Vol 13, No 4 (2018)

Since Neolithic era, natural pigments have been added to foods and colour of food products is still one of the major concerns of food industry. Anthocyanins are the most noticeable group among coloured flavonoids, widely existing in the roots, stems and leaves as well as flowers and fruits of the vascular plants. They have a high potential for use as natural colorants instead of synthetic pigments because of their attractive colour and pharmacological properties. Stable and attractive colours are a highly valued attribute in competitive food industry. Considerable studies have been done on the effects of the most important chemical and physical factors involved in the stability of anthocyanins (temperature, light, pH, SO2, metal, sugar, ascorbic acid and oxygen), their concentrations, chemical structures, and matrix food compositions. Furthermore, the effects of separation technologies including microwave/ultrasound assisted extraction (MAE, UAE), and Colloidal Gaz Aphron (CGA) fractionation on the stability of anthocyanins are reviewed.

Antenatal malnutrition is a condition characterized by both a weight loss in animals and a change in the morphofunctional characteristics of the internal organs, particularly the incompleteness of the thyroid gland structure that will have a direct impact on the further growth and development of animals. Therefore, the aim of the research was to establish the patterns of histostructure of the thyroid gland inhypotrophic piglets and piglets after prenatal correction of hypotrophy considering their age. The study was performed on piglets of the large white breed. The study material was the thyroid gland of hypotrophic piglets and piglets after prenatal correction with Sedimin at 1, 5, 15 and 30 days of age. The main methods of study: histological, morphometric and statistical data processing. According to the research results, a thickening of the connective tissue capsule of the thyroid gland in newborns and five-day-old hypotrophic piglets was established in relation to fifteen and thirty-day-old ones. The average diameter of the follicle is at a relatively equal level during all periods of the study, the colloid acquired a “foamy” appearance on the fifth and fifteenth day. The form of thyrocytes and their nuclei changed with age from flattened to cubic. Cell-tissue composition of the thyroid gland of piglets after prenatal correction of malnutrition is functionally active. On the first and fifth days the capsule of the organ was thinned, by the end of the study its thickness increased markedly. The diameter of the follicles of the thyroid gland decreased from the neonatal period to the thirtieth day. Throughout the experiment, the structure of the colloid changed in the follicle lumen from homogeneous consistency to “frothy” by the end of the experiment. At the beginning of the experiment, both flattened and cubic-shape epithelial cells were observed in the parenchyma of the thyroid gland, by the thirtieth day it was stably cubic. The nuclei of thyrocytes are mostly spherical and hypochromic. In conclusion, it is worth noting that in hypotrophic piglets in the neonatal period and in the five-day age, the incompleteness of the structure of the thyroid gland was observed, the further morphological reorganization reached by the thirtieth day. The medication “Sedimin” had a positive effect on the body of pigs, reducing the degree of development of malnutrition and contributing to the adequate organoand histogenesis, including the thyroid gland.

The key challenges faced by many of the existing digital soil mapping (DSM) techniques are the rigid requirements on the size of soil samples to extract the relationships needed and on the stationarity of the extracted relationships. These requirements limit the application of these DSM techniques. This paper provides an overview of the SoLIM approach and an introduction to the operation of SoLIM through the software platforms available. SoLIM is based on the Third Law of Geography, which calls for the comparison of similarity in geographic (environmental) configuration of a prototype and an unsampled location and then use this similarity to predict the value of a soil property at a given location. DSM under SoLIM approach removes requirements on the sample size and the stationarity assumption. In addition, the uncertainty computed based on the similarities can be used to improve the efficiency of error reduction efforts. The SoLIM approach has been implemented in two platforms: SoLIM Solutions and CyberSoLIM. The theoretical foundation and the availability of software platforms under SoLIM make DSM possible and convenient over large and complex geographic regions.

Identifying the main land legislation violations in Volgograd is a prerequisite for the preservation and rational use of the territory. The measures system development aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the municipal land control implementation will contribute to the city district main wealth preservation. The article presents the activities of specially authorized organizations and bodies for the land legislation observance. The average workload per 1 specialist in municipal land control carrying out amounted to 1.4 of inspections carried out for legal entities. The sequence of actions during the scheduled and out-of-scheduled inspections is given here. The report on the municipal land control carrying out in Volgograd for 2016-2017 is submitted. According to the land control results in 2016, from the total number of carried out inspections, 16.5% of them were revealed with violations, and in 2017 - 25.7%. Amount of the prescribed fines in 2017 increased by more than twice in relation to 2016. Violations of land legislation in Volgograd occurred on the unauthorized occupation of land plots and their parts, the failure to comply with legal regulations on the violations elimination, the use of land not in accordance with its permitted use. Municipal land control was carried out in compliance with the general principles, duties, restrictions and prohibitions in carrying out control measures, as well as the requirements for processing the results of inspections. On the basis of the material reviewed, suggestions were made to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the municipal and state land control implementation.

