This study describes dynamics in hydrology, morphometry, and water mass movement in Lake Kisezers. The analysis of Lake Kisezers’ morphometry dynamics according to the rapidly changing environment has been carried out. The determination of dynamics in morphometry comes before understanding potential exploitation and environmental sustainability of water body. Lake Kisezers is situated in a densely populated area. Without understanding and deciphering all possible environmental factors influencing Lake Kisezers, the water body can degrade and become of poor environmental quality. Such changes can lead to irreversible changes in the lake ecosystem and degradation of the surrounding landscape. This study aims to identify and explain the elements that influence Lake Kisezers’ hydrological regime, catchment area, and bathymetry. Lake Kisezers is hardly influenced body of water with rapid hydrological and morphometric dynamics. The research is possible due to extensive data availability and the importance of the water body location. Lake Kisezers affects the city of Riga and its surrounding area with a danger of flooding and decreasing land exploration potential. This study results in better understanding in the factors influencing hydrology and morphometry in Lake Kisezers and possible environmental sustainability endangerment in the future. The main impact factor is the connectivity to the River Daugava and its unique hydrological regime. For Lake Kisezers, environmental balance is necessary to continue research and develop a hydrological change model. This study was conducted with fieldwork data and open-source cartographic, geospatial, water level, and mass movement data. The research seeks to understand what is necessary to maintain environmental sustainability in Lake Kisezers.

To meet the rising consumer demand for higher nutrition foods and to increase flake nutritional value and functionality, it is possible to combine cereals with pulses. For consumers, one of the most important quality parameters, along with appearance and taste, is texture. To produce the appropriate quality of flakes, the knowledge about the relationship between chemical composition, processing parameters, and texture is necessary. The aim of this study was to characterise the role of cereal and pulse constituents and processing technologies in flake texture development, which could be used in flake production for achieving the appropriate hardness and crunchiness of new products. The monographic method was used to characterise the constituent and processing technology`s role in cereal and pulse flake texture development. Information published from 2003 till 2022, in total 77 full text research articles, books and databases were analysed and summarised. Data analysed show if pulse and cereal nutritional information, mineral and vitamin content is known, it is possible to combine different cereals and pulses to provide a specific nutrient composition in the developed products. The main change in high starch products is a specific gelatinization and retrogradation behaviour of starch. Constituents such as lipids and proteins as well as processing technology and parameters, can significantly modify the properties and functionality of starch. Proteins can encapsulate starch granules, inhibit starch digestion and gelatinization, reduce starch structural order, and inhibit starch retrogradation.

Bumblebee activity interaction with solar irradiation, solar irradiation and HPS lighting irradiation, the HPS effect of photoperiod, day temperature and hive density were assessed with tomato fruit weights in a commercial tomato glass greenhouse in 2020–2021. Pollination activity was measured by observing ten randomly chosen cv. ‘Be orange’ tomato plants and by counting bumblebee bruised tomato flowers. MANOVA was conducted between factors and bee activity, followed by Pearson’s correlation. A Mann-Whitney U test was calculated to determine the significance between tomato flower bruising levels and fruit weights, followed by Cliff’s delta (d). Pollination activity decreased mainly in December and January when solar irradiation decreased to below 110 J cmE−2 dayE−1. Bumblebee activity was significantly affected by solar irradiation with HPS lighting (p is less than 0.001; p is less than 0.01). There was a significant correlation between bumblebee activity and solar irradiation (r= 0.75; p is less than 0.05), and solar irradiation with HPS lighting (r= 0.70; p is less than 0.05). There was no correlation between bumblebee activity and fruit weights (r= −0.20; p is less than 0.05). Bruised flowers had significantly greater fruit weight increases (165.7 g) compared to unbruised flowers (123.4 g) (d= 0.12; p is less than 0.05). Bee activity rates between 60% and 80% can be concluded as an effective rate for tomato growers. Bumblebees need at least 110–154 J cmE−2 dayE−1 of solar irradiation to achieve a high pollination activity rate in temperate climate zones during the winter season.

The aim of the publication is to develop theoretical and methodological foundations and practical recommendations for determining the efficiency of biotechnological processes with the subsequent justification of technical parameters to ensure a high level of viability of bio-objects. In the course of the conducted scientific research, the criteria of quality function were defined and formalised, in accordance with which the conditions of biotechnological processes of laser division of embryo were formulated as a single case in the realisation of the economic mechanism of biotechnology. This makes it possible to ensure a high level of cattle (cattle) productivity, reduce the time for the reproduction of livestock and reduce the costs of movement, trade and transportation of cattle. The quality function of the biotechnological process of laser division of embryo is formulated on the basis of criterion of non-exceeding of the temperature field in cells of blastomeres and the predetermined acceptable value that allowed one to take into account the main parameters and to propose the criterion of biotechnological process optimisation. As a promising task for the development of the bioeconomy as an economic mechanism in implementing biotechnologies, the necessity of determining the quality function by formalising the integral indicator of efficiency has been established, This enables one to ensure a high level of commercialisation of biotechnologies, to increase the productivity of agricultural animals, and to suggest alternative methods for the quick renewal of livestock.

