The granary weevil, Sitophilus granarius Linnaeus 1875, is a primary pest of stored grains worldwide. Feeding damage and progeny production of S. granarius was estimated to identify the levels of resistance of the insect on different durum wheat cultivars. Insect attack on four different durum wheat cultivars was investigated over a period of 20 weeks. Durum wheats were artificially infected with 20 individuals of S. granarius. Every two weeks the sample weight, hectoliter weight, moisture and the number of live weevils, including their number of progenies, were recorded. Overall findings revealed different levels of resistance of different durum wheat cultivars to S. granarius infestation. The Primadur cultivar had the highest resistance, followed by the Marco Aurelio and Cesare cultivars followed finally by the Tito Flavio cultivar which was highly susceptible to S. granarius. For all cultivars, apart from Primadur, S. granarius metabolism increased humidity and temperature, leading to grain degradation and resulting in the potential complete loss of market value if under field conditions. Evidently, durum wheat characteristics affect the life cycle of S. granarius, primarily their progeny, and thus the damage they undertake to the wheat itself. These findings are important because they enable the strategic selection of wheat cultivars that can be stored for a longer time period, while more sensitive wheat cultivars can be selected for shorter storage time and thus faster delivery to market.

Analysis of yield components in maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids across planting dates is limited. Research was conducted in 2013 and 2014 at Mead, Nebraska, United States with the objective to determine the influence of year, hybrid, drought tolerance type, and maturity classification across planting dates on maize yield and yield components. Early-and late-maturity DroughtGard (with CspB transgene) maize hybrids, and a late-maturity non-DroughtGard maize hybrid were planted at three dates in each year. Average maize yields were 10.8 ± 1.3 t/ha in 2013 and 13.6 ± 1.6 t/ha in 2014 with little difference across planting dates. Yield for 109 to 114 CRM (610 to 650 FAO maturity) hybrids was 13 ± 1.9 t/ha compared to 11 ± 1.6 t/ha for 97 to 100 CRM (450 to 480 FAO maturity) hybrids, and similar yields for late DroughtGard and non-DroughtGard hybrids were found. The yield of the early-maturity DroughtGard hybrids was associated most with direct effects of the number of ears per square meter (R = 0.53**) and kernels per ear (R = 0.44**) while the late-maturity DroughtGard hybrids were affected most by the direct effects of ears per square meter (R = 0.54**) and kernel weight (R = 0.57**). Yield components accounted for most yield differences between hybrids with different maturity classifications. Yield component compensation which occurred between DroughtGard and non-DroughtGard hybrids led to similar grain yields across planting dates.

This research aimed to assess the effect of applying digestate fractions and conventional mineral nitrogen (N) fertilizers on plant and soil properties, as well as potential nitrate leaching, in acidic soil over two consecutive years (2018 and 2019). The digestate fractions were obtained after the anaerobic co-digestion of maize silage and liquid cattle manure (LCM). Seven different treatments were applied to the maize crop in four replicates: unfertilized control (C), mineral fertilizer (MF), LCM, solid fraction of digestate (SFD), liquid fraction of digestate (LFD) and a mixture of SFD and LFD with MF (50% of total N from digestate fractions + 50% of total N from MF). The highest maize yields were achieved on average in 2018. Statistically, the highest dry grain yield was observed in the MF treatment (12.1 t ha⁻¹) and in the mixtures of MF+SFD (11.0 t ha⁻¹) and MF+LFD (11.8 t ha⁻¹), while the lowest yield was achieved in both years in the C treatment (7.9 t ha⁻¹). The N fertilizer replacement value was statistically highest on average in the MF treatment (100%) and in the mixtures of MF+LFD (80.5%) for both years. The experiment results could inform legal guidelines and standardize digestate application on agricultural land in Croatia and the European Union (EU).

This study deals with the design and construction of a device that enhances driver comfort and safety by automatically adjusting the microclimate in the vehicle cabin based on real-time skin resistance measurements. Using electrodes attached to driver‘s skin and an Arduino microcontroller, the system monitors and evaluates skin conductivity and adjusts heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) settings accordingly. Experimental verification in laboratory conditions demonstrated device‘s functionality in changing microclimate parameters. Preliminary results suggest a potential correlation between baseline skin resistance values and the magnitude of observed changes in response to ambient conditions. Subjects with lower baseline skin resistance (≤100,000 Ω) showed smaller changes compared to those with higher baseline resistance (≥100,000 Ω). The current results are graphically processed as the course of skin resistance changes depending on the changing parameters of microclimate.