Studies have focused on identifying combinations of insects and organic waste to optimise bio-conversion. Here, the effects of different diets (10% chicken feed complemented with 90% vegetable waste, garden waste, cattle manure, or horse manure) on growth and survival rates, and nutritional value of Zophobas morio and Tenebrio molitor larvae, and Acheta domesticus were investigated. Compared with chicken feed, organic waste decreased the individual larval weight, although green waste showed fewer negative effects than the manure. The macronutrient concentrations in garden waste were moderate compared with chicken feed, and vegetable waste was the poorest diet in terms of nutrient concentration, as revealed by the principal component analysis (PCA). There was no difference in weight between larvae reared on garden waste and those reared on vegetable waste. Tenebrio molitor and A. domesticus showed the maximum growth rates at 71–101 and 36–66 days of age at 22.5 ± 2.5 °C, respectively. The PCA showed that the protein and fibre concentrations were inversely proportional to fat concentration in the larvae. Acheta domesticus was rich in proteins, whereas Z. morio and T. molitor were rich in fat. Feeding nutrient-poor diets resulted in a lower protein and a higher fat concentration in the larvae.

The agricultural sector is the second contributor to the worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), as it is responsible for 13.5% of GHG emissions. The main aim of this research is to track GHG emission from the agricultural sector in the EU-27 between 1990 and 2016 in order to determine trends and changes of emission on a country scale. To achieve the study goal, data were collected from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) website, followed by the application of the Simple Linear Regression Model (SLRM). The obtained results showed that most of the EU-27 countries witnessed a significant reduction of GHG emissions from the agricultural sector, except for Iceland and Spain. Interestingly, the highest reduction conducted by the United Kingdom was followed by Germany and France, where the reduction reached 385.27; 226.72 and 294.92 tons of CO₂-equivalent per year, respectively. Thus, we can conclude that most EU countries significantly reduced GHG emissions to the atmosphere.

This paper aims to outline the consequences of the Syrian conflict on the land use/cultivated area, yield and production of the main crops: wheat, cotton, and olives. To achieve the study goal secondary data were collected from FAO website. After that the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was applied for the time series analysis. Finally, the decrease in production was calculated and the total losses were valued at the local and international prices. A long-term analysis from 1960 to 2016 showed a significant positive change for the main studied crops, but a significant negative change was noticed from 2000 to 2016 due to the conflict issue in Syria. while, the highest reduction was recorded in 2014 for wheat and olives by 47.53% and 64.18% respectively and in 2016 for cotton with more than 93% of the total reduction. Whereas, the total losses in local prices were (US$1,168,204,415) and (US$4,733,586,663), valued at the international price for the main crops: wheat, cotton, and olives, which are 9% of the 2011 Syrian GDP.

Background: Recently, many parts of Hungary, as well as central Europe, have been hit by successive extreme climatic events. The main aim of this research was to analyze hydrological and agricultural drought episodes in the Debrecen Region in eastern Hungary from 1950 to 2010. Thus, data of monthly precipitation were collected and tested. After that, three indices were applied, the Precipitation Concentration Index (PCI), dry Precipitation Concentration Index (dPCI), and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Meanwhile, the correlation between SPI and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated. Results: The results showed that the PCI values ranged between 9.44 and 15.8 with an average of 11.8, while the dPCI values ranged between 8.6 and 20.7 with an average of 10.9, which indicates heterogeneity in rainfall distribution from year to year. More than 103 events of severe agricultural drought were detected for the whole studied period. In connection to this, severe hydrological drought was recorded in 16% of the total monthly rainfall events from 1950 to 2010. Interestingly, a significant correlation was obtained between SPI-3, -6 (i.e., drought), and NDVI in the summer season. Conclusions: The SPI index could provide an easy tool for drought monitoring meanwhile drought evaluation and monitoring should be taken seriously in the central Europe.

As non-renewable natural resources, restoring Syrian soil quality is a vital issue for sustainable future planning after conflict ends. The data provided in this research exhibit features and physiochemical properties for soils from the southern part of Syria until the Jordanian border, which can provide decision-makers with sufficient information for rehabilitation stage after conflict in a regional scale. The data were collected from 107 representative soil profiles covering diverse agroecosystems throughout the area (i.e. Dara and Alswieda governorates). The most important data findings of this research included the first detection of Palygorskite {(Mg,Al)2Si4O10(OH)•4(H2O)} in Syrian soils, which is considered a strong evidence for the direct effects of the climate change on agroecosystem. Vertisols, Inceptisols, Entisols, Mollisols, and Aridisols were the most widespread soil types in the area. Overall, the database involves the field morphological characteristics, physicochemical, and mineralogical analyses.