In recent years, there have been unexplained colony losses around the world. Due to the decrease in honey bee colonies, many studies have been carried out to investigate potential causes. One of the main causes of losses is also insecticides. Insecticides used against harmful insects in agricultural fields affect not only harmful ones but also beneficial insects such as honey bees directly or indirectly. Honey bee losses are more common, especially where insecticides are used, and the immune systems of bees exposed to insecticides in these areas weaken; foraging behavior, the ability to smell and learn is impaired. In addition, it leaves residues in bee products such as honey, wax, pollen and bee bread. Effective and sustainable solutions are sought worldwide in order to cope with these losses that pose a major ecological threat. This review aims to reveal the current situation by examining the effects of insecticides on honey bee behavior and physiology.

The aim of the study was to describe the scenario of the present condition of production and management system of dairy buffalo at Haor areas of Sylhet in Bangladesh. Data were collected between February 2019 and January 2020. Sixty dairy farmers and thirty indigenous dairy buffaloes were selected for the study purpose. All respondent farmers were male and 65% were in between 40 to 50 years of age. Parity number had a significant relation in response of body weight. Quality analysis of milk showed that buffaloes which were reared at Haor areas have more fat content on an average 7.88% than buffaloes which were reared conventional dairy farm containing 7.34%. Price of buffalo’s milk and meat were varied with the seasonal changes, lower in winter season. All farmers fed the buffaloes only with green grass in winter. Four major diseases of buffaloes were found in Haor areas where the percentage of foot and mouth diseases was 15.59% followed by black quarter (11.01%), anthrax (7.34%) and hemorrhagic septicemia (6.42%). The buffaloes were not dewormed so parasitic infestations dramatically increased and easily transferred from one to another. The farmers had not enough knowledge about regular vaccination. But in contrast with profitability, total benefit cost ratio from buffalo rearing was 1:1.56 annually.

The study was carried out to the effects of different plant densities and nitrogen levels on okra yield and plant development. Field trials were conducted in two locations, the training fields of the Ege University, Ödemiş Research and Training area, and Ege University Faculty of Agriculture, Menemen Research and Training Farm. The field layout was a split-plot design with 3 replicates, where main plots consisted of nitrogen applications and sub-plots of plant densities. Fertilizer was applied in the form of Triple Superphosphate, Potassium Sulfate, Urea and Ammonium Nitrate. Five different nitrogen levels (F1: 0, F2: 40, F3: 80; F4: 120 and F5: 160 kg N ha-1) and two different rows spacing (PD1: 15 cm×70 cm and PD2: 25 cm×70 cm) have been tested. Yield and yield components, plant height at flowering, height of the first fruits, the number of leaves, the number of branches, the number of days from sowing to first flowering, the number of days from sowing to first harvest, plant height, foliation status, total yield, yield of plant, average fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter have been noted in the field experiments. Total yield ranged from 5923.8 to 12888.9 kg ha-1 at the Ödemiş location, while it was 3363.3-5009.2 kg ha-1 at the Menemen location. In conclusion, the highest yield is taken from F2 in both plant densities in Ödemiş. In Menemen, the highest yield is taken from the dose of F3 (80 kg Nha-1) and F4 (120 kg Nha-1).

This study was conducted in the Aegean region conditions of Turkey in 2020. It was carried out on May-505, a local cotton variety. The study examined the variation of seed yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) of cotton with different irrigation programs and water levels. The field trial, which was designed as two factors and three replications, was designed according to the randomized complete block trial design. Four different irrigation levels (IL) (100%, 67%, 33%, and 0%) and two different irrigation scheduling approaches (gravimetric and pan evaporation) were investigated in the study. Seasonal water use values in treatments varied between 215 (0%) and 746 (100% - Pan evaporation approach) mm during the production period. The average yield values obtained with irrigation levels, which have essential effects on cotton seed yield, are listed as follows; 2057 kg ha-1 (IL-0%), 3471 kg ha-1 (IL-33%), 3771 kg ha-1 (IL-67%), and 5083 kg ha-1 (IL-100%). It was determined pan evaporation applications performed higher yields than gravimetric applications. WUE values were between 0.63 – 1.04 kg m-3. The gravimetric method’s yield response factor (ky) was 0.73, and the pan evaporation method’s yield response factor (ky) was 0.89. These results show that cotton is tolerant of water stress. In conclusion, although the pan evaporation approach with 100% treatment is suggested for cotton production in the parts of the Aegean region within the semi-arid climate zone, while water resources are sufficient. When the results are evaluated in terms of seed cotton yield for a deficit irrigation strategy, IL-67% treatment with a gravimetric approach can be used.

The tadpoles of four amphibian species, namely the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus), the Iranian Long-Legged Frog (Rana macrocnemis), the Caucasian Parsley Frog (Pelodytes caucasicus) and the Variable Green Toad (Bufotes variabilis), were exposed to acute concentrations (0 to 500 mg/L) of ammonium nitrate to assess the lethal effects (larval growth, abnormalities, mortality, and LC50 values). Eggs of each species were obtained from clean and polluted habitats in the same region and the tadpoles for experiments were provided from those eggs in the laboratory conditions. Although there was some variability between different populations of the same species or between different species in the observed effects, acute levels of ammonium nitrate caused decreased growth rate and increased abnormalities and mortality in general. Among the 4 amphibian species, the Variable Green Toad was the most damaged one in terms of growth reduction (on average 77-83%), and abnormality rates, and the most damaged one in terms of mortality rates was the Marsh Frog (on average 61-72%). Additionally, the species with the lowest concentration of ammonium nitrate, which killed half of its population, was the Marsh Frog. LC50 values for two populations of Marsh Frog were 37 and 59 mg/L. As a result of our research, it was determined that the acute fertilizer levels caused by agricultural activities in the region had very important harmful effects for all the species we examined. In this context, it can be said that very important environmental and biodiversity problems may occur if certain precautions are not taken regarding the use of the fertilizers and if the awareness of the farmers using these fertilizers cannot be raised.

