In Ethiopia, the national agricultural research system has been generating and disseminating different agricultural technologies since its establishment in 1966. Although these technologies are meant to increase agricultural productivity, they have to be evaluated for their impact on production and for the benefit that the farmers get out of them. Hence, the main objectives of this study were to examine the impact of technological innovations on wheat production and to decompose the total change in wheat output resulting from the introduction of new technologies into its constituent parts. Cobb-Douglas production function was employed to estimate the regression coefficients under old variety growers, new variety growers, and pooled data cases. Output decomposition model was applied to decompose the total change in output into its constituent parts. The econometric results of this study indicated that, out of 55% of the observed productivity difference between old and new variety grown plots, technological change and change in associated input levels contributed about 24% and 31%, respectively. Of the 31% increment attributed to input use levels, an increased use of herbicides and fertilizers caused the biggest jump in the productivity of improved wheat varieties (15.5% and 11% respectively). The major implications included the need to exploit the full potential of new varieties using recommended input levels, strengthening the research system, fostering coordinated efforts among various actors in agricultural development, and strengthening the technology instrument in rural development and poverty reduction strategies of the country.

The aim of the study was to investigate the raw milk hygiene and quality among the small holder dairy farmers in Tawau area. A total of 216 samples were collected from the respective dairy farmers and milk collecting centre located at Mile 15, Tawau. Preliminary results indicated that the quality of the raw milks obtained at farm level contained were inferior with high bacteria load (> than 107 CFU/ml). The total coliform (2.9-3.8 CFU/mL) and Staphylococcus count (2.3-3.6 CFU/mL) were relatively high in certain samples. However, none of the food borne pathogens was found. Trace back study revealed that the causes of contamination were attributed by poor hygienic handling among the dairy farmers and insufficient for immediate chilling of raw milk. A significant reduction in bacteria load was observed if the raw milk chilled immediately at farm. The implementation of modified pre-milking sanitizing practices improved the microbiology quality of the raw milks obtained from respective dairy farms. Future study will focus more on the effect of prolong storage towards the microbiological quality of raw milk.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality characteristics of physical, chemical and microbiological of some fruit nectar samples produced from some local and imported companies and sold in the city of Tripoli, and to determine their conformity with Libyan specification standards. In this study, 40 samples of different fruit nectars (grape, pineapple, guava, orange, apple, and mixed fruits) were collected from different local supermarket, five imported companies and 4 domestic which were available at the time of study. The Samples were classified based on their type of fruit nectars and also marked as (A, B, C, D) and (E, F, L, M, N) for different domestic or imported and imported companies respectively. The results showed that all the samples were free from artificial colours added. Local and imported samples were conform with the Libyan specification standards (990-2014) for fruit nectars. Five local and four imported samples were unconfirmed with the standards. In terms of acidity, some local and imported samples were conform to the Libyan specification standards, except one local sample and 5 imported samples. However, 35.3% of local samples and 43.5% of the imported samples unconfirmed to the Libyan standard specifications. Microbiological results showed that all local and imported samples were free from total bacterial count, yeasts and molds and coliform bacteria. Heavy metals (cadmium, lead, arsenic, copper, zinc, iron) of local and imported samples were conform to the Libyan specification standard, except 3 samples of imported products were had higher arsenic concentration. Based on the results of this study which indicated the importance of quality control programs for such products not only during production but also during storage and sales due to possibility of contamination and spoilage.

Leafy vegetables are highly perishable and often subjected to post-harvest wastes. Among the various methods of preservation, the effect of shadow drying on the nutritive value and antioxidant properties of five (5) leafy vegetables species widely consumed in Northern Côte d’Ivoire was investigated. These species were Amaranthus hybridus, Andasonia digitata, Ceiba patendra, Hibiscus sabdariffa and Vigna unguiculata. Experiment was conducted as follow: portions of washed and drained fresh leafy vegetables (500 g) were spread on clean filter paper and kept in a well-ventilated room of the laboratory at 25°C for 5, 10 and 15 days. The results of proximate composition after 15 days of shadow drying were: moisture (15.19 – 20.36%), ash (9.14 -19.54%), crude fiber (11.04 – 27.40%), proteins (11.14 - 17.94%), lipids (2.41 – 5.86%) and carbohydrates (16.59 – 45.14%). The concentration of minerals increased with respective values after 15 days of shadow drying: calcium (68.14-408.09 mg/100 g), magnesium (50.62-317.23 mg/100 g), iron (27.52-92.03 mg/100 g) and zinc (10.17-16.73 mg/100 g). During shadow drying, vitamin C and carotenoids were subjected to losses estimated to 35.52 – 70.50% and 22.82 – 45.63%, respectively. Contrary to these losses, antioxidant activity increased and ranged from 57.45 to 75.55 % after 15 days of shadow drying. All these results suggest that the considerable nutrient contents of shade dried leafy vegetables make them good source of food supplements in order to meet the nutritional requirements of Ivorian population.

