This paper examines factors determining farmers‘ adoption decision for improved maize varieties in the maize-common bean intercropping practices in two districts of East Hararghe zone, Eastern Ethiopia. It is based on data collected from 129 farm households using structured questionnaire. Descriptive results revealed that adopters of improved maize varieties had better food and nutrition security status. Furthermore, logit model output indicated that the decision to adopt improved maize varieties is influenced by location (district) dummy, education status of the household head, age of the household head, distance from the main road, and the number of plots owned. Major recommendations include improving the rural road infrastructure, educating and training farmers, organizing experience sharing events among farmers, and raising awareness about the food and nutrition security benefits of sustainable agricultural intensification practices like intercropping improved maize with improved common bean varieties.

This study was conducted on a total of 776 goats (part of Central highland goat breeds of Ethiopia), 306 from Boset district of Oromia region and 470 were from Minjar Shenkora district of Amhara region. A format developed by using food and agriculture organization discerption list was used for recording of morphological traits, bodyweight and linear body measurements. Both qualitative and quantitative traits were recorded from randomly sampled mature goats and the data were analyzed using SAS software. The goat type in the study area was characterized by a higher proportion of plain coat color patterns (62.5). Ingeneral, the majority (98.4%) of the studied goats were horned and characterized by backward orientation (67%) with a straight shape (49.3%). They presented a concave facial profile (73.8%), slop up toward the rump back profile (66.2%), no wattle (99.6%), no toggle (90.7%), no ruff (85.9%) and no beard (57.3%). The location had a significant effect on body weight and some other linear body measurements. Traits like body length, rump length, horn length, head length, head width and shin circumference were significantly higher in Boset district. In contrast, rump width and cannon bone length were significantly lower. The mean body weight of male goats in Boset and Minjar Shenkora district were 30.5±1.05 kg with a range of 16 to 47 and 27.5±0.56 with a range of 13 to 57, respectively. While for female counterpart mean body weights (kg) were 28.4±0.35 with a range of 17 to 45 for Boset and 27.5±0.33 with a range 15 to 57 for Minjar Shenkora district. Heart girth had the highest correlation with body weight in both sexes and shoulder width in Boset male goats. The wider variation in most quantitative measurement traits would open an opportunity for further improvement, conservation and utilization work.

Environmental concerns together with social and ethical issues raise consumers’ interest in sustainable production and consumption practices. With rising trends of fair trade and high popularity of organic and local production in recent years, the demand for geographical indication registration has also increased by agricultural producers as a way of transmitting further information to raise reputation of their products. This research aims to assess the impact of geographical indications on export performance of Turkish agricultural products and foodstuffs. Findings reveal that geographical indications increase export revenues. Results communicate an important message to policy makers to promote the protection of geographical indications.

In this study, it was aimed to determine some element contents and some quality properties and to compare these parameters at each stage in the chemically refining process of crude corn oil. Color (lovibond tintometer), free fatty acidity, peroxide values and fatty acid compositions were determined in the samples of corn oil taken from consecutive stages of chemically refining. Also, the content of elements (Na, Mg, K, Ca, Fe, Pb, Cd, Ni, Mn, Zn, Co, Cr, P, Cu) was analyzed, by using inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively-coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) after microwave digestion. The color (Lovibond tintometer), free fatty acidity and peroxide values in the chemically refining process varied between 2.7-16, %0.09-2.12, 10.95-1.08 mEqO2/kg, respectively. Oleic, linoleic and linolenic acid contents changed between 30.486-30.580%, 54.339-54.703% and 0.972-0.993%, respectively, in the chemically refining stages. While no trans fatty acids detected in crude corn oil and after degumming-neutralization step, very low amount of trans oleic acid (0.040%) and total trans linoleic acid (0.132%) was detected in bleached corn oil. The total trans fatty acid content little more increased in the last stage of the chemically refining. However, total trans fatty acid content of refined corn oil was < 0.3%. It was clearly seen that Na, Mg, K, P, Ca, Mn, Fe, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu element contents decreased significantly at the end of the chemically refining process. Although Cd, Co and Zn elements were determined in crude corn oil, these elements were not detected in the refined corn oil. The results obtained showed that the chemically refining process effected some of the quality properties of corn oil and especially the changes in the element contents.

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.

