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The concept of sustainable development represents a globally accepted development model in all segments of the economy and society, including agriculture. The aim of the paper is to show, by systematizing past experiences, the contribution that agriculture makes in the realm of realizing the concept of sustainable development, with a special emphasis on food security in developing countries. The paper specifically analyzes the impact of agriculture on the ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. The main contribution of agriculture in the field of ecological sustainability is minimizing the harmful impact on natural resources and ensuring the production of a sufficient amount of healthy and safe food. One of the factors that contributes to the economic sustainability of agricultural farms, and thus of rural areas, is the diversification of the economic activities of the rural population with adequate measures of financial support for agriculture. Ensuring the economic motivation of the rural population to earn money and live in rural areas, with respect for human rights, is the basis for achieving long-term social and demographic sustainability.

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Cooperatives are an organizational form of association that has an extremely long tradition, and at the same time it is widespread in all parts of the world and in a large number of economic and non-economic activities. One of the areas in which cooperatives are most represented is agriculture. Association in the agricultural sector brings a number of benefits to farmers, and is one of the factors that contributes to the sustainable development of rural areas. The practice of most developed countries is to support cooperatives, primarily through agricultural policy measures. The aim of the research is to analyze the current situation and limitations on the further development of the cooperative sector. Also, by analyzing current measures, primarily financial support to cooperatives, the authors try to determine the extent to which the existing support mechanisms are adapted to the needs of cooperatives and in what ways could the positive impact of support measures be increased. The existence of financial support to the existing and newly formed cooperatives in the field of agriculture, agritourism and crafts in rural areas, which is achieved in the form of various development programs, is assessed as a positive step compared to the previous practice in which the cooperative sector was largely marginalized. Following the experiences of countries with developed agricultural cooperatives, the authors point out that only through consistent support measures and coordinated work of all entities in the agricultural sector can we expect the reaffirmation of the concept of cooperatives in agricultural practice.

The aim of this paper is to determine the competitiveness of domestic honey and analyze the factors of influence, in order to create an adequate strategy for maintaining and strengthening the competitive position. The research is based on the analysis of results from the scientific-professional literature and statistical reports, calculation of economic indicators, comparative method and other general scientific methods. Porter's diamond model is used, as a basis for analyzing the competitiveness of honey. Domestic honey, as a traditional food product, is competitive. Data on honey exports and imports are a true indicator of the high competitiveness of honey. Namely, out of the total value of foreign trade in honey, almost 98 % refers to exports. The favorable competitive position of honey is primarily the result of low production costs, based on cheap raw materials and labor. In order to maintain a solid competitive position of honey, it is necessary to diversify the range, differentiate the offer, branding, quality standardization, innovative technology, education of producers, raising production efficiency, better use of comparative advantages, stimulating research and development projects, financial incentives, association of producers, etc. However, in order to survive in the international market, adequate marketing and technological strategies need to be developed and implemented.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the directions of changes in the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union for the period from 2021 to 2027. For the Republic of Serbia, as a candidate country for membership, it is important to monitor the changes that are taking place within the European agricultural policy. Analyzing the available literature and regulations of the European Commission, the authors look at the essence of the Common Agricultural Policy reforms in the upcoming seven-year period, with special reference to the aims, planned financial framework, "greening" of the CAP, as well as implementation of measures in rural development policy segment. Insisting on ecologically sustainable development of agriculture, along with greater institutional authority of the member states, are the key ideas that will guide the Common Agricultural Policy in the upcoming period.

The paper aims to review and analyze the important economic performance of the agro-industry in AP Vojvodina, to identify the challenges it faces and to propose guidelines for further development. The results indicate that the state of the primary agricultural sector of AP Vojvodina is unsatisfactory. Low level of specialization of households and low average possession are key factors behind the sector's lag. The economic size of agricultural holdings is relatively small with an average of around € 8,953.3, and about three times smaller than in the EU-28. The food industry has a significant share of GDP and has a surplus in foreign trade. The downside is that imports are increasing disproportionately to exports of agri-food products. The food industry recorded a decline in the observed period (2018/2017), both at the Republic and provincial levels, by 2.3% and 4.8%, respectively. Increasing investments, ensuring more stable market conditions and higher subsidies to primary agricultural production with the transfer of new technologies and introducing quality standards would contribute to the stabilization and better economic performance of the primary, implicit and food sectors.

