With an increasing production of biogas follows an increased amount of digestate. This could potentially be a valuable source of fertiliser with the destruction of weed seeds as a possible advantage. However, there have been some concerns regarding the product still containing viable seeds of weed. In this Bsc thesis the results of previous research on the fate of weed seeds in biogas production is summarized. It is also a comparison of research on the effect of similar processes such as silage, compost or animal passage on seeds. The purpose of this is to evaluate risks of spreading viable seeds, potentially problematic species and perhaps to find out how to eliminate the risks. The literature review revealed that previous research mainly indicates low risks regarding many of the tested weed species, but not all studies show the same result, therefore extended research on the subject is desirable.

Aerated steam treatment is a modern and environmental friendly method for seed borne fungus sanitation, mainly used on cereals. The method involves exposure to heat and high humidity, factors which are known to induce a fast ageing of seeds, thus resulting in reduced storability. This thesis clarifies the interdependence between seed age and the aerated steam treatment intensities. Two studies were carried out in this thesis. In the first study the storage longevity of seeds treated with aerated steam was examined. The second study investigated the shelf-life of the pre-tests used to determine the aerated steam treatment tolerance of a seed lot, by testing the treatment tolerance of seeds aged prior to the treatment.

In Kenya, many families subsist on agriculture and of the country's around 40 million residents 70% work in the agricultural sector. 50 % of the country's gross domestic production (GDP) comes from farming, and thus the country is largely dependent on income from this sector. Kenya's population has tripled in recent decades, which have led to that food availability is a growing problem. To ensure food security, it is important that the return from crops increases. The aim of this study is to evaluate what impact the use of fertilizers and improved seeds has for farmer?s economic situation and income generation.

Kenya is considered to be a developing country. This means that basic needs such as nutrition are not met for an extended period of time (www, Sida 1, 2012). Approximately half of the population is living under the poverty line (www, CIA 1, 2012). Agriculture is the largest sector in the country, employing 75% of the population. These are thereby directly dependent on the sufficiency of outputs received.

There is an uncertainty in the market for grain forcing the meat/milk producers to review alternative feeds to a larger extent, in order to get control over the feed costs. This has led to that the meat/milk producers need to have a good knowledge regarding how the different feeds influences the animals and which technical equipment to use for handling. For those that produce their own feedmix, there is a need to put interest in new crops and their characteristics to be able to get the knowledge of what is required for their own production. It is beneficial to keep an open dialogue with advisors to be updated in new crops and new technology for feeding. When mixing feed at farm level, the legislation is not very clear since it the target group is large scale mixing plants. We have brought up the most important rules and regulations from the EU parliament Council as well as the ones from the Swedish Board of Agriculture (SJV), regarding feed mixing on farm and factory level. We have studied beans and pea at two different moisture levels, in order to evaluate how the moisture level affects the distribution of particles when milling with a plaitmill and a hammermill.

Oilseed rape constitutes a good break crop within a cereal dominated cropping system. The normal sowing time for winter rape in Sweden is August. It's a time in the cropping year characterized by a heavy work load, such as harvest and soil management. In addition, it is often a period with large precipitation. Thus, it is sometimes problematic for the farmer to do the sowing of winter rape at the optimal time.

Nuts of all kinds are common ingredients in food. For nut allergy sufferers the frequent use of nuts cause problems and "hidden" nuts in food products may elicit allergic reaction when such foods are consumed. Methods for detecting and quantifying walnut (and other nuts) with high sensitivity and specificity are therefore very important.The objective of this project was to verify the specificity of a rabbit antiserum against walnut with immunodiffusion and to determine the size of the dominant walnut antigens with Western blotting. In addition, a commercial sandwich ELISA for walnut quantification was validated and compared with a qualitative real-time PCR.The rabbit antiserum proved to be less specific but after absorption with cross-reacting nuts and seeds it showed high specificity. The ELISA kit reacted, except for walnut, with pecan and slightly with other nuts and seeds tested.

Abstract The aim of this study was to explore and describe the pupils' thoughts on seed and its development into seedling. Twenty nine Swedish pupils at the age of 7 and 10 years old were interviewed about their knowledge of seeds.It turned out that pupils often have so-called everyday belief to describe the natural science phenomenon by connecting their explanations to phenomena in everyday life to which they are familiar. To describe the process of seed developing into seedling is something that most of the pupils believe to be difficult and this resulted mostly in the answer ?it is growing.? Children have some knowledge about what seeds need in order to germinate but they do not mention the importance of oxygen as a component of seed to be able to germinate and grow. They mean instead that it is sufficient with soil, water and sun.The older pupils, however, are more often than the younger pupils able to connect their reflections to a more scientifically correct description based on terms belonging to the phenomena, though these terms sometimes are wrongly used.

