Quality assurance means to systematically work for better understanding of the customers needs, demands and expectations. The goal for this study was to investigate how quality can be assured in the job follow up that is made by forestry contractors after soil scarification and planting. The study consisted of a description over the current follow up process at SCA forest AB Jämtlands forest administration, analysis of current follow up situation and an investigation of follow up process made by contractors in other line of business. The first step was a statistical comparison where the own follow up made by contractors were compared with follow up made by SCA them selves over 100 stands. Two soil scarification contractors and two planting contractors carried out the silvicultural measures. The results showed that significant differences between a number of quality factors measured, for example number of approved plants or approved scarification points, average score on stand and number of totally planted plants.

This study has taken place in two nature reserves in the municipality of Uppvidinge in the Kronoberg region in southern Sweden. These have been chosen by the County Administrative Board to be part of a bigger landscape of fire affected nature, and prescribed fire has been implemented in these. The areas are called Ösjöbol and Berga fly and have been burned 2012 and 2013 respectively. Non-burned areas have been inventoried as well. Vascular plants and mineral soil have been inventoried with the Hult-Sernander-Du Rietz scale of five levels. Issues emanate from the County Administrative Board?s goals for prescribed fire: how sticks and herbs were affected, how much soil was uncovered, how the structure and fire favoured species were affected, and how deciduous trees and spruces (Picea abies) were affected. The study shows that the soil increased, as well as the fire favoured species.

The eutrophication of inshore seas, lakes and watercourses is mainly due to leaching of nitrogen and phosphorus (P) from agriculture. Many efforts are made to reduce the lea-kage of phosphorus in Sweden and the Baltic Sea countries. Phosphorus is also a finite resource and the mining of good quality raw material gets more and more difficult. Se-dimentation dams in combination with filters is one relatively new method to separate P from run-off and drainage water from agricultural land. This study was a part of an IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute?s project which tests the capacity and func-tion for separation of phosphorus in four phosphorus filters.

Calcareous fens constitute a specific habitat which is uncommon in Europe and protected by the EU habitat directive due to its importance to several threatened species. Hagebyhöga in Östergötland is a calcareous fen habitat included in the Natura 2000 Networking Programme. Adjacent to the existing fen, a degraded fen area is situated. The area has been used for agriculture for several years but is now going to be restored to its former state by the county administrative board of Östergötland.When working with restoration of degraded fen areas it is important to aquire knowledge about the chemical soil conditions. Plant growth limited by phosphorus and low fertility are characteristic conditions for calcareous fens, whilst arable land usually is highly fertile and limited by nitrogen.The purpose of this study is to bring forth useful knowledge for restoring the degraded calcareous fen of Hagebyhöga.

Today cultivation of cereal in Sweden has high costs for establishment in relation to the rest of the world, and if this cultivation will be able to continue, the farmers have to control their costs. It is important to see all costs, not the maximum harvest achieved, but the net result. All farmers have different conditions with respect to soil, direction of the farm and were the farm is located geographically. With the right knowledge and ambitions, we think most farmers could change to reduced tillage. In this paper we have tried to find out if reduced tillage is an alternative for farmers.

To guarantee the customers a job satisfactory executed Sydved has been certified by the ISO 14001 standard. One part of the certification is the standards of soil damages. The soil damages were over represented during 1999 and 2000. It was therefore a need to study the problem in order to see what could be done to reduces these damages. A filed study was carried out on 21 subjectively selected stands from the following five districts: Vänersborg, Falköping, Borås, Jönköping and Åseda. As the study is a descriptive study of the soil damages, their character and extension, only stands were tracks were reported were considered.

The increasing threat of climate change has led to a increased need for models to predict future climat. In these models the changes in the soil carbon pools due to changes in microbiel degradation of the organic matter can lead to both positive and negative feedback-effects. There is however a lack of consensues on the temperature respons on degradation soil organic matter. This paper aim to give a better understanding on the factors controlling the temperature respons. The factors studied were the carbon substrate qualitity and the physiological status of the microorganisms.

