This study was conducted to determine the influence of eggshell thickness, albumen height, yolk height and haugh unit on hatching results. A total of 746 eggs, which were obtained and evaluated for egg quality parameters from 100 brown pure line hens of 42 weeks of age, were used. Eggs were collected from each hen for 12 days and individual incubation was carried out. Eggs were grouped based on quality parameters and evaluated accordingly. The findings suggested that hatchability, hatchability of fertile eggs, early, mid and late embryonic mortality did not differ in terms of haugh unit, albumen height, eggshell thickness and yolk height groups. However, early embryonic mortality was found different between the yolk height groups. No relationship was determined among albumen height, haugh unit, eggshell thickness and hatching results. There was no relation between yolk height and hatchability of fertile eggs, hatchability, mid and late embryonic mortalities but was a positive correlation with early embryonic mortality. The results of the present study demonstrate that egg quality parameters studied here had no influence on hatching results except that early embryonic mortality increased with the yolk height.

Historically relegated to the status of “poor man’s bread” barley is one of widely cultivated crops in arid regions of south Tunisia for its grain and biomass used as an animal feed and other various purposes. Barley is incorporated into many types of home recipes. Harsh climate and frequent droughts are the great challenge for cereals production so farmers must supply irrigation in order to improve yields. Traditional irrigation techniques are widely used despite their low efficiency. Conversion to drip is encouraged by public services as a measure to save water resources, boost yields and as an adaptation measure to climate change that will cause more pressure on available water resources .The present paper presents results for drip irrigated barley in arid climate of South Tunisia. The study was undertaken at research farm of Institute of Arid Regions in Medenine and tried to replicate current farmer’s practices with the aim to facilitate their conversion to drip irrigation. For full drip irrigated barley (100% irrigation water requirements), following crop variables were recorded according to standard agronomic procedures as described in Daur et al. (2011): Plant height (m); Ears number by square meter at harvest; Number of grains per ear; 1000 grain weight (g); Biological yield (kg.m-2); Grain yield at harvest (g.m-2). Grain yield was 360.75g m-2 which corresponds to 3.61 ton ha-1and Biological yield was 1.014 kg m-2 for a total water amount of 225 mm. These values far exceed those obtained in rainfed agriculture.

Çınarlı Stream within the borders of Hafik district of Sivas city is famous for its natural beauties and rich water resource. By passing through a steep valley, Çınarlı stream reaches at forages exhibiting gypsum characteristic of Çınarlı Village. It supplies the irrigation water needs of Koşutdere and near villages where it merges with Koç Stream, and then mixes into Kızılırmak within the borders of Hafik district. Çınarlı Stream satisfies table and usage water requirements of Çınarlı, Bahçecik and Koşutdere villages, besides supplying the irrigation water for fertile agricultural lands near them. In this study, by observing the water quality of Çınarlı Stream via physico-chemical methods by taking samples from 6 stations on stream and analyzing these samples between October 2011 and September 2013, it has been aimed to determine and record the monthly and seasonal changes in water quality, to determine the quality criteria in accordance with Water Pollution and Control Regulation (WPCR), and to create a data base for further studies in Çınarlı Stream, where no other study has been carried out.

The aim of this study is to reveal allelopathic effects and antioxidant activities of methanolic extract of Ganoderma lucidum in Zorkun plateau (Osmaniye). It was determined that methanolic extract of G. lucidum has significantly phytotoxic effect by increasing the doses (1, 2, 4, 8 mg/mL) on Hordeum vulgare and Triticum aestivum. Total phenol and flavonoid amounts of G. lucidum were 114.55 mg/kg and 8.95 mg/kg, respectively. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), scavenging activity (60%, 91% and 92%), reducing power (0.83, 1.43 and 2.23 Abs), and nitric oxide (NO) scavenging activity (48%, 55% and 70%) of this mushroom at the different concentrations (1.25, 2.5 and 5 mg/mL) were determined, respectively. However, H2O2 scavenging activity of the different concentrations (0.0156-0.125 mg/mL) was found as 18%, 56%, 60% and 86%, respectively. Based on these findings, it can suggest that G. lucidum methanolic extract has significantly phytotoxic effect and antioxidant activity. The present study is the first report on the phytotoxic effects and antioxidant activities of G. lucidum which consumed and collected from Amanos Mountains.

