Peppermint is one of the valuable medicinal and aromatic plants with its powerful flavour and fragrance. Its leaf and essential oil are used in cosmeceuticals, foods, pharmaceutical and personal care products. It is well known that yield and secondary metabolite biosynthesis in the medicinal and aromatic plants are strongly influenced by abiotic stresses. Salinity is also one of the most important stress factors affecting plants. This study was carried out to determine the effect of salt stress on growth, essential oil content and oil constituents in peppermint plants. For this aim, three different concentrations of sodium chloride NaCl (0, 100 and 150 mM) were applied to peppermint plants. As a result of the study it was determined that all of the investigated parameters were significantly affected by NaCl applications. Shoot length, fresh and dry weights of plants and essential oil content decreased in line with the elevating level of NaCl. Besides, NaCl also caused differences in essential oil composition. Menthol and menthone, the main components of the peppermint oil, reduced significantly when NaCl concentration rose to 150 mM. Based on the results, it may be concluded that NaCl especially at high concentrations considerably and negatively affected plant growth, essential oil content and quality of the essential oil.

Oxidative stress, which plays an active role in the pathogenesis of various diseases, continues to be relevant in assessing the condition changes such as aggression. Some of Kangal dogs have been found to eat their own puppies during their first 24 hours following birth, as a case called maternal cannibalism. The present study aims to determine the levels of serum malondialdehyde (MDA), which is a product of lipid peroxidation, and serum glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes, which are the parameters of antioxidant defense system, and total protein and albumin levels and to show their relationship with cannibalism. The study material consists of blood and blood serum of 30 Kangal dog breed in total, 15 of which have maternal cannibalism and 15 haven’t observed maternal cannibalism as a control group. Glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde levels were investigated by means of spectrophotometric method in blood serum of these animals. The difference between the mean values of total protein, GPx, SOD, MDA and albumin was statistically significant in the results obtained. These findings conclude that oxidative stress and antioxidative metabolism plays a role in the pathogenesis of cannibalism in dogs.

Organik asitlerin su ürünleri yetiştiriciliğinde, fonksiyonel yem katkı maddeleri olarak kullanılmasının öngörülebilir gelecekte belirgin bir şekilde artacağı düşünülmektedir. Dünya su ürünleri yetiştiriciliğinin sürekli genişlemesi, büyük bir pazar potansiyeli oluşturmaktadır. Bununla birlikte küresel ısınmanın bir sonucu olarak, su ürünleri yetiştiriciliğinde hastalık salgınlarında artma tehlikesi, önemli bir problem olarak ortaya çıkabilecektir. Birçok ülkede antibiyotik kullanımına ilişkin yasaklar veya kısıtlama uygulamaları bulunmaktadır. Su ürünleri yetiştiriciliğinde, antibiyotiklere karşı uygulanabilir bir alternatif olarak organik asitlerin kullanımının uygunluğunu, yapılan çalışmalar ile ortaya konulmaktadır. Organik asitler, antimikrobiyal özelliklerinden dolayı zararlı bakterilerin çoğalmasını engelleyerek, hayvanların gastrointestinal sisteminde yararlı bakterilerin büyümesini teşvik ederek, hayvanların sağlığını iyileştirme özelliklerini göstermektedirler. Yapılan çalışmalar, organik asitlerin fonksiyonel yem katkı maddeleri olarak, su ürünleri yetiştiriciliği endüstrisinde sürdürülebilir bir sağlık yönetimi programının bir parçası olarak kullanılabilirliğini ortaya koymaktadır.

Water quality in surface waters is an important concern since it directly affects public health. Therefore, to provide adequate quality of water, monitoring studies have been conducted all around the world. In this study, multivariate statistical methods were used to understand the spatial and temporal changes in heavy metal concentration (including As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb, Zn) through Orontes River. Monitoring study results belonging to 5 different stations in Orontes River was obtained from State of Hydraulic Works and evaluated according to Box and Whisker plots, two-way PERMONAVA analysis and Mann-Kendall trend test. Results indicated that heavy metal concentrations has been increasing year by year. However, there is no significant spatial change in heavy metal concentration and rather homogenous distribution was observed through Orontes River. On the other hand, Iron (Fe) concentration in river was seasonal depended with no significant trend.

