Verticillium Wilt Disease is one of the most important diseases affecting the rate of cotton yield. There is no economic chemical control for Verticillium wilt, but it is recommended to use resistant varieties to control this disease. This experiment was carried out in a randomized plot design with four replications in the growth chamber to determine the response of some cotton cultivars against a defoliating and non-defoliating pathotypes of Verticilllium dahliae Kleb. In the study, a total of twenty cotton cultivars i.e. the resistant control GIZA 75, the tolerant control CARMEN and the susceptible control ACALA SJ2, defoliating (PYDV6 isolate) and non-defoliating (Vd 11 isolate) pathotypes were used, and cotton varieties were tested using conidial suspension technique. Analysis of variance showed significantly (P

Discretization is a data pre-processing task transforming continuous variables into discrete ones in order to apply some data mining algorithms such as association rules extraction and classification trees. In this study we empirically compared the performances of equal width intervals (EWI), equal frequency intervals (EFI) and K-means clustering (KMC) methods to discretize 14 continuous variables in a chicken egg quality traits dataset. We revealed that these unsupervised discretization methods can decrease the training error rates and increase the test accuracies of the classification tree models. By comparing the training errors and test accuracies of the model applied with C5.0 classification tree algorithm we also found that EWI, EFI and KMC methods produced the more or less similar results. Among the rules used for estimating the number of intervals, the Rice rule gave the best result with EWI but not with EFI. It was also found that Freedman-Diaconis rule with EFI and Doane rule with EFI and EWI slightly performed better than the other rules.

The aim of this study is to determine the factors that affect the development of bureaucratic knowledge and skills of farmers in rural areas. To achieve this aim, a questionnaire was administered face-to-face to 110 farmers. The survey was conducted in the central villages of Tokat Province in 2013. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to determine the factors that affect the development of farmers’ knowledge and skills regarding bureaucratic procedures. The exploratory factor analysis generated a structure with 4 factors and 10 variables. These factors which explained 76.063% of the total variance, and their reliability coefficients were determined as cooperation tendency (0.803), bureaucratic procedure experience (0.701), level of benefit from government support (0.900) and immediate environment communication (0.601). According to the results of the confirmatory factor analysis, the fit index values were 0.938 for GFI; 0.934 for CFI and 0.913 for NFI. The fact that the RMSEA and CMIN/DF coefficients were also consistent and significant indicates that the results fit the theory. The fact that the intended goodness-of-fit index values of these coefficients were significant also indicates that the results fit the theory. Thus, the factors that affect the bureaucratic knowledge and skills of farmers in the rural areas of Tokat Province were found to be: getting involved in agricultural organizations, the experience of performing formal procedures in public offices, attempts to benefit from agricultural support and immediate environment communication.

Sage (Salvia spp.) is the most important and largest genus of the Lamiaceae family, and the popularity among medical plants is increasing. Sage plant is widely used in pharmaceutical, food and spice industries and as tea by many people. The fact that the plant may be marketed after being collected uncontrollably from the nature threatens its future. Therefore, it is necessary to put these species under protection and to start breeding projects as well to do genetic characterization of them. For this purpose, in the study, 11 different sage species from the Eastern Mediterranean region were collected and genetic differences among species were determined using SRAP (Sequence dependent replicated polymorphism) markers. As the result of our experiments, average polymorphism content, allele number and polymorphism information content (PIC) of the species were calculated as 90.91%, 4.2 and 0.91, respectively. The PIC values ranged from 0.04 to 0.99. While the average genetic difference among species was determined as 43.15%, the highest genetic difference, which was between Salvia aucheri spp. aucheri and Salvia aramiensis, was found to be 61.46%. The least genetic difference, on the other hand, was detected between Salvia tomentosa and Salvia hypergeia species with 22.62% similarity. Additionally, according to the observations made through the study, the SRAP markers we used were thought to be reliable for the genetic characterization of sage species. In breeding programs where interspecies dissimilarities are considered, selecting parental species with high genetic differences will increase the success.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the movement and accumulation of 2,6 – dinitro – NN – dipropyl – 4 - trifluoromethylanil (trifluralin) in soil under irrigated conditions. Despite its hazardous effects this herbicide is widely used in the country. The herbicide researched, is known to be one of the most resistant and least mobile pesticides used in the country. The investigations were carried out, using drainage type lysimeters with application of two different doses of trifluralin and three irrigation water levels. Irrigations were applied during three stages used as indicators for irrigation scheduling of the sunflower crop. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken from the original field in the beginning and from the tanks after completing of the study. Trifluralin analyses were completed using gas chromatography technique. The results of the study determined that the amounts of the herbicide and its degradation product (2-ethyl-4-nitro-6-trifluoromethyl-1H-benzimidazole) in the ranges of 3.04 – 0.1 and 4.128- 0.344 ppm, respectively were accumulated in the lysimeter soils during the 5-year research period. The highest amounts of trifluralin and its degradation product were measured in the 0-30 cm soil layer, of the treatment with higher applied herbicide amount and deficit irrigation.

In this study, material that we call mulch textile was investigated as compared with conventional polyethylene mulch nylon and mechanical and chemical control that are widely used in farmer’s conditions to weed control in newly established citrus orchards. Two different thickness of polyethylene mulch, three different thickness of mulch textiles, mowing and herbicide (glyphosate) applications were made in newly established mandarin orchard in a three-year-period (2004-2005-2006). Effects of the applications on density and coverage of weeds and height, stem thickness and leaf area of cultural plants were investigated. According to general evaluation of results of the study, mowing 23.4%, chemical control 88.4%, polyethylene mulch 99.6%, mulch textiles 100% controlled weeds than weedy control. At the most increase of height, stem thickness and leaf area of mandarin was obtained from herbicide and mulch treatments. It was determined that soil temperature and moisture are preserved by mulch applications.

