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Large amounts of food are wasted, and valuable contents are not utilized completely. Processing such wastes into biomass of defined composition is possible using insects. However, automation and decentralization of insect-based processes are necessary for certain applications. This study presents a modular design for rearing larvae of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens. A life cycle and economic assessment are carried out to check whether the process may be viable. A sales price of 3.55 € per kg of the product would make it profitable within five years. Production of 1 kg of dried larvae would be associated with 2.77 kg CO2 eq emitted, 55.24 MJ of non-renewable energy use, and occupation of 0.68 m2 of organic arable land. Per kg protein, the insect biomass appears more sustainable than database benchmarks. These results indicate that even small-scale insect production processes have sustainability benefits when using food waste.

Increasing energy independency in a rural mu-nicipality: case Barciany, BRANCHES will produce and share more than 50 case studies, considered Best Practices. The selected case studies will be summarized in Practice Abstracts (PAs), documents tailored for practitioners, shared through the project media and collected on this webpage. The numbering of the PAs only refers to chronological order of uploading. Enjoy your reading!

Farm-scale energy and nutrients circu-lation through an on-farm micro biogas plant, BRANCHES will produce and share more than 50 case studies, considered Best Practices. The selected case studies will be summarized in Practice Abstracts (PAs), documents tailored for practitioners, shared through the project media and collected on this webpage. The numbering of the PAs only refers to chronological order of uploading. Enjoy your reading!

In recent decades, the land use changes induced by various economic activities in agricultural ecosystems have affected many aspects of human life. This is the reason why land use change is considered as one of the agriculture-related environmental impacts in a sustainability assessment of food and bio-based products. At the same time, the methodology applied for the quantification of land use change effects is still under intensive research, stimulating scientific discussions. The overall objective of this paper is to fill the gap in knowledge of responsible and sustainable land use management. Specifically, the research provides a comprehensive set of land use change indicators in the context of land use change and land use efficiency. The indicators can be measured based on publicly available databases with the applicability to agricultural sustainability assessment of land use change on a local, regional and global scale. The high share of artificial land and dominant agricultural use of land with low land use intensity were noted in Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Cyprus, Croatia, Finland, Germany, and United Kingdom. However, land use efficiency was also low. In turn, heterogeneous land cover (but less artificial areas than in other EU countries) and heterogeneous land uses with diverse land use intensity were noted in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden. The challenge in future research could be aggregation of different indicators in assessing the similarity of land use between countries.

The increasingly fierce competition in food trends requires producers to innovate and develop new foods to be accepted and to avoid neophobia by consumers at the same time. Food neophobia’s motivational adoption barriers include the consumption of novel foods, social norms and conflicting eating goals. Therefore, appropriate strategies are needed to avoid neophobia amid the presence of new food trends in the market. Efforts to avoid food neophobia can also be accepted as part of the sustainability concept, in which the consumer has new foods to choose from in order to reduce scarcity in one particular type of food. The food industry is also challenged to produce healthy food by producing food from natural ingredients. In this article, new food trends and advances in food processing are described, and through them, strategies to avoid neophobia and increase consumer acceptance of new food trends are referenced. Neophobia meets marketing food products delivered to consumers facing motivational adoption barriers, such as the consumption of novel foods, social norms and conflicting eating goals, which are indicated to be challenges to purchase drivers in new food trends. Tasting foods is indicated as one of the most efficient means to ensure neophobia reduction in new foods and new food trends. Other factors identified to reduce food neophobia are education, income, taste and exposure to novel foods. Some preconditions for novel foods to be accepted by consumers are related to the very nature of food innovation, the manufacturer’s features and market circumstances. Food processed with advanced technologies may differ depending on the brand of the food production company and the knowledge of consumers about the novel foods. Moreover, food technology is seen as more acceptable for plant food products based or natural ingredients for consumers. In addition to the focus on health benefits, it is supports the sustainability of food systems. Another accidental element is the transparent traceability system providing accurate and adequate information about such novel foods.

Large amounts of food are wasted and valuable contents are not utilized completely. Methods to process such wastes into biomass of defined composition automatically and in decentralized locations are lacking. Thus, this study presents a modular design for residue utilization and continuous production of the heterotrophic alga Galdieria sulphuraria. A life cycle and economic assessment are carried out on the hypothetical design to define whether the proposed system can be ecologically and economically viable. Producing one kg of dried biomass would cost 4.38 € and be associated with 3.8 kg CO2 eq emitted, 69.9 MJ of non-renewable energy use, and 0.09 m2 of land occupation. Sustainability is comparable to conventional protein sources, with further improvement foreseen through avoidance of drying. These results demonstrate how circular bioeconomy potentials of residues could be realized using heterotrophic G. sulphuraria. It highlights key issues of developing an environmentally and economically sustainable concept.

The effects of the following factors were analyzed in the study: wilting degree, genetic form of red clover (2n – 4n), cultivars within the genetic form: 2n (Krynia, Parada), 4n (Jubilatka, Bona) and DM x form, DM x 2n, DM x 4n. Fermentation and proteolysis during the ensilage of red clover were affected primarily by wilting, whereas genetic factors (genetic form, cultivar) exerted a lesser effect. However, the genetic form of red clover affected the true protein content of silage and the extent of proteolysis during the ensiling process. The effect of the genetic form of red clover on the extent of proteolysis in silage (at similar levels of water-soluble carbohydrates and buffering capacity) suggests that diploid and tetraploid red clover cultivars differ with respect to chemical properties (poliphenol oxidase activity, polyphenol content) affecting proteolysis.

