The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of selenium, vitamin E, vitamin A, and vitamin D3 treatments on reproductive parameters in Awassi sheep fed solely dry grass and grain stubble during the breeding season with estrus synchronization. Seventy-five sheep were implanted with intravaginal sponges containing 20 mg of flugestone acetate for 9 days for estrus synchronization. On the day the sponges were inserted, the first group received an intramuscular injection of a supplement containing 200,000 IU of vitamin A, 30,000 IU of vitamin D3, and 20 mg of vitamin E, as well as a supplement containing 1 mg of sodium selenite and 60 mg of vitamin E. The second group was the control group, with no supplementary vitamin injected. On the day of sponge removal, the sheep received intramuscular injections of 500 IU PMSG and 250 mcg cloprostenol sodium in both groups. The sheep in the first group were given a second injection of the supplement on the same day that contained 20 mg of vitamin E, 30,000 IU of vitamin D3, and 200,000 IU of vitamin A. The sheep that showed signs of estrus were mated naturally after the estrus synchronization. Estrus rates were 86.11% and 85.29%, conception rates were 74.19% and 58.62%, pregnancy rates were 63.88% and 50%, lambing rates were 100% and 100%, and litter size was found to be 126.08% and 123.52% in Group I and II, respectively (P=0.858). Although there was no significant difference in the reproductive characteristics between the groups (P>0.05), Group I had a greater pregnancy rate and litter size. During the breeding season, it is believed that the regular application of vitamin and mineral supplements on a program basis in sheep fed only dry pasture and grain stubble contributed to fertility.

In Ethiopia livestock feed shortage and soil acidity are serious problems. In recent years sweet lupins (white and blue species) were introduced as multipurpose crops in the country. However, there is no information about their nodulation potential. This study was conducted to evaluate nodulation potential of these sweet lupins and their effect on nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) content of the soil. Seven lupin varieties were evaluated using factorial arrangement (seven varieties * two inoculations) in a randomized complete block design in two locations for two years. The result showed that effect of inoculation and location was not significant (P > 0.05) on biomass, seed, nodule number and soil parameters. While the effect of variety was significant (P < 0.05) on nodule parameters. Its effect on dry biomass and seed yields was also significant in either of the years. Variety and year had no effect on soil N and P contents. In the first year, blue sweet lupin entries had the highest nodule number per plant, 222 nodules.  In the second year similar nodulation performance was observed among species and varieties. Soil N and P were not affected by varieties and inoculation. In addition to their yield advantage, compared to the sweet white entries, blue sweet lupin varieties had high potential in nodulation. Therefore, these introduced sweet blue lupins can be used as multipurpose crops in acidic soils of Ethiopia.

Cucurbitaceae family fruits, especially melons, offers significant quantities of minerals carotenoids and phenolic compounds, contributing to their antioxidant activity. However, seeds of these fruits are usually discarded as waste by products. In current study, seeds of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and muskmelon (Cucumis melo) were separated, dried, grounded and extracted, with 70% ethanol, to investigate total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoid content (TFC), carotenoid content (TC) content, and total antioxidant activity (TAA). Further, antimicrobial activities of these extracts were tested against selected bacterial and fungus strains. Results showed that extracts of both cucurbits presented significant amounts of phytochemicals, with higher quantities presented by watermelon seeds. In watermelon seeds, TPC were found 156.50 mg/GAE 100 g, TFC 56.78 mg CE/100 g, TC 36.65 mg/100 g, and TAA 71%, and these amounts were significantly higher than those found in muskmelon seeds. Antimicrobial study results showed that extracts of both seeds exhibited significant zone of inhibitions against three bacterial and three fungal species, and these values were very comparable to the reference antimicrobial drug used, Ciprofloxacin. Findings of current research work provided significant grounds for presence of phytochemical bioactives in two melon fruits seeds, providing the basis for extraction and utilization of these bioactives, through processing and fortification different pharma foods.

Lipoxygenases (LOX) gene family is a type of nonheme iron-containing dioxygenases, which has a very important aspect in plant development and fruit quality. LOX gene, which is responsible for lipid oxidation, the main role for the biosynthesis pathway of unsaturated fatty acids. Although some studies have investigated the LOX gene family in several species including arabidopsis, soybean, peanut and apple, there is no information from Pistachio; and the phylogeny of this gene family in the Pistacia genus is still not determined. In this study, Arabidopsis thaliana LOX1 gene (NCBI Reference Sequence: NM_104376.3) was selected and used as a query sequence for performing a BLASTN search. Among all sequence query which was found by NCBI platform, 9 sequences were selected for further analysis. Phylogenetic tree of full-length LOX gene sequences from the Pistacia genus was constructed using the Maximum Likelihood method with MEGA software. By using phylogenic analysis, we identified variations in gene structure and revealed the phylogenetic evolutionary relationship of this gene family. Additionally, this may serve as a reference value for assessing the genetic relationships among various LOX genes in Pistacia genus species. This variations provides us the possibility the design the primer to achieve us to find the exact LOX gene in Pistacia genus and future research on the evolutionary history and transgenic research on LOX genes.

