Heavy metals are one of the factors that pollute the environment and significantly affect soil fertility, plant physiology, development, and productivity. The tolerance of plants to toxicity depends on the species and tissue, element type, and duration of exposure to stress. Some special signal molecules such as nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), beneficial ions, hyperaccumulating plants, stress hormones, nanoparticles, organic compounds, and microbial applications can be recommended to alleviate the stress effects caused by toxic heavy metals in plants. Induction of other promising techniques like seed priming, active involvement of plant growth regulator, use of osmoprotectants, successful plant microbes’ crosstalk and recent utilization of nanoparticles are worth using strategies in mitigation of heavy metal stress in plants. These practices effectively regulate the activities of antioxidant enzymes for the alleviation of stress in plants, creditably improving the plant tolerance via preserving cell homeostasis and amending the adversative effects of heavy metal stress in plants. These inventive strategies offer an enriched understanding of how to boost crop productivity under heavy metal stress in order to decrease the risk to global food security.

Rosehip fruit, which is widely and naturally grown in many European countries as well as in Rosehip fruit, which is widely used in Turkey as well as in European countries and grows naturally, is a very rich species in terms of vitamin C value. Due to its benefits to human health, its consumption is increasing and its use in different forms is becoming widespread. In this study, the colour, effective diffusion-activation energy, phytochemical properties and thin-layer drying patterns of rosehip fruit of the ‘Yıldız’ variety were investigated after drying in a convective dryer at different temperatures (40, 50, 60 and 70°C). In the study, it was determined that 70°C temperature was statistically more suitable in terms of measured and calculated colour values. It has been determined that the effective diffusion value is affected by the drying temperature and the increase in temperature also increases the effective diffusion value. It has been determined that the effective diffusion value varies between 1.35×10-7-5.92×10-6 m2/sec. The activation energy value of dried rosehip samples was calculated as 69,41 kJ/mol. When the chemical analysis values were examined, when the SÇKM, total phenolic, total antioxidant substance and vitamin C values were evaluated together, it was found that the most appropriate drying temperature was 70°C statistically. Among all drying models, Midilli-Küçük and Yağcıoğlu models (R2: 0.9999) estimated the drying data best.

This study aimed to determine whether the addition of diluent to fresh semen before injection affects the number of spermatozoa entering the spermatheca of the instrumentally inseminated queens. The queens reared by the grafting method were introduced into mating nucs one day before adult emergence. When 7-day old, the queens were allocated into four groups for the following instrumental insemination treatments. The queens in group 1 and group 3 were inseminated with 4 µl and 8 µl fresh semen, respectively (FS - 4 µl and FS - 8 µl). In group 2, the queens were inseminated with 4 µl fresh semen diluted 1-fold with NaCl solution (DS - 8 µl). In group 4, the queens were inseminated with 8 µl fresh semen diluted 1-fold with NaCl solution (DS - 16 µl). Each queen was dissected after the onset of oviposition for counting the number of spermatozoa in the spermatheca. There was not a significant difference in spermatozoa number between queens inseminated with 4 µl FS (2.57 million) and 8 µl DS (2.68 million). The queens inseminated with 16 µl DS (3.51 million) had fewer spermatozoa than the queens inseminated with 8 µl FS (4.46 million). The queens inseminated with 16 µl DS had more spermatozoa (3.51 million) than the queens inseminated with 4 µl FS (2.57 million, and 8 µl DS (2.68 million). The results revealed that the addition of 1-fold diluent to 4 µl fresh semen did not alter the number of spermatozoa. In contrast, adding 1-fold diluent to 8 µl fresh semen adversely affected the number of spermatozoa entering the spermatheca.

