Plants have been used for many purposes in different communities. Plants used in alternative medicine since ancient times have been the main material in the treatment of many diseases. In this context, it is very important to determine the biological potential of plants. In our study, total antioxidant status, total oxidant status, oxidative stress index and DPPH free radical scavenging activity of Euphorbia eriophora Boiss. were determined. The aerial parts of the plant were extracted with ethanol in a Soxhlet device. TAS, TOS and OSI values of the plant extract were determined using Rel Assay kits. In addition, the free radical scavenging activity of the plant extract was measured by the DPPH method. As a result of the studies, the TAS value of the plant extract was 5.390±0.227, the TOS value was 20.971±0.348, and the OSI value was 0.390±0.014. The DPPH activity of the plant extract was determined to have an inhibition value of 68.721±1.694% at 2 mg/mL concentration. As a result, in our study, it was determined that E. eriophora has antioxidant potential and can be used as a natural antioxidant agent in this context.

The study analysed the extent of vulnerability to food insecurity and household coping mechanisms among yam farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional data were used for this study with the aid of a well-designed questionnaire. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 360 respondents. Multinomial logit (MNL) model and Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) method were employed for the data analysis. The results of the FGLS model showed that 49.3% of the households were food secure and experienced low vulnerability to food insecurity. However, 30.23% of them were food insecure and highly vulnerable; they are considered as chronically food-insecure households. Also, the study revealed that 11.01% of the food secure households may be food insecure in the future if necessary attention and intervention are not given by both households and the government. Again, 9.4% of the households that were experiencing food shortage, as at the time of the study, may recover in the future. The findings of MNL revealed that the age of the household head, main occupation, household size, land size, net household income, and membership in a cooperative society were the main significant factors in yam farming households' decision to use coping strategies. As a result, it is recommended that leveraging the potential role of coping mechanisms already used by households during food shortages, and building a comprehensive human capital development, such as education, will be vital policy options to reduce food insecurity.

In this study, the antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials of the ethanol extract of the aerial parts of Lepidium spinosum Ard., which is distributed in many regions of the world, were determined. The aerial parts of the plant were dried, powdered and extracted with ethanol. Total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS) and oxidative stress index (OSI) of the plant extract were determined using Rel Assay Diagnostics kits. Antimicrobial activities of the plant extract were determined against standard bacterial and fungal strains by agar dilution method. As a result of the studies, the TAS value of the plant extract was determined as 4.550±0.132, the TOS value as 12.610±0.221, and the OSI value as 0.277±0.007. In addition, it has been found to be effective at 25-200 µg/mL against standard bacterial strains and 100-200 µg/mL concentrations against fungal strains. As a result, it was determined that L. spinosum used in our study could be a natural antioxidant and antimicrobial source. In this context, it is thought that natural material may be used in pharmacological designs.

The extraction process of peanut oil has been a major concern for local processors due to the difficult task it constitutes during processing. The use of oil expellers has been found to reduce the difficulty in this task yet different processing factors tend to affect the efficiency of those oil expellers. In this study, the optimum peanut oil processing factors and their interaction were investigated using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with fractional factorial design (33) model of Central Composite Design (CCD). Processing factors such as Moisture Content (10, 12, and 14% db), Peanut Temperature (50, 65, and 80°C), and Water Quantity added during extraction (12, 14, and 16 ml). This aimed at providing the optimum parameter needed to obtain the optimum oil yield using a peanut oil expeller. From this study, it was observed that all three factors considered affecting the oil yield of peanuts during extraction. Only water quantity added during extraction is statistically different. The optimum condition of the oil extraction processing parameter was observed at 50oC, 10 db, and 120 ml. The correlation coefficient (R-squared) of the model analysis was found to be 0.8901.

