The new coronavirus, emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019, turned into a major global pandemic and has caused many deaths around the world. Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected every aspect from economy, education to health system. During Covid-19 pandemic, access to foodstuffs has become even more important, and some countries have imposed restrictions on exports of basic food items for fear of food shortages. These restrictions and quotas are feared to disrupt the flows of trade for staple foods such as wheat, corn and rice, which has deepened the concerns for food security. This study was conducted to examine the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on wheat price, production and trade and to review the policies of wheat exporter countries. According to the results of the study, Covid-19 did not cause fear in wheat markets, and no shortages of wheat are expected in the short term. Although countries have reduced the measures they have taken as of May, uncertainties regarding food safety still persist for the coming years. World economies have shrunk significantly as a result of the drastic measures they have taken against covid-19, which could worsen the situation for low income households.

Increasing human population places pressure on agriculture. To feed this population, two time increase in the current wheat production is needed. Today agriculture is becoming input intensive with more reliance on synthetic fertilizers and agrochemicals to fulfil the feed demand of the growing numbers. Use of synthetic fertilizer since last few years is impacting the soil quality. In this scenario, the use of beneficial endophytic microbes is an attractive strategy to overcome the use of synthetic products. To investigate the effect of consortium application of endophytic bacteria and fungus on plant growth, grain yield moisture status, a pot experiment was conducted in different wheat lines. It comprised four treatments like control, application of bacterial strain Bacillus sp. MN54, fungal strain Trichoderma sp. MN6, and their consortium (Bacillus sp. MN54 + Trichoderma sp. MN6). The effect of consortium application was more prominent and significantly different from the sole application of bacteria and fungus. The results showed that with a consortium application of endophytic bacteria and fungus, there was 28.6, 4.3, -6.3 and -3.7% increases in flag leaf area, chlorophyll content, relative membrane permeability and water content respectively. Consortia of endophytic microbes also resulted in the yield enhancement through the betterment of various yield attributes like number of spikelet’s, grains per spike and grain yield per plant (32.2, 25.8 and 30.8%, respectively). So, consortia of endophytic microbes can greatly promote the progress of plants in dry land agriculture and increase the yield in an environmentally sustainable way.

Forty seed sample of wheat (Triticum aestivum) were collected from four locations viz. Chitwan, Kaski, Banke and Lalitpur and tested by blotter method at laboratory during 2013 for determining fungal pathogens associated with wheat seeds in Nepal. Eighteen species representing thirteen genera of fungi were recovered from the seed. Alternaria alternata and Bipolaris sorokiniana were predominant in all the varieties/genotypes from all the locations, where B. sorokiniana was strongly pathogenic in wheat crop. Percentage frequency and type of fungi detected varied with variety and locations. Bipolaris sorokiniana was highest (64.40%) in Banke than remaining three locations. Seeds of Chitwan had lowest percentage (5.50%) of seed infection as compared to other locations. Relative abundance of Alternaria alternata (55.10%) was highest as it was the most prevalent component of seed borne mycoflora, followed by Bipolaris sorokiniana (34.69%) and Cladosporium herbarum (7.19%). Differences in quantity of precipitation and relative humidity might be the possible reason for variation in frequency and type of fungi detected in wheat seeds of four locations.

: Global climate change is a threat to Turkiye, especially in the agricultural sector. In recent years, the impact of climate change has been felt seriously in Çorum Province. The present study was carried out after it was observed that the average temperature in Çorum province, which was 10.8 °C in 1929-2019 period, rose up to 13.15 °C in 2020. The aim of the present study was to determine the factors that affect the climate change adaptation behavior of the farmers in Çorum, where 37% of the land is devoted to wheat production. A survey was conducted with 385 farmers in January and February, 2021. It was revealed that personal experience had a positive effect of 54% on adaptation behavior, 50% on risk perception and 81% on climate change beliefs. In addition, although belief in climate change had a 45% positive effect on risk perception, risk perception and beliefs had no significant effect on the adaptation behavior. As a result, raising the awareness of farmers about adaptation using agricultural extension services and personal experience teaching method before incurring economic loss is critical to reduce climate risks and to better adapt to climate change.

In agricultural production planning; compiling the data correctly, and using and interpreting the data precisely have strategic importance. This study aims, it is aimed to develop a model that can evaluate the suitability of the Lower Kelkit Basin for wheat farming by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and current GIS technologies. In the study, weight values of seven different criteria of topography (slope, aspect) and soil (texture, organic matter (OM), CaCO3, EC, pH) were calculated with AHP. These weight values and standardized criteria maps were combined within the ArcGIS Weighted Overlay tool and the result maps were created according to the FAO suitability index. According to these maps, 54% of the Lower Kelkit Basin was modeled as unsuitable (N) for wheat, 22% as moderately suitable (S2), and 24% as highly suitable (S1). In addition to all these, an editable and updatable ArcGIS model tool was also produced as a result of the study. Our results indicated that AHP and GIS are powerful and effective tools that can be used in land suitability modeling.

