This study was carried out to examine some of the biological activities and physicochemical properties of the Cupressus sempervirens L. essential oil (EO). C. sempervirens L. EO was isolated by hydrodistillation. GC-MS was used to identify the compounds of the EO. The results revealed that the major compounds identified in the EO showed a predominance of α-pinene (42 %), followed by δ-3-carene (21.26 %) and limonene (5.96 %). The antioxidant activities of the EO were measured with DPPH tests and β-carotene bleaching. Four bacterial strains, i.e., Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus faecalis, were used to assess the antibacterial properties. The C. sempervirens L. EO had remarkable antibacterial activity against S. aureus, E. faecalis and E. coli. It had a contact toxic effect on and manifested a repellent activity against adults of Sitophilus granarius. The latter were optimized at a dose of 0.16 μl/cm².

This study investigated the production of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibers containing cypress (CUP) essential oil (EO) via electrospinning. The nanofibers were produced from polymer solution prepared with different percentages of cypress EO. Cypress EO-containing PLA nanofibers were characterized and some mechanical and thermal properties were examined using thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and dynamic mechanical analysis. The thermal stability of the nanofibers was reduced depending on the percentage of the cypress EO. As the ratio of the cypress EO to polymer matrices was increased, it was observed that the glassy transition temperatures of the nanofibers decreased and their flexibility increased. The T _g value was determined to be 53.74°C for the neat PLA nanofiber, while 51.83°C for the PLA-CUP nanofiber (containing 15% cypress EO). According to the results of releasing trial, the increased amount of cypress EO resulted in less cypress EO releasing from polymer matrices. The nanofibers were observed to exhibit antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The inhibition zone diameter of the nanofibers containing 10% cypress EO was 20 mm for S. aureus and 16 mm for E. coli, while 10 mm in the presence of Kanamycin.

Monitoring biological growth of field crops is important for planning and timing agricultural practices. In order to assess biological growth pattern of dry matter accumulation in triticale Egeyildizi triticale variety were grown in ?anakkale conditions in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 growing seasons with continuous plant samplings from seedling emergence until seed maturation. Gompertz, Logistic, Logistic Power and Richards growth models are fitted to actual growth data and their predictions were compared. Results suggested that all sigmoidal growth models successfully explained triticale dry matter accumulation over 98 % R2 values and low mean square errors, Richards model fitted best for both years with an R2 value over 99 %. Dry matter accumulation were also investigated as a result of average temperature, precipitation, growth degree days and cumulative growth degree days with stepwise regression. Rresults indicated that average weather temperature had a similar pattern across both growing seasons and had a major influence on dry matter accumulation. Since Richards sigmoidal growth model may be adequately described growth pattern of triticale by generally high R2 with lower Mean Square Error (MSE) values.

There is no clear consensus regarding the advantages of bed planting with furrow irrigation over conventionally irrigated cropping. This 3-year study from Southeastern Turkey aimed to assess the limits to some input savings in bed planting-furrow irrigation in terms of yields and profitability of durum wheat. Field trials were carried out using a randomized complete block design with six treatments and tree replications: T1: Conventional Planting-Flood Irrigation (CP-FI) with recommended practices for seed rate, chemical fertilizers and chemical weed control; T2: Bed Planting and Furrow Irrigation (BP-FI) with recommended input rates as in T2; T3: BP-FI with 10% input reduction; T4: BP-FI with 20% input reduction; T5: BP-FI with 30% input reduction; T6: BP-FI with 40% input reduction. The trial had four replications at each location over three cropping seasons, i.e., Akçakale (2004-05, 2005-06) and Koruklu (2006-2007). Individual and combined analysis of variance were performed for grain yields, market prices based on quality assessment, protein content and both 1000-kernel and hectoliter weights. Profitability was assessed with partial budget analysis. Except for yields, there was little effect of treatments on the other variables. Based on yields and economic analysis, the conventional system with flood irrigation was superior to the bed and furrow system, even when the inputs were reduced in such a system. The work demonstrates the site-specific nature of any new technology as there are several local biological and economical factors to be considered.