This article reveals the importance of social infrastructure (hereinafter SI) services to rural people, overall rural development and its interface with green economy in Poland and Lithuania. Social infrastructure services are recognized as basic services which are useful and used by people in everyday life regardless of where people live. Development of these services is a key issue when it is analysed in the rural context because it includes various services for local community, facilities, relationships and networks which is not always the focus even in scientific discourse. Social infrastructure services can be considered as important element of rural people integration, fostering their capabilities and acknowledging human rights. The research question of this article is – how the importance of social infrastructure services in rural areas appears? The aim of the research is to disclose the importance of social infrastructure services in rural areas. There were used both theoretical and empirical research methods exploring the evaluations about of social infrastructure services in Poland and Lithuania by using empirical data from European Social Survey. The research results disclosed that the differences between two countries are not very strong and between rural and urban areas are slightly noticeable in some aspects. In Poland the state of education services in rural areas and small towns was rated little higher than in Lithuania, while perception of health services is much better in Lithuania, especially in big cities. Lithuanian residents trust the police more than Polish people but their feeling of safety is noticeably lower.

Colletotrichum spp. is a significant strawberry fruit pathogen, causing yield losses of up to 80% - growing resistance to pesticides demands to new, environmentally-friendly plant protection. Essential oils (EO) are one of the biological plant protection products suitable for pathogens control. The antimicrobial and antifungal activity of EO, biodegradability and low toxicity, make it potential for use in plant protection against pathogens instead of chemicals. The present study was carried out to investigate the antifungal effects of Salvia officinalis and Picea abies essential oils against strawberry Colletotrichum spp. The research carried at the LAMMC Institute of Horticulture. The bio-fungicidal effect was assessed based on radial growth inhibitions. There were evaluated several EO concentrations: 1000-1800 µl/l. Single-spore isolate fragment placed in the centre of PDA with different concentrations. Plates were incubated at oils 25 o C in darkness and evaluated after 2, 4, 7 days. S. officinalis and P. abies EO showed inhibitory effect on Colletotrichum spp. mycelial development. The S. officinalis inhibitory effect was more than 50% in all concentrations. The present study revealed that highest 1800 μl/l S. officinalis EO concentration Colletotrichum spp. colony diameter was significantly lower (1.84 cm) compared with control (5.75 cm). However, P. abies inhibition more than 50 % were only in concentrations from 1600 μl/l. According to our results, treatment with EO can reduce the growth of Colletotrichum spp. and EO could be an effective potential bio-fungicide to control strawberry anthracnose. EO as bio-fungicides characteristics is their natural origin and low risk for resistance development.

Currently, the agricultural sector is facing new challenges. In addition to meeting the population's food needs in sufficient quantity and quality, it must fulfill new energy and environmental functions as well as other non-food uses such as biomaterials and biomolecules. At the regional scale, there is an increase of non-food valorization projects of biomass, including the methanisation plants. In France, the methanisation sector is in full swing with a national target of 1,000 plants by 2020, as defined in the Energy Methanisation Nitrogen Energy plan (EMAA). The development of methanisation sector generates a regional dynamic involving different stakeholders and linking various business sectors. Then the regional methanisation becomes a collective process in which farmers, industrialists, waste managers and local communities are engaged. The objective of this communication consists on understanding the socio-economic conditions in which this kind of regional projects have emerged. For this purpose, the “Centrale de Biométhane du Vermandois”, a regional methanisation plant in the north of France was studied. This analysis contributes to identify the nature of the expectations of the actors engaged, to better understand the governance in place and the decision-making processes surrounding the project. The results show the success factors but also the difficulties of implementation and development of the project. The results also highlight the main motivations of farmers to join the biogas project.

Latvia's forest reference level (FRL) should take in account the future impact of dynamic age-related forest characteristics in order to avoid unduly constraining the forest management intensity as a core element of sustainable forest management practice, with the aim of maintaining or strengthening long-term carbon sinks. The basic for calculations of GHG projections is AGM (Forest growth model) and EPIM (Emissions Projections and Inventory Model). The scope of the study is to verify applicability of the AGM model in elaboration of the forestry projections for elaboration of the FRL according to regulation (EU) 2018/841.

Jerusalem artichoke is suitable for use in biorefineries due to the very high biomass production and low soil, climate and cultivation requirements. Tubers of this species can be used for the production of methane fermentation or bioethanol. The aboveground part can be used for the production of biomethane, as well as in the direct combustion process or for the production of briquettes and pellets. Of the cultivars tested, Albik and Violet de Rennes proved to be the most useful for energy purposes. An important advantage of Jerusalem artichoke is its resistance to adverse climatic conditions (drought, frost), resistance to diseases and pests and the possibility of self-renewal.

