For a long time, many cultures around the world have used Tribulus terrestris L. in the prevention and treatment of various diseases. In this study, the antioxidant activity and total phenolic and flavonoid content of extracts obtained with various solvents from T. terrestris plant collected from different localities in Kahramanmaraş were investigated. In addition, the fixed oil content of the extracts was examined by GC-MS analysis and as a result, 26 different fatty acids were determined. The main fatty acid components of plant extracts are linoleic acid, oleic acid and palmitic acid. The total phenolic substance value of plant extracts varies between 2.20-18-77 mg g-1, total flavonoid amount varies between 0.06-0.50 mg g-1, FRAP value varies between 6.16-23.50 µg g-1 and DPPH value varies between 1.54-10.54 µg mL-1. It was observed that the solvents used in extraction affected the bioactivity values rather than the locations. Although the absorbance values of the extracts obtained with hexane were high, low extract yield affected the results. The highest values in all characters examined were obtained from ethanolic extracts.

Analysing the factors driving the population size and activities of soil microorganisms is important for understanding the soil ecosystem’s structure and functioning. For this purpose, the soil enzymes are used as an indicator of soil microbial activity and soil fertility. Although there are many studies on the distribution and activities of various soil enzymes in soils under monoculture or crop alternation conditions, there are only few studies examining the ecological relationship in natural ecosystems, especially by using enzymes. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of different land uses on the catalase enzyme activity in soil. For this purpose, the catalase enzyme activities in soil samples taken from 0-5cm and 5-10cm depths in agricultural, forest, and pasture lands in north and south exposures were determined and the effects of different land use, exposure, and soil depth conditions on the enzyme activities were investigated. At the end of the study, it was determined that the catalase enzyme activity significantly differed by the land use and the highest level of catalase enzyme activity in both south and north exposures and at both depth levels was found in forest soils, whereas the lowest level of activity was found in agricultural lands in north exposure and pasture soils in south exposure.

Syzygium aromaticum commonly known as Clove is considered to be the most precious spice among others, which has been continued to be utilized for centuries for different biological and therapeutic purposes. It is a tropical tree which belongs to the Myrtaceae family and natively originated from Indonesia. However, in current times it is found in a few other places of the world including Brazil. Clove is viewed as perhaps the most extravagant source of phenolic mixes, for example, eugenol, eugenol acetic acid derivatives and so on. These mixtures have incredible potential for restorative, organic and other rural applications. In this review we have tried to figure out some of the important medicinal or therapeutic as well as phytobiotic and agricultural utilizations of the products prepared from Clove. We have tried to give an extra emphasis on the application of clove as a product of herbal contraception however for this purpose dose of the extract (either aqueous or ethanolic) of clove plays the vital role in this case. Although for establishing or making clove products commercially available as a safe product for herbal contraception or other medicinal impacts, more studies are required, and it could open a new era in the field of herbal medicine that would be much safer and feasible.

Minerals have crucial roles in terms of vital function in the organism including hormones, enzymes, cell formation etc. Oxidative stress and related hormones, regarding infectious diseases, affect all functions of body including mineral taking, metabolism and excretion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the pox disease on blood minerals composition of sheep and lambs. This study was conducted on 20 healthy sheep, 20 poxvirus infected sheep and their lambs (Totally 80 subjects). One-shot blood samples from sheep and lambs were collected and serums were separated immediately. Serum mineral levels were analysed in the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. In general, the level of Cu in infected animals was higher than in healthy ones. Zn, Fe, Mg and Na levels of healthy animals were found higher than infected subjects. The difference between healthy and infected animal groups for serum Ca and K levels was not significant. Positive correlations were found between serum Zn, Fe, Mg and Na levels. However, a negative correlation was found between Cu-Zn and Cu-Fe pairs. Consequently, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mg and Na levels in serum, which are vital for animal organisms, showed significant changes in sheep and their lambs during poxvirus infection. To rapid healing or prevention of the diseases, mineral disorders must be corrected urgently.

In this study, it is aimed to understand the effects of structural and vegetative elements that can be used in landscape designs on the temperature factor, which will greatly affect the climatic comfort, by using artificial neural networks. In this context, measurements were carried out in the morning (08:00-09:00), noon (13:00-14:00) and evening (17:00-18:00) of a total of 100 days, 50 days in each of the winter and summer seasons, at 7 randomly selected points in the Akdeniz University Campus. In these measurements, the temperature difference values of 11 cover elements on 7 different floor covering types were measured, and the ambient air temperature, humidity and wind values were also determined. The temperature differences between the areas where the flooring elements are exposed to direct sun and the shadow effect of different plant and cover elements were determined using an infrared laser thermometer. These values were processed with Neural Designer software and possible temperature difference prediction values were created for 57.750 different alternatives with the help of artificial neural network model from 837 sets of data. Evaluation shows that the maximum temperature difference is 15.6°C at noon in the summer months in the red tartan flooring material and Callistemon viminalis cover material. While the artificial neural network model predicts that there will be a high 2-3° C temperature difference for the alternatives, it has made predictions for temperature differences between 0-10°C in winter and 0-16°C in summer months. Although the temperature differences that will occur in the noon hours are distributed over a wide range of values, it seems that the morning and evening forecasts are concentrated between 0-7°C values. Also, it has been determined that the wind and humidity in the environment are more important factors than the ambient temperature in terms of temperature differences.

