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, dragon fruit was dried by a microwave-assisted foam drying method and the effect of different microwave powers (350, 460 and 700W) on the drying kinetics and powder product properties were investigated. The properties (foam stability, expansion and density) of the foams obtained by adding egg white to dragon fruit puree were examined. The highest R2 and lowest RMSE and χ2 values of foam dried samples obtained from the Silva models. The effective moisture diffusion coefficient values of the samples (5.93×10-8-1.16×10-7 m2/s) increased due to the increase of microwave power. Activation energy values were calculated as 74.77 W/g. The effects of different microwave powers on moisture, water activity, color and powder product properties of dragon fruit powders dried by foam drying method were determined. In addition, in all conditions where microwave foam drying is performed, dragon fruit powders showed very good flowability and low stickiness.

Heavy metal pollution generally occurs due to socio-economic, industrial, and anthropogenic activities, which may cause an environmentally hazardous and serious severe threat to the survival of the organisms (genotoxic, carcinogenic, and clastogenic effects on it). Many physical and chemical remediation approaches have been proposed to deal with this pollution, but these are very time-consuming and costly. While bioremediation stands out as an inexpensive and efficient approach, the use of bacteria is thought to be a potential and productive organism to prevent this pollution. This review has evaluated the bacterial potential to clean up heavy metals from the environment and elucidated the mechanisms responsible for bioremediation.

This study examined the allelopathic effect of different concentration of aqueous extracts of Parkia biglobosa stem bark on the germination and growth of weed seeds species. Seeds of Eragorastis tenella, Eragorastis atrovirens, Pannicum pedicellata, Pennisetum sub albidum, Hypharrhenia rufa and Brcichiaria brizantha were tested for plumule germination and radicle growth with three different concentrations of 1%, 5%, 10% plant extract while ordinary water was used as control. Growth parameters including germinated weeds population were measured; the highest germinated weeds population was at the control (8.06±3.97) and the least was obtained from the 10% concentration with the mean of (4.42±2.59). Weeds population decreased as the concentration increased. The highest mean of weeds height was recorded from 1% concentration (11.46±7.08) which is statistically significant while the least mean was recorded from 10% concentration (7.69±6.70) statistically not significant. The family emergence by concentration indicated that, the experiment under control had (4 families) for 1% (2 families), 5% (2 families) and 10% (4 families) emerged. The germination, radicle and plumule length were inhibited when compare with control and the inhibition was statistically not significant at.

The present study was undertaken to assay the effects of gamma irradiation on fresh mutton compared with non-irradiated mutton. For this purpose the meat samples were divided into four treatments. The experiment was conducted on fresh mutton treated with 60Co gamma irradiation having dose of 0 (T0), 1.5 (T1), 2 (T2) and 4 kGy (T3) and stored in 0, 30 and 60 days at -20ºC to estimate the effect on proximate, sensory, physicochemical, biochemical and microbial changes in mutton. Proximate analysis (DM, CP, EE, and Ash), physicochemical and bio-chemical tests (pH value, cooking loss, PV, TBARS and FFA), sensory tests (color, flavor, tenderness, juiciness, overall acceptability) and microbial test (TVC, TCC and TYMC) were done to evaluate the effect of irradiation on shelf life and quality of mutton during preservation. The mutton samples were stored up to 2 months and evaluated at 0, 30 and 60th day. Irradiation increased DM, EE and decreased ash of mutton. CP was decreased with treatment. The PV, TBARS, FFA values and Cooking loss were increased with treatment. But raw pH was decreased with irradiation. There were significant differences in color and flavor with treatment. There were no significant differences in tenderness, juiciness and overall acceptability with treatment. The TVC (logCFU/g), TCC (logCFU/g) and TYMC (logCFU/g) were decreased with treatment. As a result, it can be concluded that irradiation increased shelf life of mutton to maintain nutritional quality of meat. Among the treatments, the highest irradiation dose (4.0 KGy) found the best results in terms of overall acceptability, microorganism control and for shelf life extension of mutton.

