Mushroom production that started in 1960's in Turkey gained economic value from the 1990's and it started improving as a commercial sector after that time. While Turkey mushroom production was 80 tons in 1973, it increased up to 45.000 tons in 2014. There is a rapid changes and improvement in cultivated mushroom production and consumption in Turkey. The object of the study is to reveal current status of mushroom production in the world and Turkey, and the problems of the mushroom sector in Turkey and the necessary precautions and ways to solve these problems. The data obtained from the inspections of the mushroom enterprises that in mushroom production regions of Turkey, and the secondary data obtained from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) and Union of Antalya Exporters (AIB) and also national and international publication’ data has been used in this study. In Turkey, Mediterranean and Marmara Regions rank first in mushroom production and consumption with the share of 61.5 and 40%, respectively. It has been determined that big enterprises producing mushroom and compost established in the Central Anatolia in this study. The number of enterprises producing mushroom by using technology increases and 15-20% of the total production are provided by the big enterprises having 2000 m2 and over mushroom production areas. Recent years, there are serious increases in the production of different mushroom species such as especially Pleurotus ostreatus. In addition, precision agriculture applications are widespread with the time. For the continuation of growth of the mushroom sector in Turkey and the solving of the sector problems, there are needs both in making the necessary changes in legislation and to be given priority researches related to mushroom production in university and public research institutions and also to support them.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-treatment and drying temperature on the drying kinetics and nutritional quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculantum L.) under hot air drying. Tomato samples were blanched at 80oC and osmotically dehydrated using 20% w/w sodium chloride solutions at 30oC for 20 min. The blanch-osmotic pre-treated and untreated tomato slices were dried at temperature of 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80oC, respectively in a hot air-dryer. The results showed that blanch-osmotic pre-treatment offered a higher drying rate and lower or faster drying time than untreated condition. The tomato drying regime was characteristically in the constant and falling rate period. The tomato drying rate curve showed characteristics of porous hygroscopic solids. The optimum drying temperature for tomato was found to be 60oC. Four semi-empirical drying models of Newton, Page, Henderson and Pabis, and Logarithmic were fitted to the drying data using non-linear regression analysis. The most appropriate model was selected using the coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE). The Page model has shown a better fit to the drying kinetics data of tomato in comparison with other tested models. Transport of moisture during drying was described by Fick’s diffusion model application and the effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) thus estimated. The Deff at 60oC was 4.43 × 10-11m2/s and 6.33 × 10-11m2/s for blanch-osmotic pre-treated and untreated tomato slices, respectively.

This follow-up study was carried out to investigate association of wheat productivity with the nutritional status of farmers in an agricultural area of North West Pakistan. A total of 1200 small scale farmers were randomly recruited and screened for nutrition status. Total of 226 farmers were found malnourished. An equal number of well-nourished farmers were randomly selected; detailed data on wheat yield and relevant confounding factors were collected interviewing groups. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to identify factors in relation to wheat yield. Comparing to well-nourished, malnourished farmers were more likely to report less wheat yield. Agricultural predictors that independently and significantly explained variation in wheat production included crop rotation, sowing time, and per acre agricultural inputs. Farmers' nutritional status; and dietary patterns further increased variance in wheat yield. The study findings reaffirmed the importance of farmers' nutritional status in predicting wheat yield.

The most extensive and effective environmentally controlled production takes place in greenhouses. New innovations and developments for greenhouse production go hand in hand with efforts for sustainability. The greenhouses must be heated to ensure high yields and high quality. However, high heating cost (20%-60%) adversely influences production. Costs Sustainability of greenhouse production can only be maintained with increase of energy efficiency. Use of renewable energy sources in place of fossil fuels is only means to increase energy efficiency. In this work, fossil fuels and geothermal energy used for heating of greenhouses are compared based on production cost and CO2 emissions to atmosphere. The results showed that greenhouse production in Aydın with geothermal energy price of 0.06 ₺/kWh will be very advantageous compared to greenhouse tomato production in Kütahya, which can only compete with that in Antalya. Carbon dioxide emission in plastic greenhouses with double layer PE plastic heat insulation in Kütahya was 199.4 kg/m2 when imported coal was used for heating. The emissions in similar type plastic greenhouses, again heated with coal, in Aydın and Antalya were 74.4 kg/m2 and 55.5 kg/m2, respectively. Greenhouses in geothermal energy rich areas will be very advantageous, based on cost of production and CO2 emission, compared to that in Antalya region if they are heated with geothermal energy.

In the present study, it was aimed to determinate the effects of different substrates on mycelial growth, fructification, yield, sizes and colours of fruit bodies of Hericium isolates (HE-Ankara, HE-Denizli, HE, HE-Trabzon, HE-İzmit, HC, HE-Amerika). Experiments were conducted with 7 different substrates prepared with oak sawdust (MT), wheat bran (BK), cotton seed hulls (PK) and olive press cake (ZP) (80MT:20BK, 90MT:10PK, 80MT:20PK, 70MT:30PK, 90MT:10ZP, 80MT:20ZP, 70MT:30ZP). 1 kg (wet weight) of substrates were packed in polypropylene autoclaveable bags of 25x45 cm and sterilized in autoclave at 121oC during 90 minutes. Sterilized substrate was inoculated and then carried to growing room at 25±2ºC. After full colonization, the bags were exposed to 400 lux for a 12 hours photoperiod at 20±2ºC with a humidity of 80-90% in a cropping room. The best yield and BE were detected from oak sawdust medium supplemented with 20 and 30% cotton seed hulls on HE-Ankara, HE-Denizli, HE, HE-İzmit, HC, HE-Amerika isolates while the best yield and BE were detected from 70MT:30ZP on Trabzon isolate. Significant differences were found among substrates regarding yield, BE, average mushroom weigh, fruit body size and colour of Hericium isolates.

