Prof. Dr. Mahmut Kaplan is a Professor in the Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Erciyes University, Türkiye. He completed his undergraduate, master's, and doctoral studies in Field Crops at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University. He subsequently completed a one-year postdoctoral research appointment at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA, and conducted research as a visiting scholar at Clemson University, USA. His research focuses on forage crops, plant genetic resources, genetic diversity, crop breeding, abiotic stress tolerance, and the nutritional and chemical quality of food and feed crops. He is particularly interested in the characterization and utilization of local germplasm, drought adaptation, sustainable forage production, bioactive compounds, and molecular approaches to crop improvement. He serves on the board of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers of Türkiye (ZMO) and received the ZMO Science Award in 2026.