Maintaining soil fertility is one of the main objectives of agricultural production. An important factor in soil fertility is its optimal structure. For the minimum cultivation of soil widely used equipped with spherical cut-off discs heavy harrows. The purpose of their use, along with others, in the cultivation of heavy soils, for example, chernozems, is the depression of soil boulders and, thus, the optimal structure. In the conditions of intensification of agricultural production under the influence of such soil-working tools in the cultivation of malocontuitive sod-podzolic soils and running gears of mobile equipment, the destruction of the soil structure, the reduction of the number of agronomically valuable water-supply units, and the spread of soil. Thus, for the cultivation of such soils, it is necessary to use discs of another profile, which would ensure the minimum destruction of agronomically valuable watertight aggregates. In order to create such a working body, the process of structuring the agronomically valuable water-conserving aggregates, factors influencing it and analyzing the energy criteria for the formation of a water-tight structure is considered. The features, which arise during mechanical cultivation of soil, influence of cultivation on its structure and features of the stress-strain state of soil are studied. A mathematical model is developed that allows calculating the stress state of the soil and designing the most rational form of disk working bodies. In the conducted studies, the influence of the depth of cultivation, the number of cutouts, the size of the cutout angle and the length of the chord of the projection were studied. On the basis of the developed mathematical model, a rational profile of the disk working organ for the cultivation of small-coupling sod-podzolic soils was obtained and its tests were performed, which showed a decrease of the erosion-dangerous particles of the soil by (<0,25 mm)  24%.

The aim of this study is to compare productivity and costs of medium-sized and small-sized harvesters in pre-commercial thinning. In this study the data on harvesting productivity were obtained in stands, where biofuel was prepared using two medium-sized and two small-sized harvesters equipped with different harvester heads. In total 677 m3 of wood was prepared with medium-sized harvester, but with small-sized harvesters 1 164 m3 of wood was prepared. Although the total annual costs of small-class harvesters are lower by 16 %, comparing with middle-class harvesters, the productivity rates shown by the middle-class harvester John Deere 1070 E (equipped with H 754 harvester head) are significantly higher and the average wood preparation costs are lower, comparing with the other harvesters employed.  

The main objective of the article is to present the level of education in some selected countries, and to explain how education determines a sustainable growth. Education is the main factor to achieve both economic and employment growth. At the same time, education plays an important role for a sustainable improvement of the standard of living in the world. Supporting education is also one of the aims of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Goal 4), but education appears in a number of other SDG targets too. The countries that allocate the most capital for education are Norway, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland (over 6.7% of GDP). The share of GDP allocated for education in Romania is only 2.7. This directly affects both the physical conditions for carrying out educational and research activities in school units and the qualitative level of the educational act. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between the real GDP/capita (VAR01) and share of GDP for education (VAR02) for our study is 0.694, which again underlines the close correlation between the allocation of funds for education and research and the level of development from a country. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between supporting education from GDP and top 100 universities is relatively low (r = 0.287), reflecting an insufficient correlation between the two variables. As a result, the education system in a country must be adjusted and supported both financially and through the adoption of viable policy decisions that will ensure increased performance in the educational system.

Aim of this study is to develop a method for automatic shallow drainage ditch generation to drain terrain depressions using four factor least cost surface which is obtained using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data and Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite imagery. LiDAR data are used for depression mapping in DEM, flow accumulation and slope modelling as well as CHM (canopy height model) to obtain relative vegetation height. Sentinel-2 imagery was used for land cover type identification as well as separating coniferous and deciduous forest stands. Study area is located in western Latvia and is 25 km2 large. Least cost surface connects DEM depressions and already existing drainage ditches by best possible path for shallow ditch network digging. Different methods are applied to determine depressions which can be drained as well as changes of affected drained area and depression depth. This results in suitable areas where to create shallow ditches to improve water runoff. Results show that using this method average reduction of area of depressions is 79% and average length of shallow ditches on each drained depression hectare is 370 m.

Rumen is a complex ecosystem where feed consumed by animals is digested by the help of rumen protozoa. They plays an important role in contributing nutrients to the host animal. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of unicellular microalgae Chlorella vulgaris spp. on total count and generic composition of protozoa in cows rumen. In this study, dietary treatments were tested during three 21-d experimental periods. Each of period content different amount of microalgae supplement. In the first experimental period in cows feed was added 30g (3,14g/kg of DM) of Chlorella, in second period-90g (9,6g/kg of DM) of Chlorella and in third period-170g (18,7 g/kg of DM). As a result of this study, ciliates of 10 genera were detected and identified. The number of this genera and total amount of ciliates were counted. The analysis of rumen protozoa population in tested cows shows visible effect of the presence of microalgae in cows dietary. In particular, the density of ciliates protozoa of the cows treated with 90 and 170 g of algal supplement was visibly higher compare to results from the control diet. Microalgae-based supplement diet had stimulative effect on ruminal protozoa population and caused increasing of many protozoa genera such as Isotricha, Dasytricha, Charonina, Buetschlia, Ostracodinium, Ophryoscolex.