This study was carried out to determine the effects of two different cage systems (enriched and conventional) and low and high stocking densities on performance, egg quality and egg shell microorganisms. In study, two different genotypes were used to native (Atak-S) and foreign (Lohmann) hens occurred of 864 hens used. As the cage system, the battery type was used in the conventional system and the enriched cage type was used in the alternative system. The results indicated that genotype and cage system significantly affected egg production and egg mass in the laying period (18-76 weeks). It was determined that Lohmann genotype and conventional cages had significantly higher egg production and egg mass in this period. It was seen that hens consumed significantly higher feed in enriched cages than in conventional cages, and were significantly better feed conversion ratio in low stocking density compared to high stocking density. The effects of genotype and cages system on the quality characteristics of eggs were found to be significant, and it was determined quality characteristics of Lohmann eggs were better (especially eggshell quality. In addition, it was understood that the internal quality of the eggs in the conventional cages and the external quality characteristics of the eggs in the enriched system were positively affected. The total numbers of microorganisms were determined to be higher on shell of eggs from enriched cages than conventional cages. The total numbers of microorganisms were higher in enriched cage eggs compared to conventional cage eggs. However, stocking density was not a significant effect on the microbial load of the eggshell.

Tarımın finansmanda kullanılan temel kanallar Tarım Kredi Kooperatifleri, Kamu Bankaları, Özel Bankalar ve Üreticinin çevresidir. Üreticiler finansman kanalları seçmesi; iş tecrübesi, geleneksel davranışlar, eğitim düzeyi, yeniliklere açık olma ve ekonomik gelişmeleri takip etmesine ve tarım sigortası yaptırmalarına bağlı olarak değişmektedir. Bu çalışmada, Bafra’da faaliyet gösteren 153 tarım üreticisiyle yüz yüze görüşmeler yapılmış, mülakat ve açık uçlu sorularla veriler toplanmıştır. Elde edilen veriler sonucunda üreticilerin eğitim, yeniliklere açık olma ve ekonomik gelişmeleri takip etme oranında artışın kamu kurumlarının dışında özel bankalara yönelmesi arasında anlamlı ilişki tespit edilmiştir. Kamu kuruluşları dışında finansman kaynakları kullanılması açısından üreticilerin; sosyal güvence durumu, tarım sigortası kullanma seviyeleri ile arasında anlamlı ilişki tespit edilirken; diğer yandan yaş, geleneksel davranışları ile değerlendirildiğinde ilişki anlamsız çıkmaktadır. Üreticilerin iş tecrübesi arttıkça organize olmayan çevresinden fon sağlama eğilimi artmaktadır. Üreticilerinin hem yeniliklerden haberdar olması ve uygulaması için hem de kendilerine uygun finansmanı yöntemini belirleyecek altyapıya sahip olabilmeleri için etkin iletişim kanalları kurulması gerekmektedir. Etkin iletişimin sağlanabilmesi için özellikle kamu desteklerinin artırılması ile yapılacak yayınlar ve etkinliklerle tarım üreticileri yanlış finansman uygulamalarından arındırılmalı ve mali yapıları korunmalıdır.

Bu çalışmada, Aydın İlinde yer alan incir işleme tesislerinin teknik ve kalite etkinlik skorları ve bu skorlar üzerine etkili olan faktörler non-parametrik bir yöntem olan Veri Zarflama Analizi ve 1000 replikasyonlu truncated-regresyon modeli ile belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Anket yöntemi ile elde edilen veriler kullanılarak yapılan analizler sonucunda, işletmelerin neredeyse tamamının ölçeğe göre değişen getiri varsayımı altında çalıştıkları ve teknik etkinlik skorları ortalamalarının %98, kalite etkinliği skorları ortalamalarının ise %58 olduğu belirlenmiştir. Teknik etkinlik skorları üzerinde “Öğrenim Durumu”, “Sektör Tecrübesi” ve “Kendi Ürünü Olan İnciri İşleme”, kalite etkinliği skorları üzerine ise “Sektör Tecrübesi”, “Sözleşmeli Üretim” ve “Kalite Kontrol Uygulamaları” faktörlerinin pozitif yönde etkili olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Bunun yanında, özellikle sağlıklı atıştırmalıklar pazarında niş bir ürün sayılabilecek kuru incirin üretim aşamasında sektörel eğitim ve dış riskler açısından önemli sorunlar görüldüğü ve bu sorunların çözümü için sektör bileşenlerine sorunları dile getirme ve çözüm talebi konusunda önemli görevler düştüğü, özellikle sektörel eğitim ile kalifiye eleman ihtiyacının giderilmesi gerektiği, jeotermal santraller ve barajlar konusunda bilimsel araştırmalar yapılmasının gerekliliği öneri olarak dile getirilmiştir.

Growth factors and vitamin-like substances have great positive importance in most biological interactions in the cellular level. The addition of these elements in the culture media will increase the yield of the resulting embryos and improve quality. We examined the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and myo-inositol (MI) on meiotic maturation and yields of blastocyst of Awassi sheep oocyte across two experiments. The oocytes obtained were subjected into three treatments: A (without EGF nor MI), B (10 ng/ml EGF + 20 mmol/l MI) and C (50 ng/ml EGF +40 mmol/l MI). Oocytes were then cultured in Ham's F-10 medium supplemented with 5% (v: v) fetal calf serum and 40 ng/ml follicle - stimulating hormone. In the first experiment, during the 27-h culture period, the oocytes were assessed for germinal vesicle break down, metaphase-I and metaphase-II stages across three-time intervals (9, 21 and 27-h). Results of the experiment showed that EGF and MI enhanced the rates of germinal vesicle break down phase (1.53%; 27-h interval; lowest value), metaphase-I (33.87%; 21-h interval) and metaphase-II (89.23%; 27-h interval). In the second experiment, the oocytes incubated in treatment B achieved the highest rates of cleavage (81.96%), 2-8 cell (62.35%) and blastocyst (45.09%). It is concluded from the present study that incubating sheep oocytes in culture media containing a cocktail of EGF (10 ng/ml) and MI (20 mmol/l) significantly improves the rates of metaphase-II, fertilization and blastocyst rates.