Mineral Nutrient Acquisition by Cotton Cultivars Grown under Salt Stress

Physiological responses were investigated in two cotton cultivars grown at various concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) in order to determine the degree of the tolerance of the cultivars to salt stress and understand the physiological responses with respect to utilization of mineral nutrients. After germination of the seeds of cotton cultivars, they were transferred into standard pots with 210 g sterilized compost and watered with 30 ml Hoagland’s solution containing different concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200, and 400 mM) of NaCl at two-day intervals for 3 months. Growth parameters were measured and the mineral nutrient analyses were done using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltman, MA). It was observed that plant growth and mineral nutritional status of both cultivars were altered extensively in those grown with NaCl. Excess NaCl reduces the concentrations of certain mineral nutrients and increases that of others, the patterns depending on the mineral nutrient and the plant part and varieties being compared to the control.     

Solution electrospinning of polypropylene-based fibers and their application in catalysis

Since the dissolution of polyolefins is a chronic problem, melt processing has been tacitly accepted as an obligation. In this work, polypropylene (PP) was modified on molecular level incorporating poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as graft segment (PP-g-PEG) in a range of 6 to 9 mol%. Gold nanoparticles were nucleated in the presence of the copolymer chains via redox reaction. The dissolution of the amphiphilic comb-type graft copolymers containing gold nanoparticles (80 nm in diameter) was achieved in toluene and successfully electrospun from its solution. The diameter of composite fibers was in the range from 0.3 to 2.5 μm. The design of the structurally organized copolymer fiber mats provided a support medium for the nanoparticles enhancing the active surface area for the catalytic applications. The resulting composite fibers exhibited rapid catalytic reduction of methylene blue (MB) dye in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) compared to corresponding composite cast film.     

A new application method of chitosan for improved antimicrobial activity on wool fabrics pretreated by different ways

Antimicrobial treatments have become more important for the textile materials especially used in sportswear, activewear, and casual wear since they can easily be contaminated by perspiration leading to bacterial growth and body odor. In this work, antimicrobial activity of chitosan in a silica matrix on pretreated wool fabrics was studied. The pretreatment processes were applied by two different ways (enzymatic and enzymatic+hydrogen peroxide). Afterwards chitosan solutions were applied to the untreated samples and to the samples that were pretreated by two different ways to give antimicrobial effects. The antimicrobial activity of wool fabrics treated in various methods was assessed before and after repeated washings (up to 10 cycles) by the application of standard test method AATCC 147-1998. The morphology of the treated fabrics was investigated by SEM and their characterizations were made by the FT-IR spectral analysis. Results revealed that pretreatment ways and chitosan application methods were quite important for adsorption and diffusion of chitosan on wool fabrics and washing stability. From the SEM images, it was clearly observed that pretreatment processes caused some degradation on the surface of the fiber; but combined processes were found to be less degradative and more effective.     

Leaf Removal Treatments Combined with Kaolin Particle Film Technique from Different Directions of Grapevine’s Canopy Affect the Composition of Phytochemicals of cv. Muscat Hamburg (<Emphasis Type="Italic">V. Vinifera</Emphasis> L.)

In some viticulture regions of the world, high temperature and irradiance can negatively affect the grapevine growth and grape quality. Particle film technology is a remarkable tool, leading to decrease in environmental stress conditions for grape production. In current study, leaf removal and kaolin particle film treatments were performed on east and west sides of grapevine’s canopy of cv. Muscat Hamburg and five different treatments were respectively evaluated: Control (C), leaf removal treatment from east side of grapevine’s canopy (LR-E), leaf removal treatment from east side of grapevine’s canopy plus kaolin particle film treatment (LR-E + K), leaf removal treatment from west side of grapevine’s canopy (LR-W), leaf removal treatment from west side of grapevine’s canopy plus kaolin particle film treatment (LR-W + K). In present research, the higher total phenolic compounds contents were measured in LR-W (2010.56?mg GAE/kg fw), LR-W + K (2006.42?mg GAE/kg fw), LR-E (1925.58?mg GAE/kg fw), LR-E + K (1913.15?mg GAE/kg fw) and C treatment (1851.46?mg GAE/kg fw). Furthermore, means of higher total anthocyanin content were obtained from LR-W (737.68?mg GAE/kg fw), LR-W + K (736.16?mg GAE/kg fw), LR-E (706.50?mg GAE/kg fw), LR-E + K (701.94?mg GAE/kg fw) and C treatment (679.12?mg GAE/kg fw). Consequently, it was observed that both LR-W and LR-W + K treatments had especially advantages in terms of increasing grape quality attributes of cv. Muscat Hamburg; were followed by LR-E and LR-E + K treatments.     

