Herbal plants are using for folk medicine since immemorial times. Hippocrates who is the father of medicine, refer to 400 medicinal plants and advised ‘‘let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food’’. Most of plants are using today for medicine. It is still acceptable today that prevention is more important than treatment. Saffron was utilized in folk remedy against scarlet fever, smallpox, colds, asthma, eye and heart diseases, tumours, and cancer.

In this study it was aimed to determine the microbial diversity and level of antibiotic resistance patterns of Gram-negative bacterial isolates from the hospital sewages. The 219 Gram-negative bacterial isolates to 16 different antibiotics (belonging 10 classes), was investigated by agar diffusion method. A total of 18 species of bacteria were isolated: the most common strains isolated from all samples were Klebsiella oxytoca (27.4%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (20.5%) and Escherichia coli (20.1%). There was a high incidence of resistance to ampicillin (98.6%), streptomycin (95.9%) and erythromycin (90.0%), and a low incidence of resistance to cefepim (13.2%), imipenem (5.0%) and meropenem (3.2%). 35.6% of all bacteria isolated from hospital sewage were resistant to 9 different antibiotics. The multiple antibiotic resistances (MAR) index ranged from 0.25 to 0.94. Results show that hospital sewages have a significant proportion of antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacteria, and these bacteria constitute a potential risk for public health.

The effect of different processing stages- defatting, solubilization, isoelectric precipitation, neutralisation and lyophilisation on the total phenolic content and protein content of Carica papaya (pawpaw) seeds (CPS) full-fat flour (CFF), defatted flour (CDF), protein concentrates (CPC) and protein isolates (CPI) was studied. The folin-ciocalteu procedure was used to assess the total phenolic concentrations of the Carica papaya products and results were expressed as gallic acid equivalent (GAE). Optimal protein content was estimated at pH 10 for all samples. Higher levels of polyphenols were extracted using water-methanol (20/80) mixture compared to 100% methanol. Total phenolic content (TPC) was demonstrated in a trend of CDF > CPC > CFF > CPI with CDF having the highest TPC. The finding suggested a more economical protein isolate production method. The study concludes that the processing of CPS into the various products (CFF, CDF, CPC & CPI) improves its protein and polyphenol content.

Forty seed sample of wheat (Triticum aestivum) were collected from four locations viz. Chitwan, Kaski, Banke and Lalitpur and tested by blotter method at laboratory during 2013 for determining fungal pathogens associated with wheat seeds in Nepal. Eighteen species representing thirteen genera of fungi were recovered from the seed. Alternaria alternata and Bipolaris sorokiniana were predominant in all the varieties/genotypes from all the locations, where B. sorokiniana was strongly pathogenic in wheat crop. Percentage frequency and type of fungi detected varied with variety and locations. Bipolaris sorokiniana was highest (64.40%) in Banke than remaining three locations. Seeds of Chitwan had lowest percentage (5.50%) of seed infection as compared to other locations. Relative abundance of Alternaria alternata (55.10%) was highest as it was the most prevalent component of seed borne mycoflora, followed by Bipolaris sorokiniana (34.69%) and Cladosporium herbarum (7.19%). Differences in quantity of precipitation and relative humidity might be the possible reason for variation in frequency and type of fungi detected in wheat seeds of four locations.

Bu çalışma tüm dünyada Pleurotus türlerinin kralı olarak bilinen (The King Oyster) Pleurotus eryngii mantarının farklı izolatlarında mineral madde içeriklerinin belirlenebilmesi amacıyla yapılmıştır. Çalışmada Pleurotus eryngii türüne ait farklı lokasyonlardan elde edilen 15 farklı izolat materyal olarak kullanılmıştır. Örneklerde fosfor, potasyum, kalsiyum, magnezyum, sodyum, demir, mangan ve çinko belirlemesi yapılmıştır. Her bir izolatın mineral içeriği sap ve şapkada ayrı ayrı belirlenerek elde edilen sonuçlar bu şekilde değerlendirilmeye alınmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre mineral içerikleri sap ve şapkada önemli oranda farklılık göstermiştir. Fosfor, magnezyum, demir, mangan ve çinko şapkada daha yüksek oranda bulunurken potasyum, kalsiyum ve sodyum mantar sapında yüksek belirlenmiştir. Ortalama değerler dikkate alındığında izolatlar arasında mineral içerikleri açısından önemli farkların olduğu görülmüştür. K7 ve J113 en yüksek fosfor içeren izolat olmuştur. WC888 hem potasyumu hem de sodyumu en çok içerirken, WC999 mangan ve magnezyum içeriği en yüksek olan izolatlar olmuştur. Kalsiyumu en fazla J113 izolatı içerirken, demir açısından en zengin izolat K78 olarak saptanmıştır. Çinko açısından en yüksek içerik K78, J113, M18 ve WC 955 izolatlarında belirlenmiştir.

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.