The building sector accounted for around a fourth of the total energy usage in Sweden in year 2010 (Energimyndigheten, 2012). Therefore it has become very interesting to achieve a lower energy usage in residential buildings. One way to achieve that is to build so called passive houses. By being very well insulated and have low leakage through the walls, they can reduce the energy usage for heating with a substantial amount. The first passive house was built during the 90?s in Germany; and in Sweden the first passive house was built in Gothenburg 2001.

The open air museum of Disagården is situated in the Old Uppsala parish, Uppsala municipality, are projected to portray a double row village, before the land enclosure, on the Uppsala plain during the 1860s and 1870s. Disagården operates under the County Museum of Uppland and serves as an exhibit of Uppland's farming culture during the late 19th century. However, an open-air museum is a complex institution where many interests are linked together. Disagården aims to simultaneously portray an historical environment while offering broad public appeal. The Disagården open air museum was inaugurated in 1931 and consists of relocated buildings that together form three farm complexes "Gränbygården", "Skuttungegården" and "Bärbygården". The thesis explores how the close surroundings of a typical farm in Uppland looked during the 1860s and 1870s. This historical depiction has then been applied to Disagården in a development suggestion creating a foundation from which Disagården can structure the close cultivation of the different farms. The basis of the development program has primarily been compiled through archival and literary studies but also through on-site visits and interviews. How did the concept of open air museums start and what were the ideas behind the concept? Which external influences affected the situating of cultivations and buildings? Which crops and species were present on the farms in Uppland during the specified time period? What was the relation of the different structures to each other? Which organizations had influences on the farmer's household of the Uppland plain? The thesis attempts to clarify the answers to these questions. The influences affecting on the farmer's household in Uppland were probably numerous.

Aquaponics is a food production system consisting of a consecutive cultivation of plants and aquatic animals, fish or shellfish, in recirculating water. The plants feed on the nutritious effluents from the fish tank and bacteria converts ammonia from the fish tank into nitrate that is absorbed by the plants. The plants receive nutrition and the fish gain purified water. The environmental impact of the production of fish meal and fish oil used in conventional fish feed includes a large consumption of fossil fuels with subsequent carbon dioxide emission. The aquaponic system can be made environmentally sustainable and self-supporting if supplemented with a vermicompost/vermiculture for the production of worm protein as a fish feed. Vegetable waste from the hydroponic part of the system can be reused as worm feed in the compost and the protein rich worms can be harvested, dried and grinded and brought back to the aquaculture as fish feed. As a first step in this direction, I have investigated the effect of recycling of vegetable waste in vermicomposts on the growth and number of earthworms (this was evaluated after harvesting). The hypotheses were that earthworms can be cultivated in the vegetable waste and that by adding manure to the vermicompost it is possible to obtain a nutrient content adequate to support a continuous worm harvest, in other words create a vermiculture. Eisenia fetida and Dendrobaena veneta were grown in 20 L bins containing peat mixed with either poultry or cattle manure. The proportions were 70% peat and 30 % manure. Discarded plant parts from lettuce cultivation was added to the vermicomposts (35 g per week) and water was supplied with 0.8 L per week.

The relatively poor economy in European dairy farming might be improved from efficient feeding systems and dietary management. Increasing herd sizes and transition to loose housing systems in Sweden, increases the possibilities for other feeding systems than separate feeding that is the traditional feeding system in Sweden. Other possible feeding systems are partial mixed ration (PMR) and total mixed ration (TMR), where the TMR system sometimes is associated with overfeeding and thereby increased environmental impact and high feed cost. Diets providing nutrients above or below animal requirements are considered as unbalanced, which in turn are associated with reductions in health, fertility and milk production. On the other hand, a balanced feed ration improves feed efficiency, nitrogen utilization and profitability.

In November 2007 the countries around the Baltic Sea signed the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP). The action plan was an initiative from HELCOM due to the environmental status in the Baltic Sea. The action plan implemented a new approach with measures targeting the whole ecosystem. Eutrophication, hazardous substances, biodiversity and maritime activities constituted the main segments. The parties were to establish national implementation plans to fulfil the BSAP goals, which shall lead to good environmental status in the Baltic Sea by 2021.  The aim of this thesis is to investigate the points in common regarding conceptions of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea between the management, the science, the media and the public.

Nematodes are perhaps the most common animals in the world. Nematode populations can reach densities up to several millions per square meter in the soil. There are many factors which affect nematode communities in arable soil with respect to diversity and population size. Factors like tillage, crop, fertilization, nutrient status and moisture in the soil all have an impact on soil biology and in this way also have effects on the nematode community. This study is based on three different parts, soil samples taken in March 2012 and March 2013, soil samples taken monthly during the growth season of 2013 in bare fallow plots and a pot experiment.

Developments in milk production are heading towards fewer but larger herds where the milking process is often fully automated. Automatic milking systems were launched in the 1990?s and in the year 2010 the Automatic Milking Rotary (AMR) was introduced. As a rule there are no supervision personnel present during the milking event in systems with automatic milking. This means that there is a risk that cows can be incompletely milked in one or more udder quarters, for example if the robots fail in attaching the milking cups or if the cow kicks off the milking unit.