Berry Growth and Biochemical Characteristics of cv. Trakya Ilkeren (<Emphasis Type="Italic">V. vinifera</Emphasis> L.) as Influenced by Various Doses of Pre-Harvest Hydrogen Peroxide and Phenylalanine Applications

Uneven grape ripening, leading to decreases economic valued of grapes is one of the main problems faced by grape growers in early table grape growing. In recent years, there has been increasing concern about improving of fruit quality in fruit crops. Among the various quality improvement methods, different types of foliar compounds are used for this purpose and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and phenylalanine (Phe) can be given as examples to some of these chemicals. This research was carried out during the 2015 growing season by using early ripening table grape cv. Trakya Ilkeren. In the study, it was assessed that how different doses of hydrogen peroxide (0, 10, 20 and 40?mM) and phenylalanine (0, 1, 2 and 4?mM) affected physical and biochemical properties of cv. Trakya Ilkeren. In terms of physical properties, doses of hydrogen peroxide and phenylalanine had only significant effects on grape firmness and cluster length. The best results were obtained from 4?mM Phe application (6.76?N) in grape firmness and were obtained from applications of 10, 20 and 40?mM H₂O₂ (23.66, 23.86 and 23.99?cm) and applications of 1, 2, and 4?mM Phe (23.95, 24.46 and 24.88?cm) in cluster length. However, most of biochemical properties were considerably affected by doses of hydrogen peroxide and phenylalanine except for juice pH and p-value. It was recorded that the highest total phenolic compounds contents varied from 3571.28 (10?mM H₂O₂) to 3871.22?mg GAE kg^?1 fw (40?mM H₂O₂) compared to 0?mM application (2591.48?mg GAE kg^?1 fw). In terms of total anthocyanin content, the highest mean was recorded for 4?mM Phe application (330.56?mg GAE kg^?1 fw) than 0?mM application (168.79?mg GAE kg^?1 fw). As a result, 4?mM Phe application particularly improved the most of biochemical properties in cv. Trakya Ilkeren.     

Grape Growth,Anthocyanin and Phenolic Compounds Content of Early Ripening Cv. Cardinal Table Grape (<Emphasis Type="Italic">V. vinifera</Emphasis> L.) as Affected by Various Doses of Foliar Biostimulant Applications with Gibberellic Acid

Uneven skin coloration of early ripening table grapes is characterized by a lack of coloring berries within a cluster and the failure of some berries to develop color even with an uncertain delay of harvest. Biostimulants and plant growth regulators are known to have considerable roles on skin color development in the course of grape maturation. This study was carried out to compare the effects of different biostimulant doses, including 0, 1000, 2000 and 4000?ppm (BSt 0, BSt 1, BSt 2 and BSt 4, respectively) with or without gibberellic acid (GA₃; 20?ppm) on grape characteristics and chemical composition of early ripening cv. Cardinal grape. Study results of cv. Cardinal grape revealed that alone effects of biostimulant doses had more effective on grape characteristics, total anthocyanin content and total phenolic compounds content from phytochemical characteristics. Although different foliar spray applications had varying effects on physical and chemical parameters; BSt 2 application had especially more superior effects on grape growth and phytochemical characteristics of cv. Cardinal grape.     

Deficit irrigation of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in a sub-humid climate

The response of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) to 14 irrigation treatments in a sub-humid environment (Bursa, Turkey) was studied in the field for two seasons. A rainfed (non-irrigated) treatment as the control and 13 irrigation treatments with full and 12 different deficit irrigations were applied to the hybrid Sanbro (Novartis Seed Company) planted on clay soil, at three critical development stages: heading (H), flowering (F) and milk ripening (M). The yield increased with irrigation water amount, and the highest seed yield (3.95 t ha⁻¹) and oil yield (1.78 t ha⁻¹) were obtained from the HFM treatment (full irrigation at three stages); 82.9 and 85.4% increases, respectively, compared to the control. Evapotranspiration (ET) increased with increased amounts of irrigation water supplied. The highest seasonal ET (average of 652 mm) was estimated at the HFM treatment. Additionally, yield response factor (k _y) was separately calculated for each, two and total growth stages, and k _y was found to be 0.8382, 0.9159 (the highest value) and 0.7708 (the lowest value) for the total growing season, heading, and flowering-milk ripening combination stages, respectively. It is concluded that HFM irrigation is the best choice for maximum yield under the local conditions, but these irrigation schemes must be re-considered in areas where water resources are more limited. In the case of more restricted irrigation, the limitation of irrigation water at the flowering period should be avoided; as the highest water use efficiency (WUE) (7.80 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) (10.19 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹) were obtained from the F treatment.     

