In literature as well as in the university debate, we can observe the increase of interest regarding converting agricultural residues into energy. Furthermore, the energy and climate policies have encouraged the development of biogas plants for energy production. One of the most significant reasons of this escalation is that this technology may be both convenient and beneficial. The produced biogas is not only supposed to cover the energy demand like heat and electricity, the resulting digestate has the prospect of a beneficial fertilizer and can thereby influence the energy management plans. This technology is widely introduced to countries, which have large income from agriculture. Not only does this reduce the use of industrial fertilizers, but also finds use for agricultural residues. One of the countries of this type is Vietnam, which is the fifth largest exporter of rice in the world. Over 55% of greenhouse gas emission in Vietnam comes from agriculture. Using innovative technologies such as biogas, may decrease this value in near future. It may also contribute to more sustainable agriculture by decreasing traditional fields burning after the harvesting period. The goal of this research paper is to estimate the possible production of biogas from rice straw to cover the energy demand of the rice mill. Four possible scenarios have been considered in this paper, the present situation and where electricity, energy or both were covered by biogas from agricultural residues. An attempt was made to answer the question whether the amount of biogas produced from agricultural residues is enough for both: electricity and energy supply, for the rice mill. If not, how much rice straw must be delivered from other sources, from which rice is not delivered to the rice mill. The base of the assumptions during the estimation of various values were statistics from FAO and other organizations, secondary sources and data from the existing rice mill in Hậu Mỹ Bắc B in Mekong delta in Vietnam.
The aim of this study was to monitor pesticide residues in the blood of agricultural workers (farmers, pesticide dealers, and spraying workers) living in the Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. Residue analysis revealed that 48, 76, and 84% of the farmers, pesticide dealers, and spraying workers had pesticide residues in their bloods, respectively. Eleven compounds were detected in the blood of examined individuals. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification, most of these pesticides (nine pesticides) were in moderately hazardous compounds. Carbofuran, a highlyhazardous compound was the most toxic. The compound with the lowest toxicity was hexytiazox, which is unlikely to pose an acute hazard in normal use. Chlorpyrifos was found in the blood of 38.3% of the study subjects, followed by acetamiprid (11.7%) and profenofos (10.7%), while fenvalerate was the lowest occurring compound (1.3%). Of the collected samples 41.3% was free of pesticide residues, while 58.7% of the samples was contaminated. Furthermore, the amounts of all detected pesticides were below the no observable adverse effect levels (NOAEL). Also, 38.7% of the samples had only one pesticide, while 8% of them contained residues of two pesticides, and 5.3% contained more than two compounds. The worker’s age did not affect the accumulations of pesticide residues in their bodies. However, there was a strong correlation between pesticide residues accumulation and an individual’s exposure time. Therefore, from these results it can be seen that encouraging greater awareness among pesticide users of the need to improve safe usage and handling of pesticides by education, advice, and warning them of the risks involved in the misuse of these poisonous materials is highly recommended.
According to the Nitrate Directive it is necessary to established a protective belt (ecotones) around lakes. Inside these belts, it is forbidden to use fertilize for agricultural purposes. It is believed that it is the most imported measure to protect water quality in the lake. The analysis were conducted to estimate the sources of nitrogen entering the waters of the lake. Some analysis were conducted to estimate the sources of nitrogen entering waters of the lake. It was proved that the biggest load (more than 80%) of contamination is entering the lake with water flowing in streams and ditches. Only 10% of the chemicals are entering the lake with the groundwater filtrating to the lake. It is very important to use a proper methods of agriculture with proper methods of fertilization in the whole area of river basin flowing to the lakes.
The paper characterizes the status, trends and perspectives of irrigation in Poland after the reforms in agriculture and technology. Irrigation in Poland has supplemental character. It is used in short periods during the growing season and plays an important role in mitigating the effects of drought on crop production. Sub-irrigation from ditches is applied on permanent grasslands, sprin-kling – in field cultivation of arable crops, sprinkling and drip irrigation – in vegetable growing in open areas, micro-jets and drip irrigation systems – in orchards. Drip irrigation and micro-jets sys-tems are also applied in plant cultivation in greenhouses.
Under the economic conditions of Polish agriculture irrigation is often an unprofitable measure. The existing irrigation systems and facilities are only used to a small extent. After changes in the forms of ownership in agriculture, the large-area sprinkling systems were degraded. Small irrigation systems, mainly drip irrigation and micro-sprinkler irrigation, have recently become more common in private farms. Sub-irrigation systems are largely degraded and used only to a small extent if at all. In order to use these systems more effectively, it is necessary to reconstruct and modernize them. In many cases the factor preventing the use of irrigation systems is the deficit of water of required qual-ity and its availability. Besides unfavourable economic conditions, it is one of the main limitations in the development of irrigation in Poland.
The paper presents the problem of the growing water deficit and the possibility of sustainable development of water resources in rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe (using the example of Poland). It is estimated that the amount of resources in this region is reduced by about 70% compared to the average for Europe. In drought periods it comes to limitation of economic activity, including agriculture. Particular attention was paid to the necessity to extend landscape, underground, and snow retention, as an alternative to dams, which are currently the most popular in lower-order catchments. It has been shown that the construction of small agricultural reservoirs is not always preceded by adequate consultations and pre-design studies, which may result in financial losses and legal problems. Simultaneous use of many alternative forms of retention should be more effective than the implementation of reservoirs. In addition, increasing the hydraulic roughness of the catchments slows down the outflow of products of erosion and contributes to the protection of surface retention structures (maintaining natural and economic usefulness of reservoirs).
