Life Sciences Commons^™

Lignin Recovery From Hazelnut Shells, Özcan Gezen, Aleyna Fi̇li̇zfi̇danoğlu, Çağlar Özgener, İrem Deni̇z

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The main goal of this work was to study alkaline pretreatment of hazelnut shells (HSs) by utilization of NaOH and Ca(OH)2 with or without glycerol. The highest lignin recovery was obtained for NaOH-glycerol-pretreated HSs. This research also determined the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis where xylanase and cellulase were added to the pretreated residue. The highest amount of lignin of 63.2% was achieved when NaOH was used with glycerol in the pretreatment process. These findings revealed that the NaOH-catalyzed glycerol pretreatment applied in this study has great capability to be used in industrial applications.

Bioaccessibility Of Blackthorn (Prunus Spinosa) Beverage Polyphenols: Effect Of Sugar Andcitric Acid Addition, Gülay Özkan

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The purpose of the current study was to produce a blackthorn-based beverage with improved nutritional value. In this regard, several beverages were formulated using sugar and citric acid. Then, the effects of the different food constituents on the in vitro recovery and antioxidant capacity of the bioactive substances in the formulations were determined. Based on the results, the addition of citric acid or sugar increased the phenolic extractability (297.0 and 299.2 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g in blackthorn + citric acid (BC) and blackthorn + sugar (BS), respectively) and antioxidant capacity (750.8 and 821.8 mg trolox equivalent (TE)/100 g …

Tree Rings Of Quercus Ilex L. And Their Relationships With Some Wood Anatomical Featuresand Growing Site Conditions In Türkiye, Ünal Akkemi̇k, Hati̇ce Yilmaz, Orhan Sevgi̇, Hakan Çeli̇k, Osman Yalçin Yilmaz, Ece Sevgi̇, Sena Genç, Ferdi̇ Akarsu, Özgür Hüseyi̇n Doğan

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Quercus ilex (Holm oak) presents itself as trees up to 14–15 m tall in suitable growing site conditions and as shrubs in unsuitable areas. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between tree-ring widths of Q. ilex and vessel features, tree diameters, climate, and site conditions throughout Türkiye. A total of 1020 cores from 510 trees were collected from 102 sampled sites throughout Türkiye. After using standard dendroclimatology methods, all tree-ring analyses were performed on these chronologies. As a result, tree-ring boundaries were found to be less visible in Türkiye, like in other Mediterranean areas. Mean sensitivity …

Effects Of The Disc And Tilt Angle Of A Single Disc-Type Furrow Opener Of A No-Till Seeder Onresidue Distribution And The Furrow Profile, Mehmet Zahi̇d Malasli, Ahmet Çeli̇k

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The disc angles, vertical loads, soil type, and residue conditions have a significant effect on the performance of a single disc-type no-till seeder furrow opener. Disc angles are divided into two as the disc and tilt angle, and they play an important role on parameters such as the furrow profile, residue distribution, the cross-sectional area of furrow and spoiled soil area on the furrow edges. In this research, which was conducted with a soil bin, 5 disc angles (0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, and 20°), 5 tilt angles (0°, 2.5°, 5°, 7.5°, and 10°), 3 vertical loads (50, 100, and 150 …

Exploring The Potential Of Osmotic Dehydration With Honey To Develop Value-Addedfood From Watermelon (Citrullus Lanatus) Rind, Jaspreet Kaur, Dilpreet Singh Brar, Vikas Nanda

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

This study demonstrates the viability of sustainably utilizing watermelon rind, a byproduct, by developing intermediate moisture food (IMF) through osmotic dehydration with honey as a sugar substitute. Response surface methodology and an artificial neural network were employed to optimize the process, and enhanced solid gain and water loss were achieved. The findings revealed that temperature exerted the most significant influence, followed by the solution-to-rind ratio, immersion time, and osmotic solution concentration, impacting water loss and solid gain in the IMF product. The optimized parameters for maximum water loss and solute gain were a temperature range of 330.15–331.15 K, immersion time …

Deciding Sowing-Window For Maize-Based Cropping System In Arid And Semiaridenvironments In Punjab, Pakistan, Mukhtar Ahmed, Atique Rehman, Naeem Sarwar, Hülya Doğan, Ghulam Abbas, Muhammad Azam Khan, Mustafa Kan, Muhammad Ali Raza, Sajjad Hussain, Shakeel Ahmad, Zartash Fatima

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Crop growth models can be valuable tools for researchers, academia, extension educators, and policy makers/planners for the evaluation of sustainable and long-term husbandry practices. Determining the optimum sowing window, which can be determined using crop growth models, is imperative under changing climate conditions. Thus, the main objectives herein were to 1) assess the performance of the cropping system model-crop environment resource synthesis-maize model for hybrids and sowing dates in the spring and autumn, and 2) determine the optimum sowing window in 15 districts of Punjab, Pakistan. In the spring experiment, 3 hybrids (P-33M15, M-DK6525, and S-NK8441) were planted in the …

