Characteristics of stored cereals significantly affect the technical solution of individual storage facilities, as well as the technical appliances used to provide storage technologies, i.e. storing aeration and off-loading. The objective of the study was to monitor the influence of atmospheric temperature and extraneous moisture on the course of temperature and moisture of maize grain during the storage. An average value of maize grain moisture was 13.6% and an average value of temperature inside of the silo was 12.3°C within a defined timeframe. An average moisture value of maize grain stored in the floored warehouse was 13.7%, but an average temperature inside the warehouse was 21.9°C, however extraneous conditions during the storage were unchanged. Average value of extraneous moisture was 86.5 % and an average value of atmospheric temperature was 9.17°C. It was not recorded any occurrence of animal pests in stored maize grain during the storage. Grain water content differs with the change of air moisture and temperature. Reduction of grain water content is most frequently realized by residual drying (moisture is less than 15%); the storage stability is provided at the moisture of 12%.

Due to the low number of employees and the time limit in the field of grape harvesting, we focused in the presented article on evaluating the effectiveness of the deployment of an outboard grape harvester within the conditions of Slovak viticulture. The vineyards are in the Nitra wine-growing region on the southwestern slopes behind the Pivnica Radošina company, Piešťany district, in a total area of 33 ha. The object of the research was a PELLENC 8090 Selective Process trailed grape harvester aggregated with a SAME Frutteto3 100 tractor. The mechanized harvesting was tested in the vineyards of Pivnica Radošina s. r. on three selected varieties (Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Tramin Red) for two years. Entry conditions, technical parameters of the equipment, and weather conditions were monitored for all varieties. Data were analyzed with STATISTICA statistical software. As part of the research, post-harvest losses due to mechanized harvesting were monitored. The average losses for all examined varieties reached the value of 2.17% in 2018, and the value of 2.25% in 2017. A significant output was the efficiency of the deployment of the set for mechanized grape harvesting, where in 2018 a minimum value of 146.3 ha was set (the average cost of grapes was 500 Euro·t⁻¹). A significant part of the cost was fixed items, as a two-year tractor and a trailed collector (for 2017) were used for mechanized harvesting. The difference compared to previous research was the deployment of a completely new set during a two-year period on varieties that have not yet been evaluated. The economic efficiency over two years was elaborated in detail, which highlighted the benefits of multi-annual use. In terms of examining losses, differences were shown not only between varieties, but also between years, and these data were statistically verified. The paper evaluates the dependence of the use of mechanized harvesting on changes in the purchase price of grapes (increasing it also exponentially increases the required area) and on changing the hourly wage of an employee (increasing it degressively reduces the required area). From the results it can be said that statistically and economically significant outputs were achieved for the deployment of machine collection.

Recently, the development of agricultural technology has been focused on achieving higher reliability and quality of work. The aim of the presented paper was to examine the possibilities of evaluating the quality of work of wide-area irrigation machinery by monitoring the coefficients of uniformity and non-uniformity of irrigation. The object of the research was pivot irrigation machinery equipped with sprinklers with a total length from 230 to 540 m. The commonly applied quality of work parameter for wide-range irrigators is the irrigation uniformity coefficient according to Heermann and Hein CUH. Work quality evaluations were also carried out through other parameters applicable in practice, such as irrigation uniformity coefficients calculated according to Christiansen CU, Wilcox and Swailes C_ws, and our introduced parameters, the coefficient a_r (derived from the degree of unevenness according to Oehler) and the degree of uniformity γ_r (derived from the degree of non-uniformity according to Voight). Other applied parameters for determining the quality of work of wide-range irrigation machinery were the coefficients of irrigation uniformity according to Hart and Reynolds CU_hr, further according to Criddle CU_cr and subsequently according to Beale and Howell CU_br. Next, the parameters of the non-uniformity coefficient according to Oehler a, the coefficient of variation according to Stefanelli C_v, the degree of non-uniformity according to Voigt γ and the degree of non-uniformity according to Hofmeister E_f were evaluated. Field tests were performed during the growing season of cultivated crops (potatoes, corn and sugar beet) in the village of Trakovice (agricultural enterprise SLOV-MART, southwest of the Slovakia) and in the district of Piešťany (Agrobiop, joint stock company). During the research, the inlet operating parameters (speed stage, inlet pressure, irrigation dose), technical parameters (number of sprayers, total length, number of chassis) and weather conditions (wind speed and temperature) were recorded. The obtained results were examined by one-way ANOVA analysis depending on the observed coefficient or input conditions and subsequently verified by Tukey and Duncan tests as needed. Irrigation uniformity values ranged from 67.58% (C_ws) to 95.88% (CU_bh) depending on the input conditions. Irrigation non-uniformity values ranged from 8.58 (a, E_f) to 32.42% (C_v). The results indicate a statistically significant effect of the site of interest and thus the impact of particular field conditions (p < 0.05). When evaluating the application of different coefficients of irrigation uniformity, the results showed a statistically significant effect only in the first test (p = 0.03, p < 0.05). During further repeated measurements, the quality of work increased due to the performed inspection of all sprayers and the reduction in the influence of the wind.

