Nowadays, due to some reasons, soil quality deteriorates, soil organic matter decreases, and plant growth is adversely affected such as damaging agricultural practices, unconscious pesticide and fertilizer use. There is also treatment sludge among the methods that will contribute to the soil. Sewage sludge, the inevitable by-product of municipal and other wastewater treatment plant operations, is a key issue in many countries due to its increasing volume and the impacts associated with its disposal. This environmentally hazardous treatment sludge can be significantly reduced by anaerobic digestion. However, the resulting gas and the residues from anaerobic digestion process need to be treated or stabilized. The use of sewage sludge in agriculture will provide both soil nutrient elements and waste sludge can be disposed with this application. Definitely, it is possible to evaluate the treatment sludges in many different areas. After cleaning the sludge from contaminants, it can be used as a good compost or soil improvement material. In this study, agricultural applications with sewage sludge were investigated.

Global warming, which has been increasing in recent years, is due to the increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The agricultural sector, which has a 25% share in greenhouse gas formation, plays an important role in global warming. CO2, which has a share of 82% among greenhouse gases, is shown as the most important greenhouse gas. It is estimated that 10% of the CO2 in the atmosphere is missioned from the soil. When soil organic carbon, which is an indicator of soil fertility, is released into the atmosphere as CO2, N and S compound gases return to the earth and it causes inefficient soil as well as global warming. Organic carbon is a source of CO2 emissions when the soil is mismanaged. The organic carbon in the soil is transformed into CO2 with loosening of the soil and accumulates in the atmosphere, after it exposure to temperature and oxygen. Unconscious tillage and irrigations increase the physical and biological activity of the soil and cause CO2 emissions from the soil. CO2 emission, which is the main cause of drought, needs to be reduced with low cost, easy and practical applications. At the beginning of these applications, can be listed reduced tillage, deficit irrigation, reduction of fertilizer usage, reuse of agricultural wastes and agricultural management of wastewater. In this review, it is aimed to investigate CO2 emission effect of soil tillage depth and tools, exhaust gases of the vehicles used in soil tillage, the amount of irrigation water and irrigation methods, deficit irrigation, irrigation with wastewater, precipitation, plant factor, fertilization, properties and temperature of soil. In addition, approaches that can be applied to reduce CO2 emission are mentioned.

Anoectochilus formosanus Hayata was demonstrated to have a benefit healthy due to containing active pharmaceutical ingredients. However, A. formosanus is usually processed to produce tea bags which would destroy the bioactive compounds because of the processing procedure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of extracted methods including microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), and fermentation by Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC-4356 to extract the active pharmaceutical ingredients from A. formosanus. The extracted liquid was analyzed total phenolics, total polysaccharide, and antioxidant activity. The results showed that three methods have a positive effect on the extraction of bioactive compounds of A. formosanus in which the fermentation showed the best result. The total phenolic content, total polysaccharide content and antioxidant capacity that extracted by the fermentation method were 11.762 mg GAE/g; 48.914 mg GE/g, and 1.582 mgVit C/g compare to MAE and UAE which were 7.818 mg and 8.128 GAE/g samples; 41.22 and 37.91mg GE/g samples; 1.032 and 1.163 mgVit C/g respectively. The A. formosanus fermentation method by L. acidophilus promotes bioactive compounds of high biological value. This study would suggest a novel use of lactic fermenting A. formosanus in the production of functional foods.

In breeding for drought tolerance, availability of precise, cheap and easy to apply selection tool is critical. The aim of the present study was to identify potential screening tools that are useful for selection of drought tolerant genotypes in potato and select drought resistant potato genotypes. The study assessed sixty clones arranged in a 10×6 alpha lattice design with two replicates in a managed stress experiment. Two irrigation treatments were applied: fully watered non-stress and terminal drought, where the irrigation water supply to the crop was withheld after 50 % flowering to induce post-flowering stress. Stress indices were calculated based on tuber yield of genotypes in both stressed and non-stressed conditions. Identification of drought tolerant genotypes based on a single index was less informative as different indices identified different genotypes as drought tolerant. Hence, to determine the most desirable drought tolerant clones rank sum of indices, correlation, and bi-plot display of the principal component analysis was employed. The indices modified stress tolerance index based on non-stressed yield, Men productivity, Geometric mean productivity, Stress tolerance index, Harmonic mean, modified stress tolerance index based on stressed yield and Yield index exhibited strong association with both yield under stressed and non-stressed yield. These indices discriminated drought tolerant genotypes with higher tuber yielding potential both under stress and non-stress conditions. Genotypes CIP-398180.612, CIP-397069.5, and CIP-304371.67 were identified as drought tolerant. These genotypes could be potentially grown both under drought prone and potential environments and these selection attributes could help to develop climate resilient potato varieties.

A total of 42 Turkish peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) samples were analysed for their total free amino acid, β-carotene, lycopene, and flavonoid contents, and the total phenols, glucose, fructose and sucrose in the peanut samples were determined as nutrition aspects. The average values of the total free amino acid, beta-carotene, lycopene, glucose, fructose and sucrose were determined to be 14.4 µmol g−1, 14.4 µg (100 ml)−1, 14.4 µg (100 ml)−1, 1.07 mg g−1, 0.52 mg g−1 and 2.74 mg g−1, respectively. The results reveal that the consumption of Turkish peanut samples is safe and that they contain health-enhancing nutrients.

