In today’s world, nature conservation and the notion of protected area are of vital importance for the living. Therefore, humankind started to take important steps for conservation of natural areas and preventing deterioration. Nature conservation studies dating back to old times in the world, was put in the agenda in our country after long years. Various protected area status were designated to the areas havin high resources value in our country, and these areas were put under protection by various laws. Some of this conservation status was formed based on the national legislation, and some based on the international conventions. Nowadays, promising actions are taken for sustainable use of biologic diversity and other significant natural resources. In this study; changes and developments in approaches to nature conservation in the world and in our country throughout the history were investigated, and the current situation in Turkey and in the world was revealed.

Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is one of the oldest trees in the world and has been cultivated from civilization of Ancient Persia, especially on the Mediterranean coasts, till nowadays. The fruit of the carob tree (carob bean) are attracting attention in recent years due among others to tits rich nutritional value and use as a substitute and/or alternative for cocoa. Although it has higher sugar content than sugar beet and sugar cane, it is a food that also lowers cholesterol. In addition to its fruit, the plant has interesting morphological qualities. Deep root system of carob tree allows high productivity even in draught conditions; it is an ideal plant in the fight against erosion and one of the most preferred plants while establishing fire-resistant forests. Additionally, because 2016 was declared the International Year of Pulses, it is necessary to draw attention to the carob tree since it is a typical pulse plant. The status of Turkey, as the 5th carob producer in the world, was analysed in this context, in terms of Agricultural Geography. The existing and necessary practices in carob production are discussed based on the data from the studies conducted in Antalya and Mersin in 2015 and previous ones.

Mantı, the traditional Turkish food, was subjected to modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) compositions of MAP 1 (80% CO2 + 20% N2), MAP 2 (40% CO2 + 60% N2), MAP 3 (60% CO2 + 40% N2) and control (packaged under atmospheric composition) to extend its refrigerated storage at 4°C. The physical, chemical and sensorial qualities of each package were assessed by analysing headspace gas composition, pH, water activity, 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA), dry matter, lipid content and a sensory analysis of both cooked and raw mantı samples. The compositions of MAP samples (MAP 1, MAP 2 and MAP 3) resulted in the maximum storage time of 126 days versus 20 days in normal atmospheric packaging (control). In conclusion, 60% CO2 or either 80% CO2 with N2, as a make-up gas, should be implemented in the mantı process.

Hydroponic farming system (HFS) is used to meet the roughage requirements of ruminants as an alternative method. In the system, forage production is achieved all over the year and germinated grains such as barley, wheat and oat, are used as fresh forage sources. In the present study, HFS, about which there are limited information, was discussed with its advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, the nutritive values of fresh forages produced in HFS system and also their using possibilities in animal nutrition were discussed. It was understood that HFS can be used for meeting forage requirements of ruminants if it runs effectively.

Some wild edible mushrooms of genus Russula are consumed in the center region of Côte d’Ivoire. In this study, the proximate composition, mineral element and amino acid profile of three selected wild edible Russula species from Center of Côte d’Ivoire including Russula delica, Russula lepida and Russula mustelina were investigated. The mushrooms were harvested fresh, dried in an oven at 45°C for 48 hours, ground and analyzed according to standard procedures. Proximate analysis showed high level of proteins (38.08±0.29–38.52±0.23 %), crude fibre (9.59±0.21–19.78±0.7 %), carbohydrate (39.29±1.71-41.64±1.41 %), ash (12.7±0.16– 13.80±0.10 %) and fat (4.06±0.11-5.70±0.05 %) in all species. Mineral analysis of all species indicated that the mushrooms were specifically rich in potassium, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium. R. delica contained the highest level of calcium and phosphorus. The mushrooms contained 18 amino acids among with the most predominant ones in all species were glutamic acid and valine. In addition, the ratios of essential amino acids to total amino acids were between 0.40 and 0.45. The high scores of essential amino acids present in these mushrooms implied that they have a high biological protein value. These mushrooms could be considered as a potential health food and may be of use to the food industry as a source of ingredients with high nutritional value.