The influence of different beak trimming age on performance, H-L ratio and antibody production to SRBC in laying hens

The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of beak trimming age on performance criteria, H-L ratio, antibody production, the percentage of spleen and liver and external appearance. The chicks (Barred Rock) were randomly divided into 4 beak-trimming groups (non-trimmed (control), a trim at 1 d (1D), at 10 d (10D) and at 10 wk (10W)), each of 132 chicks. There were 6 replicate cages at beak trimming groups at rearing period. At 18 wk of age a total of 144 pullets were transferred to the layer house, and the pullets were housed at 323 and 646 cm²/hen with 8 and 4 birds per cage in three-deck layer cages. There were a total of 24 replications with 12 replications equally divided between the high and low density cages, and the beak trimmed treatments were randomly and equally divided within each density. As a result of this experiment differences among groups in body weight in rearing phase were disappear in the laying phase. Low feather condition was found in untrimmed hens. H-L ratio in both pullet and laying phase was higher in hens of untrimmed groups. Cage area affected all examined parameters except that body weight, mortality rate, cracked, broken and unshell egg rates, shell breaking, shape index, shell thickness, meat-blood spot rates, spleen and liver percentages, throat injures and antibody production to SRBC.     

The comparison of the effect of enzyme, peroxide, plasma and chitosan processes on wool fabrics and evaluation for antimicrobial activity

Pretreated (enzymatic and enzymatic+hydrogen peroxide) knitted wool fabrics were treated with atmospheric argon and air plasma to improve their adsorption capacity. After plasma treatments chitosan solution was applied to have antimicrobial effect on wool fabrics. The treated fabrics were evaluated in terms of washing stability as well as antimicrobial activity. The surface morphology was characterised by SEM images and FTIR analysis. From the results it was observed that atmospheric plasma treatment had an etching effect and increased the functionality of a wool surface. Atmospheric plasma treatment also enhanced the adhesion of chitosan to the surface and improved the antimicrobial activity of the wool sample. Argon was found to be more effective than air, since argon radicals played an important role in killing and removing bacteria. No significant difference in washing durability was observed in terms of plasma treatments. The samples of combined pretreatment processes had good washing durability even after 10 washing cycle. From the SEM images it was observed that combination of plasma and the other pre-treatment processes gave less damage than only one process.     

Investigation of the antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from gangrenous mastitis of ewes

In this study, Staphylococcus aureus strains (n = 110) isolated from seven ewe flocks in Sanliurfa, Turkey were screened for antibiotic resistance and biofilmforming ability as well as for genes associated with antibiotic resistance and biofilm-forming ability. All isolates were found to be susceptible to oxacillin, gentamicin, clindamycin, cefoxitin, tetracycline, vancomycin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ciprofloxacin and sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim. The percent proportions of strains resistant to penicillin G, ampicillin and erythromycin were 27.2% (n = 30), 25.4% (n = 28) and 6.3% (n = 7), respectively. Regarding the antibiotic resistance genes, 32 (29%) isolates carried the blaZ and 8 (7.2%) the ermC gene. Other resistance genes were not detected in the isolates. All isolates showed biofilm-forming ability on Congo red agar (CRA), while 108 (98.18%) and 101 (91.81%) of them were identified as biofilm producers by the use of standard tube (ST) and microplate (MP) methods, respectively. All isolates carried the icaA and icaD genes but none of them harboured the bap gene. The results demonstrated that S. aureus isolates from gangrenous mastitis were mainly resistant to penicillins (which are susceptible to the staphylococcal beta-lactamase enzyme), and less frequently to erythromycin. Furthermore, all of the S. aureus isolates produced biofilm which was considered a potential virulence factor in the pathogenesis of staphylococcal mastitis.