The influence of use systems on the productivity of shrubephemeral desert pastures and the preservation of herbage

The article is devoted to the urgent problem of developing a scientifically based organization and use of distant pastures in the south of Kazakhstan. It has been found that the composition and diversity of pasture grasses have significant effect on the forage value of the grass stand and ultimately affect the forage capacity of desert pastures. Grazing of farm animals should be carried out with an optimal load on pastures, that is, no more than 70% of the productivity of the pasture mass should be exploited. Due to the better preservation of various types of forage plants and pasture herbage in general with systematic use, the yield of pastures in the summer season was 6.15 c/ha, in other words it was higher by almost 1.0 c/ha of dry forage mass compared to unsystematic grazing (5.20 c/ha). All pasture plants exploited in early spring produced aftermath in 10–15 days and were well preserved from overexploitation and trampling.

Application of abscisic acid (S-ABA) at different stages of ripening on color development of ‘Rubi’ table grape

The color of the berries is an important aspect of the quality of table grapes and crucial for marketing. The ‘Rubi’ table grapes grown in the subtropical climate generally lack color intensity due to the inhibition of anthocyanins by high temperatures during ripening. The exogenous application of abscisic acid (S-ABA) can be used to overcome this problem as the accumulation of anthocyanins in the berry skin is regulated by this plant growth regulator. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of the exogenous application of S-ABA at different stages of ripening on color development in ‘Rubi’ table grapes using the soluble solids (SS) content as a marker of ripening. The study was conducted during two seasons in commercial vineyards. The first trial was conducted in Marialva, Parana, Brazil, during the 2019 summer season crop (harvest in December). S-ABA (400 mg L-1) was exogenously applied at different stages of ripening of ‘Rubi’ table grapes (determined by the SS content of the berries): control (without application); SS = 8-9 ºBrix; SS = 10-11 ºBrix; SS = 8-9 ºBrix (two applications; the second one applied 10 days after the first); and SS = 10-11 ºBrix (two applications; the second one applied 10 days after the first). The second trial was conducted in Cambira, Parana, Brazil, during the 2020 off-season crop (harvest in May). S-ABA (400 mg L-1) was exogenously applied at different stages of ripening of ‘Rubi’ grapes: control (without application); SS = 6-7 ºBrix; SS = 7-8 ºBrix; SS = 9-10 ºBrix; SS = 6-7 ºBrix (two applications; the second one applied 14 days after the first); SS = 7-8 ºBrix (two applications; the second one applied 14 days after the first); and SS = 9-10 ºBrix (two applications; the second one applied 14 days after the first). A randomized block design was used as the statistical model with four replications, and each plot consisted of one vine. The variables analyzed were total anthocyanin contents, color index (CIRG), and color attributes (L*, C*, h°, and ΔE) of berry skin. The total anthocyanin accumulation and color attributes of the berries were evaluated every 10 and 7 days after the first application of S-ABA until harvest in the first and second trials, respectively, and the other variables were evaluated at harvest. In the summer-season crop, when the SS content was 8-11 ºBrix, the application of S-ABA increased the concentration of the total anthocyanins 4 times compared to that in the control, improving berry color development. Furthermore, in the off-season crop, when the SS content was 6-10 ºBrix, the application of S-ABA increased the concentration of total anthocyanins 2-3 times compared to that in the control, improving the color attributes of berries. In both crops, a single application of the plant growth regulator was sufficient to intensify the color of the berries.

Studies of microclimatic conditions in summer moong as influenced by different mulches

A field experiment was conducted during summer season of 1990 at research farm of Department of Agricultural Meteorology, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar to study the microclimatic conditions in moong with the use of mulches. Latent heat enelgY and sensible heat energy were the main components of net energy. Among the various treatments, the latent heat energy use was found higher in black polythene sheet mulch. Soil temperature values were low in straw and white polythene mulch than black polythene mulch treatment

The Survey of Fungal Contamination in the Air Flowing Out of Air Conditioners (Coolers) in a Car

Background: Fungi are among the most important microorganisms in the air. The air conditioner (cooler) in a car can be an important reservoir for infectious agents, especially fungal species. The present study aimed to measure the fungal contamination in the air flowing out of air conditioners. Objective: In this study 138 cars including 69 Iranian-made cars and 69 cars made by foreign companies were examined. Methods: The plating technique was used. In this study, in each car, 2 plates were placed for 5 minutes when the air conditioner was on and also 2 plates were placed for 5 minutes when the air conditioner was off. Results: A total of 2442 colonies were isolated. The most common isolated fungi were Cladosporium spp. (25.55%), Penicillium spp. (6.14%) and Aspergillus niger (3.03%). The highest number of isolated fungal elements was observed in the Iranian-made cars during summer season (P-value<0.05). Furthermore, the growth rate of colonies on the plates placed on the front and rear seats of cars did not vary considerably (P-value > 0.05). Conclusion: Air conditioners of Iranian-made cars can be an important source for fungal transmission to the human respiratory system that is important, especially in susceptible people to allergic diseases and patients with immunodeficiency.