Salmonella is considered as a global problem ranking first among food borne diseases. All motile Salmonella of poultry origin are zoonotic and readily transmit to human via meat and eggs but reports on non - typhoidal Salmonella serovars circulating in layer chickens is very limited in South-East Asian countries including Bangladesh. Salmonella serovars isolated from apparently healthy chickens were characterized in the present study. Of 170 samples (cloacal swab 150 and feed 20) collected from commercial layer farms, motile Salmonella was isolated 4% (6/150) and 50% (10/20) respectively by cultural, biochemical, motility test and by detection of hisJ gene. About 5% (8/170) samples possessed serovar-specific gene fimA, suggesting that isolates were Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing demonstrated that the isolated serovars were multidrug resistant. Therefore apparently healthy layer chickens harbour and transmit S. Typhimurium to the environment, although little is alarming since it has zoonotic significance and the isolates were resistant to commonly used first line of antibiotic in Salmonella infection.

The effect of temperature and pH on adsorption-desorption of fungicide hexaconazole was studied in two Malaysian soil types; namely clay loam and sandy loam. The adsorption-desorption experiment was conducted using the batch equilibration technique and the residues of hexaconazole were analysed using the GC-ECD. The results showed that the adsorption-desorption isotherms of hexaconazole can be described with Freundlich equation. The Freundlich sorption coefficient (Kd) values were positively correlated to the clay and organic matter content in the soils. Hexaconazole attained the equilibrium phase within 24 h in both soil types studied. The adsorption coefficient (Kd) values obtained for clay loam soil and sandy loam soil were 2.54 mL/g and 2.27 mL/g, respectively, indicating that hexaconazole was weakly sorbed onto the soils due to the low organic content of the soils. Regarding thermodynamic parameters, the Gibb’s free energy change (ΔG) analysis showed that hexaconazole adsorption onto soil was spontaneous and exothermic, plus it exhibited positive hysteresis. A strong correlation was observed between the adsorption of hexaconazole and pH of the soil solution. However, temperature was found to have no effect on the adsorption of hexaconazole onto the soils; for the range tested.

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.

In this study, five different set type yogurt with vegetable purees, namely as control (K), yogurt with pumpkin (YBK), yogurt with carrot (YHA), yogurt with green peas (YBE) and yogurt with zucchini (YYK) were produced. The viable cell counts of S. thermophilus and L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus were increased as a result of the ability of dietary fiber to stimulate their growth which is present in yogurt as puree. Vegetable puree addition had a noticeable effect on pH, titratable acidity, whey separation, sensory properties as well as textural attributes such as firmness, cohesiveness, consistency and viscosity index in yogurt. The highest viscosity index, consistency and firmness were observed in yogurt with the carrot puree, while the samples with zucchini presented the less compact structure and textural properties. As a result the present work showed that all the vegetable puree used had a beneficial role to improve textural properties of set type non-fat yogurt and could be used for the development of dairy products with functional ingredients.

New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) is commonly used to determine people’s environmental opinion and their behaviors about it. Environment-friendly and sustainable agricultural production techniques are one of the most important issue in agricultural engineering. In this study, agricultural engineer candidates’ environmental behaviors were determined by using of NEP scale. Data was collected from 350 undergraduate students in 2015-2016 school year. Environmental behavior mean was found as 3,38 that indicates slightly better than average environmental behavior. Four sub dimensions were determined with Explanatory Factor Analysis and variance was found 68%. According to First and Second-Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis, data showed results that confirm models. Second-Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis explanatory rate was found 78%. Despite all technological development, mankind still under the influence of natural laws and there is a serious environmental degradation by human activities. Agricultural engineer candidates showed a behavior that is balanced between environmental awareness and meeting humans’ nutrition needs.