This paper examines quantitative changes in the capacity and actual volume of the Serbian apple production in the period 1980-2016. On the basis of the analysis, forecast and comparison performed, the condition and development prospects of the Serbian apple production were assessed. An analysis of the production parameters observed was based on descriptive statistics, whereas ARIMA models were employed for forecast purposes. Based on the forecast values obtained, increasing trends in the parameters observed are expected in the forecast period. At the end of the forecast period, the total number of productive apple trees will approximate to 25 million, whereas the expected volume of apple production will approximate to 340,000 tones.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze agricultural policy measures aimed at young farmers and to compare the support system of the European Union and the Republic of Serbia. The dominant method in the research is the descriptive analysis. The comparative analysis method is used for investigating advantages and limitations of the support to young farmers in the EU and the Republic of Serbia. The unfavorable age structure of farmers represents the essential limitation for the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to improve and strengthen agricultural policy measures of support to young farmers, which will lead to property increase, diversification of income and higher standards of living and consequently to the decision of young people to stay in the village and work in agriculture.

The concept of modern-day and intensive agricultural production has imposed the improvement of competitiveness of agricultural households as one of the most significant issues. The level of knowledge and awareness of farmers is crucial for the growth of their competitiveness. This is the reason why the role and importance of farm advisory service, as a link connecting research and institutional sectors with farmers, has been underlined in the European agriculture system. The importance of advisory activities in contemporary circumstances has determined the research subject of this paper. The farm advisory service of the European Union has been analyzed using the historic, descriptive methods, as well as analysis and synthesis methods. The object of the research is to determine how privatization and commercialization influence the quality of advisory services by analyzing farm advisory services and their funding methods. Based on observed advantages and constraints of certain funding models, the paper has given guidelines for organization of the farm advisory service in the Republic of Serbia.

Considering that agriculture is significant activity in the Republic of Serbia, the country pursues the politics of encouraging it through the agricultural budget in order to develop and bring greater effects. The aim of paper is to depict the state of agriculture in the Republic of Serbia and agricultural budget, as an instrument of agricultural politics in function of agricultural sector development. Tendency is to explore whether the amount and structure of agricultural budget is adequate to objectives of the Strategy for agriculture development of the Republic of Serbia. By application of historical and descriptive method, the impact of agricultural budget to the agriculture development in the Republic of Serbia is reviewed. On the other hand, comparative analysis of statistical data provided the adoption of conclusions on the structure and amount of agricultural budget for the future. Graphical methods, indicators, logical methods and other standard methods are also used. For the more dynamic agriculture development of the Republic of Serbia, the resources of agricultural budget are not sufficient. The reform of agricultural policy is necessary, where the agricultural budget will gain in significance. The most effective is to direct the resources to new investments, infrastructural projects in rural areas, to stimulate intensive and export-oriented production, processing, as well as systems of sustainable agriculture.

The focus of this paper is solar energy as one of the renewable energy sources. When viewed historically, our society has always had a problem with the consequences of irrational use of resources left behind. For this reason, and at this stage of civilization development, renewable energy sources need to be widely used, because the reserves of non-renewable sources are being exploited greatly, while the level of pollution is reaching a critical point. Renewable sources are not new, their use was recorded even at the earliest stages of the development of human society, and this was mostly related to the use of solar energy. The today's modern technology and development allow for the multiple use of solar sources. Encouraging greater use of renewable energy sources is a topical issue in all developed countries, and the reasons for this are numerous, ranging from economic ones to those relating to the reduction of the greenhouse effect. However, the precondition is the fundamental change in the consciousness of people. Man is an inseparable part of nature; any change or disturbance of balance in the nature directly affects not only the human life, but the existence of life on the Earth, in general.

Farmers and rural residents of AP Vojvodina, besides subsidies from the agricultural budget, also have the resources of the Provincial Secretariat for Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry at their disposal. The aim of the paper is to present the scope and structure of subsidies in 2017, as well as to determine their alignment with development priorities. Agriculture has a significant place in the development program of AP Vojvodina nafor the period 2014-2020. The emphasis is on the education of rural population, improving the quality of life in the countryside in order to increase employment and stop the depopulation trends, establishing integral planning and use of water resources, and improving environmental management. In the structure of subsidies for agriculture and rural development in the area of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in 2017, the funds intended for reconstruction and construction of irrigation and drainage systems, renewal of agricultural mechanization, as well as motivation for the young population to remain in the village have the largest share. Considering the current situation and existing developmental constraints, but also development goals, this structure of subsidies should enable an increase in the quality of agricultural production to a higher level, while creating a significant work force, which will help the agricultural sector of AP Vojvodina become more competitive.

