Considering the deficiencies of social services for the elderly in governmental institutions and growing demand of ensuring services in rural areas, the paper aims to assess the needs of elderly people for social services in the selected rural areas and to propose the social services’ development opportunities in terms of domestic help for the elderly. The social services facilitate support to elderly dependents in their homes, without interrupting their relationships with the family and the community, and improving their quality of life. The survey has shown that the municipality usually satisfies only basic biological needs of old people in rural areas. In order to ensure the well-being of elderly people, a complete cooperation among governmental and non-governmental institutions is required. Development of the services should be focused on the provision of the domestic help services for elderly people who do not receive them, and the diversity of the services for those residents who receive services from the municipality. The implementation of the development project of the domestic help services would enable the elderly residents of the rural municipality to have access to the most necessary services at the required frequency and intensity, considering the recipients’ needs, thus improving the quality of life of the elderly people of local community and ensuring their dignified ageing.

Nowadays the need for a qualitative, accessible and varied lifelong learning is becoming more and more necessary. In Latvia, different institutions take part in the implementation of lifelong learning; however, in spite of the negative factors of demography and migration, changes of work force supply and demand, investment and information shortage, the role of universities has not been properly investigated. The role of higher education in lifelong learning was studied in 9 state universities of Latvia in the period of 2013 – 2015. Monographic analysis and method of synthesis, data statistical research methods – grouping, comparison, relative and average indicators, as well as dynamics line analysis was used in the article. The study proved that the number of occupied work places has increased in 2015. However, it has not reached the average of ten and seven years since 2006 and 2009. Comparing with the free vacancies, the number of them has increased by 2164, especially in the profession group specialists and senior specialists, which as well as executives, is the target audience of universities, which in its turn is a lifelong learning event insufficiently used potential. The universities have suffered because of demographic and migration factors: the rate of student number increases (-9.4%). In order to reach the goals of education politics, universities try to direct education function from studies to lifelong learning; they try to improve existing lifelong learning courses and programs, as well as to propose new ones in order to offer something for workforce corrections.

Nowadays, when the general rate of unemployment in Latvia is not that high anymore, there are still a lot of people who are unemployed for many years and during all those years they are abusing the budget of municipality by receiving social benefits. The aim of the article was to examine the way how the long-term unemployed social benefit receivers assess the meaning of support in job searching. On the basis of The Theory of Planned Behaviour a questionnaire was developed by the authors, 37 long-term unemployed social benefit receivers registered in Riga Social Service were asked to take part in the survey and gave informed consent. The results show that the respondents who are longer unemployed receive more support from their families. Statistically significant correlations (p=0.03) were found between the duration of unemployment and person’s determination to search a job, the unemployed who are longer without a job are less active in job searching process. Direct support in the job searching process is deeply connected with the possibility to share individual’s thoughts and emotions with the family. There is no statistically significant correlation between men and women responses.

A study using participatory epidemiology (PE) methodologies was conducted in West Pokot and Baringo districts, Northern Rift Valley, Kenya to assess the status of East Coast Fever (ECF) and obtain livestock keepers’ perceptions of how the disease impacts on their livelihoods. A total of 658 livestock keepers comprising of 480 men and 178 women were invited to participate in community meetings held in twenty two purposively selected locations each in West Pokot and Baringo. Fifty six percent of the livestock keepers were from West Pokot while the remaining 54 percent were from Baringo District. Nearly all the households in both communities depended on cattle keeping as the major source of livelihood. The activity was ranked as priority enterprise by 96.2% and 93.3% of the groups in West Pokot and Baringo district respectively. Cattle diseases were identified as the main constraint affecting production and in particular, ECF and trypanosomosis were reported as the most important compared to other diseases. The informants were relatively consistent in estimating the impact of cattle diseases on derived benefits. There was good agreement among the various groups with coefficient of concordance (W) values ranging between 0.43 and 0.60 (p < 0:05 – p < 0.01). East Coast fever was found to have the greatest impact. Based on the findings from this study, there is need for stakeholders in the livestock industry to develop control strategies for ECF control that are supportive to the production system in a particular the region.