This study aimed to identify the most characteristic trends in the area of fodder production and the use of fodder as factors in the development of animal husbandry in Ukraine under conditions of war as the modern challenge for these industries. Russian military aggression is a powerful challenge for the economy of Ukraine, including its fodder production, as well as other countries of the world, reflecting on the aggravation of global problems of food shortages and food security. The effect of the mentioned challenge in Ukraine is superimposed on the identified negative trends and situation, which were formed before the beginning of 2022. Calculations based on them show that the occupation of large areas of Ukraine by Russian aggressors and hostilities caused a significant decrease in the production of livestock products due to a 13–17% decrease in the number of animals. Accordingly, consumption of fodder at the expense of these regions decreased by 16%. However, the situation is very dynamic as the war continues. Given the limitations of state support for the industry, until the end of the war the main efforts to improve fodder production in Ukraine should objectively be related to the maximum optimization of the structure of fodder rations by increasing the share of less energy-intensive forages. Every challenge creates new opportunities, therefore the post-war development of fodder production and use in Ukraine will become highly innovative.

In the 21st century, urban agriculture renews and diversifies approaches to the practice within the context of urban regeneration, climate change risks, and sustainable development and resource consumption balance problems. Influenced by the long historical evolution and intensification of various risks, food production in urban areas involves the widest multifunctionality to date. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the main functions of urban agriculture and to evaluate their significance in Latvia. The following tasks were set to achieve the aim: 1) to identify and classify functions of urban agriculture, 2) to analyse the performance and significance of functions in Latvia. Several methods were employed to perform tasks and achieve the aim: the monographic and descriptive methods for making a theoretical discussion; the analysis, synthesis and deduction methods for obtaining information, systematisation and classification of functions; a structured expert interview for rating and ranking functions and identifying interactions between them. The research identified 14 functions of urban agriculture, which were classified into 5 groups: political, economic, social, environmental and technological. The most significant functions of urban agriculture in Latvia are social (promotion of social cohesion and public health, education and maintaining traditions and values) and technological innovations. There are interactions between all functions, and support for urban sustainability, education, provision of ecosystem services and technological innovations have the strongest impact on other functions. Interactions of functions proved the multifunctionality of urban agriculture, which could be an important support tool to contributing to sustainable urban development.

Lymphoma is a malignant tumour commonly diagnosed in dogs representing 7-24% of all canine tumours. There have been no previous studies focused on characterization of canine lymphoma cases in Latvia. The goals of this retrospective study were to determine prevalence and characteristics of lymphoma cases among biopsy submissions to a private veterinary pathology service that receives approximately 80% of all biopsy submission in Latvia and to compare this data with published canine lymphoma reviews. Data were retrieved to select records from Latvian dogs diagnosed with lymphoma between 2011 and 2020, determining characteristics of dogs and types of lymphoma based on anatomic distribution and cellular morphology. In a ten-year study period, diagnosis of lymphoma constituted 1–4% of surgical biopsy submissions each year without upwards trend. Affected dogs were middle age (median 8 years; range 2–13), with a slight male predominance (58%). The majority of dogs (19%) were mixed breed. Top 3 affected dog breeds were Rottweiler, American Staffordshire terrier and French bulldog with 6–7 cases in each breed. Multicentric form of lymphoma predominated (55%) followed by alimentary and mucocutaneous lymphoma (21% and 14%, respectively). Within multicentric form of lymphoma two thirds were intermediate to large cell lymphomas. Included in this group would be diffuse large B cell lymphomas, the most common subtype of canine lymphomas; however, lack of immunohistochemical testing precluded complete lymphoma classification according to WHO guidelines. Results of this study correlate well with the previously published results and provide important information to Latvian small animal veterinarians and pathologists.

Q fever is a widespread disease affecting reproduction in dairy cattle. Several risk factors can increase the possibility of the herd becoming infected and the persistence of infection. The aim of this study was to characterise the dynamics of C. burnetii infection in affected herds and to evaluate reproduction problems and risk factors using a questionnaire within infected and infection-free dairy herds. In total, 25 farms that were serologically positive or shedding C. burnetii DNA in milk and 14 C. burnetii infection-free farms in Latvia answered the questionnaire. Ten positive herds were studied by testing individual blood and milk samples from up to 10 animals at two times separated by 7.5 to 13 months. The number of serologically positive and suspicious animals was higher in the second sampling even though several animals were culled. In the positive herds, the percentage of dystocia, stillborn calves and abortions during the last year was significantly (p=0.001; 0.01; 0.005, respectively) higher than in the negative herds. Several significant factors were found for the presence of Q fever infection, such as the herd size, the regional population density of ruminants, artificial ventilation systems, and frequent farm visitors. Deratisation was less practised in the negative farms and the presence of ticks was observed more often in the negative farms. Only two identified risk factors can be mitigated – the ventilation system and frequent farm visitors. The other factors cannot be changed arbitrarily but they have to be taken into account by decision makers.

The apple scab induced by Venturia inaequalis is an economically significant disease of apples worldwide and is predominantly controlled by multiple fungicide applications. Therefore, resistant apple cultivation is important for long-standing disease control. The knowledge about cultivar resistance is mainly founded on their evaluation in orchard conditions and testing in a greenhouse that is laborious and requires a large space. This study evaluated apple cultivar resistance and the virulence of V. inaequalis strains by inoculating detached leaves and immature fruits. Nine V. inaequalis strains originating from different apple-growing regions and host genotypes were tested on eight apple genotypes. Microscopic and macroscopic symptom development and host tissue reactions were monitored during the experiments. The tested V. inaequalis strains and cultivars showed different levels of virulence and resistance, respectively. Cultivar ‘Lobo’ was scored as partially susceptible, with almost all strains tested. The incompatible interaction with or without host tissue reactions was observed only on the cultivar ‘Priscilla’ with all the strains and field populations tested. The results of this study using detached leaves and immature fruits were concordant with the data obtained in the cultivar evaluation trials in the orchards..