Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is an edible wild plant that is widely grown in the world, including Türkiye. Purslane plant, which is an important component of Mediterranean cuisine, can grow spontaneously in nature. Stress conditions can directly or indirectly affect its growth and development in the environment in which it is grown. In the current study, stress conditions of soil organic matter content, irrigation water amount and irrigation water salinity were investigated in pot experiments. The experiments were carried out in a 72 m2 greenhouse established on the Dokuz Eylül University Tınaztepe Campus. From the variables, soil organic matter was applied as 1%, 1.8% (control), 3% and 5% on a dry weight basis. 15 purslane seeds were planted in each pot and left to germinate. Irrigation water amounts were chosen as 100%, 75%, 50%, 30%, 15% of the field capacity. The last variable in the application was determined as the salinity of the irrigation water; the conductivity of the applied irrigation waters were control (tap water-about 0.5 mS/cm), 4 mS/cm, 8 mS/cm, 16 mS/cm. All pots were prepared in four repetitions and the study was carried out with a total of 320 pots. Experiments were carried out for 90 days from the first planting. In the study, it was observed that the increase in organic matter increased plant germination. Statistical evaluation was also made and the effects of irrigation water amount and salinity were also evaluated according to principal component analysis. As the field capacity decreased, decreases were observed in plant growth, but this was mostly observed at 30% and 15% field capacity. The negative effects of salinity on plant growth were observed at 8 mS/cm and 16 mS/cm values.

The experiment was conducted in one of the unheated plastic polyethylene (PE) greenhouses of Ege University- Bayındır Vocational Training School -TURKİYE during the winter-early spring of 2019-2020. The goal of the trial was to evaluate the effects of liquid vermicompost (LVC) on Iceberg (Head salad) and Lolo rosso (Lactuca sativa) lettuce in a floating hydroponic system. Two types of growing pools were used as the growing media, one was made of galvanized steel and the other plastic polyethylene. Both pools were covered with a polyethylene at a height of 1 meter from the ground. Lettuce seedlings were transplanted into pools filled with water and a week later Liquid Vermicompost (LVC) and Hoagland Nutrient Solution (HNS) were added to the growing media according to the treatments. The trial was set up in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 3 treatments and 3 replications in both of the lettuce varieties. 1. Application: HNS +LVC; 2. Application (HNS); 3. Application (LVC). Lettuce leaves were harvested 84 days after the LVC and HNS applications and prepared for analysis. In this research, in order to determine the impact of liquid vermicompost on Iceberg and Lolo rosso lettuce varieties total yield, marketable yield, the number of leaves discarded, root length and root weights were determined after harvested plants. In both of the lettuce varieties, results indicated that the highest marketable yields were obtained in the first treatment (HNS+LVC). The highest root length and root weight were also determined in the first treatment. It can be concluded that adding liquid vermicompost (100 ml / 100 L water ratio) to the growing solutions of Iceberg (Head lettuce) and Lolo rosso (Lactuca sativa) lettuce varieties, high performances can be obtained.

In this study, it is aimed to determine the technical and economical specifications of the used tractors put to sale in Tokat province and its districts, such as rated engine power, age, usage hours, tractor structure, maintenance and repair requirements and sale price. Also, it is intended to reveal the tendencies of farmers in tractor demand. The technical and economical specifications of used tractors in the second-hand tractor market in Tokat province and its districts has been analysed. For this purpose, all data has been collected from tractor owners through face-to-face interviews for a total of 408 tractors in 7 districts. According to the data, generally the tractors are standard type, and their age range is between 1 and 58. Based on the data collected from tractor owners, the average annual usage time of the tractors for Tokat is 268 hours, and the average rated power is 58.5 HP (43.6 kW). The remarkable sale reasons of used tractors are model obsolescence, insufficient capacity and need for cash respectively. In the second-hand tractor market, the age of the tractors, rated engine power, brand, usage hours and other technical specifications are primarily factors about pricing. Although 41% of the tractors in the sale have almost completed their lifespan, it has been determined that they can be preferred to some extent. It has been also revealed that tractors with very good service network and tractors that tractor owners can find buyers with the price that they want to sale are most common tractor types in the market. In addition, it is thought that the farmers’ awareness should be developed because they tend to make unconscious buying and selling decisions.