The objective of this study was to determine factors associated with occurrence of trypanosomosis in the first generation (F1) crossbreds between trypanotolerant Orma Boran and trypanosusceptible Teso zebu cattle in a trypanosomosis endemic area in Teso District, western Kenya. The offspring were screened for trypanosomosis and other haemoparasites using parasitological methods. Packed cell volume (PCV), body weights and tsetse density (FTD) were also determined. Factors considered in the analysis included sex, age, body weight and season of the year. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were used for multivariable analysis to account for clustering of observations at the animal level and estimate outcome variance parameters. The overall trypanosomosis prevalence was 2.3% (n=477) probably corresponding to low FTD in the area (<1fly/trap/day). The risk of trypanosomosis infection was higher in dry than wet season (OR = 5.4) and in older than younger offspring (OR = 1.1). The variance parameters obtained indicated that variation of trypanosomosis prevalence lay only at the animal level. Intercurrent haemoparasites detected included Anaplasma marginale, Theileria and Babesia species. Overall, the results suggested that when the tsetse density is very low, control of trypanosomosis in the Orma-Teso zebu offspring in western Kenya require targeting of individual affected animals in the dry seasons.

Sub-Saharan African goats with an estimated population of 180 millions are major asset for farmer communities in a range of agro-ecological zones. This study was undertaken to determine the genetic diversity in and differentiation of relationships among 18 populations of goats from Uganda (4), Tanzania (5), Kenya (2), Mozambique (2), Nigeria (3), Mali (1) and Guinea Bissau (1). Heterozygosity, estimates of FST, genetic diversity and distances were performed using data from 11 microsatellite DNA loci. Expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.450 in Guinea Bissau population to 0.541 in Mbeya population (Tanzania), while the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.441 in Pafuri population (Mozambique) to 0.560 in Sebei population (Uganda). Mean number of alleles (MNA) per population ranged from 3.82 to 5.91. Gene differentiation (FST) among populations was low (5.3%), a result confirmed by genetic distances (DA). Our results reveal that genetic relationships between populations reflect their geographical proximity rather than morphological classification.

Objectives of this study were to compare costs and expected benefits of feed supplementation in cattle with alternative shrub legumes during the dry season using as a case study the hillsides of Central Nicaragua. The information used was gathered in a survey of 32 farms in the states of Boaco and Chontales in Central Nicaragua. The survey was designed to determine herd structure, land use patterns, milk and beef production, and use of inputs for animal nutrition, in order to estimate production, reproductive parameters and employment of family/contracted labor, as well as indicators of profitability of the alternatives under study. To calculate the economic return to the investment in alternative forages, a simulation model that applies optimization techniques through linear programming, implemented as a spreadsheet, was used to perform an ex ante evaluation of the costs and benefits of different land use alternatives and of interactions between technological components and biological productivity. The model compares the costs and benefits of the traditional feeding system versus an improved feeding system. The traditional system consists of grazing naturalized pastures (Hyparrhenia rufa) during the rainy season. In the dry season producers supplement the herd with small areas of king grass (Pennisetum spp.). The improved feeding system consists of establishing forage legumes for dry season feeding as a supplement to replace king grass during the dry season. Supplements to evaluate are the shrub legume Calliandra calothyrsus as partial replacement of the herbaceous high quality legume Vigna unguiculata, commonly known as Cowpea. Under the new feeding system, herd size can be increased by 60% due in part to the increase in stocking rate as well as to the increase in the quality of the diet offered with higher protein content. This increase in herd size raises both milk and beef output that generates an increase in farm income by 1.8 times more (i.e., from $1,314/farm/yr to $2,386). The economic return to family labor is increased by 20% to $ 5.26/day equivalent to 2.3 times higher than the local wage rate. The adoption of Vigna (Cowpea) after the harvest of maize/beans and a shrub legume as Calliandra to replace king grass seem to have the potential to significantly improve the productivity in smallholder farms. with the resulting increase in the economic return to family labor.