The present research was conducted on macrofungi collected from Kop Mountain (Erzurum-Bayburt) between the years of 2010 and 2011. The colorful photographs of macrofungi in the natural habitat were taken and their morphological and ecological features were determined and the information on macrofungi given by local people was recorded. According to the field and laboratory studies; 44 edible macrofungi taxa belonging to 14 families and 5 ordos located in Pezizomycetes and Agaricomycetes classes were identified.

Flavones and flavonoids are known to have potent antioxidant activity due to intracellular free radical scavenging capacities. Flavonoids are found ubiquitously in plants as a member of polyphenolic compounds which share diverse chemical structure and properties. Quercetin is among the most efficient antioxidants of the flavonoids. The antioxidant property of quercetin has been highlighted in this review. These compounds have pivotal role in treatment of diabetes, cancers and some cardiovascular diseases.

In this study, ecological risks arising from the accumulation of some heavy metals in surface sediments of Lake Tortum are discussed based on the use of ecological indices, such as enrichment factor (EF), contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), potential ecological risk index (PER) and the mean probable effect concentration quotient (mPEC-Q). Sediment samples were collected from six different sites using Van Veen grab and heavy metal and organic carbon content of sediments were determined. Results testify to the existence of minimal to moderate contamination in lake sediment. The highest value for the enrichment factor pertains to Cd caused by the use of fossil fuels in settlement areas in the lake catchment. PLI and PER estimations, on the other hand, reveals the presence of low heavy metals-induced ecological risk in lake sediments. Ranging between 15% and 29%, mPEC-Q values are indicative of the fact that Lake Tortum is a low-moderate priority site in terms of toxicity level caused by heavy metals.

Hydroponic farming system (HFS) is used to meet the roughage requirements of ruminants as an alternative method. In the system, forage production is achieved all over the year and germinated grains such as barley, wheat and oat, are used as fresh forage sources. In the present study, HFS, about which there are limited information, was discussed with its advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, the nutritive values of fresh forages produced in HFS system and also their using possibilities in animal nutrition were discussed. It was understood that HFS can be used for meeting forage requirements of ruminants if it runs effectively.

In this study, five different set type yogurt with vegetable purees, namely as control (K), yogurt with pumpkin (YBK), yogurt with carrot (YHA), yogurt with green peas (YBE) and yogurt with zucchini (YYK) were produced. The viable cell counts of S. thermophilus and L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus were increased as a result of the ability of dietary fiber to stimulate their growth which is present in yogurt as puree. Vegetable puree addition had a noticeable effect on pH, titratable acidity, whey separation, sensory properties as well as textural attributes such as firmness, cohesiveness, consistency and viscosity index in yogurt. The highest viscosity index, consistency and firmness were observed in yogurt with the carrot puree, while the samples with zucchini presented the less compact structure and textural properties. As a result the present work showed that all the vegetable puree used had a beneficial role to improve textural properties of set type non-fat yogurt and could be used for the development of dairy products with functional ingredients.

This study was conducted to investigate the NaCl impacts on germination and emergence performance of common vetch varieties. Seeds of Gülhan, Selçuk, Kubilay, Emir and Nitra were used as materials. Electrical conductivity (EC) values of NaCl solutions were 5, 10, 15 and 20 dS m-1. Distilled water (0 dS m-1) used as control. In this study germination and emergence test were applied to the varieties. In germination and emergence test mean germination time, mean emergence time, germination percentage, emergence percentage shoot length, root length, shoot fresh and dry weight were measured at the end of the 14th day after sowing. The results showed that germination and emergence percentage and the seedling growth of the varieties were inhibited by NaCl stress and NaCl stress led to increase in germination time and emergence time. Cultivars Gülhan and Emir were the least affected compared to other cultivars. Moreover increased NaCl levels gave rise to increase in Na+ content of cultivars and it was evaluated that the significant correlation (r=-0,525) between Na+ and K+. It was also determined that the correlation between two characters had negative relationship.