Ethiopia has enormous potential for wheat production, yet it remains a net wheat importer. This paper aims to examine the efficiency of wheat production in Debra Libanos district, Ethiopia. Two stages sampling technique was used to randomly select 150 farmers for the study. A stochastic production frontier and two-limit Tobit estimator was utilized in the study. The study reveals that technical (78.5 %,), allocative (85.6%), and economic (66.7%) efficiencies. The yield gap was 5.13 quintal/ hectare showing a room to increase efficiencies. The study identified the determinants of wheat production efficiency in the area. Hence, to improve wheat production efficiencies strengthen extension services, improved technology utilization, and proper land ploughing. Besides, natural resource conservations that improve soil fertility should be the focus of the policymakers.

Main aim of this study was to determine the effects of different salt contents (75 mM, 150 mM and 225 mM NaCl), heavy metal (0.2 mg/L FeCl3, NiCl2, ZnCl2), lime (2 mg/L CaCO3), drought (50%) and pollution (0.2 mg/L dust of factories) on photosynthetic pigments, malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels, the ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (GPOX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in Siyez wheat (Triticum monococcum L.). All experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions with 16 hour-day and 8 hour-night photoperiod in an incubator at 23 ± 1°C. Results showed that mean chlorophyll-a concentration was highest in the siyez seedlings treated with the pollution, while both mean chlorophyll-b and total chlorophyll concentrations were highest with 75 mM salt application. Mean total carotenoid was, however, highest with the drought treatment and mean relative water content was highest with NiCl2 application. Mean MDA and H2O2 contents were found to be highest in the siyez seedlings treated with 225 mM salt, whereas they were lowest with NiCl2 treatment. Mean proline content was highest with the NiCl2 treatment compared to the lowest concentration in the control siyez seedlings (82 µmol/g). Mean APX, CAT and GPOX activities were noted to be highest in the siyez seedlings treated with NiCl2. In general, the siyez seedlings showed high tolerance to the pollution, NiCl2 and drought with having highest photosynthetic pigments, proline, protein content and enzymes activities. Among all treatments, 225 mM NaCl and CaCO3 negatively influenced chemical compounds of the siyez seedling. When all data are taken into consideration, it can be said that higher photosynthetic pigments, proline contents, antioxidant enzymes activities and lower MDA and H2O2 levels play an important role in the resistance of siyez seedlings against abiotic stress conditions.

The aim of this research was to determine the most suitable extraction method for the available iron contents of calcareous soils in Trakya Region, Turkey. For this purpose ten calcareous soil samples were taken from research area and five extraction methods (Lindsay and Norvell, Wear and Evans, Olson, Soltanpur and Mehlich methods) were used and three biological indices (dry matter yield, Fe concentration, Fe uptake) were compared. The plant biological indices were determined with wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plant grown under greenhouse conditions. At the end of the experiment, the highest correlation coefficients (r) were determined between the 0.005 M DTPA + 0.01 M CaCl2 + 0.1 M TEA, 0.005 M DTPA + 1 M NH4HCO3 methods and the biological indices. The correlation coefficients (r) for the 0.005 M DTPA + 0.01 M CaCl2 + 0.1 M TEA method and the three biological indices were 0.648**, 0.780** and 0.656** respectively. For the 0.005 M DTPA + 1 M NH4HCO3 method, these coefficients were determined 0.595**, 0.637** and 0.625**, respectively. Consequently, these extraction methods were suggested for the determination of the available Fe contents of the calcareous soils in Trakya Region, Turkey.

In semi-arid regions, unfavorable weather conditions are the most important limiting factors for seed germination. The imbibed or germinating seeds in soil can be dried by hot and dry weather. Thus, seeds can largely lose their germination abilities until the next water uptake (called as ‘alatav’ in Turkish). Before drying, the time of the first water uptake by a seed may be more effective on seed viability at the second water uptake for germination. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to identify the first water uptake rates (WU) of seeds of three bread wheat genotypes (Bezotaja, Kirac and 13-BVD-4) per hour during 50 hours and their germination rates (GR) at the second water uptake after drying the seeds for 3-week in laboratory conditions. The results presented here indicated that the WU and GR were significantly affected by genotypes, imbibition time (T) and their interaction (1% probability level). There was also a significant negative correlation between the WU and GR (r** = –0.9295) at all times studied. Furthermore, the germination ability of Kirac lasted longest (for 38th hour) when the WU reached to 160.24%, and it was followed by Bezostaya and 13-BVD-4 genotypes (63.34% at 37th hour and 152.58% 34th hour, respectively).

This study was carried out to elucidate the impacts of zinc (Zn) treatments on growth, development, quality and yield of commonly sown bread wheat cultivars under field conditions of Çukurova Region. Three different bread wheat cultivars (Adana-99, Ceyhan-99 and Pandas) were experimented in randomized complete blocks-split plots experimental design with 3 replications. Field experiments were performed by two different Zn application methods; via soil and via soil+foliage. In the both trials, 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 kg ha-1 pure Zn doses were applied to the soil. 0.4% ZnSO4.7H2O solution was used for foliar Zn applications. Current findings revealed that Zn treatments had significant effects on grain yield, grain Zn concentration, grain phosphorus (P) concentration and thousand grain weight of bread wheat cultivars, but significant effects were not observed on grain protein concentrations. Soil+foliar Zn treatments were more effective in improving grain Zn concentrations. It was concluded that 10- 20 kg ha-1 Zn treatment was quite effective on grain Zn concentrations.