Staphylococci and Salmonella bacteria have the influence on the quality of the compost. The samples of the compost were taken before and after the period of low outside temperature (till -20 deg C) to obtain different numbers of Staphylococci and Salmonella bacteria. Comparing to the data at the end of 2005, the number of Salmonella sp. at the beginning of 2006 decreased till zero, but the number of Staphylococcus aureus at the beginning of 2006 increased. The results showed that low outside temperature does not impede the functioning of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

Analysis of statistical reports provided by the Statistical Department of Lithuania shows that a rapidly increasing number of agricultural enterprises are using computers for the preparation of documents and processing of accounts, and the internet for sourcing information and sending correspondence to business partners and other institutions. There is also a steady increase in the number of a-services, such as transference of payments, which are available via the internet. To identify the needs of agricultural specialists and rural citizens for e-services, a survey of available on-line services and potentially necessary e-services was carried out in August 2004. On the basis of these responses, the e-services of most importance to agricultural institutions and rural citizens now and in the near future were identified. These results also could be useful for other newly-joined EU countries of central and Eastern Europe.

The efficiency of solving of the state environmental protection policy and implementation of the environmental problems are closely related to identification of the existing problems of the environmental protection in a definite territory. In the rural territories this process depends on the process of agricultural production. In the society, alongside with the opinion about necessity of sustainable development there is also an opinion that the primary goal is to attain total economic increase even if it can damage the environment itself. Analyzing definite indices of the effect of agriculture on the environment, it is possible to evaluate changes in the development of the branch and the environmental condition as well as their mutual interrelation.

The article analyzes the diversification types, forms and their choice conditioned by the inner and outer environmental factors in agriculture business organizations. The analysis of the agriculture census data showed that external diversification of agriculture business organizations is more popular compared to internal diversification. The former diversification ensures extra incomes and higher employment of human resources without additional investment and with minimal risk. Wage labour is the main form of the external diversification. The internal diversification implements 5.9 % of agriculture business organizations. Mostly these organizations choose closely related forms of internal diversification (non-traditional agriculture, ecological agriculture). Above mentioned agriculture business organizations are aimed of the synergy in more rational usage of available inner resources and less activity risk. The diversification of agricultural business organizations activity (when applying unrelated forms, e.g., wood reprocess and trade of wood ware, crafts, rural tourism) prevails in unfavourable for farming localities and is characteristic to organizations with higher intellectual and management potential.

Currently public services become more and more significant in procurement of daily activities of each inhabitant and the entire society. Therefore optimal solutions of the regulatory issues are the topic of the day. Objective of the article is to analyse regulatory systems of the provision of water and waste water utilities in Latvia and in other countries, to draw conclusions derived from the analyses and put forward suggestions for the choice of the most appropriate regulatory system in the local governments of Latvia. The hypotheses advanced in the study have proved that each country may use its own discretion when selecting the regulatory system for water and waste water utilities.

During processing of aromatized rapeseed oils, volatiles from the added spices migrate in oil and give specific taste and aroma to oils, but there are no investigations about volatile compound migration in oil. The aim of this research was to determine volatile compounds in oils aromatized with basil, oregano, and thyme. In basil 43 volatile compounds, in oregano - 39, and in thyme - 37 volatile compounds were identified. In oil aromatized with basil - 8, in oil aromatized with oregano - 20, and in oil aromatized with thyme 11 volatile compounds were identified. From the total amount of identified compounds in spices, 23-30% of volatiles found in thyme migrated in oil aromatized with thyme, from oregano in oil migrated 12-15% of volatiles, but from basil in oil aromatized with basil - only 5% of volatiles. More volatile compounds as camphene, alpha-pinene, and alpha-thujene migrate in oil better than less volatile compounds like methyl chavicol, and thymal. Migration of the same compound in oil from various spices differed. It could be explained by the location of the volatile compound in plant structure.

The task of the research was to study the chemical composition of sea buckthorn and raspberry marc as well as of high milling wheat bread with berry marc. Wheat bread, i.e. the control sample and the bread samples with 3%, 5% and 7% (from the flour mass) of raspberry and sea buckthorn marc, was baked in the experimental bakery. The content of sugar, fat, protein, fibre and titratable acids was determined by using standard methods. The content of vitamin E, carotene, pectin and phenol compounds was determined by using spectrophotometric method. The obtained results prove that sea buckthorn and raspberry marc have fibre, fat, sugar acids, carotene, phenol compounds, vitamin E, and pectin. The content of fibre and carotene increased in wheat bread samples when raspberry and sea buckthorn marc was added. Depending on the amount of marc added to the bread, the changes in the content of fat, sugar, and carotene in wheat bread samples were studied. The wheat bread with raspberry and sea buckthorn marc contained vitamin E and phenol compounds.

The possibility to use cranberry juice for acidification of water in the process of beer making instead of traditionally used acidifiers is researched in this work. The output of mail extract received from cranberry juice with acidity regulator is 21.84%. Physicochemical parameters of mash and beer have been defined. The developed method is recommendable for beer production at small enterprises and in home environment.

The research of feed components of minks (frozen fish and meat offal, dried haemoglobin, dried protein, wheat, barley, wheat and barley meal), and ready-mixed mink feed were investigated by mycological method in Sabouraud's Agar and Czapek Agar. The mycological examination of mink feedstuffs veriffed its contamination with Acremoniella atra, Alternaria spp., Aspergillus spp., Aureobasidium pullulans, Candida spp., Chaetomium spp., Cladosporium spp., Coremiella cubispora, Crysonilia sitophila, Curvularia spp., Fusarium spp., Gliocladium spp., Moniliella acetoabutans, Mortierella spp., Mucor spp., Penicillium spp., Sporothrix cyanescens, Stemphylium spp., Trichophyton terrestre, Zygosporium masonii, and Wangiella spp. Mycological examination of the mink liver, lungs and kidneys showed contamination with Acremonium spp., Actinomyces israelli, Arthrographis kalrae, Aspergillus spp., Aureobasidium pullulans, Candida spp., Chaetomium spp., Cladosporium bantianum, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Conidiobolus coronatus, Curvularia spp., Emmonsia spp., Fonsecaea pedrosoi, Geotrichum candidum, Mucor spp., Penicillium spp., Scedosporium prolificans, Sporothrix cyanescens, and Wangiella spp.

The most obvious application of satellite images in forestry areas and generating forests maps with particular emphasis on identifying temporarily non-forested areas and mapping forest clear-cuts. The aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of attributes describing forest clear-cut patch size, patch shape, and habitat conditions on classification results and map forest clear-cuts in Latvian and Estonian boundary area. The satellite images used were medium spatial resolution Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images made in plain snow cover conditions in late winter. The boundary area was represented by Aluksne region in Latvia and by Voru County in Estonia. Clear -cut areas as changed areas in forests were discerned from non-changed areas with image differencing method that has proved itself as one of the most often used methods in land use and land cover change detection.