19.74 and 19.71%, respectively). Alpha diversity analysis showed a high diversity (Shannon and Simpson index) and a large value of the observed species found in bulk soils samples. These results allowed establishing the previous bacterial structural community in an unused soil before sowing it with a transgenic crop for the first time.

The level of the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) has a direct influence on the development and competitiveness of individuals, firms, production sectors, regions and even the whole continents. The availability of ICT, including the Internet, to agricultural enterprises in theCzechRepublicis already very satisfactory. Due to the structure of agricultural enterprises the penetration of Internet technologies in theCzechRepublicis more intensive than in most EU countries. Therefore an urgent issue is the level of the usage of these technologies that is not an issue related to finances anymore but it is a problem related to the knowledge and habits of users and availability of information and services. The project of the portal for the agriculture sector and countryside AGRIS has a significant impact on the level of the usage of Internet information and services in the agriculture sector.

The aeroponic system is a viable technological alternative for potato minituber production within a potato tuber seed system. The aim of the study was to evaluate the productivity of potato minitubers grown in aeroponic culture and collected in 14 successive periods of the growing season. The minitubers of cvs. Ametyst and Tajfun were tested in an experimental field after a storage period. It was found that cv. Ametyst was characterized by higher yield and number of tubers than cv. Tajfun. Yield of cv. Ametyst averaged 42.6 t/ha, and cv. Tajfun 37.3 t/ha. The number of tubers over 3 cm of cv. Ametyst averaged 644.2 per ha, and cv. Tajfun 437.7 per ha. The yield and number of tubers was dependent on the physiological age of minitubers harvested on successive dates. Comparing the productivity of minitubers grown in aeroponics and in the soil, a significant difference was found in the number of tubers with a transversal diameter over 3 cm. There were more daughter tubers from minitubers grown in soil. They are the result of different-size minitubers used for planting, smaller ones from aeroponics and larger from soil.

Mercury (Hg) is one of the major pollutants in soils because of the annual import of toxic Hg into the agricultural lands. The aims of the present studies are to investigate the effect of Hg on chlorophyll content in winter wheat var. jinan No. 17. Moreover, calcium (Ca) levels and bioaccumulation of Hg in wheat leaves were studied with the technique of inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometer (ICP-SF-MS). The study conducted a range of Hg concentrations from 0~500 mg Hg/kg in the dry weight soil. The soil was artificially contaminated with Hg as follows: 0, 100, 200, and 500 mg Hg/kg as HgCl₂. At early stages of the wheat growth, both low and high concentration of Hg stimulates chlorophyll content, but inhibits chlorophyll content at later stages of the wheat growth. Furthermore, the concentrations of Ca and Hg in wheat leaves increased with the increasing concentration of Hg on the thirty-fourth day with the technique of ICP-SF-MS. The results indicate that Hg can accelerate the absorption of Ca in winter wheat and Hg stress may affect Ca levels in wheat leaves.

Field experiments were conducted at two different locations (Barani Agricultural Research Institute Chakwal and farm field Talagang, district Chakwal) for two crop-growing seasons in northern rainfed Punjab, Pakistan to assess the yield and micronutrient uptake of chickpea (Cicer arietinum). The treatments were four combinations of two levels of sulfur (15 and 30 kg/ha) from two sources (gypsum and ammonium sulfate) and a no-sulfur control. Application of sulfur resulted in a significant increase in seed yield up to 17% over control. Ammonium sulfate was a more efficient source of sulfur as compared to gypsum at both the locations. Sulfur application resulted in a significant increase in micronutrient uptake by plant; however effect of sulfur application on soil pH at the end of experiment was not significant. Availability of soil zinc and copper increased with sulfur application at the end of two year experiment. Tissue copper and iron and soil available copper and iron correlated negatively with soil pH. Sulfur should be applied to chickpea grown under rainfed conditions in order to increase seed yield, to improve nutritional composition of product and to enhance efficiency of other fertilizers.

