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The aim of this study was to examine the influence of different additive contents for oxygen absorption (5, 10 and 15%) in low-density polyethylene (PELD) plastic foils and storage temperatures (4 and 28 °C) on the quality and shelf-life of sliced carrots during storage. Quality and storage-life of packaged carrots slices were determined by observing changes of mass, total carotenoide pigments, microbial counts (mesophilic aerobic bacteria, enterobacteria, sulphite-reducing clostridia, yeast and moulds), sensory quality and texture by the use of penetrometer. The PELD foils modified with 10 and 15% of oxygen absorber (O2, CO2and N2permeability at 4 °C of around 700 ml m-2d-1atm-1) were the most suitable for the storage and prevention of deterioration of minimally processed carrots. Findings indicated that in these foils the best quality and shelf-life of carrot were maintained by 6 days of storage at 4 °C, without significant changes in parameters studied. The absorber for oxygen added to the foil had no influence on the permeability to CO2, O2and N2. The permeability of foils, which were used for carrot packaging increased by the increase of storage temperature to 28 °C and decreased by decreasing the temperature to 4 °C, and was not significantly affected by the additive content either. In the same time the diffusion constants of unused and used PELD foils for carrot packaging at 4 °C and 28 °C changed according to the change of film permeability during storage at those temperatures.

Our study involved assessing new Hungarian multi-resistant apple cultivars (‘Artemisz’, ‘Hesztia’, ‘Rosmerta’, and ‘Cordelia’) and two commercial cultivars (‘Watson Jonathan’ and ‘Prima’). The samples were evaluated by a trained assessor panel applying computer supported profile analysis with 20 descriptive sensory parameters (using ProfiSens sensory assessment software). Beside the profiles of each cultivar we also showed the significant differences between the cultivars (LSD_95%, LSD_99%). The nutritional values were analysed using the MANOVA statistical method, the effects of significant factors on measured values were evaluated by using Tukey (P=0.05) post-hoc test, and we determined the homogeneous and heterogeneous groups based on that. Our study showed that PCA bi-plots containing sensory and instrumental value loadings together with the scores of apple cultivars make the complex relationships of each cultivar available for comparison. The results clearly showed that the intensity of the sour taste is inversely proportional to the carbohydrate-acid ratio determined by measurements. The flesh firmness and pectin content values obtained by instrumental measurements were found to be strongly correlated sensory parameters on crispness, texture, and ripeness. PCA plots proved to be very useful in demonstrating the parallelisms between instrumental-instrumental (TPC/FRAP) and sensory-sensory (shade/colour) parameter pairs, too. Our aggregated results show that the new Hungarian resistant apple cultivars have almost as good as or even better nutritional values than ‘Prima’ and ‘Jonathan’ (the latter dominated the Hungarian apple production for several decades). The new multi-resistant cultivars renew the range of apple cultivars available on the market, and they introduce new flavours to consumers.

Basket willow (Salix viminalis L.) was grown in open-field experiment. The brown forest soil (sand texture, pH_KCl 7.7, humus 1.6%, CEC 11.5 cmol_c/kg; Cd-0.11, Cu-7.1, Pb-8.1, Zn-25.0 mg/kg in aqua regia extract) was treated with municipal sewage sludge compost (MSSC) (25 t/ha wet weight, 12.8 t/ha dry weight in 2009; 50 and 100 t/ha wet weight, 25.4 t/ha and 50.8 t/ha dry weight in 2008). The MSSC was moderately contaminated with toxic metals (Cd-<0.5, Cu-140, Pb-19, Zn-440 mg/kg in aqua regia extract in 2008, and Cd-<0.5, Cu-299, Pb-69, Zn-865 mg/kg in aqua regia extract in 2009). Accumulation of Zn in treated willow leaves doubled 4 months after 25 t/ha MSSC application, while in treated twig tips 30% less Zn was found than in control. Zn (max. 133 mg/kg d.w.), Cd (max. 1.15 mg/kg d.w.) and Cu (max. 7.73 mg/kg d.w.) accumulations in leaves or twig tips of basket willow were 16 months after 50 or 100 t/ha MSSC application. Twenty months after MSSC application in the harvested twigs (shoots without leaves) of 50 or 100 t/ha MSSC-treated cultures the Zn concentrations were only 9.8–14.3% higher than in controls. We suppose that there is not a direct danger of considerable Zn accumulation in the bioash after incineration of MSSC-treated willow shoots in biomass power plants.