The purpose of the study is to compare Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) for adopters and non-adopters of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in the Bafra district of Samsun, Turkey. The main materials of this study are the data obtained from a survey and interview with adopters and non-adopters of GAPs in Bafra district. The research data were collected from 77 farmers contained both adopters and non-adopters of GAPs. Statistical analysis, such as Chi-square and t-test was used. The study results presented the socio-economic characteristics of farmers. There was a significant difference between adopters and non-adopters of GAPs, according to household size, organizational membership, farm size, livestock and crop production. Meanwhile, the information sources such as a district agricultural manager/personnel, adviser of the farmers’ union association (GAPs) and pesticide/fertilizer dealers were preferred the main sources of agricultural information for adopters of GAPs. However, it recommended that information sources like research institute, university and cooperatives needs to be improved by strengthening their way of information dissemination. In terms of usefulness of AKIS for this study, it seems that this system was insufficient to analyze this study. Even though the functions of this system are essent ial elements, they are insufficient for establishing a network of complex innovation-oriented institutional arrangements. In the future, this study suggests to analyze GAPs it needs to use Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) approach, because this system have many interaction networks that can facilitate the researchers to reach the innovation easily to the intended farmers.

The phytotoxic impact of safflower extracts prepared by different plant parts like stem and root of it on germination and seedling growth of plants like wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) were studied. Root and stem extracts of safflower at 2.5, 5 and 10% concentrations were obtained from safflower residuals after harvest of the plants. Mean germination time and percentage, root and shoot length, fresh and dry weight of seedlings were investigated. Essential oil composition of both root and stem extracts were determined. Results indicated that extract doses significantly influenced mean germination time of sunflower and chickpea. Germination time of wheat and barley also decreased with the increasing extract doses. The other growing parameters of all crops were also decreased with extract doses. The main essential oil compound of root extract was 1-Pentadecene (47.78%) followed by 2-Naphthalenemethanol (33.07%). The main essential oil compound of stem extract was 2-Naphthalenemethanol (49.15%) followed by Lauryl alcohol (22.26%). Root and stem extracts of safflower showed different effects. Stem extract mostly had severe impact on sunflower while root extract had this impact on wheat and barley. Consequently, removing stem parts of the safflower from field could reduce the amount of secondary metabolites released from the plant parts.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, especially, in Côte d’Ivoire, the wild edible mushroom Termitomyces heimii Natarajan is the most prized and widely consumed for different reasons such as taste, flavour, attractiveness, uses as substitutes for meat or fish and medicinal values. The present study was aimed at evaluating the proximate composition and functional properties of T. heimii flour for further food products formulation. Fresh mushroom T. heimii were obtained from the market of Aboisso (5° 28′ 06″ N and3° 12′ 25″ W) in Côte d’Ivoire. The fresh mushrooms were dried and ground to obtain the crude flour. Chemical composition and functional properties were investigated using standard methods. The chemical composition revealed that it contains crude protein about 23.75%, crude fat 3.58%, moisture 11.59 %, ash 7.40%, total carbohydrate 54.70% and energy value of 345.90 kcal/ 100 g. These results suggest that T. heimii can be used in human diet to prevent undernourishment due to protein. Furthermore, the low fat content suggest that it would be an ideal food for obese persons and useful in preventing hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. The functional properties showed that it has high bulk density and water absorption capacity with values of 0.737 g/mL and 315.15 ± 45.74% respectively. This flour exhibited also good foaming properties. All these characteristics make it suitable as good thickeners in food products, useful in foods such as bakery products which require hydration and attractive for products like cakes or whipping topping where foaming is important. The mushroom T. heimii could be utilized for making some low-fat foodstuffs and snacks with considerable protein content. The mushroom flour shows good functional characteristics for use in many food industries.

