Possibilities of Designating Swards of Grasses and Small-Seed Legumes From Selected Organic Farms in Poland for Feed

Abstract

Proper management of plant nutrients has a fundamental effect on the amount and quality of crop yields and on maintaining soil fertility. Under organic production conditions, with limited fertilization, deficiency of some elements in soil may occur, which translates into a change in the chemism of cultivated plants. The aim of this paper was to assess the quality of a sward from selected organic farms in the context of using it for feed purposes. 55 organic farms were selected for the research; 25 of those farms additionally had conventional animal production. Sward samples of mixed grasses and small-seed legumes were collected from each farm. Content of elements that are the most determinant on the suitability for feed (N, P, K, Na, Ca, Na) was determined in the plant material. The results of the conducted research indicate that sward from grasses and small-seed legumes from the studied organic farms had too low content of macroelements and of most microelements, and the biggest problem was too low content of phosphorus, potassium and calcium. The animal production farms were found to have a higher content of phosphorus, calcium and potassium in sward as compared to farms without animals. Feeding cattle only with roughage obtained from the studied lands could pose a risk to the health of the animals and their productive abilities owing to the unfavorable chemical composition.

Assessment of the Efficiency of Nitrogen Slow-Release Fertilizers in Integrated Production of Carrot Depending on Fertilization Strategy

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The use of the SMED method in improvement of production enterprises

“…The presented example of optimizing the process of washing the machine, which is part of a carbonated beverage production line clearly indicates that the use of the SMED approach leads to reducing the retooling time and improving resource efficiency. It should be noted that this method was introduced without using additional financial expenses, and was treated as a strictly organizational challenge [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

The role of innovative policy in creating system services to support development of agri-food enterprises

“…Since innovations relate to the entire economy, it is recognized that innovation policy should be monitored and coordinated at a high level of national administration. Thus, the innovation process will be interactive and systemic, with contribution to solving social and economic problems as the basic criterion for project selection [3,4,5].…”