As a part of its obligations under the Climate Convention, the Czech Republic must annually estimate and report its anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. This also applies for the sector of agriculture, which is one of the greatest producers of methane and nitrous oxide emissions. This paper presents the approaches applied to estimate emissions in agricultural sector during the period 1990-2006. It describes the origin and sources of emissions, applied methodology, parameters and emission estimates for the sector of agriculture in the country. The total greenhouse gas emissions reached 7644 Gg CO₂ eq. in 2006. About 59% (4479 Gg CO₂ eq.) of these emissions has originated from agricultural soils. This quantity ranks agriculture as the third largest sector in the Czech Republic representing 5.3% of the total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The emissions under the Czech conditions consist mainly of emissions from enteric fermentation, manure management and agricultural soils. During the period 1990-2006, GHG emissions from agriculture decreased by 50%, which was linked to reduced cattle population and amount of applied fertilizers. The study concludes that the GHG emissions in the sector of agriculture remain significant and their proper assessment is required for sound climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.

In arid and semiarid regions of northern China, there is an increasing interest in using water-saving superabsorbent polymer (SAP) for field crop production. Experiments were conducted during 2009 and 2010 to study the growth and yield characteristics of summer corn (Zea mays L.) under different (control, 0; low, 10; medium, 20; high, 30 and very high, 40 kg/ha) rates of SAP in a drought-affected field of northern China. Corn yield increased slightly following SAP application at low and medium rate, but significantly at high and very high rates by 22.4 and 27.8%. At the same time, plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, biomass accumulation, harvest index and relative water content as well as protein, sugar and starch contents in the grain increased significantly following SAP treatments. The optimum application of superabsorbent polymer for corn cultivation in the study area would be 30 kg/ha as it best increased the grain yield and quality and maintained higher levels of soil nutrients. Lower rates (10 and20 kg/ha) or higher (≥ 40 kg/ha) rates would neither be sufficient nor economical. We suggest that the application of SAP at 30 kg/ha could be an efficient and economic soil management practice for summer corn production in the drought affected regions of northern China or other areas with similar ecologies.

The paper presents selected information on the newest results of a wide investigation of the state of information and communication technologies development in agricultural production enterprises in the Czech Republic. The investigation was realized in the first half of 2009 with the main aim to analyze development of information infrastructure and actual trends in ICT use in rural regions where most entrepreneurial subjects operate. Besides a presentation of own research results, some obtained pieces of knowledge are then commented and eventually discussed in connection with official outputs of the Czech Statistical Office (CSO), if they have a certain relevance to the given problems.

Plant root and shoot dry weight, leaf relative water content (LRWC) and chlorophyll content were reduced by 30%, 21%, 15%, 34%, respectively, at 40mM NaCl as compared to non-salt stress conditions. However, membrane permeability (MP) of plant increased (85.0%) with increasing salinity. Foliar nutrient application (FNA) alleviated deleterious effects of salinity stress on growth and this effect was statistically significant. The highest alleviation effect of FNA at 40mM salinity stress was observed in the case of 10mM foliar KNO₃ and Ca(NO₃)₂ application, resulting in increase in plant root dry weight (50%), shoot dry weight (50%), LRWC (8.2%) and MP decrease (27.4%) at 40mM NaCl. Phosphorus, Fe and Zn contents in shoots and roots of plants also increased with FNA treatments, but they were still much lower than those of non-salt stress treatment. Sulphur, P, Fe and Zn contents of shoots reached similar values as in non-salt stress treatment when KNO₃ was applied, whereas Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu contents of roots reached the values of non-salt stress treatment when Ca(NO₃)₂ was applied.

