Lactulose is recognized world-wide as one of the most clinically reliable bifidogenic factor. Lactulose is used in various types of food products (infant formula, baby food, confectionary, soft drink, milk products) and also pharmaceutically to improve hepatic encephalopathy and constipation (Mizota, 1996; Strohmaier, 1998). The object of this study was to investigate the influence of concentration of lactulose on growing Bifidobacterium lactis in milk. A bifidogenic lactor, lactulose was added (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5%) into 100g of milk. The milk samples were inoculated with Bifidobacterium lactis (BB-12, Chr. Hansen, Denmark) and incubated at 38 deg C for 16 hours. Lactulose as a prebiotic influences the growth of bifidobacteria in milk. Trends of development of acidity in the milk samples with or with out lactulose were not similar. Laboratory studies have generally shown that growth of Bifidobacterium lactis in milk depends on the concentration of lactulose. Data on the final cell count in fermented milk indicates that increasing the lactulose concentration from 2% to 3% enhanced the growth of the Bifidobacterium lactis, whereas no significant difference between lactulose concentration 4-5% and control sample was observed. Present result furthermore indicate that finding combination of prebiotic and probiotic pairs where the prebiotic would benefit the specific probiotic strain, e.g. during production and formulation into foods, is not a simple task.

The effect of some ingredients on stability of butter during its storage time has been investigated in order to better evaluate the functionality of confectionery. The research established that butter does not contain enough free fatty acids, derived as a result of hydrolysis, to decrease the number of mould and group of Enterobacteriaceae, but they hinder the growth of yeast and aerobic mesophilic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms. The quality of the products can be provided and propagation of microorganisms can be hindered by the comounds that are not traditional preservatives, such as vanilin and glucose syrop. A 10% glucose syrup additive worked as the facilitator of the development of microorganisms because it increased growth of aerobic mesophilic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms, 50% of glucose syrup additive worked as the procrastinator of the development of microorganisms.

The role of birch natural (NWH) and potential natural (PNWH) woodland habitats for maintaining of biodiversity in Latvia is described and evaluated. The analysis of the proportion of area of birch stands and natural and potential natural woodland hibitats by regions, by age structure, and by growing conditions has been done. The distribution of birch natural and potential woodland hibitats by habitat groups, as well as most often recognized habitat specialist and indicator species is described.

The term "competence" has not been clearly defined in the literature. Two meanings of the term have been identified. One refers to the outputs or results of education (training), but other - to the inputs or underlying attributes needed for a person to demonstrate competent performance. Each meaning has been used to describe both individual and organizational competences. A classification of the meanings of competence is given to show that the term has several meanings depending on the purpose for which it is used. Although competence is an important concept in education, it is unclear what competence is. Constructivism is a way out of the competence confusion - we don't search for one absolute true definition, but do use the competence concept for our own purposes. At the end of article a description (definition) of competence is given. This definition is appropriate to define inputs for undergraduate programmes and to improve student's lifelong and life wide learning competences while studying undergraduate study programmes.

Rural tourism is becoming more and more important in Latvia and Europe, where rural environment changes, began already more than a couple of decennaries ago. Current trends in development of tourism are favourable for lasting development of rural tourism in the whole European Union. Rural tourim in Latvia extremely popular, because it includes both recreational and cognitive elements of tourism, and takes place in countryside. It gives people a chance to become acquainted witg a country lifestyle, the process of production and be in touch with nature, be able to obtain strength and take emotional pleasure in the energy of nature. The study course "Rural tourism" is lectures both in Latvia's, and foreign higher educational establishments. This course usually is the free choice study object. The aim of the work is to observe study course "Rural tourism" aims and describe the content of this study course in higher educational establishments in Baltic States and North Europe.

The purpose of arts education at university is to create students' attitude to five forms of art - literature, drama, dance, music, and visual arts. As a study object, the art an integral part of education and perception of art is the result of cognition of the surrounding environment. A.Dauge (1868-1937) and J.A.Students (1898-1964) observed that arts education is finding out the question of integrity the logically rational and the emotionally experienced in the system of counterbalancing mind and feelings. At the beginning of the 21 century, as the paradigm of education is changing, the opinion also changed about what makes a knowledgeable and socially valuable person. In order to promote the development of one's personality self-fulfilment pedagogues are called for introducing certain changes which are contributing to the opening up of their students. University students are going through the process of evaluation of an interpretation of opera as recorded performance on a video-type and in live performance on the opera house stage. It makes their opinion based on well - grounded argumentation and personally valuable self - evaluation. The last is functioning as the regulating mechanism for learning the properties of arts in the context of developing the human personality. The opera performance on the stage is the live communication with a different culture heritage and people are going to performances to be immersed in art values. Usually the repertoire is hosen for visiting the opera house as an interesting and enjoyable entertainment for students. Such masterpieces as "The Magic Flute" of W.A.Mozart, "Flying Dutchman" by R.Wagner, "Aida" and "La Travolta" by G.Verdi are actually stimulated the students discover of the artwork. Understanding of opera art increases the students' knowledge, emotional experience, interest and positive attitude to high art values. Arts education as intelligent cultural assessment is the dominating purpose of the teaching-learning process.