The influence of sowing methods and irrigation regimes on productivity of extra-early soybean cultivar VNIIOZ 86 has been studied at Russian Research Institute of Irrigated Agriculture. The use of differential irrigation regimes (70-80-70% and 80-80-70% of FMC) resulted in 2.42 ... 2.51 t/ha yield and mid-level profitability of grain production (80.6%), which was 0.25 ... 0.34 t/ha more compared to the control (80-80-80% of FMC), as synchronization of vegetative growth and reproductive development increased grain amount in total biomass up to 36.2%. Differential irrigation regimes restrained an increase in crude protein level in the seeds (at the level of 35.4 ... 41.2%) compared with the control (36.5 ... 41%). However, they increased fat content in the seeds (18.1 ... 21.4%) compared to the control variant (16.1 ... 18.6%). Optimization of irrigation regime increased protein (up to 0.68 ... 0.94 t/ha) and fat (0.37 ... 0.46 t/ha) compared to the control (0.64 ... 0.83 t/ha and 0.29 ... 0.35 t/ha, respectively). The smallest water consumption coefficient was observed in sites with differential irrigation regimes - 1,174 ... 1,524 m3/t, when in the control site it was 1,651 ... 1,977 m3/t. Extra-early VNIIOZ 86 plants require 8 ... 14 irrigations at a rate of 190 ... 230 m3/ha. It is enough to perform 8 irrigations in relatively favorable years (2013), and up to 14 irrigations in dry years (2014- 2015). To maintain a differential irrigation regime, it is necessary to perform 8 ... 10 irrigations in wet and up to 10 ... 13 irrigations in dry years. The highly profitable cultivation of early soybeans (107.9%) was achieved using drilled sowing (0.30 × 0.042 m) that resulted in significant yield increase (up to 3.02 t/ha) which was 0.41 t/ha higher compared to wide-space sowing technique (0.70 × 0.024 m).

The article considers technologies of carrot cultivation of Shantene Korolevskaya hybrid under irrigation conditions on light chestnut soils of the Lower Volga region. Against the background of various methods of tillage, modern methods of using water-soluble fertilizers have been studied. It was found that deep chisel plowing with 0.18-0.20 m soil overturning results in 1.25 fold increase in productivity of edible carrot compared to moldboard plowing and blade cultivation. Using water-soluble fertilizer NS 30:7 through fertigation increases productivity by 7% compared with ammonium nitrate. Measurements of soil density showed that carrot yield averaged 1.25-1.32 t/m3 over 2015-2017. In variants after deep chisel plowing rate of water infiltration during all three research years was the highest and averaged 4.2 mm/min. The smallest water infiltration was observed in variants after blade cultivation. Using ammonia nitrate during fertigation in 1-4 applications and NS 30:7 fertilizer in 5-8 applications, and NS 30:7 fertilizer during all 8 applications increased carrot yield of hybrid Shantene Korolevskaya by 4.7-5.9 and 0.5-2.4 t/ha compared to control. In addition, combination of deep chisel plowing with ammonium nitrate fertigation in 1-4 applications and NS 30:7 fertilizer in 5-8 applications resulted in the highest carrot yield in 2015-2017 and averaged 90.6 t/ha. The lowest carrot yield over 2015-2017 was observed in the variant after blade cultivation with ammonium nitrate fertigation and amounted to 77.5 t/ha.

The article analyzes the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (EU), reforms and consequences in agricultural sector of Greece. Since its inception, the Common Agricultural Policy has been the subject of many reforms that are being developed to meet the changing needs of society, market and competition of the European Union’s (EU) rural economy with other alliances around the world. Of particular interest is the development of agricultural sector in Greece in the last 36 years, following its entry into the European Union. The contribution of agriculture (including agriculture, forestry and fisheries) in the Greek economy over the last 15 years has been significantly reduced. Data show a small trend in concentration of production and an increase in agricultural crop yield. There is an imbalance, which is reflected in large fluctuations in types of agricultural products. This applies to the volume of basic food production, which is governed by the economic policy of the European Union, expressed in product quotas and their production volumes. This leads to gradual decline in production, which is reflected in the need to meet domestic demand for plant and livestock foodstuffs, such as common wheat, legumes, sugar, lemons, more animal products and mainly meat. At the same time, imports of similar products from EU Member States are increasing, exacerbating the negative trade balance between the EU and the Republic of Greece. It is noted that the volume of subsidies in the EU remains at the same level, additional subsidies for farmers are gradually decreasing and the system of linking subsidies with production volume has been partially eliminated. The most effective support mechanisms for farmers will minimize the negative impact on the reduction of the overall financing in agricultural sector. The money saved as a result of reduction in subsidies will be spent on development of rural areas and improving effectiveness of structural policies. Also, comparative data are presented for other states of the European Union.

The aim of the present study was to investigate thepotential benefit of hyperosmolar extender during the freezing-thawing process in rooster sperm. The goal was to minimize the amount of intracellular water and reduce the impact of intracellular icecrystal during the freezing process. A total of five 45-week old Hubbard commercial broilers were subjected to bi-weekly semen collections. Collected sperm was pooled and divided in three aliquots. The control aliquot was diluted with Tris-extender without further supplementation at 300 mOsm (Control). The two (2) other aliquots were diluted with Trisextender at 300 mOsm containing vitamin E (Vit E) or with Tris-extender without Vitamin E but at osmolarity of 450 mOsm (Hyper). After incubation at 22 °C for 15 min, all aliquots were cooled and then frozen in liquid nitrogen. A Computer Aided Semen Analysis (CASA) was used to investigate the impact on different motility parameters. After thawing, Hyperosmolar (Hyper) and vitamin E extenders showed the highest values in terms of sperm motility preservation. Hyperosmolar extender (Hyper) showed particularly the highest values in terms of VSL velocities and progressive motile spermatozoa, known as indicators of sperm quality. In conclusion, the present results revealed that a significant impact was observed when using extenders at osmolarity of 450 mOsmin rooster sperm, in the same manner and even better then when using vitamin E. The positive impact is probably related to the reduction of intracellular ice formation.