The article presents the results of research which describes antagonism between Pb-Zn in selected plant species from the area of Czestochowa – Mirow district (north-western part of the Czestochowa Upland). There were analyzed changes in the ratio of Pb/Zn in different organs of the tested plants as a function of the Zn content changes. The content of metals in the plants and the soil was determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry AAS. In all organs of the plants there was observed antagonistic decrease of Pb uptake and accumulation, resulting from the increase in the concentration Zn.

Antagonism between Zn and Pb in roots of the tested plants occurred at Zn content of 200–600 μg/g. In turn, antagonism in stems and flowers occurred at lower contents of zinc (100–180 μg/g). In leaves, antagonism between Pb and Zn occurred when Zn was present at the level of 300–800 μg/g.

Ex definition of the analyses confirm the presence of antagonism of lead with regard to high levels of Zn. The study also confirmed that the degree of antagonism depends on the plant species.

In analyzing selected aspects of the debate over offending religious feelings, the author discusses Saby Mahmood’s argument that religiousness in public discourses of the Western world is basically perceived as a speculative phenomenon concerning the sphere of abstract beliefs. It is assumed therefore that the harm that can be produced by the publication of a blasphemous illustration is lesser and less palpable than in the case of hate speech directed toward a race or sexual orientation. The author’s analysis, which is undertaken from a Durkheim perspective, shows that, for example, the caricaturized presentation of a religious symbol constitutes not so much an act of undermining the abstract image as—in the affective perspective of the religious—an act violating the sense of ontological security of a given moral community which that symbol represents. At the same time, the Durkheim perspective facilitates an understanding of why religious symbolic resources can be ambivalently used in processes of legitimating social actions, beginning with constructive forms of civil public religions to extreme fundamentalist movements making use of violence and the discourses of political extremism.

Biological control of plant diseases is strongly emerging as an effective alternative to the use of chemical pesticides and fungicides. Stress tolerance is an important attribute in the selection of bacteria for the development of microbial inoculants. Fourteen salt-tolerant bacteria showing different morphological features isolated from the rhizosphere of maize were evaluated for different plant growth-promoting activities. All isolates showed auxin production ranging from 5 to 24 μg ⋅ ml–1 after 48 h incubation in tryptophan supplemented media. Phosphate solubilization ranged from 15 to 419 μg ⋅ ml–1. 1-aminocycloproprane- 1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activity was shown by 6 isolates, ammonia production by 9 isolates, siderophore production by 8 isolates while HCN production by 4 isolates. Four bacterial isolates with all plant growth-promoting properties also showed strong antagonistic activities against Fusarium oxysporum, F. verticillioides, Curvularia lunata and Alternaria alternata and abiotic stress tolerance against salinity, temperature, pH and calcium salts. Two selected bacterial isolates significantly enhanced the growth of pea and maize test plants under greenhouse conditions. The bacterial isolate M1B2, which showed the highest growth promotion of test plants, was identified as Bacillus sp. based on phenotypic and 16S rDNA gene sequencing. The results indicated that Bacillus sp. M1B2 is a potential candidate for the development of microbial inoculants in stressful environments.

A characteristics of three extracellular metabolites produced by Bacillus coagulans strain that were supposed to be responsible for its fungistatic activity against Trichothecium roseum has been done by TLC, GC-MS and Western blotting methods. It was shown that these compounds of molecular weights as 41, 45 and 65 kDa secreted to the medium by bacteria had glycoprotein properties and did not become inactive when boiled for 20 min., as characteristic for glycoprotein.