This study presents the results of research on the effect of long-term use of phosphorus fertilizers on permanent sugar beet crops for more than 50 years and on the transformation of phosphate forms on light chestnut soil and its yield. Our work aims to establish the main factors of quantitative and qualitative changes in various phosphates in light chestnut soil. Despite the large amount of practical material, the influence duration of phosphorus fertilizer application has not been sufficiently studied on the irrigated soils of Kazakhstan. It should be noted that the current study was carried out in long-term stationary experimental sites for the production of sugar beet with permanent sowing. The introduction of phosphate fertilizers primarily on the permanent crops of sugar beets in the same norms contributes to a more significant increase in gross phosphorus reserves. The soil content of gross phosphorus for 58 years on the control and nitrogen-potassium variants show practically no changes. Furthermore, when phosphorus fertilizers are applied on the variant with the annual application of a single norm of phosphorus and its amount for 58 years (4400 kg∙ha–1 of application doses) its content increased by 2660 mg∙kg–1, and with the introduction of its one and a half norms (6600 kg of application doses) by 2860 mg∙kg–1 of soil.

The present study investigated the expression of androgen receptor (AR) in neurons of the anterior pelvic ganglion (APG) and celiac-superior mesenteric ganglion (CSMG; ganglion not involved in the innervation of reproductive organs) in the male pig with quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry. qPCR investigations revealed that the level of AR gene expression in the APG tissue was approximately 2.5 times higher in the adult (180-day-old) than in the juvenile (7-day-old) boars. Furthermore, in both the adult and juvenile animals it was sig- nificantly higher in the APG than in CSMG tissue (42 and 85 times higher, respectively). Immu- nofluorescence results fully confirmed those obtained with qPCR. In the adult boars, nearly all adrenergic (DβH-positive) and the majority of non-adrenergic neurons in APG stained for AR. In the juvenile animals, about half of the adrenergic and non-adrenergic neurons were AR-posi- tive. In both the adult and juvenile animals, only solitary CSMG neurons stained for AR. The present results suggest that in the male pig, pelvic neurons should be considered as an element of highly testosterone-dependent autonomic circuits involved in the regulation of urogenital func- tion, and that their sensitization to androgens is a dynamic process, increasing during the prepu- bertal period.

The article is a modified Polish version of my Director’s report published in the “Annual Report 2017–March 2018” of the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (www.iimcb.gov.pl). After 20 years of being in charge of the Institute and a few months before the end of my final term as its director, I summarize our achievements, failures, lost opportunities and recall how it all began. I also give the names of people who formed organizing team of the Institute in the nineties, names of the first International Advisory Board members and names of the Institutes’ directors who will be in charge of it since July 2018.