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Plant perception of soil heterogeneity in the field
Hrouda, Adam ; Weiser, Martin (advisor) ; Martínková, Jana (referee)
Nutrients are usually patchily distributed in natural soils. Plants are often able to respond to nutrient heterogeneity in artificial conditions by active plastic changes of root system morphology. The occurrence or magnitude of a foraging response can be altered by the presence of competition. However, it is unclear to what extent root foraging takes place in the field. I conducted a field experiment in order to determine the effect of an artificial nutrient patch on fine belowground biomass of (a) an established community and (b) model plants. The study array consisted of a grid of 30×30 cm plots with model plants located in the centre. Half of the plots contained the artificial patch located 5.5 cm from the model plant. Fertilizer patch treatment did not increase mean plot fine underground biomass. Instead, fine underground biomass was higher in places of greater soil moisture estimated from mean plot EIVs. Neither total model plant root biomass nor proportion of roots in the enriched quarter increased in the fertilizer treatment. Competition was probably higher in fertilized than in control plots judging by a 2-fold increase in death rate of model plants. However, greater proportion of model plants flowered in the treatment plots. Possible causes include a plastic response to the patch as well...
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Phosphorus recovery from liquid digestate
Heger, Jan ; Procházková, Michaela (referee) ; Touš, Michal (advisor)
The focus of this thesis is the posibility of obtaining phosphorus from liquid digestate. The theoretical part of the thesis is focused on summarizing the current situation regarding phosphorus recovery. The research summarizes the essential information about the method of struvite precipitation, by which phoshphorus is obtained in the form of struvite, which can be further used as a fertilizer. Based on the process information, an experimental device was designed to obtain phosphorus in the form of struvite, corresponding to industry standards. It is a cylindrical vessel with a conical bottom, in which the liquid digestate with the chemicals is mixed with a stirrer. The functionality of the device was tested experimentally on the created device. The results of the experiment were analyzed by XPS method, which confirmed the formation of struvite. For future operation, modifications of the device and pre-treatment of the liquid digestate were proposed, which could improve the whole process and its results.
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Utilization of recycled brick waste for growing the agricultural plants
Šmírová, Barbora ; Másilko, Jiří (referee) ; Opravil, Tomáš (advisor)
The master thesis follows up on previous bachelor thesis, which dealt with the sorption capacity of brick recyclate. Brick recyclate, as same as brick, excel with very high porosity. For this reason this work deals with possible implementation of plant growth aids (fertilizers) on the inside surface of such highly porous material This thesis studies possibilities of preparation of brick recyclate with the content of components supporting plant growth. It is a material, that is able to bind water in the soil and nourish cultivated plants at the same time. Aim of the work is to find out, what maximum amount of supporting substances, that later will be released back into surrounding enviroment (soil), is possible to incorporate into the brick recyclate. Such prepared recyclate was added in different amounts into predefined substrates, where plants were grown. Subsequently, the growth course, germination and yields of selected crops were monitored. It was verified that the material based on recycled brick enriched with nutrients improves the distribution of nutrients in the soil and positively affects the germination, growth and yields of tested crops.
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Vyhodnocení systému Isaria Crop Sensor v podmínkách konkrétního podniku
VONDRÁČEK, Jan
The diplom thesis presents some elements of precision agriculture and their possible use. The thesis focuses on using the elements of precision farming in practice. In the practical part, the work is focused on the practical use of the sensor system Isaria Crop sensor N in the conditions of the agricultural company Kooprodukt Lišov a.s.
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Stroje pro hnojení: příprava výukových materiálů
PAJTINKA, Martin
This thesis deals with the creation of educational materials, machines that are used in agriculture for fertilizing: Solid organic fertilizers, liquid organic fertilizers, solid fertilizers and liquid fertilizers.In the introduction, there is described a short history and then various systems of fertilization, what they consist of and how they work. The thesis is created by searching, searching and comparing received information from professional literature and promotional information materials. The aim of the thesis is to create a text that could subsequently be used as supportive educational material to students who deal with issues of fertilization.