Views on the objectives and role of water management have remarkably changed in the last years. The need of a complex water management that would consider all water users including agriculture and natural environment is often underlined. It is pointed out that agriculture and natural environment (including commercial forests) are basic consumers of precipitation water which is not considered in water and economic balances. More and more importance is attributed to the utilisation of waters from catchment basin and to application of non-technical measures of controlling water cycles. A large impact of agro-ecosystems and natural or semi-natural (forests, wetlands) ecosystems on water balance is underlined. This different approach to the problems of water management is expressed e.g. in Water Framework Directive of European Union devoted to surface and ground water protection. The directive attributes a great role to the protection of aquatic and water related ecosystems. More and more often it is realised that the total water resources are equal to the volume of atmospheric precipitation. Water management should involve not only the water in geological aquifers or river channels but also that which is retained in soil profile. Such elements of water balance as spatial distribution, interception, infiltration and recharge of ground water reservoirs, soil retention capacity, surface runoff and evapotranspiration depend largely on land use in a catchment. Through appropriate land use and catchment management, application of rational agro-technical methods, development of small retention, wetland restoration, and hampering water outflow from draining systems one may significantly affect water cycling in a catchment.
Small water resources of Poland, increasing water consumption, climate changes and requirements of environmental protection enforce the implementation of complex methods of water management and search for environmental-friendly methods of limiting economic losses caused by water deficit or excess. Saving water used for economic purposes and agriculture would permit better fulfilment of the needs of natural environment.
Paper discusses an issue of old-time gentry estates landscape formation based on po-lish agricultural textbooks. Theoretical proposals as well as real-life structures of gentry estates on polish lands in pre-parti-tion and post-partition times are analyzed. Article presents both rules of shaping mo-dest gardens of decorative and utilitarian functions alike in the vicinity of mansions, and other components of estate’s land-scape. Partial concurrence between theore-tical postulates and real land use is proven.
On September 16, 2019, prof. dr hab. Janusz Haman, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences passed away. The death of the Professor is a great loss not only for the family, but also for the entire national scientific community of agricultural engineering – the discipline of which he was the creator in Poland, and at the same time one of the greatest authority on an international scale. He has worked for almost 20 years at the Central Qualification Committee for Scientific Personnel (formerly CKK) at the Prime Minister’s office. For three terms he was a member of the Main Council of Science and Higher Education and the State Awards Commission. For two terms he was a member of the Science and Technology Council. He was the vice-chairman of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Agriculture for five consecutive terms. He was a member of many scientific councils, including three terms of chairmanship of the IMER Council and OIN PAN. He also actively worked in the TNOiK structure, where he was the president of the Lublin Branch and NOT, being the president of the Lublin Branch of SIMP. In recognition of the great merits for creative activity, in particular for the development of agricultural sciences, Professor Haman was awarded four times with the highest academic dignity, which is an honoris causa doctorate, and also repeatedly decorated by the state authorities: Crosses – Knight's, Officer's and Commander's with the Star of the Order of Rebirth of Poland, Distinguished Teacher PRL, National Education Medal, Copernicus and Oczapowski Medal.
Considerable climate changes have been observed in the last 50 years – warming in every spatial scale (global, continental, regional and local), changes in atmospheric precipitation and several weather extremes, shrinking of cryosphere and sea level rise. The warming since the mid-20th century has predominantly been due to greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, in particular the combustion of fossil fuels, farming and other changes in land use. The paper presents the aspects of impact of climate change for farming and food security and the impact of farming for climate change in Polish and global scale. Agriculture holds a meaningful potential of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and of carbon sequestration. It will be necessary to manage optimally advantageous changes and effectively adapt to adverse changes.
The aim of the research was to study the floristic richness of balks, i.e. uncultivated strips separating fields, and to research the dependence of plant communities there on habitat conditions and adjacent crops. The share of segetal species in those communities was also analysed. In the western part of the Siedlce Plateau 70 balks among intensively cultivated fields were examined in 2016–2018. The balks divided fields with corn, winter cereals and spring cereal mixtures. The research was conducted with the Braun-Blanquet method, with 110 phytosociological relevés results used as study material. The flora specified this way was analysed in terms of biological structure, forms of life, persistence, historical and geographical spectrum, species rarity and presence of invasive species. In addition, the interdependence between the species richness of balks and habitat conditions as well as the type of neighbouring crops was studied. Habitat conditions were established with the Ellenberg indicator values, based on indicative species and taking into account light, temperature, moisture, soil reaction and nitrogen content. The development and floristic diversity of balk plant communities as ecotone areas were largely influenced by a proximity of arable fields and habitat conditions, especially by soil moisture and the amount of nitrogen. Balk flora consisted of vascular plants with 161 species, mainly apophytes. Those were mostly perennial species, hemikryptophytes. Among the most common field weeds from the class of Stellarietea mediae, 25 species were identified in balks. There were 26 rare and endangered species and 14 species having the status of invasive taxa.