The compost product, which is a biologically active substance, emerges as a result of microbial decomposition of organic materials under controlled conditions. This product, which is used for the improvement of soil structure and the development of agricultural products, also offers opportunities in terms of minimizing the damage caused by organic wastes to the environment. It is important to encourage efforts for compost production, especially in terms of both disposal and economic evaluation of wastes generated in animal production farms. Determining the most suitable location of a facility for the utilization of animal wastes as compost, which will be obtained from livestock enterprises scattered in different geographical areas, will be an essential study in terms of minimizing operating costs. For such a facility, it would be an appropriate approach to use multi-criteria decision making methods to choose among predetermined facility location alternatives. In this study, a total of 17 facility location alternatives with 83,163 cattle potential in Çorum province were ranked according to the criteria determined and weighted by means of SWARA method. The optimal ranking of 17 alternatives determined by K-Means clustering analysis was carried out by COPRAS and MAIRCA methods. According to the ranking results obtained from both methods, it was determined that cluster number 6 was in the first rank, cluster number 4 was in the second rank, and cluster number 3 was in the third rank.

In order to increase access to nutritious foods around the world, innovative technologies need to be developed and integrated into agricultural production systems. The new plant breeding techniques developed offer many advantages for making modifications in the plant genome. CRSPR/Cas9, one of the genome editing technologies, is an efficient system with high potential that allows the formation of target-oriented mutations in many agricultural products and allows the mutation of new and desired characters to be obtained through breeding programs without the use of foreign genetic elements. In this review, we have summarize the discovery, evalution, functionality, genome editing studies of plants and the strong potentials of CRSPR/Cas9 technology for plant breeding.

The study aimed to identify the major challenges that affect the market information system, assess the possible mechanism that would increase their speculative and bargaining capacity power and to explore feasible information system solutions. Data were collected with structured questionnaire from104 farmers of different market using clustered sampling techniques. Descriptive research design and mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research approach vis-à-vis value chain approach is applied and developed an intermediary driven value chain model that links farmers to the market as a way to improve the unidirectional, selectively beneficiary traditional system. Using nine criteria on the multitude of alternative information delivery mechanisms for small holding farmers, Interactive Voice Response based system is found to be of highly effective. Restructuring the market information by bringing the most important wholesalers in to the system, enhancing the functionalities of the market by creating localized price data and creating demand forecasting platform by distinguishing crops that continuously face marketing problems are suggested as short-term action while, increasing economies of scale in production and distribution by consolidating farmers’ cooperatives, encouraging the development of third-party logistics, investing on the physical agro-logistics infrastructure to support long-distance, high-volume agricultural product transportation modes as well as increasing the refrigerated storage capacity at wholesale markets to nurture cold chain technologies are very crucial tasks in the long run.

Land consolidation is a powerful and effective tool in solving the fragmentation problem of agricultural lands to form a larger, more rational and efficient land for the farmers. The benefits of land consolidation projects are providing access to parcels, efficient use of water resources, real location of parcels, and reducing the costs of irrigation and drainage projects. Although not sufficiently successful, the land consolidation projects in Turkey had been initiated in 1961. This study was aimed to measure and assess the knowledge, expectation and attitudes of farmers on the land consolidation project planned to be implemented for some villages in Artova District of Tokat Province, Turkey. The study was carried out in Taşpınar and Aşağı Güçlü villages which were included in the consolidation program. In these villages, 62 farmers were selected by proportional sampling method out of 175 producers registered in the Farmer Registration System (FRS) and, face to face questionnaires were carried out with them. The results indicated that the producers support the project primarily due to the convenience in irrigation and increasing the efficiency of mechanization. Chi-square analysis revealed that the problems caused by disadvantages of fragmented land structure, importance of land integrity and the experience on a previous consolidation project area are important for the producers supporting the land consolidation project.

Salmonella is known as one of the main factors of food-borne gastroenteritis, and with this feature, it poses a great risk in terms of public health and economic losses. It is estimated that of the approximately 94 million cases of salmonellosis occurring in the world each year (about 85 percent of these are food-borne), an average of 150,000 result in death. Current social trends highlight the important health benefits of fresh produce in our daily diet. As an irony; Uncooked consumption of fresh herbal products is increasingly identified as a source of transmission for pathogens of intestinal origin, and epidemics occurring in this way are spreading rapidly. Today, the frequency of anthropogenic pathogen outbreaks associated with fresh produce, spices, and nuts has surpassed those associated with foods of animal origin. Human pathogens in the production chain; It can be transferred to plant material by basic means such as the use of animal manure, contaminated irrigation water, biological vectors (insects and animals) and contaminated seeds. In the light of these data, many intestinal pathogens have been identified as phyllo sphere-associated bacteria. Despite all these findings, there are many unknowns on the persistence and infectivity of Salmonella in contaminated plant hosts. In this review article, the factors affecting the attachment, colonization and survival of Salmonella on plant surfaces, as well as the information on the infection processes that continue with the invasion of plant tissues are discussed in the light of contemporary literature data.