Saffron, the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus, is extremely appreciated for its extraordinary color, taste and aroma. At the present time, nearly all the saffron harvest and post harvest processes are carried out manually. To increase the quality and development of economic role of saffron, it is essential to go beyond the traditional method of harvest of saffron. Considering that saffron components terminal velocities are different, a separator is planned and constructed to separate stigma from other parts of saffron flower. This separator is designed on the basis of aerodynamic and physical properties of saffron flower. The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance of a saffron separator for different air flows to increase the level of automation and efficiency of post-harvest operations. The results show that the maximum stigma separation happens when the air flow speed in outlet B is 3 m/s. finally, this data will be applied to find the optimum areas of outlet B and D, as two main parameters which have significant effect on the efficiency of saffron separator.

This study was conducted to determine first age reproduction characteristics of indigenous Kıvırcık, Sakız and Gökçeada sheep breeds and growth performances of ewe lambs which have been kept in Bandırma Sheep Research Station (BSRS). The data of reproduction characteristics of ewes and growth characteristics of lambs were collected on 15 Kıvırcık, 8 Sakız and 10 Gökçeada ewes, and on 16 Kıvırcık, 12 Sakız and 11 Gökçeada lambs, respectively. After the lambs completed their fifth month ages, estrus detection was carried out with a teaser ram twice a day with 12 hour intervals. For the Kıvırcık, Sakız and Gökçeada lambs, the first oestrus weights were 37.93, 33.35 and 29.75 kg; first oestrus ages were 315, 320 and 337 days; oestrus durations were 30.99, 25.85 and 20.28 hours and the duration of the oestrus cycles were 16.59, 19.91 and 17.76 days, respectively. The birth weights of Kıvırcık, Sakız and Gökçeada lambs were found to be 3.64, 3.91, 3.28 kg; the weaning weight (WW), 31.01, 25.44 and 23.67 kg, the six month live weight (SMLW), 32.87, 26.95 and 24.15 kg, the yearling live weight (YLW), 39.01, 30.95 and 30.27 kg and the average daily weight gain (ADWG), 0.271 0.257 and 0.202 kg, respectively.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of in ovo DL-methionine injection into the fertile broiler eggs on hatchability and relative chick weight. In the trial, 132 fertile broiler eggs were obtained from a breeder flock (34-wk-old Ross 308 parent stock). Fertile eggs were randomly assigned to two experimental groups. Experimental groups were 1) Control 2) DL-methionine injected group with three replicates. Injections were carried out at the 16th day of incubation. At the end of the study, hatchability was 90.29%, and 84.74% in control and DL-methionine injected eggs respectively. Relative chick weights were 70.04% and 72.70% control and DL-methionine injected group respectively. At the end of the study, it determined that injection of DL-methionine increased 3.8% relative chick weight according to control. It suggested that DL-methionine may use as an in ovo feed additive for obtain heavier chick.

Sage, which belongs to Labiatae family and contains essential oils, is a typical Mediterranean plant. Being an important and one of the biggest species of this family, sage is said to be named being inspired by the word "Salveo" which means “saver” or “healer” in Latin. Salvia genus is represented by about 900 species on earth. There are 97 natural species of this genus in Turkey’s flora. There is dormancy in seeds of Salvia genus and having mucilage-like seed-coats is an inhibiting factor for germination. Seed germination studies of these species are of great importance in determining production strategies. This research is carried out at 25/15°C, 12 hours in light and 12 hours in dark environment to determine the effects of various germination applications (ethylene, gibberellin, PEG 8000, salicylic acid and seaweed) and pre-treatments (pre-drying, pre-cooling and untreated) in four species (S. fruticosa, S. officinalis, S. pomifera, S. tomentosa). These trials were conducted at the Department of Field Crops Laboratory of Adnan Menderes University according to completely randomized design with three factors with three replications. Important differences were observed about the germination rate and germination power among the species.

The aim of this study was to determine the main spermatological properties in Carasobarbus luteus (H., 1843) and Carassius carassius (L., 1758) in Atatürk Dam Lake. Sperm was collected by abdominal massage from thirty C. luteus and twenty C. carassius. Milt volume (ml), spermatozoa motility (%), motility duration (s), spermatozoa concentration (x109/ml) and pH in C. luteus and C. carassius were 0.72±0.08 ml and 1.03±0.20 ml, %57.67±3.67 and % 81.00±1.43, 190.30±11.25 s and 107.30±12.03 s, 13.15±1.33 and 10.53±1.28x109/ml, 8.13±0.11 and 7.60±0.04, respectively. The spermatozoa motility, motility duration, spermatozoa concentration and pH was found significant compared with fish species group.

