The health status of cows is evaluated and depending on haematological and biochemical profile of blood. Nutrition is the main technological factor that can produce profound changes in the metabolic profile in animals (Dhiman et al., 1991;Khaled et al., 1999;Ingvartsen, 2006). Blood parameters analyze can lead to identify if there are errors in nutrition of lactating cows (Payne et al., 1970). The aim of this study was the evaluation of metabolic and biochemical changes that occur during colostrum period and in terms of number of lactations in cows. The biological material was represented by a total of 60 heads of dairy cows from a family farm from Sălaj County, Romania. The cows are all from Holstein breed and presented no clinical signs of any specific pathology. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein of each cow and analyzed. 10 individuals from each of the six lactations have been randomly selected. Haematological and biochemical parameters showed variations depending on factors analyzed here. In lactation 1 Hb was 7.55±3.05 (g/dl), while in lactation 6 the value was 12.5±2.10 (g/dl). RBC ranged as follows: in lactation 1 -28.50±2.05 and in lactation 6 -30.02±2.05. Lymphocytes varied within very wide limits under the influence of lactation: in lactation 1 -2.8±1.56 and in lactation 6 -7.55±1.80. The number of lactations and lactation rank have influenced blood biochemical and hematological parameters in dairy cows. Biochemical parameters are influenced by post-partum day, showing the lowest values in the early days of colostral period and the highest in the last few days of the same period.

There is a worldwide trend that supports the rational use of chemicals in agriculture. It has become common knowledge that irresponsible application of pesticides can cause food security issues, by endangering human and animal health while also having negative environmental consequences. The aim of this experiment was to assess the qualitative parameters of spraying treatments in vineyards. To achieve this, a vineyard and orchard sprayer machine was used for the application of treatments under a gradient of pressures (3, 5, 7, 9 bar). Water-sensitive collectors were placed at three heights (0.8 m, 1.5 m, 2.5 m). Following spraying was determined using DepositScan: the volume median diameter characterization of droplets (DV 1, DV 5, DV 9), and coverage degrees of sprayings. Results indicated that best coverage degree and larger droplets tend to be deposited 1.5 m from the ground, which corresponds with the highest proximity to the positioning of the nozzles of the machine during application, and lowest coverage is found at the top, where droplets deposited also tend to be smaller. For the anti-drift nozzle model used in the study, the best coverage was obtained at a pressure of 5 bar. For sustainability of agricultural practices and rational use of pesticides, more research is required for optimization of increased precision spraying that could ensure high coverage at lower doses of chemicals and coarse droplets. In this way the quantity of product sprayed is expected to be reduced, due to minimization of off-target losses and increased efficiency. This can ensure that negative environmental impacts are lowered. Improved treatment application at higher positioning of the canopy remains a challenge and shall receive more attention.

Changing the degree to which animals feed is grinded can be done for hammer mills in several ways, namely: the use of sieves with different diameters, different hammers, different engine speeds.Grain milling energy consumption is in luenced by the type of material used, its moisture content, size and type of hammers, sieves holes etc.In the present study we determined the in luence of moisture and sieve mesh size on milling maize grain moisture of 11.1% and 17.6% using conventional hammer mill. Using th ree kinds of sieve apertures with a diameter of 4, 6 and 8 mm was determined from the speci ic grinding energy.

In this paper, we have comparatively analyzed two subspecies of Origanum vulgare (O. vulgare ssp. hirtum and O. vulgare ssp. vulgare) in climatic conditions with higher than usual temperatures from the Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection Chisinau, Rep. Moldova. The aim of the research was to study the producing capacity, content, composition of essential oil, as well as the polyphenols content in O. vulgare varieties, their drought testing and the selection of promising cultivars. Seven O. vulgare ssp. vulgare (Ov) varieties and fourteen O. vulgare ssp. hirtum (Oh) varieties were used as the biological material. The essential oil (EO) separated by hydrodistillation was analyzed by GC-MS techniques. The polyphenolic content was assessed using spectrophotometric techniques. The presence of a direct correlation between the content, production of essential oil and content of polyphenols has been highlighted. Thus, the varieties of O. vulgare ssp. hirtum demonstrate a higher content of essential oil than the varieties of O. vulgare ssp. vulgare, while the polyphenol content, on the other hand, is higher for the varieties of O. vulgare ssp. vulgare than for those of O. vulgare ssp. hirtum. This research has resulted in the selection of two varieties, i.e., “Savoare” of O. vulgare ssp. hirtum and “Panacea” of O. vulgare ssp. vulgare.

Abstract. Hammer mills are machines used in agriculture graded to obtain concentrated fodder mix and food industry for grinding vegetable raw materials necessary for obtaining various types of flours. The hammer mills grinding materials is produced upon impact of the hammer material and crushing plate located inside the grinding chamber. Depending on the hammers rotor assembly mode, the following types of mills can be used: hammer mills articulated and fixed hammer mills. The objective of this paper is to study the influence of hammer profile during the operation of grinding wheat on hammer mills using the same sieve.

Hammer mills are machines used in agriculture to obtain concentrated fodder mix. The hammer mills grinding materials is produced upon impact of the hammer material and crushing plate located inside the grinding chamber. Depending on the hammers rotor assembly mode, the following types of mills can be used: hammer mills articulated and fixed hammer mills. The finesse of the flour obtained is directly influenced by the type of hammer and sieve used.

The practice of sustanainable agriculture demands the best qualitative indexes for spraying machines and, especially, better distribution uniformity on the working width of these machines. The experimental trials in laboratory conditions were made for EEP-600ME mounted spraying machine by using the HERBST testing equipment for measuring the cross-cut distribution uniformity, which showed the fact that the boom inclination angle has a great influence on distribution uniformity. Rise of boom inclination angle over 2° leads to decreasing of distribution uniformity. At boom inclination angle only by 5°, the variation coefficient of distribution uniformity is over 24%, value that exceeds the allowable limit by four times over. In order to maintain the qualitative indexes in sloped areas there is a demand to use spraying machines that are equipped with devices for boom leveling.

The waste generated by small-scale ultra-fresh juice producers, such as bistros and restaurants, has been little studied so far, mainly because it is unevenly distributed and dissipated in the economic ecosystem and would require high costs associated with transportation and subsequent recovery of bio composites. The present article seeks to offer solutions by providing sustainable methods to reduce their waste losses to a minimum and transform them into valuable products, with affordable equipment and techniques. The study focuses on the preliminary phase of quantitative analysis of fruit and vegetable by-products generated on a small scale, the results showing a mean 55% productivity in fresh juices. Due to the high amount of remnant water content in waste, a new process of mechanically pressing the resulting squeezed pulp was introduced, generating an additional yield in juice, ranging from 3.98 to 51.4%. Due to the rising trend in healthier lifestyle, the by-products were frozen or airdried for conservation in each of the processing stages, and the total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity were analyzed in order to assess the traceability of these bioactive compounds to help maximize their transfer into future final products. The polyphenols transferred into by-products varied between 7 and 23% in pulps and between 6 and 20% in flours. The highest DPPH potential was found in flours, up to three-fold in comparison with the raw material, but the high dry substance content must be accounted for. The results highlight the potential of reusing the processing waste as a reliable source of bioactive compounds.