The aim of this paper is to show the ownership structure of agricultural farms in Serbia, compared with house farms in the European Union and point out the basic differences that affect the organization and production efficiency. Proposal of measures that could improve the ownership structure of agricultural farms in the Republic of Serbia could be viewed as a secondary objective of this paper. Historical and descriptive methods were utilized to provide us with an overview in terms of the impact of the implemented agricultural policy measures on the ownership structure of the Republic of Serbia and the European Union. Comparative analysis of statistical data led us to the conclusion regarding the structure and size of farms. Graphical methods, indicators and logical methods were also used in the course of this research. A favorable ownership structure is one of the prerequisites for the development of the agricultural sector, observed, inter alia, through the prism of its competitiveness. Having been under the influence of various factors, the ownership structure of agriculture in Serbia is extremely unfavorable, which is particularly evident in comparison with the Member States of the European Union. Agricultural land in Serbia has been irrationally used for decades, the proof of which is the high prevalence of small and fragmented land holdings (47% of farms in the Republic of Serbia till land up to 2 hectares only). The average holding of 4.5 ha is far below the average level in the EU-27, which amounts to 17.7 ha, and therefore it is impossible to achieve high efficiency and raise competitiveness. Without adequate measures of agricultural policy, which will affect the enlarging of land holdings and a cut in the number of land parcels, there can be no development of our agrarian sector.

Ending hunger, achieving food security and promoting sustainable development are at the top of the list of United Nations sustainable global development priorities after 2015. In addition to many positive effects, efforts of mankind regarding the reduction of rural poverty realized through the Green Revolution have had many negative effects, primarily related to natural resources. Irreversible devastation of land, air and water quality deterioration and jeopardizing biodiversity have been recognized as key elements of unsustainability of existing agricultural development concept. Consequently, there is a need for the adoption of a new concept of agricultural development, which will lie between intensive conventional and organic farming. The concept which has already been applied in some regions of the world and whose basic goal is to find a way to increase production with a negligible negative impact on the environment is sustainable agricultural intensification. The aim of this paper is to look at both positive and negative aspects of biotechnology development so far and point out the place and role the sustainable intensification concept should have in relation to conservation of natural resources and achievement of food security.

The main goal of this paper is an overview of existing and future mechanism of supporting young farmers in European Union. Positive effects of the measures of rural development policy, as well as restrictions in their operationalization were analyzed based on the insight into current reference sources and the regulations of European Union. Key recommendations for rural development policy regarding youth pertain to a higher degree of youth participation in the creation of development programs and projects, simplification of administrative procedures and a greater availability of information. Specific restrictions for potential young farmers include difficult access to farming land and a system of financing based on the refunds of invested resources.

Among natural products, essential oils from aromatic plants have been reported to possess potent anticancer properties. In this work, we aimed to perform the cytotoxic concentration range screening and antiproliferative activity screening of chemically characterized Thymus vulgaris L. essential oil. In vivo bioassay was conducted using the brine shrimp lethality test (BSLT). In vitro evaluation of antiproliferative activity was carried out on three human tumor cell lines: breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7, lung carcinoma H460 and acute lymphoblastic leukemia MOLT-4 using MTT assay. Essential oil components thymol (36.7%), p-cymene (30.0%), γ-terpinene (9.0%) and carvacrol (3.6%) were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Analyzed essential oil should be considered as toxic/highly toxic with LC 50 60.38 µg/mL in BSLT and moderate/weakly cytotoxic with IC 50 range 52.65-228.78 µg/mL in vitro, according to evaluated cytotoxic criteria. Essential oil induced a dose-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation in all tested tumor cell lines and showed different sensitivity. Dose dependent toxicity observed in bioassay as well as the in vitro assay confirmed that brine shrimp lethality test is an adequate method for preliminary toxicity testing of Thymus vulgaris L. essential oil in tumor cell lines.

Numerous reports assigning ( Z )-ligustilide ( 1 ) the role of a major bioactive principle in Apiaceae botanicals are called into question by the recurrent demonstrations of 1 being an unstable, rapidly degrading compound, ultimately leading to dynamic residual complexity. While Angelica sinensis is recognized for its therapeutic value in (peri-)menopausal symptom management, its purported active principle, 1 , represents a typical example of the instability-bioactivity chasm of botanicals. To help bridge the gap, this study used both the essential oil and purified 1 obtained from A. sinensis to investigate the factors that influence the chemical transformation of 1 , the products formed, and the rationale for monitoring 1 in natural product preparations. Countercurrent separation was used to purify 1 from a supercritical fluid extract of A. sinensis , achieving 93.4% purity in a single step. Subsequent purification by preparative HPLC afforded 1 with a 98.0% purity. Providing a mass balance setting, we monitored chemical changes occurring to highly purified 1 under various conditions and at different time points, in sealed NMR tubes by quantitative 1 H NMR (qHNMR). The nondestructive nature of NMR enabled a comprehensive assessment of degradation products. Moreover, in being a mole-based determination, the total intensity (integral) of all NMR signals intrinsically represents the theoretical mass balance within the sample solution. The results demonstrated that 1 is most stable while within the original plant material. Exposure to light had a profound impact on the chemical transformation of 1 , leading to the formation of ligustilide dimers and trimers, as verified by both NMR and LC-HRMS studies. Moreover, the results shown for 1 , augmented by other recent outcomes, have serious implications for the meaningful biological evaluation of NPs that exhibit instability/reactivity, while having a plethora of "promising" bioactivities reported in the literature and being frequently associated with unsubstantiated health claims.

