This study forms part of the R&D project "Improved survival of bird chicks in organic fields" managed by the Rural Economy & Agricultural society in Uppsala. The skylark (Alauda arvensis) is a species that has decreased drastically in Sweden as a consequence of more intensive cropping. Studies in England have shown that skylark reproduction can be greatly improved within conventional fields, at a low cost, by establishing patches of bare ground (skylark plots). Within conventional farming, herbicides can be used in case a weed problem arises due to implementation of these skylark plots, whereas this is not allowed in organic farming. This study examined the effects of skylark plots on the weed culture in organic autumn-sown (winter) cereals and whether weeds might cause long-term problems to farmers. The study was conducted in two parts; a field study and a review of the literature regarding the weeds observed. The field study was carried out in 2007 during three weeks in June and three weeks in July, on eleven organic fields with winter cereal in the vicinity of Uppsala.

Successful broiler production in hot climates requires knowledge of how birds are affected by heat stress. It is important with access to water and good ventilation to facilitate coping with the heat. It may be useful to reduce the consumption of feed during the hottest hours of the days, which together with a few hours of extra light available could improve both productivity and animal welfare. The vision in birds is superior to that of humans and most other mammals. Continuous light and light with low intensity can cause eye injuries, affect the eye development in young chicken negatively, as well as provide increased incidence of foot pad lesions. Access to light affects the production but also the welfare of birds.

Establishing a reference interval for plasma fibrinogen in foals Fibrinogen concentrations were analysed in EDTA preserved blood plasma samples from 34 thoroughbred foals born in 2001 and 2002 at one stud farm. The foals were between 0 and 240 days old at the time of the sampling, and there were 19 fillies and 12 stallions in the group. The foals were examined for clinical symptoms of disease and their body temperature was measured before blood was sampled from the jugular vein. From totally 156 blood samples, 31 were selected as originating from clinically healthy foals, and used to determine a reference range for thoroughbred foals. Samples originating from foals showing clinical symptoms of disease or an abnormal body temperature at the time of sampling, were classified as coming from unhealthy animals.

The virus-mediated disease Rift Valley fever (RVF) was discovered during an outbreak in Kenya in the 1930s. Since then it has spread to most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and in the last decades several outbreaks have caused economic and health issues in Africa, Yemen and Saudi-Arabia. The disease mainly affects domestic livestock, causing abortions, but is also a zoonosis. To be able to control the spread of the disease it is important with surveillance for better knowledge about the distribution and virus circulation even in inter-epidemic/epizootic periods. The human population is growing, and people and their livestock constantly move closer to areas with wild animals which act as reservoirs for different viruses. Also, humans and their animals often get within reach for arthropod vectors, hosting or carrying viruses.

AbstractDrinking water is an important resource on Earth both for humans and animals. Although most of the surface is covered by water only a small quantity is available as drinking water. Our manner of living creates a lot of pollution which has an environmental impact. Groundwater has a protracted turnover time in the soil and it can take many years before the effects of human impact are detected. The Swedish environmental object is ?Good groundwater quality? which aims to provide a safe and sustainable supply of drinking water today and in the future.

Abstract The global average temperature has increased by 0,74°C over the last 100 years. Most probably, the explanation is due to increasing use of fossil fuels and the agricultural expansion of land use. The new life stile of mankind leads to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Food consumption contributes with approximately a quarter of the total greenhouse gas emission per person and year, why it is an important task to reduce these. The aim of this work is to quantify energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for (Swedish) herbs produced in Swedish greenhouses. The study is based on a LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and collected data from participating companies producing herbs in pots.

The price of farmland has risen sharply in the last 20 years. This has led to discussions about what creates the value of farmland. The aim in this study was to try and find what factors are affecting the price on farmland. The area that is studied is the counties around Mälardalen during the period 2005 to 2009.The method chosen to achieve the objective is the hedonic price model. The variables are chosen after a preliminary study where a literature search has been made and a number of interviews with people in the industry.

The transportation sector is the only sector of the Swedish society that is still increasing the emissions of carbon dioxide and other green house gases. Diesel fuel represents one of the fuels that contributes to these emissions and the use of diesel fuels is increasing every year. The main purpose of this study was to make an estimation of the current business situation for producers of liquid diesel biofuels in Sweden such as biodiesel, synthetic diesel and crude tall diesel and examine the forces of competition of the industry today and its future prospects. The study revealed that the rivalry among the existing firms was low mainly due to the geographical spread of the companies. Moreover the success of the biodiesel industry was influenced by a long-term guarantee of the tax exempt for biofuels and by the price level of petroleum diesel.

