There is a wide range of Environmental Information Systems (EISs), both desktop and mobile platforms, with usability in industry and applied ecological studies. Of these, EISs for mobile devices have begun to be increasingly used in the current activity of those concerned with soil protection and agriculture management. According to the utilization impact of the mobile EISs in environmental protection, we introduce a new platform system, as an electronic field-observation agenda. It is configured and created with App Inventor software, for mobile devices under Android OS. The new application, that we created, came as an efficient approach in data and field-observation acquisition. The application was made using the tools offered by App Inventor 2.0 integrated development environment. It turned out to be extremely convenient to use, without the need for programming knowledge or special mobile devices, other than mobile phones owned. The SoilMonitor application, by its particular implication in environmental impact assessment (in contaminated soils management), requires complex interdisciplinary knowledge as well as profound technical information developed in the environment-informatics complex context. The field sheets completed with the help of the newly created application are of real use and can be the basis for creating an extremely complex environmental database. We try to demonstrate that the innovative technology associated with mobile apps, focusing on soil pollution monitoring and assessment can be an alternative to the classical monitoring approach, where the classic work-agenda is still not absent from the field.

The aim of this paper is to assess the agricultural potential of the mountainous area in southwestern Banat, by methods and geospatial materials that can complete or replace analog cartographic materials, especially in areas where they are lacking. As a case study, two administrative-territorial units from the Banat Mountains were selected: Ciclova Româna and Sasca Montana. The fact that the study area overlaps over a large altitudinal range, between 123 - 1131 m, determines the variability of environmental conditions and is implicitly reflected in the use of land. The scientific information and geospatial data used in the research were processed in the GIS environment. The map of the land use for the analyzed area was obtained by processing the Corine Land Cover database, 2018 edition. Thus, it was found that, in the analyzed area, the forest areas occupy more than half of the territory, the pastures are found on approx. 17 % of the surface, and the arable lands, in lower percentages, on small areas, in the areas with low altitude. Land resources are of particular importance given the rural nature of the area and specific traditions.

The production capacity of the land or its productive potential, are both valued by soil fertility, the influence on the physiological requirements of the plants and other environmental factors. The productive potential of the Ecological Homogenous Territory (EHT), together with their pretendability for different uses and crops are evaluated using the land quality and productivity assessment (bonitation). Given the climatic conditions, the agricultural potential and the socio-economic aspects of Romania, rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is one of the most profitable crops. The objective of this work is to assess the influence of soil fertility regarding the favorability of rapesees and on the economic value of agricultural land, under the conditions of the Cri?urilor Plain. The rapeseed qualifys in the second class of favoritism (81 points) for EHT occupied by Pachic Phaeozem (EHT - PP) and in the fourth grade for EHT occupied by Haplic Luvisol (EHT - HL) with 65 points. The production increases of the main crops, conducted by EHT - PP compared with EHT - HP are between 17.5 % for wheat and barley, and 43.1 % for sugar beet. Economic efficiency of the agricultural holding, for both EHT’S, it involves increasing the water supply of the soil by irrigation and in case of EHT - HP improvement of the humus content in soil through ameliorative fertilization. Out of the four crops used in the area, rapeseed brings the highest net income, which is 3843 lei/ha (784 euro/ha), for EHT - HL and 5355 lei/ha (1093 euro/ha), for EHT – PP. Under almost similar environmental conditions, the economic value of the land increases from 13422 euros/ha, for EHT- HL to 17698 euros/ha for EHT-PP.

This research was conducted to test the effect of tillage techniques Conventional Tillage (CT) and Reduced (RT) on the yield of three crops; Corn, Sunflower and Winter Wheat; in a long-term tillage experiment. The objective was to determine the effect of the tillage methods on yield of the various crops. Data of the long-term tillage experiments were collected from Karcag Research Institute of the University of Debrecen. The data were then analysed using independent samples t-test on SPSS. The CT plots on average produced the highest amount of yield for all the three tested crops. Although the mean difference in all the tested crops where not large. For sunflower, CT recorded an average yield of (2858.67 kg/ha) compared to RT’s (2505.42 kg/ha). For winter wheat, CT produced an average yield of (5689 kg/ha) compared to (5529.9 kg/ha) for RT. And for corn, CT recorded an average yield of (7629.56 kg/ha) compared to (6991.78 kg/ha) for RT. The results obtained from the independent samples t-test for all three crops showed that there was no significant difference in crop yield between the two tillage techniques i.e. CT and RT. A significance level of 0.005 was chosen for the test and the p value for winter wheat, Sun flower and corn were; p=0.831; p=0.264; p=0.647 This research concluded that yield is not significantly affected by tillage technique for this region (Trans-Tisza Hungary) and for this soil type (meadow chernozem soils). It is recommended that reduced tillage may be preferred in this region because of its soil and water conservation potential as yield performance can be overlooked. However, improved weed and soil compaction control should be practiced along with it to improve yield.

Effects of fermented chicken manure on soil nutrient availability, leaf nutrient status and fruit quality parameters were studied in an apple plantation from Eastern Hungary. Beside control, three fermented chicken manure products (BIO-FER Natur Extra, Nitro vit and 7-9-7) were used in a field experiment trial at the Horticultural Experimental Farm of University of Debrecen in 2020. In this trial, soil and leaf analysis were made to check the effects of applied treatments on the nutrient supply of the soil and the nutrient status of the leaves. Beside soil and leaf analysis, yield and some fruit quality parameters were investigated. The products were applied at the beginning of April in 2020. Each treatment consisted of 5 trees. Soil pH has slightly decreased during the trial. The organic carbon content of the soil has not significantly changed during the experiment. Chicken manure treatments could not affect considerably the soil P, K, Mg, Mn, Cu and Zn content compared to the control. All applied treatments increased the N content of leaves compared to the control, but the effect was not significant. Leaf P content was the same in all treatments, while the leaf K content was slightly higher where chicken products were used. Leaf Ca and Mg were not affected significantly by the treatments compared to the control. The usage of chicken manure increased yield, fruit weight and fruit flesh hardness compared to the control, but significant effect was observed only in certain treatments. Moreover, all applied treatments decreased the Brix value of apples compared to the control.

Durum wheat is used predominantly for pasta and couscous but the use of durum wheat for breads is also common in Mediterranean countries. High molecular weight (HMW-GS) and Low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) play an important role in determining the bread quality of durum wheat. In this study we used twenty one local and introduced durum wheat varieties cultivated in Algeria, that were grown in the same environmental conditions. These cultivars were evaluated for their variability in several traits related to technological qualities. The present study showed the presence of significant differences within our genetic resources for several traits. Indeed, by SDS-PAGE, a low diversity was shown among genotypes used at Glu-A1 locus, confirming the dominance of (c) allele, however Glu-B1 present a high diversity with the superiority of (b) and (e) alleles. Based on mixing time (MT) and bandwidth at peak dough resistance (BWPDR) values, Mixograph test indicated a mean score of 6.5 suggesting a good bread making ability of Algerian durum wheat. In fact, Ofanto, Mexicali75, Vitron, Chen’s and Saoura held the top of the rank scoring a value of 8, followed by Hedba03, Simeto and Marzak (used as check) showing a score of 7.5. This is due to the presence in their flours a high gluten strength according to the test of SDS sedimentation. These results are very motivating to be used in local durum wheat improvement program.