The aim of this study; By examining the development of technology use in agriculture, making comparisons according to countries and discussing the applicability of 4.0 technology in the agricultural sector, the advantages of these technologies to business economy and management are determined. As a matter of fact, the increase in the world population and the need for more resources accordingly keeps the issue of productivity on the agenda. Technological methods are needed to increase productivity in agricultural production. These technological methods; It is known as green agriculture, precision agriculture, digital agriculture, smart agriculture or agriculture 4.0, and with the development of these technologies, a very comprehensive data acquisition process has started and it has come to the point of making business decisions according to the analysis of the data and the results of these. At this point, the most important issue to be discussed is the applicability and affordability of smart agriculture technology. As a matter of fact, the production factors (land, capital, labor and entrepreneurship) owned by agricultural enterprises in Turkey are limited and insufficient according to European standards. Therefore, the compatibility of the technologies to be used according to the enterprises is extremely important, and strategies should be determined in order to prevent the use of idle technology. In this context, for the first time in the study, the technological development was examined by classifying the application areas of Agriculture 4.0 technology and their hardware features. As a result, predictions and suggestions about the future of Agriculture 4.0 or smart agriculture will be prepared and the smart agriculture policy will be presented to the sector and public institutions.

Land use could impact soil properties and processes in varying degrees. Therefore, the impact of different land use systems on soil water status and its relationship with some physiochemical properties was studied at the Teaching and Research Farm, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. The land use types included native forest (NF); Paddock (P); Oil palm plantation (OP); Teak (TK); new yam plot (NY) and yam plot under fallow (YF). Structure and disturbed surface soils (0 - 15 cm) samples were taken at three (3) locations in each land use type. Soil water content (SWC) significantly varied among the different land use types, with oil palm plantation storing the highest amount of water. The results also showed significant differences in soil bulk density, organic carbon, porosity, texture and hydraulic conductivity among the land use types. SWC associated positively and significantly with organic matter, silt content and silt + clay. The association between SWC and pH and silt/clay were positive but weak while particle density, bulk density and sand content showed negative and significant association. The principal component regression (PCR) showed a highly significant, positive relationship between SWC and the principal components of other physicochemical properties. Cluster analysis showed that SWC is highly related and linked to OM, Bd, Pd, Pt and silt/clay. The results implied that conversion to paddock and continuous cultivation led to depletion in soil water, physical and chemical properties, whereas cultivation of tree crops conserved these soil properties better. Therefore, establishment of tree crop and conservative soil management practices are suggested to prevent agricultural lands from degradation in areas with soils under similar conditions.

In this study, powder was obtained from yellow and purple-fleshed potatoes by microwave and hot air drying and the effects of drying methods on the total phenolic compounds, total monomeric anthocyanin, color, antioxidant activity, starch ratio and vitamin C on were determined. It was observed that the microwave drying process caused an increase in bioactive components in purple-colored powder samples, and no significant differences were determined in terms of drying methods in bioactive components in yellow-colored powder samples. When the starch ratio of the samples was examined, it was determined that hot air drying caused a significant increase. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were used as multivariate analysis to reveal the effects of different drying techniques and potato varieties on the physicochemical properties of potato powders. As a result, it was found that the physicochemical properties of potato powders differentiated depending on the methods and varieties.

The study aimed was to determine the best nonlinear function describing the growth stages of the Japanese quail breed. To this aim, growth functions such as exponential, logistic, von Bertalanffy, Brody, and Gompertz were used as nonlinear functions is used in the description of the body weight-age relationship of male and female Japanese quails. The Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) data mining algorithm was applied to the individual growth parameters obtained from the determined as the best fit model, and the relationship between sex and growth parameters with it has been revealed. The study dataset was 1267 body weight-age records collected from the hatching to the 6th week of age of 181 Japanese quails consisting of 90 females and 91 males. Each model was applied separately for both males and females. Model fit criteria such as coefficient of determination (R2), adjusted coefficient of determination (R2adj), Akaike's information criterion (AIC), and Bayes information criterion (BIC) were used to evaluate the performances of the growth functions used individually. All the statistical analyses were made by the R package program. The growth curve models were ranked in the form of Logistic > Gompertz > von Bertalanffy > Brody > Exponential according to the goodness of fit criteria. The most suitable model among the non-linear models in terms of performance was logistic. When the relationship between the growth curve parameters and body weight of the logistic model was explained with the MARS algorithm, the goodness of fit criteria showed that the obtained MARS model showed reliable performance. In addition, Pearson’s correlation coefficient between real and estimated body weight was found quite strong for the MARS algorithm (r=0.935). The results showed that the MARS algorithm can be presented as a good reference for breeders to establish breed standards and selection strategies for Japanese quails in growth parameters for breeding purposes.