The present work was carried out to enhance biomass production of Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis Gomont) in a modified medium and to investigate “in vitro” its ability to produce antimicrobial substances against pathogenic bacteria and phytopathogenic fungi. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by the solid medium diffusion method on two pathogenic bacteria (Bacillus cereus & Klebsiella sp.), And the antifungal activity was evaluated on three phytopathogenic fungi (Alternaria solani, Cladosporium sp., Fusarium culmorum). The antibacterial test showed that the aqueous extract produced by S. platensis was more active against Gram-positive than on Gram-negative bacteria, the highest antibacterial activity was recorded against Bacillus cereus. Moreover, the Antifungal test showed that the aqueous extract was active against all three tested fungi and the highest antifungal activity was recorded against F. culmorum with over 90% inhibition of mycelial growth. The results of this research proved that cyanobacteria could be a good source for the production of antimicrobial agents which could be effective when compared with contemporary antimicrobial compounds and it can be used in the Biocontrol of several plant fungal diseases.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of 10 mM silicon (Si) application on salt stress (50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl) tolerance in Hungarian vetch seedlings (Ege Beyazi-79) based on growth parameters (shoot length and fresh weight, organic dry matter, and moisture), bioactive compounds as chlorophyll, carotenoid, proline, protein, nitrate, and nutrient status. Silicon was applied to the seedlings from the leaves and NaCl from the salt soil, both of which were dissolved in Hoagland solution. The results revealed that the highest shoot length Si+100 mM NaCl was recorded and the highest fresh and dry weight was recorded with length Si+50 mM NaCl. The highest dry matter was obtained from Si and 200 mM NaCl. The highest chlorophyll, carotenoid, proline, protein, and nitrate were obtained from 100 mM NaCl+Si, while the lowest chlorophyll, carotenoid, and nitrate were obtained from 200 mm NaCl and the lowest proline and protein from 100 mM NaCl, respectively. The amount of K, Mg, and S were low in NaCl doses but high in Si and Si + NaCl doses, and P was higher in all groups compared to the control. The content of Na, Co, and Se were high in all groups except Cl 50 NaCl, while Mn, Zn, and Ni were higher in Si and Si + NaCl doses. Silicon content of samples was high at higher NaCl + Si doses. The results provided by this investigating indicated that silicate concentrations positively affected the parameters examined in Hungarian seedlings, and increased the tolerance of seedlings to salt stress.

Thyme is one of the spices that is widely consumed in the regions where it grows and is used in many dishes, especially soups, and gives a regional identity to the dish where it is used. In this study, the amount of phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity of the plant Satureja hortensis L. (süpürge kekiği, çibriska) which grows spontaneously and is used as a spice in meals in the Karakoçlar settlement area of Olur district of Erzurum province was investigated. The total amounts of phenolic and flavonoid substances were determined to be 40.85±0.85 mg GAE/g and 26.52±0.46 mg QE/g, respectively. In addition, the DPPH radical scavenging activity of the plant extract was calculated as 45.24 ±3.47 μg TE/mL and the IC50 value was calculated as 177.11±0.99 μg/mL. It was determined that the Cu2+ reducing antioxidant capacity of the S. hortensis plant extract was 2162.09±113.61 μg TE/mL and the Fe3+ reducing antioxidant capacity was 24.36±4.59 μg TE/mL. As a result, it was concluded that the S. hortensis plant, which is known with different names in different regions, has antioxidant potential and can be used as a natural antioxidant source in addition to its common use.

Demre Sivri, Dogal Sarı Sivri and Dogal Carliston pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) species were used as test plants in the study. The research was carried out in a total of 9 plots with 3 replications according to the randomized blocks experimental design. Seeds were made into seedlings by regularly watering for about 60 days in the prepared peat and perlite mixture (1:1 V/V) in viols and planting was carried out in the greenhouse environment when they had 3-4 leaves. Irrigation processes in the research were carried out by drip irrigation method, and irrigation was carried out every 3 days during the 20 days period from planting to 7 leaves of pepper plants. In other processes, irrigation was done every 2 days until the plants were harvested. Considering the results of soil analysis in the research, fertilization was done by fertigation method (fertilization with drip irrigation) for pepper purely at 20 kg N da-1, 6 kg P2O5 da-1, 20 kg K2O da-1. In the study, nitrogen (N) ammonium sulfate (NH4)2SO4, phosphorus (P) MKP (monopotassiumphosphate) and potassium (K) potassium nitrate (KNO3) forms were applied. N, P, K, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) analyzes were made in the leaf samples taken when the pepper plant reached half of the fruit size and yield were determined. According to the results of the research, Dogal Carliston stood out in the first year in terms of yield (2987 kg da-1), while Demre Sivri (2788 kg da-1) gave the highest yield in the second year.

EXPO, which is used as the abbreviation of the word 'exposition', which means 'World Exhibition' or 'World's Fair' in English; It is a global event that has been organized around the world since the 19th century and aims to promote the city and country in which it is held in the national and international arena, raise awareness, educate the public, share innovations, produce, support development and encourage cooperation. Our country participated in this event for the first time with the 1851 London Expo Organization during the Ottoman Empire Period. It was hosted for the first time with the Expo Organization held in Antalya in 2016, and it is the host country for the second time with the Expo organization held in Hatay on April 1, 2022. Expo 2021 Hatay, whose full name is 'International Horticulture Fair Hatay, Turkey 2021'; It was accredited as a Class B international Expo by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) on January 23, 2017 and registered according to the decision of the AIPH Board of Directors. Within the scope of this study, the economic, cultural and environmental effects of the EXPO'21 Hatay organization, which is a very important tool for the national branding and development of Hatay, were evaluated, and suggestions were made about the correct reuse of the fairgrounds and their sustainability after the organization was over.