Septoria melissae Desm., the most important pathogen of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) occurs each year on plantations. The fungus may cause serious yield losses in the absence of proper plant protection. Breeding resistant or tolerant cultivars could play an important role in plant protection of medicinal plants. However, only a few descriptions of tolerant varieties of lemon balm are available. The goal of this work was to evaluate the susceptibility of three accessions of M. officinalis against the pathogen of Septoria leaf spot under field conditions at Budapest-Soroksár (Hungary) in 2017–2018. Differences in susceptibility of the accessions were observed in both years. The accession of M. officinalis subsp. altissima proved to be the least susceptible to Septoria infection. The frequency of the infected leaves was only 5.1 and 28.1% in 2017 and 2018, respectively. However, the cultivar M. officinalis subsp. officinalis ‘Lorelei’ turned out to be the most susceptible to the pathogen with an average infection level of 26.1 and 66.6%, 1.3–6.1 times higher than that of the other accessions in each year, respectively. Development of disease tolerant M. officinalis cultivars may be an effective tool in the plant protection of lemon balm.

Primiparous and multiparous lactating crossbred dairy cows with a mature corpus luteum and a follicle with >10 mm in diameter were treated with cloprostenol. Those cows that showed oestrus within 5 days after treatment were inseminated (Group P). The other cows (Group PG) were treated with GnRH 2 days after cloprostenol treatment and timed artificial insemination (AI) was performed on the consecutive day, or were inseminated (Group G) after detected oestrus and treated with GnRH immediately after AI. The control cows (Group C) after detected oestrus were only inseminated. All of the AIs using frozen semen were done between 6 and 7 a.m. while the ultrasonographic examinations after AI were performed between 4 to 6 p.m. The ovaries of each cow were scanned by means of transrectal ultrasonography from the day of AI until ovulation. Daily blood samples were collected for progesterone measurements. The ovulation and preg- nancy rates among the groups changed between 84.6% and 95.5%, as well as 44.4% and 60%, respectively, however the differences were not statistically significant.

All the cows were evaluated according to date of ovulation after AI and the pregnancy rate was 55.4% (Group 1: ovulation occurred between AI and 9-11 h after AI), 54.5% (Group 2: ovulation occurred between 9-11 h and 33-35 h after AI) and 35.5% (Group 3: ovulation occurred between 33-35 h and 57-59 h after AI), respectively. There was a trend (P=0.087) for 2.2 greater odds of staying open among cows inseminated between 33 to 35 h and 57 to 59 h before ovulation compared to cows inseminated within 9 to 11 h before ovulation. If ovulation occurred before AI, the pregnancy rate was only 22.2%, therefore determination of optimal time for AI is of great importance.

The purpose of this scientific paper is to follow the influence of thermal galvanizing, as a technological process on the quality of the galvanized surface. The galvanizing technology used and studied involves at the end of the process, the removal of excess zinc from the surface by centrifugation. The zinc layer will be lower than that of simple immersion galvanizing. The measurements were performed following the roughness of the machined surface on a five-Section specimen – each Section being processed with a different cutting regime. The results were analyzed after each operation. The first measurements were made after the turning operation, followed by measurements made after pickling and fluxing and then after thermal galvanizing. Based on the results obtained, the aim was to set up a range of best roughness at which the galvanized part should have a commercial appearance and be made with a cost-effective cutting regime in terms of costs.