The main project Dry preservation of source-separated organic household wastes involves a new technique for treatment of biowaste through drying. Investigations are going on to determine how the dried biowaste best can be used to close the natural circular flow of nutrients. The objective of this degree project is to determine if the dried biowaste can be used as a soil conditioner. By restoring the nutrients in the material to the ground, the natural circular flow is closed. A declaration of contents, including the nutrient levels, C/N ratio, pH and the electrical conductivity of the dried biowaste, was constructed and a germination test was done to make sure that the material did not inhibit sprouting.

Aluminium sulphate (Al2(SO4)3) is usually added during the drinking water treatment processin order to precipitate organic and inorganic material, resulting in aluminium-based drinkingwater treatment residual sludge (WTR). Since 2003 Swedish law no longer permits WTR tobe deposited in lakes, and there is an interest to explore the possibility to utilize WTR as soilamendment. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of WTR application on cropgrowth and concentrations of macronutrients and trace elements (including micronutrients andpotential toxic elements). A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted with three soils; a clayloam rich in phosphorous (P), a loamy sand rich in P, and a silty loam with a low soil Pconcentration, and two crop species Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. cv.

The main project Dry preservation of food waste from households includes a new technique concerning drying and storage of dried biowaste as well as a study of the sorting of household waste and further usage of the dried biowaste. A question asked in the project is, can the dried biowaste be used as a soil amendment? If organic waste is used as a soil amendment, precaution concerning hygienic safety risks has to be accounted for. The objective of this M. Sc.

Pathogenic microorganisms pose a big threat towards food production. Meanwhile, negative impacts on humans and environment are seen by the use of pesticides. Biological control agents are an alternative to the use of chemical pesticides, and plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria, such as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens has been shown to have good properties as biocontrol agents. Before these bacteria can be used commercially their impact on other soil organisms has to be evaluated. This thesis looks into what biocontrol bacteria are and how they might affect earthworms.

This is a study made because I would like to see how much money can be saved when reduced soil preparations is used. This is a case study, the farm is located in the north vest part of Skåne, Sweden. I have calculated with four different soilpreparation methods. Alternative 1: Conventional soil preparation, the way the farm is managed today. Alternative 2: Ploughing on depth of 12 centimeters, with a ridge packer followed with sowing. Alternative 3: Eco-tillage Alternative 4: Direct drilling The results of my study showes that Alternative 2 is the most profitable. Alternative 4 is very good if you see to dieselexpenses and hours of work, but the yield is far to low. If the numbers are further analized, it showes that in spring barley the differense between Alternative 2 and Alternative 4 is at a minimum. So if there is lack of time for one reason or another, this might be an alternative in spring barley. The differense in how the farm is managed today and the most profitable alternative in the study, Alternative 2 showes that it can be saved up to 60 940 SEK..

Vinderosion på jordbruksmark har länge varit ett välkänt faktum trots att någon utförligare undersökning om dess omfattning och skadeverkan inte tidigare genomförts. Mot bakgrund av detta har därför ett nordeuropeiskt projekt, WEELS (Wind Erosion on European Light Soils), dragits i gång som syftar till kartlägga vinderosionen på sandig jordbruksmark i norra Europa och som man i slutändan hoppas ska kunna resultera i en vinderosionsmodell. Detta har genomförts med SOIL modellen, en matematiskt fysikaliskt baserad modell för simulering av vatten och värmeflöde i en skiktad jordmånsprofil..

Hunger is a problem in some parts of the world (www, FAO 1, 2012). The lack of food is often a result of insufficient knowledge in soil fertility management (Röing de Nowina, 2012). Ongoing hunger and malnourishment are quite prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and are often combined with poverty (www, FAO 1, 2012). Farming is the most common occupation in this area and the farms are often small-scale farms with subsistence crops and a few cattle. The farmers who operate these small-scale farms are economically a weak group.

In this thesis, the flows of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in Scania were investigated and quantified. The thesis was also intended to form a basis for comparison between the urban nitrogen flow and other flows of nitrogen within Scania. The management of nitrogen in society has disturbed the natural nitrogen cycle. This is linked to a series of environmental problems such as eutrophication, acidification, global warming and smog. The method used was Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) for Nr. For calculation and flow charts Scania was divided into three subsystems; air, water and society.