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Papers by Giorgi Ghambashidze

Sustainability, May 17, 2024

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2018

Soil contamination with heavy metals - Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn was studied in the main soil typ... more Soil contamination with heavy metals - Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn was studied in the main soil types of Imerti region. An attention was paid to diffusion pollution and metal distribution along the river valleys represent- ing the major flow paths for transporting different pollutants including heavy metals. The results of the laboratory analyses were compared to maximum permissible concentrations and guide values defined by Georgian legislation. An attempt was made to establish background concentration for heavy metals in studied soils and to use them as reference values in assessment of soil pollution. The comparison shows that the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn exceed their background contents in some soil samples. © 2007 Bull. Georg. Natl. Acad. Sci.

The collaborative research between the Agricultural Faculties University of Kassel, Germany and U... more The collaborative research between the Agricultural Faculties University of Kassel, Germany and University of Georgia, Georgia examines the causality between land and water resource management and food security of smallholder and family farmers. Adequate water quality and improved soil quality are critical factors in ensuring food security of smallholder and family farmers. Socio-politically less powerful stakeholders, such as smallholder farmers, could have to bear the negative consequences of land and water as competitive sources, which are exposed to different interests. Smallholder and family farmers are considered as major food producers in Bolnisi municipality, eastern Georgia. Most of them own 1 to 2 hectares under the land reformation program after 1992 and are located as homestead lands. Especially vegetables and fruits are produced in their own fields and these are the main source of family food supplies. As a result of the mining activities in the upstream area of Mashave...

ABSTRACT Soil Fertility management in organic farming relies on a long-term integrated approach r... more ABSTRACT Soil Fertility management in organic farming relies on a long-term integrated approach rather than the more short-term very targeted solutions common in conventional agriculture. Increasing soil organic matter content through the addition of organic amendments has proven to be a valuable practice for maintaining or restoring soil quality. Organic agriculture relies greatly on building soil organic matter with compost typically replacing inorganic fertilizers and animal manure as the fertility source of choice. In Georgia, more and more attention is paid to the development of organic farming, occupying less than 1% of total agricultural land of the country. Due to increased interest towards organic production the question about soil amendments is arising with special focus on organic fertilizers as basic nutrient supply sources under organic management practice. In the frame of current research two different types of compost was prepared and their nutritional value was studied. The one was prepared from organic fraction municipal solid waste and another one using fruit processing residues. In addition to main nutritional properties both composts were tested on heavy metals content, as one of the main quality parameter. The results have shown that concentration of main nutrient is higher in municipal solid waste compost, but it contains also more heavy metals, which is not allowed in organic farming system. Fruit processing residue compost also has lower pH value and is lower in total salt content being is more acceptable for soil in lowlands of East Georgia, mainly characterised by alkaline reaction. .

Foods

Milk and dairy products are among the most important food sectors in Georgia, and milk is conside... more Milk and dairy products are among the most important food sectors in Georgia, and milk is considered one of the most essential foods in the human diet according to Georgian food culture. Kvemo Kartli is one of the major regions in Georgia for milk production. This region suffers from heavy metal contamination in soil and water because of the mining industry. This study was conducted to determine the concentrations of cadmium, lead, iron, zinc, copper, chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, selenium and molybdenum in milk and cheese and to evaluate whether the concentrations of these elements correspond to the permissible levels of toxic elements in milk and cheese for Georgia and the EU. In total, 195 milk samples and 25 cheese samples (16 from Imeruli cheese and nine from Sulguni cheese) were collected from nine different villages in the Kvemo Kartli region in Georgia: Chapala, Vanati, Bolnisi, Mtskneti, Sabereti, Ratevani, Khidiskuri, Kazreti, Kvemo Bolnisi. The determination of hea...

Bulletin of Geography. Physical Geography Series

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the usefulness of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources... more The aim of the paper is to evaluate the usefulness of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) 2015 to classify shallow soils on mountains of the Trialeti Range, Lesser Caucasus, Georgia. The article also presents the evolution of the concept of Leptosols and of the qualifier “Leptic” and the diagnostic property of continuous rock. It also provides approaches to defining keys in the reference soil group (RSG) of Leptosols and identifying principal and supplementary qualifiers in WRB 2015 on example of soils of the Trialeti Range. The article gives few examples of classification for such shallow and stony soils with different set of qualifiers. Most of them fulfil the criteria of Leptosols and Regosols. These soils occur on the mountain range together with other RSGs (e.g. Pheozems). The authors propose to add the qualifier Technolithic to the list of Principal/Supplementary qualifiers of Leptosols.