The subgenus Heteropsychotria was detected and described by Julian Steyermark in the frame of the monographic series of the Botany of the Guyana Highland (Steyermark 1972) and repeatedly in a more illustrated version in the Flora of Venezuela (Steyermark 1974). Within the subgenus he distinguished 13 sections and 31 series. Three sections (Nrs 4, 7 and 11) of the 13 remained without names and descriptions. After the fundamental molecular taxonomic study of Nepokroeff et al. (1999) a publishing activity started producing a number of critical studies separating some sections as valid individual genera. The section Chytropsia has been included into the genus Margaritopsis Ch. Wright (Andersson 2001, Taylor 2005). The section Notopleura regained its generic status according to Bremekamp’s original concept (Taylor 2001). The Mapouria section has been eliminated by the re-establishment of the Carapichea genus (Andersson 2002b, Taylor and Gereau 2013). It has been recently recognised, that the greater part of the species classified by Steyermark into the section Durifolia belongs to the expanded genus Coccochondra (Taylor 2011). The re-consideration of the taxonomic position of the slenderized subgenus Heteropsychotria was begun by C. M. Taylor et al. with the transfer of some Mesoamerican species as late as 2010, although their close relation to the genus Palicourea was emphasised by Nepokroeff et al. (1999). The next step is, that for the second edition of the Rubiáceas de México the Mexican species of Heteropsychotria were transferred into Palicourea (Borhidi 2011), while C. M. Taylor maintained the Mesoamerican ones within the frame of Psychotria (Taylor 2012). Recently C. M. Taylor started to revise the taxonomic position of the South American Heteropsychotria species with a new circumscription and re-description of the section Didymocarpae (Taylor 2014) by the distinction and description of the new section Tricephalium (Taylor 2015) separating from the rest of the section Cephaëlis and by the detailed elaboration of the section Nonatelia in a new concept with enlarged frame (Taylor and Hollowell 2016). For the remained parts of the Steyermark’s system we suggest here the following reconsiderations. The section Heteropsychotria is enlarged by the inclusion of the anonymous section 4 of Steyermark. The greater part of the anonymous section 7, which remained after the exclusion of the Carapichea species, is described as a new section Bracteiflorae with Palicourea caerulea as type. The section Nonatelia is reconsidered and reshaped in a considerably enlarged form by Taylor and Hollowell (2016), while the section Potaroenses remains unchanged. The Pseudocephaëlis section remains without the series Appunianae, which has been included into the section Tricephalium C. M. Taylor. The section Cephaëlis of Steyermark is divided into two sections. The species with terminal, mostly pedunculate inflorescences is separated under a new name Neocephaëlis Borhidi with Palicourea tomentosa (Aubl.) Borhidi, selected as the type species of the section. The other section includes the species of axillary, mostly sessile inflorescences, elevating the series Axillares of Steyermark on section rank and expanding it by the inclusion of the anonymous section 11, with Palicourea axillaris (Aubl.) Borhidi, selected as the type. For the rest of the eliminated Durifolia section a new one is created under the name Cordifoliae Borhidi, while the Oppositiflorae section also must be cancelled, because its type species is Ronabea latifolia Aubl. At last a new section Microphyllae Borhidi is established for the small-leaved xero-tolerant species of the Antilles with Palicourea orientensis Borhidi et Oviedo as type. The review includes more than 220 species.

Recently Taylor has made an attempt to eliminate the subgenus Heteropsychotria Steyerm. and identified it as a synonym of subgenus Palicourea. It cannot be accepted because the two subgenera differ from each other in important morphological and physiological characters.