Dynamics of the plant-available potassium (K) has been studied in polyfactorial long-term fertilization experiments since 1980. The fertilization scheme includes 10 combinations of K muriate and farmyard manure application rates (annually 0-230 kg K/ha). At medium treatment (annually 153 kg K/ha), the K balance within an 8-year crop rotation reflected crop specific K application rates with positive annual balances in years of growing silage maize and sugar beet (high K input), and negative in two years of growing alfalfa. Available K clearly corresponded to the dynamics of the K balance, with statistically significant fluctuations from 88 to 149 mg K/kg within one crop rotation cycle. Periodic fluctuations of available K induced by crop rotation were observed also in non-fertilized treatments. The variability of available K contents was influenced primarily by crop plants and experimental unexplained factors; interannual weather fluctuations and field differences were of low significance. In the paper, the importance of interannual K dynamics for the construction of correct long-term time trends is shown and discussed.

The key focus of the project "Bringing the datawarehouse for agriculture into practice" is to develop an IT solution for the implementation of data integration in agriculture. This solution is elaborated in cooperation with a whole range of bodies in the Czech Republic; the lead partner is the Pardubice region where the pilot phase of datawarehouse implementation is being performed. Apart from Czech legal subjects, partners from Finland, Estonia and Poland are also participating in the eFarmer operation. The datawarehouse project is one of the biggest subprojects of the eFarmer operation and is directly connected to the subproject of "Analysis of data and information flow and storage in rural regions", which was carried out within the eFarmer operation in the last period.

The Czech University of Agriculture in Prague in cooperation with the Business Exchange in Hradec Králové operates an electronic business system EBS, which enables on-line exchange trade negotiations through the Internet. The system fully takes the advantage of possibilities and technologies of e-business, bringing thus forward new opportunities for making use of the exchange trade with agricultural and food commodities on the EU liberal market. The whole procedure is a part of the Agrarian www portal AGRIS.

European winter wheat landraces and obsolete cultivars (121 accessions in set I and 101 accessions in set II) with modern check cultivars were evaluated in three-year field trials. Increased spike productivity in modern cultivars could be attributed mainly to increased number of grains in spikelet and increased HI, whereas TGW has marginal effect. Old cultivars had on average by 2-3% higher crude protein content in grain than modern ones. Among selected 10 characters, relatively wide diversity (C.V. 11-20%) has been estimated in spike length and characters of spike productivity (except of grain weight with C.V. close to 9%). It was difficult to distinguish the cultivars according to the country of origin, however, earliness and lower spike productivity seems to be characteristic for South-East origin whereas cultivars from North-West Europe showed opposite characters. Correlation analyses showed close relations between earliness in heading and in maturity and negative relation between late heading and grain filling period, which was positively correlated with TGW and HI (r = 0.26 to 0.38). Number of grains in spikelets was highly correlated with spike productivity and HI (r = 0.62 to 0.69) whereas relations between these two characters and TGW were lower (r = 0.20 to 0.51). Spike productivity characters, except of TGW, are in negative correlation with crude protein content in grain (r = -0.34 to -0.50). Regression analyses confirmed that main determining character for the spike productivity is number of kernels in spikelet (about 40% of variation) while effects of TGW are about half-size. Crude protein content was positively affected by plant height (15-30% of variation) impact of grain weight per spike was lower (14-17% of variation) and negative. Potentially valuable donors of earliness and longer grain filling period were identified for further studies and/or utilization in breeding programs. As especially valuable character can be considered very high crude protein content (around 18% in cvs Berg-land, Ukrajinka, Sippbachzeller, Innichen Nr. 25001 and Barbu du Finistre). High crude protein content combined with relatively good spike productivity and/or long grain filling period or earliness was found in cvs Visperterminen 640 E, Hatvan, Szekacz 1242, Berchtesgardener Vogel, Ble du Lot and Barbu du Finistere.

