The main purpose of this paper is to present basic chemical and physical characteristics of Ighiu lake water, which is controlled by rock weathering, inputs from the chatchment, but it can be further affected by atmospheric deposition processes and biological activity in the water column. The survey was carried out in 2010. Water samples were collected from two different sites covering the middle of the lake and were analyzed for a pre-defined set of physical and chemical indicators to allow the build up of a meaningful database that can be used for comparative assessment and trend delineation. The results have shown a generally good water quality but have also shown the presence of minor traces of pesticides and heavy metals. The obtained data was classified according to Order 161/2006 into five quality classes, and the classification of the lake was established by using the percentile system V (90%).

Contamination of crop plants with organic pollutants raises a growing interest in recent years; among the investigated pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of special concern because some of them are toxic and carcinogenic. In this context, the main purpose of this research was to establish the degree of contamination of corn grains with the 16 priority PAHs under three experimental cultures’ conditions: one with historical pollution, another located in an urban environment and a third reference one, located in an unpolluted area. Analytical determinations were performed by high performance liquid chromatography, highlighting the higher content of low molecular weight PAHs, mainly naphthalene, fluorene and acenaphthene; the high molecular weight PAH’ contamination is mainly due to indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene and dibenzo[a,h]anthracene.

Contamination of herbal teas with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can occur as a result of environmental pollution as well as during processing. This research fits into current concerns directed towards establishing the PAHs' contamination level of plant resources, the focus being on the priority PAHs as established by the US Environmental Protection Agency's and by the European Union. In this study, the PAHs' content of several commercial herbal teas brands was assessed by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using an Agilent 1100 system with fluorescence and photodiode array detectors. The obtained data revealed that the maximum overall PAH's contamination in the studied herbal teas was recorded for dandelion, mulberry and St.John's wort, all of these exposing high surface area of leaves; from the 15 tracked PAHs, only three were present in all samples (acenaphthene, fluorene and benzo(b)fluoranthene), while anthracene and benzo(g,h,i)perylene were quantified in only two samples; the maximum levels of individual PAHs were recorded in dandelion.

There are few studies about the ability of CROPGRO-Tomato model to simulate tomato growth under field conditions as a function of both local weather and soil conditions. The aim of this work was to calibrate the CROPGRO-Tomato model, included in the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) software, for the Thomas F1 indeterminate tomato cultivar grown under open field conditions at two locations in the Czech Republic with different soil and climate conditions. Additionally, this paper focuses on modelling the impact of compound weather events (CEs) on the growth characteristics of the hybrid field tomato variety. The genotype file, including the main parameters of crop phenology and plant growth, was adapted to the Thomas F1 indeterminate tomato cultivar. The CROPGRO-Tomato model was calibrated by inputting the soil characteristics, weather data and crop management data and then by adjusting the genetic coefficients to simulate the observed Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Above Ground Biomass (AGB) from transplanting to harvest under the farmers' field conditions. The comparison of the LAI simulated by the model and measured under field conditions showed adequate representation with the root mean square error of 0.86 and 1.11 m2/m2. Although there was a good fit for LAI and AGB between the simulated and measured data during the first part of the growing season, increasing differences were found in the growing season with cool-wet and/or hot-dry thresholds of CEs.

Polycyclic  aromatic  hydrocarbons  (PAHs)  are  organic  compounds primarily  formed  by incomplete combustion of organic matter, widely distributed in the environment. The major aim of this research is to establish the degree of contamination of several plant origin food products available on the  market  with  PAHs. 15  from  the  16  Environmental  Protection  Agency  priority  PAHs  were assessed: naphthalene,  acenaphtene,  fluorene,  phenanthrene,  anthracene,  fluoranthene,  pyrene, benz(a)anthracene,  chrysene,  benzo(b)fluoranthene,  benzo(k)fluoranthene,  benzo(a)pyrene, dibenzo(a,h)  anthracene,  benzo(g,h,i)perylene  and  indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene. Samples  were  collected randomly from commercially available wheat flour, maize flour, wheat semolina, coffee, dried plums, dried  apricots,  raisins  and  dates,  all  of  these  being  obtained  from  the  local  supermarkets  from  Cluj Napoca.  High  performance liquid  chromatographic  analysis  was  achieved  using  an  Agilent  1100 system consisting in a solvent degasser, a quaternary pumping system, an autosampler, a column oven, a diode-array detector and a fluorescence detector. Separations were accomplished using an Envirosep PP  column  with  acetonitrile:water  as  mobile  phase  (45:55  v/v). The  average  total  PAHs’  content ranged from 0.94 g/ kg in dried plums to 28.12 g/ kg in coffee, for the other studied products being in  the  range  1.42 -  5.34 g/  kg;  phenantrene,  fluoranthene  and  benz(a)anthracene  were  the  major PAHs,  their  maximum  concentration  being  recorded  in  coffee The  results  obtained  revealed  a moderate  contamination  of  the  studied  food  products;  these  can  be  useful  in  studies  for  establishing the human exposure to PAHs.