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The influence of pratotechnical way of use on species composition and characteristics of selected permanent grasslands
HAŠKOVCOVÁ, Petra
The aim of this work is to assess the influence of mowing and grazing with different frequency and fertilization on species composition, fodder value and bimas production. The experiment was carried out at the village of Hrazany, district of Písek in 2017. The ecological conditions of grasslands, terms and intensity of use, biomass production, botanical composition and species diversity were monitored on these parcels. The data obtained was used to calculate the Hill's Diversity Index, calculate the pasture load, and calculate the yield in dry matter. Non-fertilized plots reach the lowest yields. Most grasses are located on the soil fertilized with urine. The smallest disturbance and shortcomings appear on the pasture with the finch pasture. The values were statistically processed.
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Social learning among Ghanaian cocoa farmers: Choosing the optimal amounts of inputs
Švenka, David ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Havránek, Tomáš (referee)
In this thesis I inspect learning about adoption of technologies among cocoa farmers in Ghana, which are represented by non-labor inputs, particularly by fertilizer and hybrid seeds. Earlier research focused mainly on learning about returns associated with adoption of such innovative inputs. However, it is not clear whether the adopters learn about these returns or rather about what are the optimal amounts of these inputs. Therefore the focus of this thesis is to examine how do the farmers choose and learn about optimal amounts of inputs. Cocoa farming is very labor intensive, and thus this thesis concentrates on learning about both non-labor and labor inputs, which are closely connected. Similar research carried out in India suggests that heterogeneous returns among farmers might cause that the farmers rely rather on their own considerations than on observation of behavior of their village neighbors, i.e. social learning. The heterogeneous returns are also present among the Ghanaian cocoa farmers, which suggest that these farmers should similarly prefer individual learning over the social one. Using a model developed for estimation of the prevailing type of learning about the optimal amount of inputs, I show that the farmers do tend to prefer individual learning in case of the non-labor inputs but rather...
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Fermentation remainder treatment in a biogas plant
Budín, Oto ; Touš, Michal (referee) ; Vondra, Marek (advisor)
This diploma thesis deals with dewatering technologies of fermentation residues from biogas plants and aims to design an integration of selected technology into the biogas plant. Fermentation residues (or digestate), which are a by-product of anaerobic biomass fermentation in biogas plants, contain a certain amount of nutrients and are usually used as agricultural fertilizers. However, the high-water content in digestate and the associated low nutrient concentration increase the cost of its storage and transport. Dewatering of fermented material could help reduce these costs. The main part of this work included the design of an integration of the selected dewatering technology into the biogas plant – its placement in a process, an addition of necessary appliances, the influence on material and energy flows. In this case, the fermentation residues are processed in two phases. First, a separation of the solid and the liquid fraction by a screw press. The second step is to thicken the liquid digestate by evaporation in a multistage evaporator. Evaluation of the design of a dewatering technology, including its impact on the economy of the biogas plant, is also part of the diploma thesis.
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Ghana cocoa farmers' survey: chocolate economics
Svatoň, Michal ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Průša, Jan (referee)
In this thesis I evaluate long-term productive and economic impacts of the Cocoa Abrabopa Association, a private sector initiative providing fertilizer and other agrochemicals to Ghanaian cocoa farmers on credit with a joint lia- bility. Both the productive and economic returns of the program are expected to be higher in the latter years of sustained membership in the program due to the accumulation of nutrients in the soil and the possibility of the exten- sion of the size of the loan provided by the program. Earlier work focused only on the estimation of the effect of adoption of agricultural technology but did not allow to examine possible difference in returns of a longer par- ticipation. This thesis contributes by evaluating the impacts in the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd year of the CAA membership and their comparison. By constructing and estimating a model for the impacts of longer participation I confirm the hypothesis of higher economic returns during the 2nd and the 3rd year of participation in the CAA program. The evidence which would confirm the hypothesis of higher agronomic returns has not been found in the case of CAA. 1
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