Varroa destructor mite poses a serious problem for the future of bee populations around the world. Today, there are many commercial drugs with the same and different active ingredients on the market to chemically control over of Varroa destructor. More frequent chemical applications for against Varroa destructor increases stress resilience, colony losses, loss of yield and residue problems in bee products. The scope of this project is aimed to determine the appropriate control method of Varroa by investigating the efficiency values of the evaporation and dropping methods of Oxalic acid. Experimental area were chosen three different apiaries. 28 colonies were determined in each apiary and equalization studies (area with brood, number of bees with bees, age of queen bees, honey, pollen, etc.) were carried out in these colonies. The determined colonies were randomly divided into 4 groups as 7 colonies. The first group is the control group, the second group is applying 2 g of oxalic acid by vaporizing, the third group is 4% oxalic acid 5 ml of sugar syrup (1:1) is dropped between the frames, and in the fourth group, the fight against a drug that is determined by the beekeeper in the market without interfering with the beekeeper. In order to evaluate the data, samples were taken for four periods, before and after spraying in spring and autumn. While the varroa measurements in the group of syrup, vapor and spraying were found to be statistically less than the control group, the syrup, vapor and spraying groups were statistically similar in terms of varroa measurements. Oxalic acid syrup application showed higher efficiency in spring and autumn than vapor application. There is no statistically difference between both two-application method reveals that it can be used as an effective and safe alternative to chemical control against varroa.

Bu araştırmada Samsun ilindeki tarım danışmanlarının karşılaştıkları sorunlar ele alınmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda Samsun ilinde görev yapan 51 tarım danışmanı ile anket yapılarak, ele alınan tarım danışmanlarına ait bilgiler ve yaşadıkları sorunlar tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmanın sonuçları, Samsun ilindeki tarım danışmanlarının genç, eğitimli ve iletişim becerilerine önem veren bir grup olduğunu ve düzenli olarak kendilerini geliştirdiklerini göstermektedir. Araştırma aynı zamanda tarım danışmanlarının yaşadıkları sorunları da ortaya koymaktadır. Bu sorunlar arasında tarım danışmanlığı sisteminin yeterince kurumsallaşmamış olması, hukuki düzenlemelerin eksikliği ve görev-yetki belirsizlikleri gibi önemli konular yer almaktadır. Ayrıca çiftçilerin danışmanlık hizmetlerine olan talebinin düşük olması ve kamu kuruluşları arasındaki koordinasyon eksiklikleri de sektörün sorunları arasında yer almaktadır. Bu bağlamda, tarım danışmanları için düzenli hizmet içi eğitim sağlanmalıdır. Tarım danışmanlarının saha çalışmalarını daha etkin bir şekilde sağlamak için teknolojik araçlardan yararlanılabilir. Tarım danışmanlarının çalışma usul ve esaslarını belirleyen yasal düzenlemeler daha açık ve net hale getirilebilir. Çiftçi bilinçlendirme çalışmaları ve aynı zamanda tarım danışmanlarının saha faaliyetlerini sürdürülebilmeleri için finansman kaynaklarının önceden planlanması ve güvence altına alınması önemlidir.

Topraktaki yüksek kireç içeriği bitkilerin verimini ve yaşamını sınırlandıran önemli abiyotik stres faktörlerindendir. Kireçli topraklar dünyadaki karaların %30’dan fazlasını kaplarken, ülkemizde ise Karadeniz Bölgesi hariç hemen hemen tüm bölgelerimizin topraklarının kireç içeriği oldukça yüksektir. Kiraz da dâhil olmakla birlikte meyve türleri genel olarak yüksek kireç içeriğine oldukça duyarlıdır. Bu bağlamda meyve yetiştiriciliğinde topraktaki yüksek kireç içeriğine dayanıklılık sağlayan anaçların varlığı ve mevcut anaçların kirece dayanımlarının belirlenmesi önem arz etmektedir. Bu amaçla, in vitro koşullarda çoğaltılan Kuş kirazı, Mahlep, MaxMa 14, CAP-6P ve PHL-C anaçlarının farklı kireç seviyelerinde (Kontrol, %1,0, %3,0 ve %5,0 CaCO3) morfolojik ve biyokimyasal tepkilerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Stres altındaki bitkilerde, bitki ve kök gelişimi gibi morfolojik özellikleri ile membran geçirgenliği ve yaprak oransal su içeriği gibi fizyolojik özelliklerinin yanında, peroksidaz, süperoksidaz dismutaz, hidrojen peroksit, prolin ve protein miktarı gibi biyokimyasal özellikler ve demir aktiviteleri (bitkilerde demir içeriği, aktif demir içeriği, bitkilerde demir şelat redüktaz aktivitesi ve köklerde demir şelat aktivitesi) belirlenmiştir. Denemede ortamda CaCO3 seviyesi arttıkça anaçların dayanımının azaldığı belirlenmiştir. Ancak denemenin 15. gününde yapılan ölçümlerde MaxMa-14 kiraz anacının diğer kiraz anaçlarına göre daha iyi bir gelişim gösterdiği tespit edilmiştir.

