The identification of plants in which the bees forage is key in establishing bee farms and increasing honey production. In this study pollen analysis of honey samples from the southeastern part of Nigeria was carried out to ascertain their floral sources and ecological origin. The honey samples were acetolyzed and microscopically studied to determine the pollen types. A total of seventy-one pollen types belonging to forty-one families of plants were identified. The honey samples were dominated by pollen grains from the families of Arecaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Myrtaceae, Irvigiaceae, Fabaceae, Combretaceae/Melastomataceae, and phyllanthaceae. Some of the dominant pollen grain identified include Elaeis guineensis, Alchornea cordifolia, Hymenocardia acida, Ocimum gratissimum, Syzygium guineense, Nauclea latifolia and Afzelia africana. Out of the six samples studied Njikoka sample was monofloral having Mimosa pigra as predominant pollen while Ayamelum, Ekwusigo, Nsukka, Ezeagu, and Udenu samples are multifloral containing Elaeis guineensis, Phyllanthus sp., Piliostigma reticulatum, Irvingia sp., Alchornea cordifolia, and Lannea sp. as major secondary pollen. All the samples analyzed have Elaeis guineensis in common except Ezeagu, indicating that these plants are present in all five locations. These results can also be used as a tool in the geographical identification of Southeastern Nigeria honey from other geopolitical zones.

This study was carried out to determine the effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculants and lactic acid bacteria+enzymes (LAB+E) inoculant on the fermentation, aerobic stability, and feed value of rye silages. Whole crop rye was harvested at dough stage. Biosil (Wuthenow, Germany), Silaprilis Pro (Timac Agro, USA) and Sil-All (Allteck, UK) were used as lactic acid bacteria and lactic acid bacteria+enzyme mixture inoculants. Inoculants were applied to silages at 6.00 log10 cfu/g levels. After the treatment, alfalfa was ensiled in 1.0-L special polyethylene vacuum bags. The bags were stored at 20±2°C under the laboratory conditions. Three bags from each group were sampled for chemical and microbiological analyses 2, 4, 8 and 75th days after ensiling. At the end of the ensiling period, all silages were subjected to an aerobic stability test for 5 days. In addition, in vitro dry matter, and organic matter digestibility of experiment silages were determined. The results showed that lactic acid bacteria and lactic acid bacteria+enzyme mixture inoculants increased characteristics of fermentation and aerobic stability of rye silages. Lactic acid bacteria+enzyme mixture inoculants decreased neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and celluloses content in the silages. Lactic acid bacteria+enzyme mixture inoculants increased in vitro dry matter digestibility, organic matter digestibility and metaboze energy of rye silages. Therefore, lactic acid bacteria and lactic acid bacteria+enzyme mixture inoculants might improve the fermentation properties and feed values of rye silages harvested at dough stage.

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.

Free radicals or highly reactive oxygen species are capable of inducing oxidative damage to the human body Plants containing phenolic compounds have potent antioxidant capacity. The present study was undertaken to investigate the in vitro antioxidant activities of Myrtus communis L. (Myrtaceae), a plant widely used as natural remedy for digestive disorders in folk medicine. Total polyphenol contents were determined using Folin Ciocalteu's reagent; flavonoids were quantified employing the AlCl3 Method. EAE extract showed the highest polyphenolic and flavonoids contents (358.37±2.28 GAE/g of dry extract and 105.44±3.48 QE/g of dry extract) respectively. The EAE had the highest antioxidant activity as measured by DPPH radical and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. EAE and ME extracts exhibited the highest reducing power. EAE possess an IC50 close to BHT (0.074 mg/ml) as reference drug All extracts exhibited antioxidant activity in the linoleic acid emulsion system (76.81% -86.93 %). EAE showed an inhibition ratio of (86.93 %) close to that of BHT (94.9±1.52 %). These findings provide evidence that Myrtus communis L. berries are a potential source of antioxidant which have many benefits towards human health.

Different brewing methods can lead to changes in the physicochemical properties of green tea. In this study, the physicochemical properties of green tea brewed with different amounts (5, 7.5 and 10 grams) and times (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 minutes) were investigated. Green tea produced by Çaykur was used in the study. Mineral analysis of green tea samples was performed with ICP-OES, and color analysis was performed with Minolta Spectrophotometer. The antioxidant activity was assessed using the DPPH method and the total phenolic content was determined using the Folin–Ciocalteu method. In terms of mineral content, it was determined highest levels of mineral content (mg/kg) for Al, Ca and Mg (10 g-25 minutes); Fe, Mn and Na (10 g-25 minutes); and B (10 g-50 minutes) as 16.005, 4.099, 24.075, 0.120, 13.855, 1.320 and 0.164, respectively. It was determined lowest levels of mineral content (mg/kg) for Al, Ca, Mg, and Mn (5 g-5 minutes); B and Fe (5 g-10 minutes), and Na (5 g-15 minutes) as 2.756, 1.193, 3.324, 1.23, 0.025, 0.002 and 0.48, respectively. In terms of color, it was determined that the lowest and highest L* values are 39.97 (10 g-45 minutes) -54.23 (5 g-35 minutes), lowest and highest a* values are -2.24 (5 g-5 minutes) (-4.70) (7.5 g-35 minutes) and lowest and highest b* values are 4.91 (5 g-5 minutes)- 23.98 (10 g-60 minutes). The antioxidant activity value (inhibition %) in green tea was found to be the range of 28.51 % (5 g, 45 minutes)- 47.95 (10 g- 40 minutes), and the total phenolic content (mg GAE/mL) was found to be the range of 15.99 (5 g, 5 minutes)- 35.61 (10 g, 15 minutes). The findings determined that green tea brewed with different amounts and times showed statistical differences in terms of color, mineral content, antioxidant activity, and total phenolic content.

