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This study was carried out in order to determine the leave characteristics of some chestnut genotypes in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey and also to determine whether the leaf morphometric characteristics could be used for differentiation of genotypes. In this study, seven chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) genotypes (SA5-1, SE 3-12, SE 21-2, SE 21-9, 552-8, 556-7 and 556-8) and one cultivar (Sariaslama) were used. Some leaf parameters such as lamina length, lamina width, leaf length, leaf area, petiole length, teeth width, teeth length, stomatal density, stomata width, stomata length, lamina width/lamina length, lamina width/leaf length, petiole length/lamina length, stomatal index, distance between the lateral veins and teeth width/teeth length were measured. Most of the chestnut genotypes could be differentiated easily by using leaf morphometric characteristics. The lamina width, lamina length, leaf length, distance between the lateral veins, leaf area, stomata width, stomata length and the ratios of teeth width/teeth length, lamina width/lamina length and lamina width/leaf length were better discriminators for chestnut genotypes.

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The primary aim of plant breeding is to improve stability in yield and to obtain varieties with good quality. For this reason, a study of wheat varieties was conducted in 2010, 2011, and 2012 at the Agricultural Application and Research Center fields of the Uludag University, Agricultural Faculty, in Bursa/Turkey. In the study, 22 advanced lines of bread wheat and Gonen, Pehlivan, and Flamura cultivars as controls were examined in a 3-year experiment. In each year, the experiment was conducted in randomized block design with three replications. The effects of cultivars, environment, and genotype×environment interactions were evaluated. Results of the study permitted us to distinguish three lines, namely, (Gx22-1)-4, (Gx22-1)-6, and (GxK) which were characterized by higher adaptation capabilities and stability than those of the other genotypes.

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 Defoliation is an important management practice of cotton production. Field experiments were conducted for exploring response of cotton to defoliant application times at various percentages of boll opening on seed cotton yield and fiber quality. Experiments were arranged in split-plot design with defoliation times (control, 40, 60, and 80% open boll) as the main plots and cultivars (hairy leaf, semi-smooth leaf, and smooth leaf) as subplots, with three replicates. The pooled results indicated that early application of harvest aid products significantly reduced seed cotton yield, boll number per plant, micronaire and fiber length. Significant reductions in seed cotton yield occurred with defoliant applications both prior to and after 60% open boll application timing. Application at 40% followed by boll opening had the maximum number of the green leaves remaining on the plant at 14, 21, and 28 days after treatments and a corresponding high trash content and high leaf grade. However, except for the leaf grade, the number of green leaves remaining on the plant after defoliation and the trash content, varietal differences were non-significant. Smooth leaf cultivar (SG 125) had the highest number of green leaves left on the plant after treatment (79.2) compared with hairy (71.9) and semi-smooth leaf (77.1) cultivars. It was concluded that cotton cultivars with varying levels of leaf hairiness impacted the defoliation efficacy of the harvest aid products.

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Tubers of the tuberous orchids have been col­lected for centuries, and used for medicinal purposes as well as in beverage and ice-cream industry. These orchids (Sahlep orchids) cannot be propagated vegetatively as they generally do not yield more than one tuber in a year. Seeds do not have microscopic endosperms; they have quite small chance of germination and successful establishment. These orchids are not cultivated and are usually collected from natural populations. Therefore, they are under threat of extinction and thus are placed under protection worldwide with national and international treaties. In this study, specimens of the threatened orchid taxa Ophrys sphegodes subsp. mammosa (Desf.) Soo ex E. Nelson orchid, were stimulated to grow tuber twice in a single vegetation period. Plants’ ability to develop new tubers was tested and a new propagation method was proposed for the first time worldwide. Plants harvested at the beginning, middle, and end of flowering period were re-planted. It was observed that the plants harvested at early flowering were able to develop new tubers when they were re-planted in their original places. At the end of their annual life cycle, the number of tubers that were produced by the plants harvested at the three subsequent harvest periods were 2.21, 2.10, and 1.04. Quality of the tubers of the 2^nd harvest was also tested in this study to use them as propagation material for the subsequent season, and positive outcomes were achieved. According to the present findings, growth of two tubers in a single vegetation period was achieved for the first time. Possible sustainable cultivation of Sahlep orchids was proved by this new propagation method.
 

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Microwave combined drying is an alternative technique that can be applied to dry foodstuffs, especially fruits and vegetables, due to shorter drying time and higher energy efficiency. In this regard, the effect of hybrid (microwave-conventional) drying conditions on drying kinetics, modeling, temperature profile, moisture and thermal diffusivities and activation energy of red pepper was investigated in a specially designed hybrid domestic oven. Three levels of microwave powers (120, 150, and 180W) and air temperatures (50, 60, and 70°C) were used. Both energy sources were applied simultaneously during the whole drying process. The drying process continued until the moisture content of the red pepper reached 10% on wet basis. Drying time decreased with increasing microwave power and air temperature. Temperature of red pepper slices sharply increased within the first 60 minutes, then reached equilibrium with drying medium and finally increased at the end of the drying process. Nine semi-theoretical models were applied to determine the drying behavior of the samples. Modified Logistic model was determined as the best model because it had the lowest RMSE and χ² and the highest R² values. Effective moisture and thermal diffusivity values increased with increasing microwave power and air temperature and ranged from 8.86×10^-10 to 4.23×10^-9 m² s^-1 and 4.57×10^-10 to 1.81×10^-9 m² s^-1, respectively. The activation energy of the dried red pepper slices was between 29.30 and 56.61 kJ mol^-1. The hybrid drying can be used as an alternative drying method for red pepper drying.
 

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This research was carried out to reveal the effect of black lentil flour (BLF), flaxseed flour (FSF), faba bean flour (FBF), rye flour (RF) and oat flour (OF) on the physical, chemical, textural, cooking and sensory properties of lasagna noodles. Wheat flour in the lasagna noodles formulation was replaced by 20% of BLF, FSF, FBF, RF and OF, separately. Enriched lasagna noodles had higher volume increase and cooking loss values than the control samples. The protein contents of lasagna noodles containing BLF and FBF were found to be 24.6 and 21.6% higher than the control sample. Lasagna noodles containing RF revealed the highest firmness value. In lasagna noodles, the highest Total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) were determined in the sample containing FSF, followed by the sample containing FBF and BLF, respectively. Among the lasagna noodles, the highest phytic acid content was determined in the sample containing FBF, while the control sample revealed the lowest amount of phytic acid. The use of FSF, BLF, FBF and OF in the formulation increased the Ca, Fe-Zn, Mg and Mn amounts of lasagna noodles by 1.98-, 1.5-1.7-, 1.8- and 1.8-fold, respectively. Lasagna noodles prepared using BLF had the highest total color difference value. In sensory analysis, FSF had the lowest overall acceptability value among the cooked lasagna noodle samples. The overall evaluation of all analyzed quality parameters indicates that FBF, RF, and OF can be successfully used in lasagna noodles production.