This study was conducted to determine the associations of some milking traits and milk yield in water buffalo farms located in Bafra district of Samsun province. In total, 37 Anatolian Buffalo farms enrolled to Buffalo Breeders Association (BBA) were evaluated by applying face to face survey on the current milking practices and farm characteristics in February 2020. Number of milking cows (NM), number of workers (NW), age of the milker (AM), experience of the milker (EM), education of the farm owner (EO) and hygiene score of the milking parlor (HM) were evaluated as the farm traits affecting daily milk yield (dMY). Milking type (MT), milking frequency (MF), udder cleaning pre-milking (UC1), udder cleaning post-milking (UC2), giving feed after milking (GF) and milking duration (MD) were selected as the milking practices affecting dMY. It was concluded that dMY was significantly affected by AM, EM, EO and MD.

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.

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.

In this study, oat bran and blackberry were used separately and together in the production of probiotic yogurt (Lactobacillus acidophilus). It was aimed to determine the effect of oat bran and/or blackberry on probiotic viability, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity levels (DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC methods) of yoghurts during both cold storage times and in vitro gastrointestinal digestion stages. At the end of the 21 day of storage period, it was determined that the highest and lowest L. acidophilus viability was found in yoghurt containing blackberry (B) (107 cfu/g) and oat bran (Y) (105 cfu/g), respectively. Oat bran and blackberry containing yogurt YB and control yogurt had the highest and lowest total phenolic content at the beginning and end of the storage period, respectively. According to the antioxidant activity results determined by the DPPH method, B yogurt had the highest antioxidant activity, while according to the ABTS and CUPRAC methods, YB yogurt had the highest antioxidant activity. As a result, it has been revealed that the functional properties of probiotic yogurt can be further improved with the addition of oat bran and blackberry, and blackberry can have a prebiotic effect on L. acidophilus.

Sweet sorghum is a multi-purpose crop due to the use of all plant parts. The research was carried out under controlled conditions to evaluate the effect of fertilization management on growth, grain yield and yield characteristics of sweet sorghum grown as a second crop in Mediterranean climate conditions. The experiment was carried out two-factor randomized plot trial with 20 treatments combination of 5 nitrogen levels (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 kg N/ha) and 4 phosphorus levels (0, 50, 100, 150 kg P/ ha) with 3 replications. Some properties were investigated in the study such as, plant height, harvest index, thousand grain weight and grain yield per plant and some characteristics related to yield. The results shown that plant height of sweet sorghum increased with increasing N and P levels up to 200 kg N or 150 kg P per hectare, respectively, but increase beyond 100 kg N or P/ha was not found significant in general. Other features related to yield followed almost the same trend. Grain yield per plant of sweet sorghum increased linearly with increasing levels of N and P up to 200 kg N and 150 kg P/ha in both years. The combined application of 150 kg N + 150 kg P/ha produced highest grain yield.

Chrysophyllum albidum fruits are underutilized because they are seasonal and perishable in nature due to physiological, biochemical and microbial alteration. This study investigated the potency of calcium chloride (CaCl2) in suppressing postharvest deterioration of Chrysophyllum albidum fruits. Ripe wholesome fruits of Chrysophyllum albidum were harvested and treated with different concentrations of CaCl2 (1, 2, and 3%) at three different dip times (5, 10, and 15 min). The goal was to use established analytical methods to investigate the influence of CaCl2 on the firmness, weight loss, pH, titratable acidity, total sugar (TS), pectin, color, microbial (fungi and bacteria) loads of Chrysophyllum albidum fruits. All the treated fruits were stored at ambient temperature 28 ± 2°C and 90± 5% relative humidity for 15 days. The obtained results indicated that treating Chrysophyllum albidum fruits with 3% CaCl2 for 15 min was found the most effective in controlling weight loss, microbial load, color, firmness, and other compositional changes such as pH, titratable acidity, pectin and total sugar. It was observed that CaCl2 treated samples showed reduced fungal loads from 6.00 × 103 SFU/g at harvest to 0.02 × 103 SFU/g after 15 d of storage as compared to untreated samples. No record of bacterial load was detected on Chrysophyllum albidum fruits treated with 3% CaCl2 for 15 min. The shelf life of Chrysophyllum albidum fruits could be extended for 15 d without excessive deterioration in quality by treating the fruits with 3% CaCl2 for 15 min with a minimum quality loss, as compared to the control sample which had greater compositional changes with maximum quality loss during storage at ambient temperature.