On the relationship between milk yield and climatic factors

Statistical analysis was carried out between seasonal milk yield and some of the derived climatic variables at a semi-arid tropical locality in Bangalore. The study revealed that the milk yields varied from the highest (9, 3 lit/cow/day) in summer season to the lowest (8, 5 lit/cow/day) in winter season and almost the same in both the monsoon season (8, 7 and 8, 5 lit/cow/day during southwest and northeast monsoon seasons). It was envisaged that the climatic components like wind chill index had negative effect while wetness index and photo-thermal heat units had both positive (summer and winter seasons) and negative (two monsoon seasons) influences on seasonal milk yields.

Use of satellite based information in Snowmelt run-off studies

This paper aims at evolving a conceptual technique for the computation of water yield from the basin snow cover. It may serve as a useful information to compute the snowmelt driven run-off particularly in the lean summer season. For this purpose, the measurement of snow cover area in catchment of Satluj river using very high resolution imagery received from the meteorological satellite NOAA-9 was undertaken on selected dates during the periods, (i) October 1985 to May 1986, and (ii) January to June 1987. The computed snowmelt water yield have been compared with the available actual run-off data. The study shows that the satellite derived snow cover data are potentially useful in predicting the snowmelt run-off. The importance of this technique is further enhanced for the large watersheds over Himalayas where ground based measurements are too scanty.

The Development of Tourism on Large Croatian Islands: The Case of Hvar Town on the Island of Hvar

This paper examines the special characteristics of tourism development on the Adriatic islands, focusing on Hvar Town, the largest town and port on the island of Hvar and its busiest destination. The research was carried out using the method of semi-structured interviews. A total of 30 interviews were conducted with the local residents (mostly employed in the tourism sector) and temporary/seasonal visitors. The intention was to learn about the current state of tourism in the town and look at the possible scenarios for the future development of sustainable tourism, based on its three inter-connected aspects: environmental, economic and socio-cultural. The research also considered the influence of various tourism actors on the development, the possibilities of agritourism, the role and importance of cultural tourism and, finally yet importantly, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the last year's drastically shortened summer season. The results show that mass tourism (and its subset party tourism) have dominated the tourist offer since 2000 onwards, changing the reputation of Hvar as the elite travel destination or the family holiday destination it used to have before.

Ichthyofaunal diversity with relation to environmental variables in the snow-fed Tamor River of eastern Nepal

Tamor River in eastern Nepal supports diverse hill stream fishes. From winter, spring, summer, and autumn of 2020, we investigated the ichthyofaunal diversity with environmental variables in the snow-fed Tamor River covering four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and autumn) and field surveys were carried out in January, April, July, and October 2020. We used two cast nets of different sizes, one with a mesh size of 2 cm, 6 m diameter and 6 kg weight and another having 0.5 cm, 3 m diameter and 2 kg weight. In addition, monofilament gill nets with mesh sizes of 6, 8, and 10 were used for fish sampling. A total of 6,373 fish individuals representing 28 species belonging to three orders, seven families, and 16 genera were recorded. One-way permutational multivariate analysis of variance (perMANOVA) on the Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) showed no significant (P >0.05) difference between winter, spring, and autumn season but summer season showed significant (P <0.05) difference from winter, spring, and autumn seasons. Furthermore, one-way analysis of variance on redundancy analysis (RDA) vindicated that among the selected parameters, pH, air temperature and total hardness were the influencing factors (P <0.05) to determine the fish community structure in Tamor River.

Effect of the Seasonal Climatic Variations on the Flavonoid Accumulation in Vitis vinifera cvs. ‘Muscat Hamburg’ and ‘Victoria’ Grapes under the Double Cropping System

Under the double cropping system, berries usually showed significant quality variations in the summer and winter seasons. In the two-year/four-consecutive-season study, two table grapes of ‘Muscat Hamburg’ and ‘Victoria’ were investigated to determine the phenolic compounds in their berries. Different from those of the summer season, the berries in the winter season suffered no high-temperature stress since veraison to harvest in 2014 and 2015. The variations in the season temperatures led to a higher anthocyanin concentration in the winter season berries of ‘Muscat Hamburg’ grapes than that in the summer berries, while the summer season berries had higher proportions of acylated and methylated anthocyanins than those in the winter season berries. Similar to the anthocyanins, the winter season berries also had a higher flavonol concentration in both varieties. Transcriptome analysis showed that the upregulated genes involved in the flavonoid pathway in the winter season berries were agreed with the changes found in the metabolites. However, the influence of the growing seasons on the flavanols was not consistent in the two varieties, and the variations in VviLARs between the grapes of ‘Muscat Hamburg’ and ‘Victoria’ might be the cause. This research helped us better understand the double cropping system and how the climate factors affected the phenolic compounds in the double cropping system.