Volume 68 (2017): Issue 1 (March 2017)

Growth analysis helps explain the differences in yield and growth potential between cultivars in response to management practices and environmental conditions. The aim of the research was: (i) to investigate the effect of nitrogen fertilization on the growth and growth parameters of different wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars and (ii) to study the relationship between yield and growth parameters at the individual plant and plant stand level. In the two-factorial, split-plot experiment, the main plot was the nitrogen (N) treatment and the sub-plot was the cultivar. In response to N fertilization, the values of growth rate parameters increased up to the N₁₆₀ treatment. The mean values of crop growth rate (g m^-2 day^-1) in the treatments were as follows: N₀: 10.4, N₈₀: 15.4, N₁₆₀: 17.2 and N₂₄₀: 16.3. The leaf area index, leaf area duration and especially the duration of the flag-leaf gave a good reflection of the effect of N fertilization. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated the significant effect of growth rates, size and duration of leaf area, biomass distribution and yield components on the yield. The results showed that understanding the growth of plants is important for optimizing management decisions.

In order to study the soil aggregate distributions and soil organic matter (SOM), we sampled top- and subsoils in four intensively farmed croplands (two organic (Org-OB and Org-LA), and two conventional (Con-OB and Con-LA)) on Haplic Chernozems located in Marchfeld in the east of Vienna (Austria). Soil structure and SOM quantity, quality and distribution between free and occluded particulate organic matter and aggregate size fractions (<20 µm, 20-250 µm, 250-5000 µm) were studied by following a density fractionation procedure with low-energy ultrasound treatment. The relation of the soil physicochemical (e.g., particle size distribution, pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen) and biological properties (e.g., fungal biomass, active fungi) with stable soil aggregate size fractions and SOM was studied. The mean weight diameter (MWD) showed no significant difference between all studied sites and was between 3.8 mm and 10.0 mm in topsoils and between 6.7 mm and 11.9 mm in subsoils. In topsoils, the contents of calcium-acetate-lactate (CAL)-extractable P, active fungal biomass, dithionite-extractable Fe and sand were significantly positively correlated with the amount of the macroaggregates and with the MWD. We observed that most soil organic carbon, depending on soil texture, was stored in the microaggregate size classes <20 µm and 20-250 µm.

In general, micro-baking tests are used to determine the baking quality when only low amounts of test flour are available, for example, in grain breeding. Several micro-methods are described in literature, but none of them allows the determination of bread crumb texture parameters. Therefore, a micro-baking procedure that offers this option was developed, and it was also evaluated for bread made from pre-fermented frozen doughs. In this procedure, Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) sample cans were used as baking pans. To examine the capability of this procedure, three wheat flours with different starch properties were chosen. The obtained breads were analyzed with respect to specific loaf volume, crust color and bread crumb firmness. Additionally, a storage test (0-5 days) was performed to determine the crumb firming parameters by kinetics of the Avrami equation. The obtained specific bread volumes revealed significant differences between the flours and the coefficients of variation ranged between 4.2 and 5.5%. Crumb firmness measurement was able to identify significant differences within the samples. The obtained data on firming kinetics reflected the expected properties of samples with different starch properties. Overall, this work demonstrated the feasibility of crumb property measurement on breads on a micro-scale.

In 2015, 119.2 t of active ingredients of antibiotics were used in Austria in human medicine (70.4 t; 59.1%), for food animals (48.8 t; 40.9%) and in plant production (0.002 t; < 0.1%). During the last five years, consumption of antibiotics increased in human medicine by 3.8% (2011: 67.8 t; 2015: 70.4 t). In hospitals, it increased by 17.3%, from 19.7 t in 2011 to 23.1 t active ingredients in 2015. In the community, measured in kg active ingredient, it increased by 0.3% from 2011 to 2015. Consumption in defined daily dose (DDD) per 100,000 inhabitants per year decreased by 3.6%. Our numbers for the community (2015: 17.0 DDD) contradict AURES reports and a recent ECDC report, which claim a consumption of 14.0 DDD/1000 inhabitants per day in primary care in Austria, based on the social insurance company’s sales data. Declining pharmacy sales prices due to an increase in market shares for cheap generic drugs as well as increase in deductibles for insured people falsely suggest low consumption. In food animals, the antibiotic consumption decreased by 8.7%, from 53.4 t to 48.8 t. In plant production, the annual usage fluctuated considerably and decreased by 95.3%, from 47.2 kg in 2010 to 2.2 kg in 2015.

Water is a key resource for human activities and a critical trigger for the welfare of the whole society. The agricultural sector makes up the main share in global freshwater consumption and is therefore responsible for a large part of the water scarcity in many drought prone regions. As an indicator that relates human consumption to global water resources, the “Water Footprint” (WF) concept can be used, where in case of crop production the total consumed water of crop fields for the crop growing seasons is related to the harvested dry matter crop yield (such as grains). In our study, we simulated the green and primary blue WF of selected main crops for Austrian conditions. Different irrigation scheduling scenarios, demonstrated for a main agricultural production area and various crops in Austria with significant irrigation acreage, were studied. The impact of climate and soil conditions on the green crop WFs of reference crops over the whole territory of Austria were simulated in a second step. Sunflower, winter wheat and grain maize showed the highest WF in the semi-arid study regions, especially on soils with low water capacity. In more humid regions, low temperatures were the main limiting factor on the crop yield potential and frequently led to higher WFs due to lower yields.