In this study macrofungi specimens have been collected from Eucalyptus forests in Muğla district (Ula, Köyceğiz, Marmaris, Dalaman, Fethiye) in the years of 2013-2014. As a result of the field and fungarium studies, Totally 30 taxa belonging to 2 classes and 14 families have been identified. 2 of these taxa belong to Ascomycota, and the other 28 taxa were belong to Basidiomycota.

The aim of this study was to determine the growth parameters of European Flounder fry (Platichthys flesus luscus L. 1758) caught from the nature in different feeding methods in aquaculture conditions. The study was conducted between April and July 2011, and the fish were collected at the connection point of Sarıkum Lagoon with the Black Sea in Sinop Province using seines and large scoops. A total of 750 European Flounder with the average weight of 0.93±0.01 (0.71-1.21) g were stocked in 5 groups with 3 repetitions. The groups were organized according to the feeding protocols [G1:90 days Chironomid larvae (CL), G2:60 days CL+30 days CL+ granular feed (GY), G3:30 days CL+60 days CL+ GY, G4:90 days CL+GY, G5:90 days GY]. At the end of the study, the weights of the fish were determined as 10.83±0.51, 9.89±0.22, 6.33±0.21, 5.13±0.11, 3.81±0.09, respectively. It was found that feeding preferences of the fish had significant effects on weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and survival rate. European Flounder fry, as in their natural habitat, mostly preferred natural feed moving in the deep in the production site. It was determined that using live feed as the starter feed for the adaptation of European Flounder fry had a significant effect on growth parameters and survival rates.

The objective of this work was to study the differences between some minerals content of gariss samples collected from two different production areas in two different production systems (i.e. traditional system Kordofan area and semi-intensive system- which, the camels are kept in an open barn and graze around the farm. The lactating female camels are supplemented with concentrates in addition to good quality ration containing groundnut cake and Sorghum biocolor and water supply upon required in Kordofan and Khartoum provinces in Sudan at the different seasons (summer, autumn and winter) and their gariss samples were collected. Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus of gariss samples collected in autumn season (Kordofan area), summer season (Khartoum area), and winter season (Khartoum and Kordofan areas) were determined, after that the age of gariss was noted from farmers directly when the samples were collected. Four different ages of gariss which registered were (5-8 hrs, 12 hrs, 48 hrs and more than 48 hrs). Each fermentation time (age of gariss) was used for analyzing mineral contents. The results showed that gariss prepared from different production locations and in different seasons in Kordofan and Khartoum production areas were statistically different in most of the mineral contents determined. To conclude, different feeding sources or different physiological status may affect camels’ milk and consequently their gariss product, also different age of gariss had affects the mineral content of milk.

The purposes of this study were to determine the socio-economic characteristics of dairy farmers in Antalya, in Turkey, calculate the gross income, variable costs and gross margin of dairy farms, determine the probability distributions of consequences for alternative decisions to enable dairy farmers as decision makers to make a good and well-informed choice, to determine cross effects of milk prices variations on the productive strategy of dairy farms. The data were gathered via face to face interviews in Korkuteli, Dosemealtı, Elmalı, Manavgat and Serik counties of Antalya province in Turkey. The survey study was conducted with 80 farmers, who were member of Dairy Cow Breaders Union, in the 2011 production period. In this study, on the basis of previous experience, dairy farmers assigned minimum, maximum and most likely values of milk price and yield over the next period of 5 years. Then, triangular and cumulative distributions were defined by using these values. Moreover, Monte Carlo Stochastic Simulation model was developed to obtain distribution of expected gross margin per cow. The model and triangular and cumulative distributions were built in Excel with @Risk add-in software. The relationship of mean risk aversion coefficient, calculated by using negative exponential function, with both average gross margin and gross margin standard deviation values determined for each farm was examined. The results show that the relation between average gross margin and mean risk aversion coefficient was negative and significant at 5% level. But, although the relation between gross margin standard deviation and mean risk aversion coefficient was found to be negative, it was not significant at 5% level.

The study was carried out to estimate the temperature, light intensity, salinity, Dissolved O2 (DO), pH values and the biotic parameter chlorophyll- a in the water column related with the depth. Because, the physico-chemical parameters affect greatly both primary and secondary producers in marine life. For this purpose the physico-chemical properties were determined day and night for 40 meter depth during the eight days. The means were compared by using the analysis of variance method and Duncan’s Multiple Comparison Test. Also physico-chemical parameters were estimated by using the analysis of regression and correlation. The effect of temperature and salinity were found significant according to the result of the analysis of variance during the day. Also the similar results were found for the night. While the effect of the depth on the chloropyll-a a was significant in the night, the effect of the depth on the DO was not significant in the day and night. The correlations among the depth and the parameters were defined. It was found the negative correlation between the depth and the temperature and light intensity. Determination coefficient of the model for salinity was also found different for day time. The correlation values among the depth and the temperature, salinity and pH were found different for the night.