Changes in N-NO3- content and N-NO3- increase after incubation were studied in 1992-1998 in soils of two farms situated in identical soil and climatic conditions (in spring and autumn seasons). The two farms produce sugar beet and grain crops, but since 1991 they have used different types of organic fertilizers. Farmyard manure has regularly been applied to root crops on Dobrá Voda farm; since Chvalina farm does not have animal production, green manure and plowing-in of beet tops and straw are used for organic fertilization. Soils with regular applications of farmyard manure show a trend of lower N-NO3- content than the soils of the farm without animal production. At Dobrá Voda N-NO3- content was about 12 ppm N in spring and 9 ppm N in the autumn season while the respective values for Chvalina were 14 and 10 ppm N. On the hand, N-NO3- increase after soil incubation (12-14 ppm N) was higher in Dobrá Voda soils than in soils from Chvalina farm (5-8 ppm N).

Water regimes of extensively used grasslands (one cut per year, two cuts per year, no cut, mulching) were determined and compared by drainage lysimeters in 1998-2000. Although the botanical composition and yields of experimental swards were different, there was no statistically significant difference in their water regime (only the soil moisture content of no-cut variant was significantly higher than in other variants). A determinant factor for the water regime of grasslands (GR) is the sum of rainfall over the growing season while the GR water regime is influenced by land use immediately after the cut. Water runoff from the soil profile 0.0-0.60 m (water supply to the groundwater level) was found to be negligible in the growing season, a substantial groundwater recharge occurs in an off-season period and/or at the beginning of growing season. Mulching was not proved to reduce evaporation. The best type of management providing for the economical water regime appears to be a one-cut variant. Relationships between botanical composition and GR water regime are also described.

Field trials were conducted at two sites Troubsko near Brno and Prague-Ruzyně in 1996-1999 with three varieties of safflower (Gila, CW-74, Sironaria). Three rates of nitrogen fertilization were used: N0 = no fertilization, N₁ = 40 kg/ha, N₂ = 80 kg/ha. Sowing rates were 50 and 70 germinable seeds per m2. The average values of oil content were highest in seeds of CW-74 variety (27.2%). Gila had on average the lowest oil content (24.5%). Linoleic acid was dominant in all three safflower varieties. Variation in content of linoleic acid in different years was not so high as in oil content. The highest average content of linoleic acid was found in Gila variety (81.2%), the lowest in Sironaria (77.4%). At Ruzyně average seed yield on dry basis was 2.7 t/ha and average straw yield was 7.56 t/ha. At Troubsko seed yield was 2.56 t/ha and straw yield was 3.69 t/ha (by 50% lower than at Ruzyně). The effect of year of growing and site on seed yields and on other parameters was highly significant. N fertilization increased safflower seed yield at Troubsko site only, where the dose of 40 kg/ha N increased the yield by 0.08 t/ha on average of years and the dose of 80 kg/ha N increased the seed yield by 0.2 t/ha in comparison with no nitrogen fertilization treatments. Increased N rates and especially higher plant density resulted in an increase in straw yields. Neither were thousand seed weight nor number of flower heads influenced significantly by different N rates or the above-mentioned differences in plant density.

In the period 1996-1999 field trial was performed in Obory near Kwidzyn on heavy textured Fluvisols. The experiment was aimed to determine yield, chemical composition, heat value of wood of six genotypes of willow coppice in relation to cutting frequency and on determining the costs and profitability of willow production on arable land for purposes of energy generation. Yield of wood dry matter in one-year cutting cycle amounted to 14.09 t/ha/year 1 and significantly increased to 16.05 and 21.55 t/ha/year when harvesting was performed in two and three years cycle, respectively. The highest yield was found for Salix viminalis 082 form cut in three years cycle and it amounted to 26.44 t/ha/year 1. Stems of Salix sp. cut every three years showed the lowest water content (46.05%), high heat value 19.56 MJ/kg dry matter and the highest content of cellulose (55.94%), lignins (13.79%) and hemicelluloses (13.96%). High yielding potential of Salix sp. and high content of cellulose and lignin in wood make this crop very prosperous as a feedstock for bioenergy production. The highest profit from the willow plantation was obtained in case of harvest every three years at 578.76 EUR/ha/year.