This study was conducted with the aim of determining the probable effects of different real interest rates (RIR: 5, 6 and 7%), some key breeding criteria such as calving rate (CR: 80, 85 and 90%) and mean lactation milk yield per milking cow (MLML: 5000, 6000 and 7000 kg) on the financial evaluation indicators such as Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) for a dairy cattle farm investment project taken as model, consisted of 100 heads of Holstein cows, which was established and operated during 20 years period in Turkey. In the study, firstly, current investment and annual operating costs for that kind of dairy cattle farm were determined according to optimal workmanship, housing, maintenance, feeding and health protection and then revenues were calculated from current sale prices of raw milk, slaughtered/breeding animal and manure. For each assumed different real interest rate, calving rate and mean lactation milk yield per milking cow, the parities of unit (1 kg) sale price of raw milk to unit (1 kg) cost of concentrate feed (M/F-parity) (current unit cost of concentrate feed was assumed as to be 1.00 Turkish Lira (TL) were calculated to make BCR that is one of the financial evaluation criteria for the investment projects, as to be 1.00. Calculations showed decreasing each 1% of the real interest rate in Turkey, increasing each 5% of calving rate and increasing each 1000 kg of mean lactation milk yield per milking cow had, separately, about 5-12% positive effect on the parity of unit (1 kg) sale price of raw milk to unit (1 kg) cost of concentrate feed.

In Mediterranean climate region, during certain times of the year the daily average temperature decreases under 12°C. In such conditions, greenhouse heating is essential to be able to get the high quality yield that is expected from greenhouses. The cost of heating varies from 20% to 60% of the total costs depending on the climate of the region, size, type and hardware of the greenhouse and type of plant grown in the greenhouse. The heat requirement in greenhouses is calculated based on the rudiments defined by DIN 4701 standards. However, the real temperature in greenhouses is higher than the outside temperatures used in calculations. For this reason, the heat requirement in greenhouses should be calculated by taking temperature increases that are caused by ventilation temperature and heat storage capability into consideration. In this study, the heat energy need of Antalya which is located in Mediterranean region is assessed according to its climate conditions. In the calculations, the different hardware structures are considered and the level of energy that can be saved is calculated. As a result of the calculations, depending on the month of the year, 12% to 29% difference is observed between energy requirement calculations based on the indoor temperature increases and energy requirement calculations based on outside temperature values.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of kefir as a probiotic on the performance and health status of calves. Thirty Holstein female calves with 3-day-old were randomly allocated to three treatment groups: Control (without any probiotic), probiotic (a commercial probiotic mixture-3 g/d/calf bacteria-based and 2 g/d/calf yeast-based) and kefir (20 ml/d/calf). The calves were weaned at 56 days of age. The experiment was performed in 70 days. Treatment had no effect (P>0.05) on weaning and final body weight and starter intake. Although differences in weight gain were not significant (P>0.05), there were trend to increase by probiotic treatments during 0-14 days. Probiotic treatments tended to have a positive effect on the population of the fecal lactic acid bacteria at 14 days. The results of the study indicated that kefir as a natural probiotic in calf nutrition may be beneficial during the first weeks of life.

Plants have developed mechanical and chemical defense strategies that are effective against herbivores. Plants contain chemicals that are known as secondary metabolites (allelochemical) and these chemicals do not directly involve in organisms’ reproduction and growth, on the other hand, they affect survival, growth and behavior of species. These compounds usually take ecological tasks and plants use these compounds against diseases, parasites, and predators for interspecies competition. It is known through the observations on feeding of herbivorous insects that these compounds act as deterrent chemicals or they are toxic against them. Feeding is one of the most fundamental and the most important behaviors for herbivorous insects. Even though host plant preference of herbivores is partially depend on nutrients, this behavior greatly depends on secondary chemistry of plants. Effects of secondary compounds on herbivorous insects can be positive or negative.

There are various food-processing technologies with the aim of protecting foodstuffs from environmental factors and increasing their shelf life. One of these is encapsulation technology, which has recently been used with an increased interest. With the fluidized bed coating, which is one of the physical methods used for encapsulation, the solid core materials are fluidized via the air stream and a film layer is formed on the surface of the core material with the coating material. The applicability of the fluid bed coating technique, as well as particulate properties, is significantly influenced by process variables used in the system, environmental variables and thermodynamic factors. The release characteristics of capsules formed during the process can be changed by various mechanisms such as heating, dissolution, mechanical or chemical fracture etc. and controlled release can be achieved. The fluidized bed coating method not only has the advantage of controlled release but also provides a homogeneous powder product, reduction of fine particles, development of transport and storage facilities, protection of reactive components, and prevention unwanted taste and odour. In this study, researches on fluid bed coating mechanism, fluid bed coating systems and applications of fluid bed systems in the food industry have been reviewed.