A corn dryer prototype was manufactured for Mexican small-scale farmers in order to avoid them paying fines for corn with a high-moisture content when selling their corn on to stores. The dryer comprised two large boxes perforated by round holes and containing stainless steel trays subjected to a hot air temperature of 45°C within the batch. The accumulated grain in both boxes was 200 mm and the airflow rate were 0.56 m3 s-1. The corn ears layer was of 80 mm of depth in each of the boxes. The airflow rate was 0.34 m3 s-1. Within eight hours, we sampled corn grain in nine points of each box and found that the mean corn grain moisture content was reduced from 30.36% to 10.47% for box 1 whereas for box 2 it was reduced until 14.72%. The fuel consumption for drying was 0.55 kg h-1 of kerosene. In Box1, the exponential regression model for corn grain moisture content had an R² of 0.9143 whereas Box 2 exponential regression model had an R² was of 0.6642. In Box 1, the exponential regression model for corn ear moisture content had an R² of 0.9616 whereas Box 2 had an R² was of 0.9400. Both models for corn cob moisture content had an R² of 0.9639. Two-layer corn dryers can be used to harness gas or fuel energy to speed up drying for storage.

The increase in salinization in agricultural lands adversely affects crop production. In particular, yield and quality losses occur in many vegetables such as lettuce, which are grown and consumed in every season. Realizing these losses in crop production, more careful fertilization and agricultural practices should be done. Yedikule lettuce seeds were used in the study to draw attention to these negative aspects. The study, which was carried out for two years, was designed with 0, 50, 100 and 150 mmol doses of salt according to a randomized parcel design with three replications and four pots in each replicate. Each 2-liter pot was filled with a 2:1 ratio of peat: perlite mixture and the study was carried out with 2 lettuces in each pot. As a result of the study, when the plant weight data of the first year and the second year are examined, it is seen that the weight loss of lettuce plants and damage to the plants increase when the salt doses increase. It was observed that the highest plant weight loss occurred at 150 mmol salt dose. Membrane damage index in lettuce leaves was observed to increase as the salt dose increased. It was observed that the leaf water rate decreased with increasing salt doses. Membrane damage index and leaf water content of lettuce plants were more negatively affected at 150 mmol of salt in both years. Potassium, calcium and magnesium contents in lettuce leaves were statistically decreased due to increasing salt doses in both years, while sodium content increased with increasing salt doses and the highest sodium content was observed at 150 mmol dose in both years. As seen in these results, increasing salt doses reduce the nutrient content and plant weight in lettuce plants and cause physiological damage to the plant, resulting in yield and quality loss.

The gastrointestinal parasitic infestation seems to have a substantial economic impact on the entire livestock production industry. Because of the parasites' environmental appropriateness, numerous domestic animals in Bangladesh are particularly susceptible to the infestation; however, the extent to which people are aware of the potential risk factors is debatable. Therefore, the current meta-analysis' objective is to determine the precise understanding of potential risk variables and the impact of climatological variations on five important gastrointestinal parasites: Paramphistomum species, Strongyloides species, Trichuris species, Schistosoma species, and Moneizia species. Four globally recognized databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar were screened to choose the studies published in English language from 2000 to 2020. Finally, 29 studies were selected for further analysis and recorded the maximum prevalence in Paramphistomum species (26%; 95% CI: 19-33), followed by Strongyloides species (9%, 95% CI: 5-12), Trichuris species (10%, 95% CI: 4-17), Schistosoma species (19%, 95% CI: 7-31), and Moneizia species (8%, 95% CI: 5-10); besides the overall prevalence was noted as 15% (95% CI: 11-18). Furthermore, subgroup analysis revealed that parasite infestation was most prevalent in females (21%) and the elderly animal population (14%) and the summer season (26%). To sum up, the current meta-analysis visualized the epidemiological risk factors with the overall incidence of five major parasite infestations in livestock animals in Bangladesh; hence, the government and shareholders may employ it as proof before launching any control programs or improving farmers' awareness.