This study examined the Effects of Economic Partnership Agreements between ECOWAS and the EU on Trade, Revenue and Welfare of Agricultural trade of ECOWAS bloc. The specific objectives of the study were to:(i) estimate the potential trade creation and diversion effects of EPA on agricultural trade of ECOWAS bloc, (ii) estimate the potential revenue effects of EPA on agricultural trade of ECOWAS bloc and (iii) estimate the potential welfare effects of EPA on agricultural trade of ECOWAS bloc. World Integrated Trade Solutions provided access to an online secondary data as classified by United Nations Harmonized system. The result on the potential trade creation and diversion effects of EPA on both trading blocs showed that ECOWAS will gain US$198.9million in trade creation and lose US$58.4 million in Trade Diversion. On the other hand, there will be no trade creation for EU with negligible trade diversion of – US$0.2million. The result showed total potential tariff revenue losses of US$366.4million for ECOWAS bloc post EPA. On the other hand, EU will lose (US$951.8million) its agricultural products post EPA. The result further showed potential welfare gain of US$27.6million for consumers of ECOWAS bloc. On the other hand, there will be welfare gain of the EU at US$243.5million for their consumers post EPA. Among all the recommendations, the study therefore points out that the on-going EPA negotiations between ECOWAS and the EU need not to be hurriedly signed by ECOWAS bloc. Also, ECOWAS needs to strengthen its agricultural production efficiency to be able to compete globally and encourage its individual countries to return to a single digit borrowing interest rate to encourage more investment by local agricultural producers if they want to enjoy the benefits of trade treaties at long run if EPA is eventually signed.

In the study, the growth performances of the Shibot fish (Tor grypus) with an average weight of 2.38 g were evaluated by feeding them with 3 different protein-containing feeds for 45 days. In order to create these evaluations, the experimental groups were designed as G1 (33%), G2 (37%) and G3 (41%) fed with different protein levels. Effects on body weight gain (BWG), Feed conversion rate (FCR), Specific growth rate (SGR), Survival rate, Economic conversion rate (ECR) and Economic profit index (EPI) as growth parameters has been researched. At the end of the study, the offspring reached a weight of 3.42±0.16 g, 4.17±0.06 g and 4.50±0.02 g, respectively. G3 and G2 group individuals showed similar performance in terms of end-trial FCR, EPI and ECR.

Bread wheat landraces are considered among important gene sources for quality breeding programs. This study aims to compare thousand kernel weight crude protein ratio, dry gluten ratio, grain hardness and zeleny sedimentation results of 20 bread wheat lines selected from landraces to 5 registered cultivars in order to determine future candidates for quality breeding programs. Field experiments were conducted in the consequent 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 growing seasons in Çanakkale (Türkiye), according to randomized complete block design with three replications. ANOVA results indicated significant difference among genotypes, means were compared with Duncan’s test. Additionally, genotype × growing season interaction were significant for all parameters. Results of cluster and PCA Biplot analysis revealed a significant and positive relationship between crude protein ratio and dry gluten ratio while allowing for the selection of superior landrace pure lines. Our findings suggested that bread wheat varieties had higher TKW compared to landrace pure lines when pure lines had higher crude protein ratio, dry gluten ratio, sedimentation value with generally softer grains. Bread wheat landraces were concluded as being important variation sources.

Soil and water are the two most important basic factors for ensuring sustainable agricultural production. On the other hand, supplying quality and sufficient irrigation water from the nature for agricultural production is getting harder day by day. The decrease or pollution of natural resources for irrigated agriculture, especially in arid and semi-arid climatic regions, necessitates making agriculture with the use of low-quality irrigation water. Low-quality irrigation water causes salinization of the soils in the production areas. If the salinized lands are not washed or rehabilitated, it is inevitable that they will be out of production soon. In the agricultural area, salinity can occur naturally as well as irrigation practice. Salinity, which is an important problem for agriculture in the world, causes increasing soil losses every year. Efforts should be made to eliminate the problem of salinity in sustainable agriculture. In addition, salinity-resistant plants can be preferred to be grown as well as encouraging conscious irrigation in the salinized areas.