Cutting reproduction is the cheapest and most practical method for plants capable of clonal regeneration. However, the difficulties in adventitious root formation in black mulberry cuttings create a disadvantage for mulberry growers. This study aimed to investigate the effect of IBA and Paclobutrazol applications on the rooting ability of black mulberry hardwood cuttings. The experiment was carried out in the polyethylene greenhouse of Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Agricultural Research and Application Center in February 2022. As a material, hardwood cuttings prepared from one-year-old branches of breeding black mulberry trees within the body of the directorate were used. The study was set up in a randomized plot design with 3 replications and 15 cuttings in each replication. In the study, pure water as a control group, 6000 ppm IBA and doses of 1000 ppm, 2000 ppm and 3000 ppm Paclobutrazol respectively were applied to black mulberry wood cuttings separately and together. After the application, the cuttings were planted in perlite medium. The cuttings were kept in the rooting medium for 90 days and then removed; rooting rate, root number, root length and root diameter values were recorded. As a result of the study, the effect of the applications on the root number of the cuttings was not observed while the rooting rate, root length and root diameter parameters were observed. In terms of rooting rate, the best result was obtained from IBA+PBZ 1000 application (40.00%) compared to the control group (0.0%). The highest root length was determined in IBA 6000 application, and the thickest root diameter values were determined in PBZ 1000 application.

Proper scheduling gave water to the crop at the right time in the right quantity to optimize production and minimize adverse environmental impact. Therefore, the objective of this study is to quantify the effects of irrigation regimes on yield and yield components of Maize in the Lake Tana basin during 2016-2018. CROPWAT 8.0 model was used to determine the crop water requirement. Almost all parameters were adopted the default value of CROPWAT 8.0. Field data including; field capacity (FC), permanent wilting point (PWP), initial soil moisture depletion (%), available water holding capacity (mm/meter), infiltration rates (mm/day), and local climate data were determined in the study area. The treatments were arranged in factorial combinations with five irrigation depths (50, 75, 100, 125 and 150% of ETc) and two irrigation intervals (14 and 21 days) laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The result was analyzed using SAS 9 software and significant treatment means separated using least significant difference at 5%. The result showed that the interaction of irrigation depth and irrigation frequency has no significant effect on the average grain yield and water use efficiency of maize. At koga, the highest grain yield (7.3 t ha-1) and water use efficiency (0.9 kg m-3) obtained from 100% ETc. while, at Ribb the highest grain yield (10.97 t ha-1) and water use efficiency (1.9 kg m-3) obtained from 21 days irrigation interval. Therefore, for Koga and similar agro ecologies maize can irrigated with 562 mm net irrigation depth and 21-day irrigation interval and at Rib and similar agro ecologies maize can irrigated with 446.8 mm net irrigation depth and 21- days irrigation interval.

This study was carried out to determine the effects of Bacillus subtilis addition to growing Japanese quail diets on growth performance, some serum parameters and carcass parameters. In the study, a total of 200 mixed-sex Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) chicks were fed for 35 days with diets formed with the addition of different levels of control and Bacillus subtilis (250, 500, 750 mg/kg). The study was carried out in 4 treatment groups with 5 replications. At the end of the experiment, Bacillus subtilis levels did not affect the feed intake and feed conversation ratio, which are performance parameters, but affected the body weight and body weight gain statistically significantly. The addition of Bacillus subtilis to the diets of growing Japanese quails showed that glucose and creatinine concentrations were significantly affected, and urea, triglyceride, cholesterol, total protein, phosphorus and calcium values were not affected by the treatment levels. Among the carcass parameters, carcass yield, liver weight, pancreas weight, heart weight, gizzard weight and intestinal length did not statistically differ between the treatment groups. According to the results of the present study, it can be said that the addition of Bacillus subtilis at the level of 500 mg/kg to growing quail diets may be beneficial in terms of improving performance.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a fruit that grows in most tropical and subtropical regions. It has 52% aril, consisting of 78% juice which is used as; juice, molasses, jam, wine, and dried kernels. Potential health benefits increase the demand for the fruit as well as its products. Pomegranate seeds, which consist of approximately 10% of the whole fruit, are a by-product of the juice and juice using products containing nutraceutical functional components such as sterols and punicic acid. Pomegranate seed oil is considered a healthy alternative source of oils, and its production is a valorization process since it is the by-product that usually goes to waste. In the present study, pomegranate seeds were used for oil extraction using the cold solvent extraction method. Oil samples were then taken to the Schaal oven treatment in order to determine changes due to storage. Oil samples were tested for 14 days of total storage at their 1st,3rd, 7th, and 14th days for the oxidation tests, colour, fatty acid composition, and Fourier transform infrared spectra analysis. Data were tested for significance by using statistical analysis. The results indicated that oxidative stability of pomegranate seed oil was decreased by increasing storage time. The studied techniques used in this paper can be valuable processors to monitor the oxidative stability of oils with storage time and evaluate their acceptance on the market.

