Central forestry laboratory performs testing activities following the international standards and participate in various activities within CoE LignoSilva

The Central Forestry Laboratory was created when the National Forest Centre was founded on 1 January 2006 by merging two independent laboratories, the Forestry Research Institute laboratory (1991) and the Forestry Pedological Laboratory of Lesoprojekt (since 1953). CLL is the only forestry laboratory in the territory of the Slovak Republic that participates in the comprehensive analysis of forest ecosystems while solving tasks of rational management in forest management and environmental monitoring. Currently, he performs quantitative analyses of the components of f

• Analyzes in water – in precipitation, lysimeter, waste and surface waters, where they determine cations, anions and heavy metals, pH, conductivity, alkalinity,
• Analyzes biomass – in bark, wood, roots, fruits, needles, leaves, mosses, fodder, and biofuels, the content of mineral and risk elements such as ash and moisture content is determined,
• Analyze soils, river and bottom sediments, wood ash, and sludge and determine their basic characteristics, physical properties, water, pH, granularity, risks, and mineral and new element content.

The laboratory performs testing activities following the international standard STN EN ISO/IEC 17 025 and is accredited by SNAS for biomass and soil with registration number 440/S-315. CLL is included in the network of laboratories from 41 European countries analysing samples of the international program ICP Forests, while its QC/QA (Quality control/Quality assurance) system is included. It regularly participates in inter-laboratory comparative tests organised by ICP Forests, WEPAL, and ÚKZÚS, repeatedly achieving a 100% success rate.

The results of the analysis are mainly used in scientific and technical national and international projects APVV, LIFE+, OPVV, and COST. For a long time, he has provided analytical determinations for the Partial Monitoring System Forests and international forest monitoring ICP Forests, where the effects of anthropogenic activity on the environment are monitored. The results are also used for forestry management practice, for the fulfilment of the tasks assigned to the Ministry of Forestry of the Slovak Republic, where they are used for remedial measures and the processing of fertilisation proposals, for determining the causes of the withering of forest stands, for proposals for immission zones and for improving the mapping of forest soils and forest stands.

The laboratory staff is at a high professional level. In recent years, it has undergone several personnel changes. Currently, the team consists of workers with many years of practical experience and younger workers with the latest knowledge from recent studies. All workers regularly participate in professional training and seminars to continue to educate. They are highly adaptable for re-evaluation and the correct choice of the analytical method given project goals. They can find, verify, and implement new analytical techniques.

The basic instrumentation of the laboratory consists of the following devices:

Atomic emission spectrometer with inductively coupled plasma ICP-AES VARIAN ES 725 for determining the content of mineral and hazardous elements in soil, water, biomass and biofuels; Dionex 1000 ion chromatograph for determination of anions in water samples; content of chlorine, fluorine, N-NO3 and S-SO4 in vegetable and biofuels; LECO CHN828 and LECO S832 for measuring the content of elements C, H, N and S in soil, biomass and biofuels; Shimadzu TOC/DOC analyser determination of soluble nitrogen and carbon content in water; Absorption Spectrophotometer AMA 254 for determination of mercury content in soils, biomass and biofuels.