The purpose with this study was to analyze the possibilities to produce organic lambs and to hihglight the most common difficulties in such a production system. A description of current organic and conventional lamb production systems was conducted, both from Sweden and from some other countries. The Department of Animal Environment and Health at SLU in Skara performed the project together with The County Board of Agriculture in Västra Götaland and Värmland and The Swedish Animal Health Service. The project lasted from 2002 to 2004. The student report contains the years 2002 and 2003. In the year of 2003 there were 210 000 adult sheep in Sweden, of which 16 400 adult sheep were certified by KRAV. Of the different countries in Sweden, Västra Götaland and Gotland had the largest number of sheep, 14 and 13 per cent of the total number.

The rainforests of the world are important not only to the countries in which they grow but to the world as a whole. They influence oxygen and water circulation as well as carbon sequestration which in turn affect global radiation and global warming. The forest also have great value and in Malaysia as in many other tropical countries large volumes are harvested which leaves great areas of degraded forest with little growth and biological diversity. Due to their low financial value these forests are often transformed and used for other purposes than forestry such as oil palm plantations. The trees are often transported out of the forest using large bulldozers. They are heavy which causes compaction of the forest floor and during transport the top soil layers are moved to improve mobility.

This bachelor thesis is intended to gather the knowledge and experimental data on the winter wheat crop production relevant for Swedish conditions, with focus on sowing time, row spacing and seed rate. This essay is a literature study with a minor component based on interviews with farmers producing winter wheat. The work is divided into a background part where basic knowledge of winter wheat physiology, development and environment interactions are described and one part where results of field trials studies are presented. Optimal date of sowing winter wheat depends on annual weather variations. Because it is difficult to forecast the weather the choice of sowing date should be based on weather statistics, production experience and previous results depending on sowing date.

During whole-tree harvesting, there is a risk that the soil will become impoverished of nutrients. To prevent this, nutrients are returned to the harvested site as wood ash. This action also reduces the risk of soil acidification. Nevertheless, the ash does not result in any increase of tree growth if it is added on mineral soils, which is where the measure is most commonly used in Sweden. Due to the lack of growth response, the interest from landowners is small, which is why ash amendment today is not done enough to compensate for the need.

Sammanfattning Kisel (Si) är det näst vanligaste ämnet (drygt 25 %) i berggrunden. Bara en del av detta är tillgängligt som monokiselsyra, den form i vilken kisel är upptagbart för växter. Jordens kiselinnehåll är beroende av bergets vittring. Mycket höga halter av kisel återfinns i naturen i vulkaniska substrat (pimpsten innehåller drygt 66 % Si och scoria närmare 47 % Si), i diatomit (ett mineral bestående av resterna från encelliga kiselhaltiga alger, s.k. diatoméer) innehållande 66 % Si, scoria approximatly 47% Si), in diatomite (a mineral consisting of the remainings of single celled algae, diatoms containing < 40 % Si) and in some clays (30-60% Si).

Renal dysplasi (RD) is a congenital chronic renal disease affecting young dogs. It is a rather common disease that occurs in a large number of dogs and in some breeds there is a familiar incidence or suspected hereditary background. Both the etiology and pathogenesis are still unknown, but a theory about the cause of RD is that the two components that form the kidney, the uretheric bud and the metanephrogenic blastema, don´t interact normally in the embryo. Kidneys affected by RD contain fetal (immature) structures that are inappropriate for the state of development/age of the dog and abnormal structures caused by an abnormal differentiation. Affected dogs usually are under .

Peat litter has been used in animal houses for a long time. Because of its good ability to absorb liquid and nutrients from the manure it can create a dry surface for animals and a valuable manure product. Through changes in agricultural practises the use of peat litter has diminished and is to a great extent replaced by straw, sawdust and cutter shavings although Sweden is rich in peat-findings. The aim of this work was to summarize the presented knowledge about the used of peat litter, techniques, advantages and disadvantages and to compare with other commonly used litter materials. Articles on peat litter have been searched for in magazines, databases and books at SLU library. Visits to peat industries, interviews with peat producers and with peat researchers contributed to the material. Peat is not a uniformly material.

SAMMANFATTNINGÖvergödning har de senaste åren blivit en stor och omdebatterad fråga i många EU- länder.Även om problemen har minskat en del är detta inte tillräckligt, vi ser fortfarande fiskdöd,syrefria bottnar och giftiga algblomningar. Hur långt ska vi gå för att kunna övervinnaövergödningsproblemen? Genom olika sorters lagstiftning, ekonomiska styrmedel ochrådgivning har vi nått en bit på vägen, men fortfarande krävs det mycket arbete innan vi haruppnått målet. Jordbruket har pekats ut som en av de största källorna till övergödning pågrund av överskottet av kväve och fosfor som varje år urlakas ur våra jordbruksmarker.Inom EU finns sedan 1991 en gemensam lagstiftning; Nitratdirektivet. Syftet med direktivetär att minska nitratföroreningar och andra föroreningar från jordbruket, då dessa påverkarsåväl yt- och grundvatten som kust- och havsvatten.