The health and vitality of callus growth is one of the prerequisites for the success of further in vitro studies. This study investigated the efficiency of different percentage (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) of vermicompost tea as an organic substance on in vitro callus growth in sainfoin. Morpho-physiological responses of calli to vermicompost tea measured under in vitro conditions. As a result of this investigation, a combination of plant growth regulators (4 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/l NAA) with 20% of vermicompost tea causing significant callus initiation and growth in sainfoin stem explants. Under the light of these scientific findings, vermicompost tea might be used as an organic bio stimulant for efficient callus growth and complementary to commercial chemical hormones in sainfoin. This research is important due to it can contribute positively to the plant species that are difficult in terms of callus growth and plant regeneration in tissue culture.

Eggs are important components of the human diet due to their low cost, high protein content and protein related technological features. High digestibility of egg proteins makes it possible to consume alone in the assay of nutritive values. Binding, emulsifying, foaming, gelling, and thickening properties of egg proteins provide an opportunity to use egg in various food products as an ingredient. Therefore, the consumption of egg is increasing with each passing day, however, Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimirum infections have been reported to be egg-born. These serious infections are originated from direct consumption of eggs or unpasteurized food products in which the egg yolk/albumen is added to the formulations such as mayonnaise, salad dressings or merengues. In order to prevent these infections, aforementioned microorganisms must be eliminated from the environment by pasteurization. Commercial pasteurization process is applied with hot water or vapor. Commercial processes include high temperature/short time or low temperature/long-time pasteurization. Although heat treatment is considered the most reliable method in terms of microbiological safety, high temperature and/or long time applications may have adverse effects on functional and nutritional properties of egg proteins. To ensure the microbiological safety of products without sacrificing technological or nutritional properties, researches have been centered upon innovative techniques such as irradiation, pulsed electric field, high hydrostatic pressure, and radiofrequency applications. This review is aimed to bring out the amendments occurred in the egg protein structures in consequence of aforementioned pasteurization methods.

Ensuring the olive oil quality and authenticity has become a great importance for both traditional and emerging olive oil producing countries. The chemical composition in olive oil heavily varies depending on the olive cultivar and its growing region, the agronomic applications, the olive oil production methods and the process and storage conditions. With the help of some analytical techniques and data evaluation methods, it is possible to grade olive oils in terms of their differences. This research examines particularly fatty acid composition of commercial olive oils (2017/2018 season) with mass detector coupled with gas chromatography (GC/MS). Results were evaluated for grading of them according to IOC regulations based on cultivar (ripe or unripe Ayvalik and Memecik), production (organic, stone mill, cold press, two or more centrifugation systems, filtered or unfiltered) and packing type (transparent or dark glass bottle and plastic bottle), and also their geographic origin (Ayvalik and Edremit towns, the Cunda Island, North Aegean region or South Aegean Region). According to overall data processing, virgin olive samples could be successfully distinguished in terms of theirs geographic origin and cultivar roots. Moreover, it was also explained that the effect of process and package type for grading of olive oils as ‘extra virgin’ or ‘virgin’.

In this study, the effects of carvacrol addition which is a natural preservative to apple juice samples contaminated with Z. bailii which is an osmotolerant yeast and shows resistance against high sugar concentration, low acidity, ethanol content and pasteurization process, were investigated on some physicochemical and bioactive properties and also changes in yeast numbers during storage period. For this purpose, the response surface methodology was applied and storage time (1-41 days), storage temperature (4-20°C), sodium benzoate amount (0-0.1%) and carvacrol amount (0-750 ppm) were selected as processing variables. Significant changes in physicochemical properties were observed due to yeast viability occurred during the storage of apple juice samples. The increase in the amount of carvacrol caused a decrease in the number of yeasts about 7 log level and prevented the spoilage of fruit juices. However, the brix value of the samples without carvacrol showed a decrease of 50% as a result of yeast activity and the fruit juice could not be consumed. Total phenolic content of the sample was in the range of 136.7-645.7 mg GAE/L and the lowest total phenolic content was determined for the run 11 having no carvacrol while the highest total phenolic content was for the sample added with the highest carvacrol level. As a result of the optimization process, it was observed that the deterioration activities of Z. bailii could be prevented to a great extent by the addition of maximum amount of carvacrol.

Phenolic compounds, organic acids and microbial metabolites as well as high acid content are the main reasons behind the antimicrobial activity of vinegar against various microorganisms. The antimicrobial effect of the vinegar may change depending on raw material, production method and treatment time of the vinegar. In literature, antimicrobial effects of traditionally produced vinegars from different sources such as berry, wood, grape, apple, pomegranate, honey, blueberry, rice and industrially produced vinegars investigated. As a result, vinegars have antimicrobial effect on various gram negative and gram positive microorganisms. The aim of this review is to provide a detailed up-to-date information on the antimicrobial effect of vinegar.