Dünyada artan nüfusun sağlıklı ve dengeli beslenmesi amacıyla tarımsal üretimde konvansiyonel üretim biçimi yaygın olarak yapılmaktadır. Ancak bitkisel ve hayvansal üretimde verimi artırmak ve hastalıklarla mücadele etmek amacıyla kullanılan kimyasal maddeler su ve toprağa geçerek insan ve hayvan sağlığını etkilemektedir. Günümüzde Avrupa Birliği (AB) ülkeleri, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri (ABD), Japonya, Kanada ve Avustralya gibi gelişmiş ülkeler başta olmak üzere dünyadaki tüketiciler çevreye zarar vermeyen, insan ve hayvanlar üzerinde olumsuz etki yapmayan tarım ürünleri tüketim yönünde taleplerde bulunmaktadırlar. Koyun ve keçi yetiştiriciliği hem ülkemizde hem de dünyada organik hayvansal et ve süt üretiminde tüketicilerin taleplerini karşılamada önemli rol almaktadır. Dünyada 2012 yılında organik sertifikalı sığır, koyun ve domuz sayısı sırasıyla; 4,6, 5,6 ve 1,0 milyon baştır. Avrupa Birliği (AB)’inde bulunan 28 ülkenin 2015 yılında organik sertifikalı sığır, domuz, koyun, keçi ve tavuk sayısı sırasıyla; 3,7, 0,978, 4,5, 0,718 ve 31,6 milyon baştır. Türkiye’de organik hayvancılıkta en önemli oransal artış keçi yetiştiriciliğinde gerçekleşmiş (%652,1), bunu sırasıyla kanatlı (%187,7) ve koyun (%22,3) yetiştiriciliği izlemiştir. Türkiye’de 2015 yılında üretilen organik süt üretiminin %2,6 koyundan ve %6,3’ü keçilerden, organik kırmızı et üretimini ise %38,2 koyundan ve %1,6 keçiden sağlanmaktadır.

This study was conducted to investigate the potential use of diatomite (a natural pozzolana) and pumice in plasters and mortars to be used in agricultural buildings. Compacted and loose unit weights, specific weight, water absorption, organic matter content, abrasion resistance of aggregate (sand and pumice) and pozzolana were investigated and materials were found to comply with the relevant standards. Test results on fresh (unit weight and slum test) and hardened (unit weight, capillary water absorption, total water absorption, bending and compressive strength, vapor diffusion test) mortar samples revealed that pumice and diatomite could be used in agricultural structures. Diatomite and pumice should be heat-treated and grounded before to use in mortars. In plasters to be made with abundant pumice and diatomite sources, high water holding capacity of the materials should be taken into consideration and further researches should be carried out about their compliance with the other materials.

Certified potato seed tuber usage is one of the most important steps for production of high yield and quality potatoes. For this reason different seed tuber production methods have been developed. Among these methods, mini tuber production is the most popular one. In order to produce mini tubers, firstly potato plants are produced in vitro, and these plants are transferred to an environmentally-controlled greenhouse. Thus, disease- and virus-free mini tubers are produced as seed tubers. However, in vitro section of mini tuber production creates problems like storage and transfer of in vitro plants, and adaptation period of the plants to greenhouse conditions. In vitro micro tuber (MT) formation has been selected as a solution of these problems. The aim of the study was to produce micro tubers from 15 different genotypes and evaluate their micro tuberization performances to determine the genotype effect on MT formation. 3 varieties, 3 breeding lines and 9 different genotypes from International Potato Center (CIP) were selected for the study. For this purpose, micro tubers are produced in vitro by using Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 8% sucrose and 0.1 mg/L thidiazuron (TDZ). All experiments were conducted under dark conditions and 22/16 °C (8/16 h) temperature cycle. The micro tuberization performances were evaluated according to MT number per plant, MT formation rate (%), MT weight per plant (g), mean MT weight (g), mean MT diameter (mm). Differences between micro tuber production performances of different genotypes were determined and CIP395017.229 was identified as the most promising genotype to produce micro tubers.

Sea daffodil (Pancratium maritimum L.) is the only known Pancratium species that is naturally grown in Turkey, belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family, a group of monocotyledons. P. maritimum L. is a perennial Mediterranean plant. It grows naturally in the sandy coasts of Tukey. P. maritimum, which finds a living area right next to the sea, is a drought-tolerant plant that is exposed to direct sea breezes and strong radiation with constantly high air humidity. The roots of modified stem bulbs sink down to 80 cm in the sand. The self-fertilized Sea daffodil is flowering in June-October. It was reported that P. maritimum is one of the rare and endangered plants of Turkey because of usage natural habitats of sand lilies as coasts, excessive collection flowers and bulbs. The landscape value of this geophyte is high with white and fragrant flowers. In addition to their potential usage as ornamental plants, their usage in pharmacology especially in the treatment of cancer, Alzheimer and AIDS due to the medical properties of the modified stems and in other related industries increases their importance. It is also important to protect this genetic resource for biodiversity. In this review, botanical, biological and medicinal properties of P. maritimum as well as potential usage as ornamental plant, threats and importance of this species for Turkey were given and discussed.