The subgenus Palicourea is characterised by having brightly coloured odourless, mostly pedicellate and separated flowers with large corollas often curved tube and swollen base containing an appreciable quantity of nectar, protected by a ring of stiff hairs, namely an arranged complex of characters, which are adapted for hummingbird-pollination. The type species is Palicourea guianensis Aubl. In contrast, the subgenus Heteropsychotria is characterised by having generally green to white inflorescences with white greenish or pale yellow fragrance, smaller mostly sessile flowers with corollas of straight short tube without swollen base and inner hairy ring, but with different pubescence in/or above the middle of the inner face of the tube. These arranged set of characters are clearly adapted to the insect-pollination. The type species is Palicourea deflexa (Sw.) Borhidi. Taylor refers to a great variation in some separate characters between the two character complexes presented in the Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana (2004) without mentioning any concrete example. The reality is, that between the two character complexes there is no intermediate taxon.

After having replaced the subgenus Heteropsychotria Steyermark synonymised by Taylor, a new section has been introduced and created, the section Tricephalium (Müll. Arg.) C. M. Taylor, comprising 35 species and classified in Palicourea subgenus Montanae Taylor 1997. It is diagnosed by having “thick-textured leaves with well-developed intersecondary veins that are extensively reticulated and inflorescences with the flowers sessile in small to large heads that are enclosed by well-developed bracts and the fruits pass through a yellow to red immature stage”. Additionally the section is also characterised by stipules that are shortly united around the stem to laminar, bilobed to emarginate, rounded, rounded and denticulate or erose in each side.

Really, the section Tricephalium is problematic in some respect. It is heterogeneous as a taxonomic unit, because it has not a standard set of characters, even not one character existing in all species classified here for the distinction of the whole group. The most common characteristic feature is the texture and venation of the leaves, a vegetative character that may be influenced rather easily by ecological conditions. Moreover, the major part of the species lives in montane valleys of the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia as isolated local endemics within similar montane habitats. It is unknown, how these characters would react if the individuals of these species got into lowland situation (see: Clausen et al. (1948) on Achillea lanuginosa). It is to be mentioned that similar leaf texture venations occur in some Carapichea and Coccochondra species as well. Another weakness of the section is the superfluous selection of the typical species, the Palicourea triadica (Müll. Arg.) C. M. Taylor being a very scarcely collected and poorly known species is unable to represent a species-rich, diverse section. After a thorough comparative analysis of the descriptions it turns out that the only character combination occurring in every species of the section Tricephalium is the character-set of the subgenus Heteropsychotria. The only exception would be the Palicourea neilii C. M. Taylor that has according the description bright yellow flowers and corolla tube swollen and bent at the base, but in his fig. 1F the corolla tube is straight and narrow at the base. Therefore we get to the conclusion that the section Tricephalium C. M. Taylor is treated here unchanged as a whole, not in the subgenus Montanae C. M. Taylor, but accentuated its taxonomic position in the frame of the subgenus Heteropsychotria Steyerm.

The yield, protein and starch content of Martonvásár maize hybrids belonging to different FAO groups were examined in experiments involving early, optimal and late sowing dates in two different years (drought — 2007, favourable water supplies — 2008) on a calcareous chernozem soil with loam texture at the Látókép Experimental Station of the Centre of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering, University of Debrecen.Sowing date had a significant effect on maize grain yield in the dry year. The grain yields of hybrids with longer growing periods were significantly higher than those with shorter growing periods in both years, but they reacted sensitively to the change in sowing date in the dry year. Due to the rainfall distribution in the growing season, sowing date did not modify the performance of the hybrids in the year with favourable water supplies. Sowing date had a significant effect on the grain protein content in the dry year, with significantly higher values after late sowing than after early or optimal sowing. Averaged over the sowing dates, the protein content of the FAO 200 hybrid was significantly higher in both years than that of hybrids in other FAO groups. In the dry year, the greatest difference in protein content could be observed between the early and late sowing dates for hybrids in all four FAO groups. A negative correlation was found between yield and protein content. Sowing date significantly increased the starch content of maize in the favourable year, with a significant difference between early and late sowing dates.In the dry year higher starch contents were recorded for all the hybrids and for all the sowing dates than in the favourable year. In the dry year, sowing date only caused a significant difference in the starch content in the case of FAO 200 sown at optimal and late sowing dates. In the favourable year, a significant difference was only obtained for the starch content of the FAO 400 hybrid sown at early and late sowing dates. Satisfactory quality can only be achieved if suitable genotypes are grown with appropriate technologies.

Soil processes over forty years of woodland succession were studied in the abandoned coppices of the Děvín Nature Reserve, in the south-east of the Czech Republic. A total of 113 horizon samples from 34 profiles were taken in the 1960s and 2000s, following identical field and laboratory approaches, to characterize soil texture, contents of carbonates and organic matter, and soil reaction (pH/H ₂ O, pH/KCl). Changes in the soil properties were discussed in relation to the gradual development of the mature woodland that replaced the former intensively managed ancient coppice. Four soil types (Luvisols, Regosols, Leptosols and Chernozems) and their horizons were statistically treated to identify distributions/shifts in the measured values from the past to the present. The following results were obtained: (1) The horizontal transport and sedimentation of sandy calcareous particles into the Leptosols topsoil led to increased acidity. (2) In Luvisols, the same was detected for fine clayey particles. This can be explained by the topographical occurrence of the two types — on the upper parts of slopes and under limestone cliffs for the former, and in the flat foothills for the latter soil type. (3) No acidification appeared except for Luvisols, whose luvic horizons E and Bt are, in contrast to the others, poor in calcium carbonate and relatively acidic. A decrease in acidity was recorded in KCl solution, but not in H ₂ O. This is interpreted as the consequence of the buffering ability of the soil sorption complex. (4) Slightly improved humification was only detected in the surface horizons of Luvisols and Leptosols. (5) Contrary to expectations no illimerization, i.e. the migration of clay particles from topsoil to subsoil, was revealed.As forty years is apparently too short a time for significant vertical clay migration, it was concluded that i) horizontal migration and the accumulation of substrate particles was of at least the same importance as in situ pedogenetic processes, and ii) soil property dynamics that could be linked with the changed woodland management were proved to act relatively slowly.

In order to elucidate the effect of sowing date on the yield and yield components of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.), three varieties - Tower, Rafal and Global - were sown from 7 November to 22 December 2000-01 on four dates at an interval of 15 days in the Dezful region of Iran. A split-plot design based on randomized complete blocks with four replications was used in the experiment, where the sowing dates and cultivars formed the main and subplots, respectively. Variables including plant height, axillary branches/plant, pods/plant, seeds/pod, single seed weight, biomass, seed oil content and seed yield were measured. The soil of the experimental site had a loamy clay texture. The site had 250 mm annual precipitation and was located in the semi-arid zone. The results showed that the sowing date had a highly significant effect on morphological characteristics, yield components, oilseed rape yield and seed oil content. A delay in the sowing date caused a reduction in all the yield components especially in pods/plant, and in oilseed yield, which dropped from 285 g m^-2 when sown on 7 November to 135 g m^-2 when sowing was delayed to 22 December. Variations in sowing dates had different effects on the individual yield components, with pods/plant, seeds/pod and single seed weight decreasing to the greatest extent. The significant effect of variety on all characters with the exception of single seed weight indicated that there were genetic differences between the studied cultivars. Oilseed yield showed significantly positive correlations with pods/plant (r=0.93), single seed weight (r=0.83) and seeds/pod (r=0.66). The results of path analysis showed that pods/plant and seeds/pod had the highest positive and negative effects on oilseed yield, respectively. Finally, considering the susceptibility of pods/plant to variations in sowing date and the importance of this character in the size of the oilseed yield, a delay in the planting date in the Dezful region was found to reduce the oilseed yield through a reduction in pods/plant.