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In this study, the negative effect of drought severity on forage quality in grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) genotypes and the role of smoke solution in preventing this effect were investigated.

This study was carried out to determine the effect of different doses of salicylic acid (SA) and sodium chloride (NaCl) treatments on seed germination and seedling development in Olympus cultivar of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea). The study was conducted in the laboratory of Ordu University, Faculty of Agriculture with 5 replications according to the factorial experiment design in randomized plots. Salicylic acid was applied at 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0 mM and NaCl was applied at 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 mM doses. As a result of the analysis of variance, the SAxNaCl interaction was found to be statistically significant only in terms of germination rate and mean germination time. While increasing salt stress reduced the germination rate, the effect of salicylic acid under the same salt stress conditions was positive or negative depending on the dose. The germination rate was over 60 % in all treatments up to 250 mM salt dose. But in all treatments with salt doses of 150 mM and above, seedling development was severely suppressed. For this reason, it was determined that Olympus variety could not tolerate NaCl stress above 100 mM during the germination period and salicylic acid did not have a tolerance-increasing effect. When germination and seedling development were evaluated together, it was specified that 0.75 mM salicylic acid pre-application had positive effects under 50 mM NaCl stress conditions.

Acari belong to the class Arachnida of the Arthropoda, which includes ticks and mites. Although they are not a group that can actively travel very long distances, they are present in almost all terrestrial habitats and have a significant impact on ecosystem functioning. Most mites live in temporary habitats. Mite populations other than soil mites are formed from separate colonies, regularly moving from an aging or depleted source to a new source. Mites’ dispersal occurs in two ways: active and passive. Active dispersal ability is limited for these species due to their morphological characteristics. Because mites lack wings, active dispersal is usually on foot, although some families can move over short distances by spinning webs. Passive dispersal is realized by water dispersal, wind dispersal and phoresy. Phoresy is certainly one of the most effective methods of dispersal for mites, as it allows long distances to be covered and suitable habitats to be reached. In conclusion, more information on the dispersal types of mites will not only help us to better recognize these small organisms, but will also contribute to the development of new strategies, especially in the control of economically damaging species. This review aims to provide an overview of the mechanisms of mite dispersal.

Although Kahramanmaras province has a significant potential for greenhouse investments due to factors such as land structure, climate characteristics and widespread agricultural production activities, there are few scientific studies that examine the greenhouse production situation of the region in terms of agricultural economy and at micro level. This study aims to determine the sociodemographic characteristics and current structural characteristics of greenhouse enterprises in Kahramanmaras province. The material of the study consists of data obtained by face-to-face questionnaire from 68 plastic greenhouse enterprises identified by complete census method in three districts, two of which are in the central district of Kahramanmaras province. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. According to the results of the study, the average greenhouse land area of the enterprises was determined as 7.38 decares and it was determined that 70.05% of the producers produced tomatoes and 23.17% produced cucumbers. It was determined that all of the enterprises used plastic greenhouses, 50% of them grew more than one crop and 27.94% of them had agricultural insurance. In addition, the enterprises are mostly protected from frost damage by burning straw (58.82%) and sprinkling (13.24%). Most of the enterprises reported that they had soil analysis (80.88%). The enterprises reported that they mostly benefited from bumblebee use support (83.82%), input (diesel-fertilizer) support (80.88%) and TARSIM (greenhouse insurance) support (64.71%). It is thought that this research will be an important source of data and information to effectively mobilize the greenhouse potential in the region.

This study aims to apply the Apriori association rule algorithm on 14 continuous egg quality traits recorded from 4320 eggs of three commercial white-laying chicken lines. In the study all the continuous data were discretized using Equal-Width-Interval method based the number of intervals obtained with Rice formula. Association rules analysis on the discretized dataset resulted with a total of 349 rules consists of 3 and 4 items. According to the top five rules by support and confidence, some important associations were obtained between the certain value ranges of the traits egg weight, egg width, egg length, shell thickness, and shell breaking strength when compared to the others. The appropriate biological and economic interpretations of the obtained rules may contribute to the poultry industry in practice.

This study investigated the regulation of gene expression in root, leaf, and grain tissues of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in response to drought and heat stresses at the grain-filling stage for the first time by transcriptome analysis. The sequencing result, obtained on a Roche 454 GS FLX+, yielded a total of 117,790,028 base reads and 8,351 unigenes with an average length of 461 bp. Through transcriptome analysis, numerous transcripts have been identified to be involved in maintaining osmotic and ionic balance, detecting and transmitting signals, modifying protein structure and function, ensuring membrane integrity and stability, and are associated with energy and carbohydrate metabolism. Against drought and high-temperature stresses, tolerance mechanisms in the root, leaf, and grain tissues differentially regulated many specific transcription factors identified. Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase, callose synthase, cell wall-associated hydrolase, MYB33, and NAC69 transcription factors expression levels were measured with qRT-PCR. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the transcripts identified were related to osmotic and ionic balance, signal detection and transduction, modification of structural and functional proteins, cell membrane structure and stability, energy and carbohydrate metabolism, and their expression level varied according to the tissue or drought and high-temperature stress applied.