In recent years, research has focused on verifying various ways of dosing organic matter into the soil in Central European conditions. The main reason for this is to search for the optimal management methods for soils with permanent vegetation. In this article, we state and evaluate the results of experiments carried out at the Lednice experimental site (Sauvignon Blanc variety) and the Velké Bílovice experimental site (Pinot Gris variety) between 2018 and 2020. The experiments evaluated the deep placement of compost and compost enriched with lignohumax at a rate of 30 t·ha⁻¹ in the areas around vineyard tree trunks on the basic physical properties of the soil and the yield and quality of grapes. Results proved the positive effect of compost heaps and compost combined with the applied lignohumax on improving soil density (2–10% difference compared with the unfertilized reference variant) and porosity, which ultimately resulted in improved soil moisture conditions at both experimental sites (8–25% difference compared with the unfertilized reference variant). At the same time, the results demonstrated the positive effect of the applied compost and the chosen method of application on the yield and quality of grapes. In the case of Sauvignon Blanc, the increase in yield in the fertilized variants was 12–34%, while, in the case of Pinot Gris, it ranged from 24 to 33%. Among qualitative indicators, the grapes of both varieties were evaluated for sugar content, total acidity, pH, and amount of yeast assimilable nitrogen. In this case, results were not unambiguous in favor of fertilized variants; however, in most cases, fertilization had a positive effect.

Infiltration is defined by the expression of the hydraulic conductivity of the soil, which we decided to monitor on an experimental field applying a modern system of land management (control traffic farming). The present study compared two different methods of monitoring the hydraulic conductivity of soil on a selected 16 ha plot of land in the suburbs of the village Kolíňany (Slovak Republic). During the growing seasons, crops such as oilseed rape, winter wheat, spring barley, winter barley, spring peas, and maize alternated in individual years. In addition to the study of hydraulic conductivity, a long-term experiment is underway to investigate the influence of technogenic factors on soil degradation using a system of controlled movement of machines in the field. A mini disk infiltrometer (method one) was used to evaluate the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil, and a double ring infiltrometer (method two) was used to measure the saturated hydraulic conductivity. Monitoring changes in soil infiltration capacity within the compacted and uncompacted lines required 26 monitoring points (20 for method one and 6 for method two). The first longitudinal line was compacted by an agricultural machinery chassis, and the second line remained uncompressed. The research also created transverse compacted lines at eight monitoring points (six for method one and two for method two). The results did not show a statistically significant difference when examining the effect of soil infiltration monitoring (compacted p = 0.123; uncompacted p = 0.99). When evaluating the statistical dependence on the compression caused by machinery in the track line, the hypothesis of significance was not confirmed (p = 0.12, at the level of 0.05). However, the results showed variability in the value of the difference factor between the two methods, ranging from 0 to 0.24. On average, it can be concluded that the results achieved using the double ring infiltrometer were 4.16 times higher than those measured with the mini disk infiltrometer. The variability of hydraulic conductivity was demonstrated not only in the compacted but also in the non-compacted part of the plot. In some places, the phenomenon of water repellency appeared, which could be caused by the drier location of the targeted plot.