Plants have developed a number of monitoring systems to sense changes occurring in the environment and to coordinate their growth and development accordingly. Some plant groups have cold exposure requirement for a certain period to induce flowering. That process known as vernalization is case in point for mentioned systems. In many plants group, vernalization results in repression of floral repressor genes inhibiting floral transition. In this review, last epigenetic developments about vernalization mediated floral transition in Arabidopsis regarded as model organism for plants and other flowering plants will be discussed. Furthermore, similarity and differences in regulatory cycles in Arabidopsis and other flowering plants, changes in histone modifications at floral repressor loci and other epigenetic systems effective in vernalization will be discussed. To sum up, profound investigation of epigenetic mechanism behind the vernalization process plays an important role to decrease flowering-dependent yield losses.

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technology is gaining popularity worldwide for its potential of extending shelf life of fresh produce with better fruit quality. Effect of MAP (using Xtend® bags), was investigated on postharvest storage life and quality of mango cvs Sindhri and Sufaid Chaunsa stored at 11°C with 80-85% RH for 4 and 5 weeks respectively, in comparison with un-bagged (control) fruit. Uniform physiological mature fruit of Sindhri and Sufaid Chaunsa were harvested from a commercial mango orchard along with 4-5 cm long pedicel and were de-sapped in 0.5% lime solution (to avoid sap burn injury). Later on fruit were given cold water fungicidal dip (Sportak @ 0.5ml/L, Active Ingredient: Prochloraz) followed by hot water treatment (52°C; 5 min). After shade drying and pre-cooling (11°C; 10-12 hours), fruit were packed according to the treatment combination and stored at 11°C. Fruit of both varieties were removed after 2, 3 and 4 weeks of storage followed by ripening at 24±2°C with an additional removal after 5 weeks for Sufaid Chaunsa only. Fruit quality was evaluated for various bio-chemical, organoleptic and physical parameters at two stages of ripening (at removal day and at final ripening day). Fruit of both varieties stored in MAP exhibited better firmness and retained green colour as compared to un-bagged fruit. Quality of fruit subjected to postharvest fungicidal application and hot water treatments and stored under MAP at 11°C showed better peel colour development and less disease development. Moreover, storage durations and post storage ripening stages significantly affected fruit peel colour, textural softness and disease development. Further, cv. Sindhri showed better storage potential with lower disease incidence as compared to cv. Sufaid Chaunsa which warrants further studies on disease control aspects.

It is necessary for developing strategies of integrated fertilization for crops to maximize production of crops and reducing the risk of pollution from chemical fertilizers. Therefore, the objectives of this study to evaluate the impact of bio-organic, chemical nitrogen on seed quality of canola. A study was conducted for two consecutive years (2005 to 2006) at the Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Kafr El-Sheikh University, Egypt. Bio fertilizer (control and bio-fertilizer), compost (control, 6, 12 and 18 ton ha-1) and chemical nitrogen (control, 36, 72 and 108 kg N ha-1). The result indicated that, bio-fertilizer was significantly effects on protein % and iodine value except oil percent was decreased. On the other hand, the Maximum values oil and protein were recorded by using compost fertilizer at (18 ton ha-1). In respect to chemical fertilizer, adding nitrogen affected significantly on protein % and the maximum value was obtained at (108 N ha-1) while, oil percent and iodine value were decreased. Interestingly, it is clear that from results that cultivar belongs to canola (LEAR that contains < 2% erucic acid) and a nitrogen source has almost slight effect on oil physical properties. Totally, the interaction among treatments application compost (6ton ha-1) and (72 N kg ha-1) with combined bio- fertilizer was achieved suitable oil percent and could be improve canola seed yield and quality and environment would have a better condition.