Rapid population growth, industrial and technological development, and improvement in the social and economical conditions of people have increased their need for socializing, gathering, and relaxing with various recreational activities and mutual communications. The sustainable development of social life has increased the importance of squares as public spaces, which brings the citizens together for cultural, commercial, and political purposes; thus, giving an identity to the city and becoming the focal point of urban life. The selection of an area as a square is based on certain criteria. The decisions regarding the choice of the location and their use as squares must be per the internationally accepted criteria. We studied four squares, namely Mevlana Square with historical background, Hükümet Square, Anıt Square, and Kılıçarslan City Square with a high demand for social events. The squares are considered to be important and comprehensive titles for evaluating their comparative functions under the selection criteria of visuality, functionality, and accessibility. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used to determine the importance of the selection criteria of squares in a survey with participants for solving the problem and selecting the best square according to these criteria. By performing the AHP analysis, we found that the most preferred square by the participants was the Mevlana Square with a preference rate of 58.68%, and the most preferred criterion was “visuality” with a preference rate of 64.5%. In this study, we aimed to determine the characteristics of a preferable square to improve the existing squares and to contribute to the stages of a new square design, planning, and implementation.

Hidabu Abote, Dera, Wera Jarso and Debra Libanos districts of North Shewa zone are potential in honey production. To enhance this potential, different organizations disseminate improved beehives technologies for the smallholder farmers. However, the impact of the disseminated technologies on household income has not been evaluated. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of improved beehive adoption on household income. Purposive and two stage sampling technique was used to select 384 sampled households. The study used logistic regression model to identify the determinants of adoption decision of modern beehive technology while propensity score matching to evaluate the impact of modern beehive technology adoption on household income. The result of logistic regression model shows that age of household head, family size, households experience in beekeeping, frequency of extension contact, access to credit services, access to training and access to beehive demonstration site visit had positive and significant effect on household adoption decision of modern beehive technology. The result of propensity score matching indicates that the adopters of improved beehive technology were earned Birr 2690.383 than non-adopter. The difference in household income between the two groups shows that there is considerable room for improvement of household income through increasing the number of adopter of improved beehives technology in the study area. This should be done through provision of training, credit, extension and expansion of beehive demonstration site among the others.

Based on high dependent of many processing company on palm kernel oil, high quality palm nut cracking machine is not only necessary but also important to revitalize the production of palm kernel in other to meup with ever increasing industrial demand. Different palm kernel beaters; Swing beater (SB) and the conventional type known as rigid beater (RB) of an existing palm kernel cracker were investigated using the moisture content (7, 17, 26% (db)), five different speeds (970, 1200, 1450,1750, 2430rpm) and three different average nut sizes (14.5, 22.15, 29.43mm) of palm kernel nut. Approximately, six thousand palm nuts of Tenera specie were collected, dried, cleaned and sorted to evaluate the machine. Result shows that, the maximum quality efficiency recorded for Swing beater was 89.5% at 17% moisture content (db), 29.4 mm average nut size and 970 rpm machine speed. Similarly, for the performance of rigid beater, the maximum quality efficiency of 71.5% was recorded at 26% moisture content (db), 29.4 mm average nut size and 970 rpm machine speed. The effect of nut size was however not significant on the quality efficiency however it was generally observed that quality efficiency increased with increase in the nuts size. The machine speed has a significant effect on the quality efficiency. Generally, the quality of the kernel recovered decreased as the machine speed decreased. Beater configuration has significant effect on the quality efficiency of the palm nut cracking machine at 5% significant level. Swing beater can be used instead of conventional beater (rigid beater) to crack palm nut for higher quality of whole kernel recovery.