Background: Currently, used oral antiplatelet drugs are both limited and associated with the risk of treatment failure/resistance. Research in this area is hence highly desired. A series of xanthene-3-ones derivatives, we had synthesized, showed us that these derivatives had antiplatelet activity. As far as we know, no research on the effects of xanthen-3-ones in this area has been done., Objective: The aim was to study the antiplatelet potential of a series of synthesised 9-phenylxanthene- 3-ones and to find the ideal structural feature(s) for antiplatelet potential and determine the mechanism of action., Methods: The compounds were synthesized from 1,2,4-triacetoxybenzene and various benzaldehydes. The reaction proceeded smoothly under acidic alcoholic conditions, furnishing the desired products in good yields. The compounds were first screened in whole human blood where platelet aggregation was induced by arachidonic acid. Further analysis was targeted at search of the mechanism of action., Results: Initial screening showed that a majority of the synthesized derivatives had substantial antiplatelet potential. None of the compounds were able to block cyclooxygenase 1 or thromboxane synthase. The mechanism appeared to be based on antagonism of thromboxane effects. The most potent compound 9-(4'-dimethylaminophenyl)-2,6,7-trihydroxy-xanthene-3-one had better potential to block collagen induced platelet aggregation than clinically used acetylsalicylic acid., Conclusion: The last mentioned derivative is promising for further in vivo testing., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

Objective: To assess the value of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), total human chorionic gonadotropin (ThCG) and unconjugated estriol in predicting certain complications of pregnancy other than fetal aneuploidy., Study Design: Among 2384 women that underwent biochemical screening between 15 and 22 weeks of gestation, pregnancy outcome was evaluated in 677 women under 35 years of age according to serum marker levels by using cut-off points discriminative for Down syndrome or neural tube defect (NTD)., Results: High alpha-fetoprotein levels (MoM>/=2.0) were found to be significantly more frequent (P<0.05) in cases of fetal growth restriction (odds ratio=2.7), miscarriage (odds ratio=4.4) and intrauterine fetal death (odds ratio=5.8). High chorionic gonadotropin levels (MoM>/=2.02) were associated with intrauterine growth restriction (odds ratio=2.1; P<0.05), miscarriage (odds ratio=4; P<0.01), preterm birth (odds ratio=2.5; P<0.05), and intrauterine fetal death (odds ratio=4.2; P<0.01). Among pregnancies with intrauterine growth restriction and threatening preterm delivery, low unconjugated estriol levels (MoM

Objective: to review the contribution of unconjugated estriol in Down's syndrome detection, and influence of maternal age, cut-off choice, and population specificity on the balance between triple-marker test sensitivity and specificity., Study Design: Prenatal karyotyping was performed in 2833 pregnant women, 73% of them over the age of 34. Duration of gestation was determined by ultrasound in 98% of women. Prior to amniocentesis, the serum levels of alpha-fetoprotein, human chorionic gonadotropin and unconjugated estriol were evaluated and corrected for weight. The risk of trisomy 21 was calculated for the first 986 subjects using default medians, and for 1847 by our population-specific medians. The cut-off was initially 1:300 at term, but the 1:100 and 1:200 risks were also tested. Down syndrome risk was calculated with alpha-fetoprotein and human chorionic gonadotropin combination as well. Linear logistic regression model was performed to test the ability of aneuploidy markers to classify patients into normal and trisomic groups., Results: There were twelve cases of Down's syndrome, seven of trisomy 18, four of trisomy 13, and one trisomy 22. Four cases of aneuploidy (16.7%) referred to women younger than 35. With the cut-off risk of 1:300, detection rate was 87.5% and specificity 63.3%, and with 1:100, 66.7% and 79.5%, respectively. The sensitivity for Down's syndrome was from 75% for cut-off=1:100 to 92% for cut-off=1:300, while detection of other trisomies was less successful (58% and 83%, respectively). Exclusion of unconjugated estriol MoM from the risk calculations reduced detection rate by 33% and improved specificity by 4% independently of cut-off choice. Linear logistic regression analysis showed that only unconjugated estriol was able to correctly classify patients between normal and trisomy 21 (p=0.011, odds ratio=1.445), and normal and trisomy 18 (p=0.0023, odds ratio=1.96) groups., Conclusions: The unconjugated estriol significantly contributes in Down's syndrome detection with cost of slightly reduced specificity. The 1:300 risk caused an unfavorable compromise between sensitivity and specificity. A higher cut-off, 1:100, would indicate performance of amniocentesis in women aged 39 years and older, and in those aged 35-39 only after the screen-positive result.