Sustainability

Competing natural resources usage that leads to dramatic land use changes can threaten the balanc... more Competing natural resources usage that leads to dramatic land use changes can threaten the balance of a social-ecological system. When this is the case, communities are directly exposed to the negative consequences of those land use changes. The Mashavera River Basin is considered one of the hotspots of environmental pollution in Georgia. This is of importance for public health because the food production from this basin meets a substantial proportion of the country’s food demand. The farmers’ perception of the water quality and their perceived risks to the economy, health, and lifestyle reflect the status of the environmental and social conditions. The inclusion of farmers’ risk perceptions is an important stage of water quality governance that could enable active civic participation. The approach of this research study was the convergence model in the triangular design of the mixed method approach. As part of the social data, the research study was conducted with a survey of 177 h...

Water

The management of water quality is an important part of natural resource governance. Assurance of... more The management of water quality is an important part of natural resource governance. Assurance of water quality therefore requires formulation of the regulatory framework and institutional process. Water quality-related problems and their management are mainly recognized as local responsibilities in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The politics of environmental policy-making should consider the political economic dynamics and socio-ecological patterns. Decentralization by providing more power to the local level and moving to a new spatial management system that is based on water basins are the two strong entreaties in the new water governance paradigm. Transitional countries facing rapid institutional adjustment, restructuring of regulations, and political-economic changes are encountering these demands internally and externally in their policy formulations. In this context, this study critically examines the case of Georgia, a transitional country. In particular, the focus is on how local governance entities can be empowered and what obstacles water quality governance encounters in Georgia. Qualitative research design is the main research method implemented in this study. The key findings from the research analysis are as follows: the existing regulations and governance system do not facilitate the active engagement of local entities in water quality governance. The application of new water polices may fail again if a top-down governance model is put in place that only creates a narrow space for local governance entities to effectively govern water quality.

International journal of environmental research and public health, Mar 28, 2018

Water quality contamination by heavy metal pollution has severe effects on public health. In the ... more Water quality contamination by heavy metal pollution has severe effects on public health. In the Mashavera River Basin, an important agricultural area for the national food system in Georgia (e.g., vegetable, dairy and wine production), water contamination has multiple influences on the regional and country-wide health. With new industrial activities in the region, sediment extraction, and discharge of untreated wastewater into the river, its tributaries and irrigation canals, a comprehensive study of water quality was greatly needed. This study examined sediment and water samples from 17 sampling sites in the Mashavera River Basin during the high and low precipitation seasons. The results were characterized utilizing the Geo-accumulation Index (I), Enrichment Factor (EF), Pollution Load index (PLI), Contamination Factor (CF) and Metal Index (MI). According to the CFs, Cu > Cd > Zn > Pb > Fe > Mn > Ni > Cr > Hg is the descending order for the content of all o...

Soil Fertility management in organic farming relies on a long-term integrated approach rather tha... more Soil Fertility management in organic farming relies on a long-term integrated approach rather than the more short-term very targeted solutions common in conventional agriculture. Increasing soil organic matter content through the addition of organic amendments has proven to be a valuable practice for maintaining or restoring soil quality. Organic agriculture relies greatly on building soil organic matter with compost typically replacing inorganic fertilizers and animal manure as the fertility source of choice. In Georgia, more and more attention is paid to the development of organic farming, occupying less than 1% of total agricultural land of the country. Due to increased interest towards organic production the question about soil amendments is arising with special focus on organic fertilizers as basic nutrient supply sources under organic management practice. In the frame of current research two different types of compost was prepared and their nutritional value was studied. The o...

Field crops …, 2005

The consumer's interest in natural, unconventional and nutritional foods led to the developm... more The consumer's interest in natural, unconventional and nutritional foods led to the development of new specialty foods based on grain blends. Components of such foods are often so-called 'ancient wheats' which were never the subject of modern plant breeding programmes. ...