Methane is considered to be the main greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted by livestock. One method for reducing methane emissions from ruminants is to improve production efficiency, which reduces methane emissions per unit of product (FAO, 2010; Gworgwor, Mbahi, and Yakubu, 2006). There are many researches about prebiotics which can reduce methane production in livestock, for example, galacto-oligosaccharides reduced methane emission up to 11% (litres/day) (Zhou et al., 2004). There is almost no information about prebiotic inulin, so the aim of this research was to determine the impact of different dosages of inulin concentrate (50%) on the increase of calves’ body weight and its impact on methane emission, as well as to find out how the results change if it is added to barley flour not to milk as in our previous research. Approximately fifty days old, clinically healthy, different Holstein Friesian crossbreed calves kept in groups of 8, in a partly closed space with natural ventilation through windows were included in this research. Eight calves were in the control group (CoG) and sixteen received inulin (Pre12 (n = 8), Pre24 (n = 8)). At the beginning of the experiment – the 28th and 56th day - we determined each calf’s weight and measured the methane level in the rumen by using the PICARROG-2508 gas analyser (Fleck, 2013). We concluded that inulin supplement significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased the live weight gain comparing Pre24 and CoG. The highest methane production on 1 kg of body weight at the end of the research was detected in Pre24 – 1.24 mg mE-3 and the lowest in CoG – 0.99 mg mE-3.

This work deals with the baking quality of the spelt wheat grain (Triticum spelta L.) compared with bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Mixed flours were made of different share of spelt wheat and bread wheat (in total 11 mixtures) in 2016 in the Česke Budejovice in the laboratories of the Faculty of Agriculture. The technological quality of these mixtures was analysed, focusing on standard evaluation methods (protein content, characteristic of gluten or swellability of protein). The analysis was supplemented by complete rheological analysis made by Mixolab II. Bread was used as a model product. Subsequently, sensory evaluation of baked bread from the previously prepared mixtures was done. Part of the analysis was to estimate the economic basic bread recipe with different proportions of bread wheat and spelt wheat. The results were statistically analysed via STATISTICA 9.1 (StatSoft, Inc., USA). It was proved that the flour made of spelt can give cereal products with a higher nutritional value. The results have shown that the spelt grain is much more suitable for baking. Its advantage is the higher protein content and higher resistance of kneading of the dough and starch gelatinization rate, which was statistically confirmed. The main disadvantage is the higher price of spelt. According to the results, the ideal utilization of spelt wheat based on sensory analysis and economic calculations seems to be the mixture of spelt wheat and bread wheat, which results in an undeniable decrease of the product cost, and hence effects the common customer choice and taste preferences.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the main crops grown in Latvia. Nitrogen fertilizer is one of the most important factors affecting the acquired yield and its quality. The aim of this paper is to describe the nitrogen fertilization impact on winter wheat yield and yield components under two soil tillage systems and after two forecrops. Field trials were carried out at Research and Study farm ‘Peterlauki’ of Latvia University of Agriculture (56° 30.658°C N and 23° 41.580°C E) in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. Researched factors were (1) crop rotation (continuous wheat and wheat/oilseed rape (Brassica napus ssp. oleifera), (2) soil tillage (traditional soil tillage with mould-board ploughing at a depth of 22 – 24 cm and reduced soil tillage with disc harrowing at a depth below 10 cm), and (3) nitrogen fertilizer rate (N0 or control, N60, N90, N120(90+30), N150(90+60), N180(90+60+30), N210(90+70+50), and N240(120+60+60). Results showed that the nitrogen fertilization significantly increased winter wheat grain yield after both forecrops and in both soil tillage variants. Grain yield significantly increased until the nitrogen fertilizer rate N180. Nitrogen fertilizer significantly affected all tested yield components. Values of yield components increased enhancing N-rate of N150 – N180. The forecrop had a significant impact on wheat yield and 1000 grain weight (both increased when wheat was sown after oilseed rape). Yield and grain number per ear were significantly higher when conventional tillage was used, but number of ears per square m – when the reduced tillage was used.