The global focus on enhancing sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] for biomass-related traits is increasing due to its potential contribution to the growth and sustainability of the ethanol and biogas production chain. Heterosis has been widely used in sorghum breeding, especially in improving biomass yield using efficient crossing and selection methods. The objective of this study was to assess the heterosis potential of elite sorghum accessions. Ten hybrids were established using five reciprocal crosses of seven elite breeding accessions. The hybrids and the parental lines were significant of great variation for plant height (PH), panicle length (PL), number of leaves (NL), and stem diameter (SD). Most hybrids had high positive mid-parent heterosis for biomass-related traits, while better parental heterosis ranged from -7.90 to 31.16 for PH, 17.14 to 79.59 for PL, -39.68 to 13.20 NL, and -19.19 to 104.23% for SD. Four hybrids (P6×P4, P4×P6, P6×P5, and P5×P6) exhibited plant heights greater than the best parent (P5:322.33 cm). Reciprocal cross effects had a significant impact on PH and SD, with a wide range of -10.23 to 39.35% and -37.50 to 30.55%, respectively. The results indicated that heterosis could be come true for the characters of plant height, panicle length, and number of leaves, and stem diameter that contributes great impact on having high biomass.

This study aims to analyze the change in pesticide use in the world, European Union (EU) countries and Türkiye for the period 2000-2021. In addition, legal regulations and policies to regulate and reduce pesticide use were evaluated. According to the findings of the study, as of 2021, the world average pesticide use was 1.07 kg ha-1, the average of EU countries was 3.20 kg ha-1 and the average of Türkiye was 2.26 kg ha-1. Accordingly, the amount of pesticides used per hectare in Türkiye is lower than the EU average and higher than the world average. While the share of herbicides in pesticide use per unit area is the highest in the world (21.92%), the share of fungicides and bactericides is the highest in the EU (43.18%) and Türkiye (36.06%). While the EU has comprehensive legal regulations to reduce pesticide use and ensure environmental sustainability, regulations on pesticide use in Türkiye remain limited. Despite the inadequacy of legal regulations on pesticide use in Türkiye, it can be said that there have been great efforts to promote sustainable agricultural practices in recent years. This shows that the EU has a more structurally oriented approach to agriculture-environment relations and environmental goals, while Türkiye is trying to control pesticide use indirectly. Türkiye, taking into account the EU harmonization process, should develop more specific legal regulations, policies and strategies that reduce the risks related to pesticide use to implement the structural-oriented and comprehensive legal regulations of the EU. It is recommended that more effective agri-environmental policy measures, such as taxation and subsidies, should be implemented to develop alternative disease and pest control methods and ensure farmer adaptation for sustainable agricultural production in Türkiye.

The aim of this study is to determine the heating and cooling energy requirements of broiler chicken houses in the climatic conditions of Kahramanmaras province and to contribute to the development of energy management strategies based on environmental factors. In the study, the heating and cooling needs of broiler chickens at different developmental stages were calculated using the degree-day (DD) method, which is widely used to estimate energy requirements in buildings and facilities. The research was conducted between May 1, 2019, and April 30, 2020, at the research cluster of Kahramanmaras Sütçü Imam University, Animal Production Application and Research Center. The planning of the production cycles began on May 1 and was carried out in six periods, each lasting 60 days. These periods were structured as 42 days of production followed by 18 days of interruption for disinfection and cleaning. In the study, heating degree-day (HDD) and cooling degree-day (CDD) values were determined using the DD calculation method, and energy requirements were calculated in kilowatt-hours (kWh) based on these values. During the production periods, equilibrium temperatures ranging from 30 °C to 20 °C were used, taking into account the temperature requirements of the chickens. The findings revealed significant differences in the annual heating and cooling energy requirements. In the study, the HDD value was 1676.8 and CDD value was 504.2. The total energy requirement for heating was calculated as 4433.8 kWh, and the energy required for cooling was calculated as 44,691.3 kWh. Additionally, the study’s findings indicate that the energy required for cooling is much higher than that for heating, particularly during the hot summer months. The study also suggests that relying solely on HDD and CDD values for energy requirement calculations may be misleading and that structural heat losses and the heat production of the animals should also be taken into account to calculate energy requirements accurately.

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of different lead (Pb) concentrations on some growth characteristics of French marigold (Tagetes patula L.). The research was carried out at Siirt University (Türkiye) Faculty of Agriculture, Agricultural Biotechnology Laboratory. In the study, French marigold (T. patula L.) seeds were used as plant material. Five different concentrations of lead (0, 200, 400, 600, and 800 ppm) were considered as research subjects. 7 pots were used for each concentration, and the laboratory experiment was set up in a randomized complete plots design with 7 replications. In the experiment, a 2:2:1 ratio peat:sand: soil mixture was used as the plant growth medium. Plant height (cm), stem thickness (mm), the number of branches per plant, the number of flowers per plant, single flower weight, and plant fresh and dry weights (g) were evaluated. According to the results, the difference between Pb concentrations was found to be significant in terms of all parameters except for the number of branches, and fresh and dry plant weights. In the study, according to Pb concentrations, plant height values were between 46.25-52.50 cm, stem thickness was between 4.13-5.77 mm, the number of branches was between 4.25-5.75 per plant, the number of flowers was between 3.25-6.25 per plant, single flower weight was between 0.84-1.49 g, plant fresh weight was between 11.66-14.32 g and plant dry weight varied between 1.10-1.29 g. In the study, promising results were obtained that the French marigold can be used for phytoremediation in Pb-contaminated areas.