Increasing population and challenges among the sectors due to the climate change and incorrect water policy has increased the pressure on water resources. This situation being as a global crisis particularly in respect to the food security has accelerated productive utilization of water supplies. The aim of the current study with 2-year experiments was to identify the effect of different irrigation interval and irrigation regimes on the yield and yield components of dry bean having greater than 50% of total world legumes production. In that experiment, two different irrigation interval, 7 and 14-day, and three different irrigation levels, (I100, I75 and I50, were studied. In results, the maximum yield was obtained from 7-day irrigation interval, and 28% yield reduction was detected at 14-day irrigation interval. In examine the irrigation levels, the highest yield was found at full irrigation (I100), and increasing water stress caused significant yield reductions e.g. 21% and 49% for I75 and I50, respectively. The evapotranspiration and total applied water as an average of 2013-2014 were calculated as 533 mm, and 450 mm, respectively. In assessment of the both the combine year results, the ky value was determined as 1.59, and this finding shows that dry bean crop is sensitive to the water stress condition.

As it is common in tropical and temperate zones, mullet species constitute the most important fish species caught along the coast and estuaries of Turkey. In terms of ecology, tourism and and fish productivity (52 kg/ha), Koycegiz-Dalyan Lagoon Ecosystem (KDLES) is the most important lagoon, with a 5500 ha surface area, is the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey. In the dalyan (barrier fish trap) systems; approximately 225 tons (80-405 tons) of mullets are caught to obtain 5 tons of dried fish eggs per year. Seventy percent of fish production in the lagoon is composed of mullets. The mullet samples were collected monthly between October 1992 and September 1994 from eight stations (one of them is a marine station) by trammel nets. The ages were determined using by scales anda ge composition varied form 0 to 6 ages. Species composition of 1159 sampled individuals were proportionally determined as Mugil cephalus 45%, Liza aurata 35%, Liza saliens 14%, Liza ramada 12%, Chelon labrasus 6%. The growth performance indices calculated from von Bertalanffy growth parameters using by all individuals for the M. cephalus, L. aurata, L. saliens, L. ramada and C. labrasus were determined as 2.957, 2.866, 2.692 and 2.719, respectively. The highest growth performance index was calculated for M. cephalus. The growth performance indeces of mullet species in Köyceğiz-Dalyan Lagoon Ecosystem were found around the world averages.

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.

Türkiye, sahip olduğu klimatolojik özellikler sayesinde üzüm yetiştirilmesine uygun bir ülkedir. Türkiye’nin verimli topraklarında bol miktarda üzüm üretilmesine ve bağ alanı bakımından dünyanın önde gelen ülkelerinden biri olmasına rağmen üretilen üzümlerin ancak %11 kadarının şarap üretiminde değerlendirildiği bilinmektedir. Türkiye’de şarap sektörünün her aşamasında karşılaşılan zorlukların, kısaca şarap bilimi olarak tanımlanan önoloji eğitimine de yansıdığı ve şarap konusunda kalifiye eleman yetiştirilen okulların sayıca az olduğu görülmektedir. Oysaki Türkiye’nin bağ alanı ve üzüm üretim miktarı açısından en yakın rakiplerinin yer aldığı Avrupa kıtasında durum oldukça farklıdır. Söz konusu ülkelerde önoloji eğitimi büyük önem arz etmekte ve önoloji eğitimini tamamlayanlara önolog unvanı verilmektedir. İçerik analizi yöntemiyle hazırlanan bu çalışmanın amacı, Avrupa’da verilen önoloji eğitimi ile Türkiye’de verilen önolojiye yönelik eğitimi mukayese ederek Türkiye’deki önoloji eğitimi için bazı öneriler ortaya koymaktır. Yapılan çalışma neticesinde; Türkiye’de önoloji eğitiminin, farklı pek çok gerekçe ile ihmal edilmiş bir eğitim alanı olduğu, lisans, yüksek lisans ve doktora düzeylerinde önoloji eğitimi verilmediği, önlisans düzeyinde ise sadece bir devlet üniversitesinde şarap üretim teknolojisi eğitimi verildiği sonuçlarına ulaşılmıştır. Çalışmanın alanyazına, sonraki araştırmacılara, şarap sektörüne ve özellikle şarapla ilgili eğitim veren kurumlara katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir.