The Life Science Universities of Central and South Eastern Europe are the basis for sustainable, ecological and economic development of the region.
34th INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC-EXPERT CONFERENCE OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD INDUSTRY
“FROM HIDDEN THREATS TO INNOVATIVE ASSETS: TRANSFORMATIVE CAPACITY OF AGRIFOOD SYSTEMS”
Sarajevo, October 9 – 11, 2024
Author: Dennis Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0
We are pleased to invite you to the 14th CASEE Conference ”The Role of the Life Sciences Universities in the Green Transition of Central and Eastern Europe”, organized by the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between 19th – 21st of June 2024, to share the scientific novelties within Green Transition of Central and Eastern Europe.
Possibility of publishing the papers form the 10th CASEE conference
The journal “Die Bodenkultur: Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment” has kindly offered the partnership to CASEE:
Publishing Partnership of
“Die Bodenkultur: Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment” and “CASEE - The ICA Regional Network for Central and South Eastern Europe”
for publishing Invited Papers based on presentations given at the 10th CASEE Conference in 2019 at the University of Sarajevo from 12 to 15 June 2019
“Die Bodenkultur: Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment” is an interdisciplinary forum dedicated to all aspects of research in the rural areas. The aim of the journal is to provide an international outlet for new results in all disciplines of land management, food, environment and related subjects.
The CASEE Board will invite authors of selected presentations from the CASEE conference to submit a manuscript to the journal “Die Bodenkultur”. Papers will be marked as “Invited papers” with a reference to the CASEE Network and the 10th CASEE conference in Sarajevo on their title page.
Manuscripts must be full research papers and have to be prepared according to the standards of the journal (Instructions for authors can be found at the journal homepage: https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/boku/boku-overview.xml). Manuscripts shall be submitted until 15 September 2019.
Papers can be written in English or in German. Title, abstract, keywords and tables and graphs captions have to be presented in both languages.
Assistance during the whole submission and revision process will be provided by the journals Managing Editor Reinhard Neugschwandtner (
There are also other journals where the participants in 10th CASEE conference are encouraged to submit their papers after their presentation at CAEEE conference. The review of the submitted papers is not in hands of the conference organizers or CASEE board but depends on the rules of the journals as indicated in the case of Die Bodenkultur. However, the participation in the conference increases the chances for the positive review process because the ideas are discussed before the submission.
In the past, the authors of the previous conferences addressed the journals like:
Agronomy: Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy
(http://agronomyjournal.usamv.ro),
Horticulture: Scientific Papers. Series B. Horticulture
(http://horticulturejournal.usamv.ro),
Animal Science: Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science
(http://animalsciencejournal.usamv.ro).
Veterinary Medicine: Scientific works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine
(http://veterinarymedicinejournal.usamv.ro),
Land Reclamation, Earth Observation&Surveying, Environmental Engineering: Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering
(http://landreclamationjournal.usamv.ro),
Biotechnology: Scientific Bulletin "Biotechnology", Series F. Biotechnology
(http://biotechnologyjournal.usamv.ro),
Management and Economics in Rural Areas: Scientific Papers Series G. Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development,
(http://managementjournal.usamv.ro),
Die Bodenkultur
(http://www.boku.ac.at/en/fos/themen/die-bodenkultur/die-zeitschrift/)
Scientia Agriculturae Bohemica
Agricultural Economics – Zemedelska ekonomika
https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/agricecon/
Czech Journal of Food Sciences
(https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/cjfs/)
Czech Journal of Animal Sciences
(https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/cjfs/)
Plant Protection Sciences
(https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/pps/)
Plant, Soil and Environment
Session 2: Renewable resources – possibilities and constraints (including forests and biotechnology)
Chairs:
Prof. dr Florian Borlea, BUASVMT, Romania
Acad. prof. dr. Doru C. Pamfil, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Romania
The section included presentations (7 oral presentations) and poster sessions from universities from six countries. Renewable resources are very much used as raw materials for a broad range of end products as well as for renewable energy production all over the world, including Central and South-Eastern Europe, in competition with other natural resources or different materials and products. The presentations belonged to very various topics. The main topics of the section 2 were: Renewable energy, Biotechnology and Forestry. The presentations showed how important renewable energy (photovoltaics) constraints can be avoided: the constant electricity supply to the grid and the critical grid loads. The case study of using a battery-type electric energy storage for a decentralized photovoltaic and electric energy storage systems for autonomus buildings in Austria was presented and discussed as visionary prospective for the future when the share for renewable energy will increase and will be a higher demand to balance the demand and supply.
Another important topic was Biotechnology and the screening of microorganisms displaying acetyl xylan esterase activiy was presented as important development in the field. Another presentation was about one of the most abundant natural polymer: hemicellulose – a major component of lignocellulose biomass located between lignin and cellulose fibers and considered the second most abundant natural polymer on earth. Its main constituent is xylan. Four mutant tested strains displaying the highest acetyl xylan esterase activities were identified and the best acetyl xylan esterase activity was detected. The preliminary testing of SRAP primers in four Ranunculaceae species from Romania, was performed in order to provide fundaments for their conservation strategies. Biodiversity is essential for natural pest control and in this respect tests to identify the most efficient/representative SRAP marker combinations of the Ranunculaceae tested species were performed. The results have highly contributed to perform future genetic diversity analyses; in situ and ex-situ conservation perspective.
Forestry is a very challenging domain in Central and Eastern Europe. A comparison between pristine-pure stand and a mixed beech-oak stand using unmanned aerial vehicle was presented. The complex diversity in natural forest was revealed using unmanned aerial vehicle: canopy cover, upper layer tree crowns and canopy gaps in an managed old mixed beech with oak stand and a pristine pure-beech stand in order to compare them. The natural forest had two times more gaps and crowns/ha compared to the managed forest. Percentage Canopy Cover (PCC) represents the proportion of the ground covered by the vertical projection of the tree crowns [Jennings et al, 1999] and the PCC difference between the natural forest compared to the managed forest is 7 %. The managed forest tree shapes are similar to those in natural forest based on mean Gap shape complexity index (GSCI). This should indicate that species richness level is above normal in this forest. The forest management activities is the cause of the regularly distributed patterns of canopy gaps and trees. The oak species are an important forest resource able to provide renewable and sustainable materials, enriching the ecosystems services and fulfilling the social demands in Western Romania. The important role of environmental factors for wood quality was presented. The relation between oak wood value sortiments and local conditions was studied analyzing the results from the wood auctions in 6 forest districts from Western Romania in the period 2003-2017. The volumes of harvested wood (m3)/sortiments and their sale price series in euro/m3 in each site type were presented.
In conlcusion, the use of renewable resources is challenging in the present-day context of climate change and global changes in general. New strategies and innitiatives at global, european or local level are promoting their use but the decision on utilisation renewable resources is taken in general within a technical, economical-finnancial as well as regulatory and cultural framework.
Possibilities are unlimited because:
Constraints are sometimes high because of the competition on use (ex. of wood biomass: energy versus other industries), land-use problems and because of their sensitive relation with biodiversity and environment.
Presentations:
Session 1: Modern agriculture and rural development
Chairs:
Prof. Dl Dr. Dr.h.c. mult. Martin H. Gerzabek, BOKU, Austria
Prof. univ.dr. Florin Stănică, USAMV, Romania
Nine oral presentation and ten posters comprised this lively, and well received session. Pia Euteneuer released an excellent talk about the decomposition of sclerotia in soil, the impact of season and specifically earthworms – a finding by chance during a flood event. Otilia Bobis elucidated concepts and strategies to improve leave and fruit quality of mulberries for silk worm breeding, a significant economically sound activity for rural areas. Lucia Pop explained the complete value chain for silk production in Romania and focussed specifically on the re-establishment of mulberry tree plantations and the subsequent sericultural and silk technology. Michael Pillei elaborated the concept of an university network within CASEE, dedicated to continuous education in rural areas, the Academia Danubiana. The life science universities have the duty within their “third mission” to support and organize continuous education to foster the development and livelihood in the Danube region. The innovative approach involves the local stakeholder/communities in the development of customized educational programs. Florina Deleanu focussed also on the strengthening of local communities by re-introducing ornamental vegetable gardening as means of improvements in economy and communication of local communities. Ana Butcaru presented two excellent papers concerning roses for petal production. She established a complete organic cultivation system for roses from soil pre-treatment using different crops to get rid of e.g. nematodes, planting, raising the plants, biological plant protection to harvest and even frost protection. Nutritional-wise, dried petals should be used instead of cooked products. Val Stoian presented results from N-leaching studies following excess mineral nitrogen application under different crops as modified by soil texture. The oral session ended with flowers – a paper presented by Ioana Crişan about Iris germanica and the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses in different cultivars. In-depth research focussed on water use efficiency – varying considerable between cultivars, making them more or less suitable for dryer regions.
Very well made posters complemented the oral session. The authors presented the posters during the poster viewing session. The contributions covered a variety of additional topics, from fig and peach propagation, mays resistance breeding against fusarium, homemade fungizides, apple storage, challenges of recovering the drainage system in the Moldova River watershed to agrotourism and food products for athletes.
Overall, the session provided a basket of interesting and excellently presented topics showing the diversity of concepts, strategies and challenges to develop the rural area by agricultural activities.
Presentations:
Session 3: Sustainable food systems and quality
Chairs:
Prof. dr hab. Ewa Rembiałkowska, WULS-SGGW, Poland
Prof. dr Teodor Trasca, BUASVMT, Romania
> Report of the scientific Chairs Prof. Rembialkowska and Prof. Trasca
Presentations:
Session 4: Environmental safety and climate change
Chairs:
Dr. Elena Mateescu, General Manager of the National Meteorological Agency, Associate professor of USAMV Bucharest, Romania
Assoc. Prof. dr Michal Lostak, CULS, Czech Republic
The session on environmental safety and climate change was addressed only by 4 presentations. Although the number looks small, the presentations targeted various issues and demonstrated the heterogeneity of approaches and topics in the field of environmental safety and climatic change. Very good demonstration of how board the field is and what might be the interesting research topic was the first presentation of S. Saremesic linking economic approach to ecosystem services with the question of ecological intensification in the case of Serbia. The second presentation of A. Pasca highlighted the use of GIS to calculate various temperature and precipitation maps for assessing land qualities. Again as in the case of the first presentation this topic also proved how broad the issues of ecological change is. F. Raicu in the third presentation targeted the food quality and demonstrated how it is linked to environmental safety. The case of animal food products analysed through Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry was used to show the links. The fourth presentation was delivered by G. Risnoveanu. It was a presentation informing about CEEPUS network Ecology and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems in Central, East and Southeast Europe. This presentation was valuable because it showed CASEE participants the importance of such network as CASEE. Highly important were the discussions after every presentations. International atmosphere supported the exchange of ideas and suggestions which was a good impetus for the future work in the field.
Presentations:
