No abstract

Comparative studies were based on 216 isolates of the Pseudomonas syringae pathovars syringae, morsprunorum and persicae, mainly originating from fruit trees in several European countries, but also from USA, USSR, South Africa, New Zealand and Turkey. All the identified morsprunorum isolates were obtained from stonefruit trees, which were also a source of some syringae isolates. Fluorescent strains HR negative on tobacco leaves were regarded as saprophytic pseudomonads. Nearly all the HR positive but none of the HR negative isolates caused lesions on sweet cherry shoots and fruitlets. The largest lesions on sweet cherry shoots were caused by the morsprunorum isolates. Syringae strains always caused lesions on pear fruitlets, whereas the morsprunorum strains never did so. Some degree of specialization within the pathovar syringae seemed to exist. Cultural and biochemical tests well suited to differentiate the three pathovars were as follows: colour after growth in sucrose nutrient broth, liquefaction of gelatin, activity of β‐glucosidase (arbutin) and tyrosinase, use of L‐leucine, L(+)tartrate and DL‐lactate as sole carbon source, fluorescent pigment production, crystaline inclusions in the nutrient agar medium, and growth rate in 0.2% yeast extract nutrient broth. Tests for longevity on nutrient agar with 5% sucrose turned out to be fairly unreliable. A tube assay gave the most consistent results when studying utilization of organic substrates. The capability for gelatin liquefaction correlated with virulence, and mucoid isolates showed a tendency for higher aggressiveness than rough colony variants. Page of protein extracts obtained from freeze‐pressed bacterial cells revealed that the pathovars syringae and morsprunorum could be differentiated due to specific isoenzyme patterns for esterases and acid phosphatases. It was concluded that several pathogenicity, cultural and biochemical tests allowed an unequivocal differentiation of the Pseudomonas syringae pvs. syringae and morsprunorum. Some of the discriminating biochemical characters may, play a role during pathogenesis.

Limestone flour is used in a variety of industrial sectors such as power and heat generation, glass-making, paper-making, the construction industry and construction materials manufacturing, the production of agriculture, plastics and rubber goods, as well as coal mining, and environmental protection. This paper aims to characterize and interpret the limestone flour supply and demand trends in the main applications in Poland in the last decade. In order to track the changes of domestic consumption for this commodity, its major users have been surveyed along with analyses of data from the Statistics Poland (GUS). The results showed that during 2009–2018 the coal-fired power plants became the biggest customer of limestone flour utilized as a sorbent in the wet flue gas desulfurization method (FGD). This method has been implemented in the vast majority of Polish power plants. It is estimated that in the last decade the total annual production capacity of limestone flour at the milling plants in Poland increased by 1.5 million tons, to around 6.0 million tons. In the forthcoming years, this is expected to continue to increase despite EU restrictions on fossil fuel use (especially hard coal and lignite). Other promising areas of future growth are: for limestone flour of medium quality—the construction materials manufacturing and the construction industry itself, for limestone flour of the highest quality—the glass industry, while for fine-grained limestone flour of high-quality—the plastics and rubber industries. In terms of resource security, it is worth noting that Poland is a country rich in limestone deposits. However, only some of them, that is, limestone rock varieties of the Jurassic and Devonian ages from the Kielce vicinity in central Poland are suitable for the production of high-quality limestone flour for the needs of the mentioned industries. The paper analyses the potential of the limestone flour production from the available limestone rock deposits with respect to the current and future needs of the domestic market in Poland.

The production of glass in Poland, especially of container and flat glass, has constantly risen for at least 30 years. New investments in this sector, which have recently been completed or are currently in progress, create optimistic prospects for further development of this industry, whose total annual production capacities in the next few years is expected to exceed 4 million tons. This will result in increasing demand for basic glass-making raw materials, especially high-quality silica sand (glass sand), which can be satisfied almost entirely from domestic sources. Poland as a country with a considerable resource base of these mineral raw materials, has noted a constantly growing production level that currently reaches approximately 2.8 million tons per year. This paper aims to characterize and interpret the development trends in the Polish glass industry in an international context, as well as the resulting increase in demand for glass sand. In this context, an attempt was made to answer questions concerning the sufficiency of the Polish domestic resource base for the production of glass sand. For this study, the leading recent international and Polish analyses, related to glass industry development, the resource base of glass silica sand, and the management of these types of sand, were taken into account, and were complemented by official statistical data and surveying of domestic glass producers. The performed analysis showed that when taking into account the available glass sand resources in developed deposits in Poland, it is possible to continue production at the existing or a slightly increasing level for another 20–25 years. Based on a more comprehensive perspective, however, it would be a good approach to continue providing access to those parts of currently extracted deposits of silica sand and sandstone that are now located outside of the existing exploitation licenses, as well as enabling the development of some satellite deposits in the Tomaszów Basin, which may prove difficult due to environmental factors.

MINATUR A2020 project’s aim is to develop a concept and multi-dimensional methodology of assignment and - in a consequence - of safeguarding the Mineral Deposits of Public Importance (MDoPI) at European (EU), country (CL ) and regional/local level (RL ), in order to ensure their optimal use for future needs of the society. MDoPI assignment methodology proposed within MINATUR A2020 project, was tested within a few EU regions, including Dolnośląskie Province in Poland, where undeveloped deposits were verified. Initially, deposits of 4 selected groups of minerals were tested: magmatic and metamorphic crushed and dimension stone (144 deposits), feldspar raw materials (6 deposits), kaolin (11 deposits), and glass sand (7 deposits). In the following step, the deposits of the highest or medium class of geological features were chosen, i.e. 73 mineral deposits with indicated and/or measured resources, including: 50 deposits of magmatic and metamorphic crushed and dimension stone, 6 deposits of feldspar raw materials, 10 deposits of kaolin and 7 deposits of glass sand. Finally, according to assumed MDoPI methodology, 10 of 50 tested deposits of crushed and dimension stone were qualified as MDoPI-CL , while another 20 deposits as MDoPI-RL , 5 of 6 deposits of feldspar raw materials were ranked as MDoPI-CL , while 1 deposit as MDoPI-RL, 2 of 10 kaolin deposits were categorised as MDoPI-CL , while the remaining 8 deposits MDoPI-RL , and all of 7 tested deposits of glass sand were qualified as MDoPI-RL . In total, from among 73 verified deposits, 17 deposits were proposed as MDoPI-CL , whereas 36 deposits were qualified as potential MDoPI-RL . On the basis of performed testing, it can be concluded that the main strength of proposed methodology is the possibility to use multi-criterion methodology containing a number of geological-mining, environmental and spatial factors, giving possibility to categorization of deposits according to their economic importance (EU, country and regional level) for their further safeguarding. Moreover, if legal system of mineral deposits safeguarding is efficiently introduced in Poland, this methodology will be a useful tool for selecting the most valuable mineral deposits that should be protected.