Grain samples of 51 spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) genotypes, including two-row, six rows, covered and hull-less were used for investigation of endosperm beta-glucan content. A significant difference (p-value is less than 0.001) between genotypes in beta-glucan content was observed. On average, the six-row barleys had slightly higher beta-glucan content. Far six-row genotypes it ranged from 35.9 to 47.1 mg kgE-1 with the mean value of 41.4 mg kgE-1, but for tw0-row barleys - 38.0 mg kgE-1 within the range of 33.2-44.9 g kgE-1. Six-row genotypes had a higher coefficient of variation in comparison with two-row genotypes. Hull-less genotypes had significantly higher beta-glucan content than the covered ones (49.3 mg kgE-1 and 38.9 mg kgE-1 respectively). The standard deviation of the mean values of beta-glucan content for covered genotypes was lower than for the hull-less ones. The mean values in 2005 were well plotted against data from the previous season for genotypes included in the two years trial. There were two distinct clusters of covered and hull-less genotypes. Beta-glucan content for varieties bred in Latvia ranged from 33.2 mg kgE-1 for two-row variety 'Malva' to 46.0 mg kgE-1 for six-row variety 'Druvis'.

The South-Esatern Anatolia Project (GAP) is a multi-sector and integrated regional development project in Turkey. The project area covers 9 administrative provinces - Adiyaman, Batman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Kilis, Mardin, Siirt, Sanliurfa, and Simak - in the basins of the Euphrates and Tigris. The GAP planned in the 1970s consists of projects for irrigation and hydraulic energy production on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The development program encompasses such sectors as irrigation, hydraulic energy, agriculture, fish farming, rural and urban infrastructure, forestry, education, and health. This project envisages the construction of 22 dams and 19 hydraulic power plants and irrigation of 1.7 million hectares of land. The total cost of the project is estimated as US $ 32 billion. The construction of several dams will cause an increase in total capacity of more than 600 000 tons of fish in the region. Aquaculture will be an important source of income for the people and the economy of the country, a sum of US $ 1.8 billion of income will be obtained each year.

The research was done to observe open-field cultivation potential for growing melons Cucumis melo L. without covering in two regions of Latvia: Tukums and Cesis. Three varieties of melons 'Zolotistaya', 'Galiley' and 'Kolkhoznica' were used. In all, 15 individuals of each variety were grown at each place - Tukums region and Cesis region. To evaluate growth and development intensity for each variety in each region, the following parameters were measured parameters were measured: length of the main shoot, number of leaves per plant, time of appearance of the first male and female blossom, and number of perished plants. The most suitable variety for the Cesis region was found variety 'Kolhoznica', but for Tukums region - 'Zolotistaya'. The research suggests that variety 'Galiley'is the least suitable for growing in both regions. It was established that successful open-field cultivation of melons in Tukums and Cesis regions is possible only in case of favourable weather conditions. In the year of the investigation, 2004, insufficient sum of effective temperatures limited successful development and yielding of melon.

Genetic evaluation of dairy cattle for milk production based on 305-day lactation yields was compared to the evaluation based on the corresponding test day (TD) yields from the first lactation. The heritability estimates were 0.19, 0.13 and 0.15, respectively for milk yield, fat yield and protein yield, and these parameters are lower than the corresponding ones for the routine genetic evaluation with the lactation model in Latvia. The results of estimated breeding values (EBV) and relative breeding values (RBV) showed relatively high variance for all traits: higher for fat yield and lower for protein yield. The calculation of reliabilities showed that the use of test day model gives higher reliabilities of the estimated breeding values. The reliabilities are higher (about 2 - 4 %) for all traits using TD model on average for all animals and cows. For bulls group with calculated reliabilities of breeding values of at least 50 % for all traits, the measure of accuracy is higher with TD model from 7% for protein yield to 17% for fat yield. The ranking of the best Top 10 sires by TD model is similar to the lactation model. A total of 3 bulls for fat and protein yield are included in rankings of Top 10 both by TD and lactation models. TD yields could be used instead of 305-day yields for the genetic evaluation of dairy cattle. It helps to improve the accuracy of genetic evaluation and does not change ranking of the best sires drastically.