Syftet med detta arbete har varit att utforska hur man kan gestalta en växtvägg och hur man med hjälp av växterna kan uppnå olika uttryck. Målet har varit att förstå hur växter beter sig i en växtvägg och hur de kan kombineras. Vilka växtstrategier som är lämpliga för växtmaterial på en växtvägg samt hur olika växter kan kombineras för att uppnå önskat visuellt uttryck är frågeställningar som behandlas i rapporten. Faktainsamling kring gestaltning av växtväggar har gjorts genom en litteraturstudie och praktiskt arbete i form av konstruktion av en prototyp. En intervju har också genomförts. Erfarenheterna från detta har använts för att ta fram ett gestaltningsförslag. Den vanligaste princip som används för att konstruera en växtvägg är med ett filtmaterial i syntet som häftas fast på en plywoodskiva med kanalplast bakom, man använder en pump och droppslangar som styrs med en timer.

Striga hermonthica, a parasitic weed, has long been believed to be correlated with the declining soil fertility status. However scientists have recently come to question this statement since some recent studies have shown contradictive results. To investigate whether soil fertility status and infestation of Striga hermonthica were correlated and the impact of it were caused by farmer management, 120 farmers in Western Kenya, where Striga hermonthica infestation is prone, participated in this study. In three districts with two sub-locations each, farmers answered a structural questionnaire and identified two fields, one with high and one with low soil fertility. These fields later came to be the basis for this study and soil were therefore also sampled from them.

In this study, pollen contamination (measured by the number of seeds pollinated by pollen not belonging to any of the clones on the seed orchard) is compared between open pollination and isolated pollination environments in a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) seed orchard called Västerhus, located outside Önsköldsvik. In this seed orchard a tent experiment is taking place. Skogforsk has built six large tents covering 12-14 trees with each tent. Fertilization patterns were compared between one tree in a tent with a supplementation of pollen from five clones not represented in the tent and another tree of the same clone subject to open pollination outside the tents. By using DNA markers the paternity was determined for 48 seeds from each tree.

In this study, pollen contamination (measured by the number of seeds pollinated by pollen not belonging to any of the clones on the seed orchard) is compared between open pollination and isolated pollination environments in a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) seed orchard called Västerhus, located outside Önsköldsvik. In this seed orchard a tent experiment is taking place. Skogforsk has built six large tents covering 12-14 trees with each tent. Fertilization patterns were compared between one tree in a tent with a supplementation of pollen from five clones not represented in the tent and another tree of the same clone subject to open pollination outside the tents. By using DNA markers the paternity was determined for 48 seeds from each tree.

At seed-growing the aim is to produce a commodity with high germination capacity, good soundness and purity, and also slight admixture of seeds from other species. The capacity of germination and the vigour of the seeds may become impaired in consequence of mechanical damage, infection of diseases, growth of mould, attacks of vermin, high drying temperature, secret germination, sprouting in the ears etc. The germ belongs to the outer and most unprotected parts of the seed, and consequently this is much exposed. Even quite sound seeds can instantaneously have low capability of germination. It can be due to the fact that the seeds are in rest of germination, i.e.

Allanblackia is a tree genus native to humid forests in West, Central and East Africa. Its fruits contain large seeds from which edible high-quality fat can be extracted. In order to create a sustainable supply chain of Allanblackia seeds, a domestication program has been initiated with the purpose to enable smallholder farmers to grow the tree as an agroforestry component and cash crop. More knowledge is required to understand the tree?s biology and possible symbioses involving soil microorganisms with plant growth enhancing poten-tial.

Various electromagnetic (EM) treatments has been investigated for their potential in improving crop productivity over the past century. There is today an increasing amount of scientists advocating EM treatments as an organically compatible method for improving plant growth and yield. However, failure to produce repeatable effects and defining causal mechanisms has made it a study of much controversy and debate. The subject requires indepth interdisciplinary knowledge, making it inaccessible for the majority of biologists, horticulturists and growers. In this combined literature review and pilot study, these issues are addressed by providing a comprehensive introductory review of the topic plant bioelectromagnetics and its potential horticultural usability.