The interest for alternative forest regeneration methods increased significantly during the 1990´s after 50 years dominance of the clear-cutting system (Holgén & Hånell 2000). One reason for this was that clear-cutting was being more and more questioned by different envi-ronmental organizations and because the forest sector for economical reasons wanted to find cheaper ways to regenerate forests. In the beginning of the 1990´s two shelterwood experi-ments were established in a joint effort by Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) and the Dept of Silviculture, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). The experiments include various forms of cutting and shelterwood densities and represent productive spruce forests in central and north Sweden (Roggsjön in the province of Medelpad and Skikkis-jöberg in the province of Västerbotten, respectively ). The experiment next to Roggsjön has been reported earlier in three MSc theses, and is also the focus of this thesis.

Live-weight at different ages for Swedish Holsteins (SLB) and for the Swedish Red and White Breed (SRB), and the correlation to heart girth and height at withers. The aim of this investigation was to study the live-weight changes and mature weight for the Swedish Red and White Breed (SRB) and for Swedish Holsteins (SLB), and to estimate the correlations between body weight and body measurements such as heart girth and height at withers, respectively. The material used was from one of the experimental dairy herds (Jälla) of the Swedish University of Agricultural Science. It included recordings on 293 dairy cows with information from 7142 weight occasions and recordings on 275 dairy cows with information of 557 heart girth measurements and 560 measurements of height at withers. The registrations were done during 1993-2002. There was a large variation in live weight between cows in different ages and lactation stages.

In 1936 a governmental breeding project was started with aim on military use. The police later came to use dogs from this project as well. In order to utilize dogs that could fit for other purposes training and education of dogs for search of different substances and of guide dogs for blind persons was performed. A political decision to privatize the whole dog programme was taken in 1992. During most part of the time one had serious economical issues since too few of the dogs that were bred could be considered to fulfil the basic demands for service. To satisfy the need of service dogs private bred dogs were bought as well.

For many years, sugar beets have been the most profitable crop for farmers with suitable growing prerequisites. During year 2007 when the grain prices increased and the EU reform decreased the payment for sugarbeets, it was no longer obvious to grow sugar beets in the crop sequence. With the latest agricultural reform in mind, farming has turned to a more open market and that is important for the independent farmer to adjust to the prevailing market presumptions. In the theory, scientists distinguish between unique and repetitive decisions. Unique decisions can be described as decisions made ones or not often. The opposite, repetitive decisions are decisons that have been made several times before.

It is important to construct or recreate different types of wetlands and study their retention of nutrients, since knowledge of their effectiveness in this matter is poor. In 2003 a wetland was constructed on an old meadow on the western shore of Lake Bornsjön in central Sweden. The main purpose of the wetland was to reduce the amount of phosphorus entering the lake, which is the back-up water supply for Stockholm when the city cannot obtain water from Lake Mälaren. Large areas around Lake Bornsjön consist of agricultural land and the nutrient concentrations in the inflows to the lake are usually relatively high (approx. 1 mg/l total nitrogen and 0.05-0.1 mg/l total phosphorus).

Agricultural soils constitute the base in human food production and soil content of organic matter and plant nutrients together with soil microbial activity are all important parameters for high crop yield of good quality. These parameters are dependant on proper fertilization.Anaerobic digestion of organic wastes for biogas production generates a liquid residue called biogas residue (BR). It contains organic material and plant nutrients which makes ita potential fertilizer for arable cropping. However, it also contains heavy metals and toxic organic compounds and it is therefore in need of evaluation before usage.Microbial tests were performed aiming to evaluate the agronomic traits of four different BR and to find a viable procedure for evaluating slurry fertilizers. Two experiments where soil respiration and soil potential denitrification activity (PDA) was measured at fertilizer addition were performed.

Swedish farmers have the possibility to be subsidized by EU rural development programme for grazing animals on pastures to promote the biodiversity of flora and fauna. The environmental remedy sometimes does not allow supplementary feed and at the same time the Swedish Animal Welfare Act and the Swedish Agricultural Board?s regulations for animal welfare and protection states that animals, in this case horses, shall be fed with food of good quality and adapted for the species. The regulations also state that they should have an individual feeding regime that enables them to maintain a normal body condition. The aim with this master thesis has been to investigate if it is possible to keep Gotland ponies on extensive pastures, during late spring and summer and still maintain animal welfare. The horses were assessed every fourth week using a welfare assessment protocol developed in line with the Welfare Quality® project (submitted, Viksten et al) where physical, behavioural and resourcebased parameters were observed. Twelve one-year old stallions of the breed Gotland ponies purchased from different breeders were used in the study.