The growth of the blueberry industry in the past three decades has been remarkably robust. However, a labor shortage for hand harvesting, increasingly higher labor costs, and low harvest efficiencies are becoming bottlenecks for sustainable development of the fresh market blueberry production. In this study, we evaluated semi-mechanical harvesting systems consisting of a harvest-aid platform wi...

watershed scale irnpact. Our objective was to estimate the watershed scale impact of grass buEers by comparing sediment and agichemical losses from two adjacent 14 1 165 hectare watersheds, one with conservation buffers and one without. Rainfall derived m o f f events frorn 2002-2003 were monitored for water runoff, TSS, phosphorous and atrazine loss. A conservation-watershed included 0.8 Ism o...

This paper discusses recent developments in the market for agricultural land in Slovakia related to the new law on land acquisition. The stated objective of this law is to protect agricultural land from non-agricultural use. We analyze landrelated data as reported by sellers in the newly established Registry of offers of agricultural land administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural De...

The dynamics of the tallest trees in tropical forests are of special interest due to their carbon content, canopy dominance, and the large canopy gaps created when they die. Known ecological mechanisms that may influence tall tree survival lead to conflicting predictions. Hydraulic stress and exposure to high winds and desiccation should increase death rates, yet the tallest trees have the grea...

A population of hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus L.) in pasture land in Canterbury was fcund to vary between less than four and eight per hectare. Feeding habits were studied through stomach contents and analysis of faeces. Grass grub beetles (Costelytra ualandica) and porina moths (Wiseana cervinta), both important pasture pests, were relatively important food items. Estimates of the number of g...

This study was carried out on Topaz, Cooper 39 and Muscat apple cultivars grafted on M27 rootstocks under Tokat ecological conditions during 2008 2010. The trees planted in 2.0 m x 0.5 m row spacing (10,000 trees ha-1) and trained to super spindle (SS) training system. The vegetative development, yield and fruit quality performances of the trees supported by wire – pole combination were observe...

1414 school children (789 boys and 625 girls) residing in east-Tehran, were evaluated for the evidence of goiter. 88% of girls and 71.5% of boys had goiter. In 30% of girls and 17.5% of boys goiter was clearly visible (grade 2 and over). FT4I, FT3I, TSH, and thyroglobulin concentrations were not significantly different in groups with or without goiter. The concentration of iodide in urine was 2...

introduction bean (vicia faba l.) has the great old history of crop cultivation to date would be pushed back to a fairly long day plant, resistant to frost and cool season crop and up to 5 degrees celsius tolerated. bean prefers wet and cold conditions. excessive heat may cause fetal growth problems, loss and reduce the number of seeds per pod bean flowers to the growth of plant and fruit set o...

The high mortality rate of lung cancer patients is mainly due to the late stage at which lung cancer is diagnosed. For effective cancer prevention programs and early diagnosis, better blood-based markers are needed. Hence, blood-based microarray profiling of microRNA (miR) expression was performed in preoperative serum of 21 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and 11 healthy individuals...