This study was carried out to determine the influence of diets including different levels of protein and supplemented with probiotic-enzyme mixed on performance parameters and eggshell quality in laying quails. Japanese quails (n=120), 10 wk of age, were divided into 6 dietary treatment groups and the experiment lasted for 10 weeks. In each experiment group there were 5 replicates, and in each replicates there were 4 birds. Six diets, arranged a factorial design with three protein levels (16, 18 and 20 (control) %) and two levels of supplemented probiotic-enzyme mixed (0.0 and 1.0 g/kg) were used. Dietary crude protein levels and supplementation of probiotic-enzyme did not effect on the body weight gain, egg mass, feed intake, feed conversion, cracked egg yield, specific gravity and shell strength. However, egg production, eggshell thickness and eggshell weight were significantly increased by the addition of probiotic-enzymes mixed. Egg weight in group containing 18% crude protein was significantly higher than the containing 16% crude protein group. Results of the present study indicated that laying quails should be fed 18% crude protein and 1.0 g/kg of supplemental probiotic-enzyme mixed improved egg production and eggshell quality.

Meat and meat products are the basic building blocks of nutrition and are recognized as good sources of high biological value proteins, group B vitamins, minerals as well as some other bioactive compounds. The trend today is the development of novel food for special health use, called functional food, to promote human health and well-being of consumers. The trends are based on either reducing the content of unhealthy substances (like salt) or improving the content of substances with healthy benefits (like probiotics). Thus, it may also change the perspective of consumers towards meat products which associated with coronary artery disease. Meat is an ideal structure for probiotic microorganisms. Probiotic meat products are obtained by addition of probiotic to fermented meat products. These probiotic meat products are offered both healthy and improved taste and flavor, but also as safe food to consumer. Thus, when these probiotic meat products ensure flavor and nutritional to consumers, additionally they have a positive impact on their health.

One of the most industrialized animal production branches of ruminant production successfully requires a blending of theoretical knowledge of nutritional principles with practical stockmanship, maintaining health and dealing with numbers. It is well known that high yielding, dairy cows, require balanced diet with adequate nutrients for yielding. This is not provided with only a few feedstuffs. Milk production in dairy cows is related to the improvements in genetic merit of farm animals and also developments in feed science, feed technology and animal nutrition. In particular, feeds and feed technology studies associated with sustainability, economical perspectives and product quality in the last decade have been in advance. In the present work, recent advances in feed sources and feed technology, minerals (macro and trace minerals ), vitamins and amino acids, feed additives (antibiotics alternative growth stimulants, rumen modulator, organic acids, antioxidants, enzymes, plant extracts), nutrition-products (meat-milk-progeny) quality and functional food production (milk, meat) nutrition-reproduction, nutrition-animal health, nutrition-environmental temperature, nutrition-global warming were evaluated.

In this study, the interaction between potato production and its price from 1991 to 2012 was analyzed using Koyck approach, one of the distributed lag econometric models. The amount of potato production can increase or decrease in the current year based on the prices of previous year, as a product that is appropriate for cobweb theorem, one of economic facts. According to the results of Koyck model, it was determined that potato was affected by the prices of maximum two years retrospectively, and that 1.45 years were needed so that the change in potato prices could have a significant and considerable effect on potato production. On the other hand, while a TL 1 increase in potato prices in the current year increased potato production 711151.80 tons, a TL 1 increase in the prices of previous year increased the production 421001.86 tons and a TL 1 increase in potato prices two years previously caused 249233.10 tons increase in production. In conclusion, the following issues can be considered as measures to be taken economically: creating producer-consumer chain by setting up effective marketing organizations and therefore avoiding problems such as surplus supply or surplus demand, creating both more efficient and better quality production structure by planning the production, and providing stable production and stable price policies by establishing supply and demand balance.

This paper focuses mainly on both impacts of the climate change on agriculture and food security, and multidisciplinary scientific assessment and recommendations for sustainable agro ecological solutions including traditional knowledge responding to these impacts. The climate change will very likely affect four key dimensions of the food security including availability, accessibility, utilization and sustainability of the food, due to close linkage between food and water security and climate change. In one of the most comprehensive model studies simulating impacts of global climate change on agriculture to date, it was estimated that by 2080, in a business-as-usual scenario, climate change will reduce the potential output of global agriculture by more than 3.2 per cent. Furthermore, developing countries will suffer the most with a potential 9.1 per cent decline in agricultural output, for example with a considerable decrease of 16.6 per cent in Africa. Some comprehensive studies pointed out also that all regions may experience significant decreases in crop yields as well as significant increases, depending on emission scenarios and the assumptions on effectiveness of carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization. One of the tools that would ensure the food security by making use of local sources and traditional knowledge is agroecology. Agroecology would contribute to mitigation of the anthropogenic climate change and cooling down the Earth’s increasing surface and lower atmospheric air temperatures, because it is mainly labour-intensive and requires little uses of fossil fuels, energy and artificial fertilisers. It is also necessary to understand the ecological mechanisms underlying sustainability of traditional farming systems, and to translate them into ecological principles that make locally available and appropriate approaches and techniques applicable to a large number of farmers.