This study was carried out with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of four biochar materials; in reducing nitrate leaching from soils of three different textural classes in the Nigerian Savanna region. Soil samples (0-20 cm depth) were collected from three different soil types and three different locations each in the Nigerian Savanna using stratified random sampling. Two hundred and fifty (250) g of soil samples were amended with 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 tonha-1 of Maize cob biochar (MCB), rice husk biochar (RHB), cow dung biochar (CDB) and poultry litter biochar (PLB) and were subjected to laboratory leaching experiment. Sixty (60) ml of nutrient solutions containing 300 mgl-1 nitrate using ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) was applied to each of the laboratory biochar-incubated soil columns to study biochar effect on nutrients retention and transport. The experiment was laid in a Randomize Complete Block Design (RCBD) replicated three times. Leachates were collected and nitrate concentration was determined using a dual beam UV/VIS spectrophotometer. The data collected were analysed using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedure and the means were separated using Tukey’s honest significant difference (SAS version 9.4). Results obtained revealed that there were no significant differences among the biochar treatments on nitrate leaching from Clay loam. However, highest nitrate leaching from Loamy soil of 30.53% was recorded by the application of 2.5 tonha-1 PLB and was significantly different from the application of 2.5 and 5-ton ha-1 RHB and 5-ton ha-1 MCB. Similarly, highest nitrate leaching from Sandy loam of 32.18 % was recorded by the application of 5-ton ha-1 MCB and was significantly higher than 5.94, 2.40 and 7.12 % recorded by the application of 2.5 and 5-ton ha-1 RHB and 7.5 tonha-1 CDB respectively. Therefore, application of 2.5, 5-ton ha-1 RHB and 7.5 tonha-1 CDB can effectively reduce nitrate leaching from Sandy loam. While 2.5, 5, 7.5 tonha-1 CDB and 2. 5 and 5 tonha-1 RHB reduced nitrate leaching from Loamy soils.

Yogurt is a natural source of gut-friendly bacteria. It has a considerable body of evidence that supports the significant positive effects of yogurt as probiotics on quail production performance and health. Yogurt containing bacteria can improve quail economic indexes and resistance to pathogens. With this objective, 240 growing Japanese quails were randomly distributed into three groups A1 (control), A2 (Yogurt), and A3 (Protexin) (4 replicates/treatment of 20 birds) to investigate the effect of yogurt as a probiotic source. Birds were allowed to be fed ad libitum with a commercial quail ration. Yogurt and Protexin were mixed at the rate of 5 ml/L (5ml into 1 lt. water) and 1g/L (1gm into 1 lt. water) in A2 and A3, respectively. Six (6) weeks of investigation showed a significantly higher result in yogurt than in the other two groups. Body weight had a significant difference between the control and protexin groups. Body weight gain (g) was significantly heavier in A2 at the finisher phase. No significant effect was observed in feed intake, but FCR (Feed Conversion Ratio) was significantly lower in A2, but no significant effect was noticed between A1 and A3. The mortality percentage was higher in the control group (2.66%) and lowest in yogurt (1.03%). Carcass characteristics were significantly heavier in A2 than A1 and A3. Non-carcass characteristics illustrated significant differences among the three groups, but a non-significant difference was observed in head weight. The gross return per bird was higher in A2 (12.05 BDT), whereas it was 6.55 BDT and 7.08 BDT for A1 and A3. With those observations, it can be concluded that yogurt successfully enhanced overall broiler performance and gross return of Japanese quail.