Matricaria maritima ssp. inodora is a species with varied life cycles. To investigate the ecophysiology of seed dormancy and germination in this species, we examined the effect of stratification temperature, after-ripening, as well as daily temperature fluctuations. The results were summarized in terms of the hydrotime model for germination. The process of dormancy release took place mainly during wet storage and proceeded much faster at lower temperatures than at higher temperatures. Dry storage did not play an important role in dormancy regulation. Alternating temperatures with an amplitude of 14°C decreased seed germination mainly by increasing their sensitivity to water stress. The hydrotime model allowed a better understanding of the physiological basis of dormancy development and relief.

form of red clover (2n – 4n), cultivars within the genetic form: 2n (Krynia, Parada), 4n (Jubilatka, Bona) and DM x form, DM x 2n, DM x 4n. Fermentation and proteolysis during the ensilage of red clover were affected primarily by wilting, whereas genetic factors (genetic form, cultivar) exerted a lesser effect. However, the genetic form of red clover affected the true protein content of silage and the extent of proteolysis during the ensiling process. The effect of the genetic form of red clover on the extent of proteolysis in silage (at similar levels of water-soluble carbohydrates and buffering capacity) suggests that diploid and tetraploid red clover cultivars differ with respect to chemical properties (poliphenol oxidase activity, polyphenol content) affecting proteolysis., Analizowano wpływ podsuszenia surowca, formy genetycznej koniczyny czerwonej (2n – 4n), odmiany w obrębie danej formy genetycznej: 2n (Krynia – Parada), 4n (Jubilatka – Bona) oraz SM x forma, SM x 2n, SM x 4n. Uzyskane wyniki wykazały dominujący wpływ czynnika podsuszenia nad czynnikami genetycznymi (forma genetyczna, odmiana) na przebieg fermentacji i zakres proteolizy podczas zakiszania koniczyny czerwonej. Stwierdzono jednak wpływ formy genetycznej koniczyny na zawartość białka właściwego w kiszonkach oraz stopień proteolizy w trakcie zakiszania. Stwierdzony wpływ formy genetycznej koniczyny na zakres proteolizy w kiszonkach (przy zbliżonym udziale cukrów rozpuszczalnych i pojemności buforowej zakiszanych zielonek) pozwala przypuszczać, że występuje zróżnicowanie innych chemicznych cech zielonek wpływających na proteolizę (aktywność PPO, zawartość polifenoli) między formami genetycznymi i odmianami.

The aim of this paper was to study the impact of key agrotechnical factors: seed inoculation Rhizobium meliloti, sowing date, row spacing, weed control, and pathogen control, on productiveness of fenugreek seeds in the environmental conditions of the north-eastern Europe. The results indicate that the average seed yield of fenugreek from 54 test technology variants was 759 kg ha-1, within a 9% variation range. The primary decision-supporting criteria for classification of a given technology of growing fenugreek for seeds as a high-yielding one under the environmental conditions of north-eastern Europe are: the earliest possible sowing date or the one delayed by no more than 10 days relative to the former, as well as the inter-row spacing of 15 cm; the second most important criteria include technological variants with chemical weed control and full antifungal protection. Among the yield-protecting treatments tested, weed control of fenugreek plantations as an agrotechnical factor was responsible for the highest variation of seed yields. Irrespective of a weeding technique (mechanical, chemical), the sowing of seeds at the earliest possible date or delayed by 10 days did not cause a significant decline in seed yield, although the sowing date postponed by 20 days might reduce the seed yield by 3-10% when mechanical weed control techniques are applied, and by 3-13% on fields treated with a herbicide.Keywords: fenugreek, plant protection, Rhizobium, row spacing, sowing, yielding, The aim of this paper was to study the impact of key agrotechnical factors: seed inoculation Rhizobium meliloti, sowing date, row spacing, weed control, and pathogen control, on productiveness of fenugreek seeds in the environmental conditions of the north-eastern Europe. The results indicate that the average seed yield of fenugreek from 54 test technology variants was 759 kg ha-1 , within a 9% variation range. The primary decision-supporting criteria for classification of a given technology of growing fenugreek for seeds as a highyielding one under the environmental conditions of north-eastern Europe are: the earliest possible sowing date or the one delayed by no more than 10 days relative to the former, as well as the inter-row spacing of 15 cm; the second most important criteria include technological variants with chemical weed control and full antifungal protection. Among the yield-protecting treatments tested, weed control of fenugreek plantations as an agrotechnical factor was responsible for the highest variation of seed yields. Irrespective of a weeding technique (mechanical, chemical), the sowing of seeds at the earliest possible date or delayed by 10 days did not cause a significant decline in seed yield, although the sowing date postponed by 20 days might reduce the seed yield by 3-10% when mechanical weed control techniques are applied, and by 3-13% on fields treated with a herbicide. Keywords: fenugreek, plant protection, Rhizobium, row spacing, sowing, yielding