Genetic Diversity And Population Structure Analysis Of Grapevine Germplasm Of Theaegean Region (Türkiye) By Ssr Markers, Canan Yüksel Özmen, Funda Baydu, Nahi̇d Hazrati̇, Tamer Uysal, Ahmet Semi̇h Yaşasin, Cengi̇z Özer, Burcu Peli̇n Büyük, Yilmaz Boz, Bariş Özünlü, Ali̇ Ergül

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The Aegean region makes a prominent contribution to Turkish viticulture. The region, which includes important grape culture centers such as Manisa, Denizli, and İzmir, has extremely favorable conditions for the cultivation of seedless grapes as well as table and wine grape varieties. In this region, which possesses rich grapevine genetic diversity together with its area and production potential, it is seen that there is variety confusion caused by different nomenclature and intravariety variations. In addition, some old grape varieties that are not used in cultivation are at risk of disappearing. In order to address these problems, the viticulture potentials of …

Cereal–Vegetable Intercropping: Hindrances And Strategies To Increase Intercropping, Iqra Zaki̇r, Ahmad Abdul Wahab, Tahira Abbas, Sakeena Tul-Ain Haider, Sobia Irum, Samreen Sabir, Sajjad Hussain, Shakeel Ahmad

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Climate change is the major factor that affects crop yield and productivity in the long term. The changing climate scenario is now impacting farmers’ lands and their outcomes in both developed and developing countries. The intercropping of crop species or varieties that have high arable capability is a promising technique for increasing crop production without increasing agricultural inputs. In intercropping, the selection of varieties, optimum sowing time, method of plant arrangement, and sowing proportion are required to make the design suitable for an intercropping system. Intercropping is one of the most highlighted agronomic practices helping to improve soil health (structure, …

Determination Of Genetic Diversity Among Some Naturally Growing Arbutus Andrachne L.Genotypes In Türkiye Using Morphological, Biochemical, And Molecular Markers, Ni̇lda Ersoy, Ramazan Süleyman Göktürk, Emi̇ne Orhan, Mustafa Erkan, İbrahi̇m Baktir, Hali̇l İbrahi̇m Sağbaş

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The strawberry tree (Arbutus andrachne L.) is a wild edible fruit that grows naturally in the Mediterranean climate zone, including Türkiye. In this study, the genetic morphological, biochemical, and genetic diversity of 10 superior strawberry tree genotypes growing naturally in Antalya Province in Türkiye were investigated. Morphological and biochemical characterization were performed based on some important fruit characteristics. In addition, genetic variation was detected at the molecular level using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The genotypes exhibited fruit weight, width, length, and shape index values of 1.22–2.12 g, 12.07–15.28 mm, 10.15–14.24 mm, and 0.99–2.22, respectively. The biochemical parameters soluble solid …

Molecular Characterization Of The Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4e Isoform,Eif(Iso)4e, In Traditional Cultivars Of Prunus Domestica, Attila Hegedus, Geronima Pamulaklakin Eusebio, Beti Ivanovska, Júlia Halász

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

A plum pox virus (PPV) susceptible traditional cultivar (Besztercei Bt.2) and a clone of a PPV resistant autochthonous landrace, Nemtudom (Nábrád) of the hexaploid European plum (Prunus domestica) were used to identify and characterize an isoform of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor, eIF(iso)4E, a host susceptibility factor required for PPV infection in plum. The cDNA and intron sequences of the eIF(iso)4E gene and the modeled 3D structure of the encoded proteins revealed sequence alterations that are not expected to critically influence the structure and function of the protein. The introns shared the canonical GT–AG splice sites, although they showed base …

Heat-Stress-Induced Changes In Enzymatic Antioxidant Activities And Biochemicalprocesses In Bell Pepper (Capsicum Annuum L.) Seedlings, Adewale Suraj Bello, Talaat Ahmed, Imen Saadaoui, Radhouane Ben-Hamadou, Helmi Hamdi

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Heat stress (HS) is expected to become a significant abiotic stressor with the continued rise in global temperatures, severely limiting the development and production of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), especially in arid and semiarid regions. Thus, this study looked into the impact of HS on the antioxidant activity, as well as the biochemical responses of bell pepper seedlings under varying temperatures (40, 32, and 25 °C) for 5 days. The results showed that exposure to higher temperatures led to an increase in enzymatic and antioxidant processes. At 40 and 32 °C, HS led to a decrease in chlorophyll a …

Valorisation Of Mango Peel And Seed Wastes In A Biologically Enriched Biscuit Assortment, Andreea Puscas, Anda Elena Tanislav, Romina Alina Marc, Vlad Muresan, Andruta Muresan

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Mango is a fruit consumed worldwide, but generates wastes, which have potential to be valorised, because they possess compounds with demonstrated positive implications for the consumer’s health. For this reason, in the present study, biscuits with mango pulp and powders developed from its wastes were developed. The chemical composition was determined for the mango peel, pulp, and seed according to AOAC procedures, but also for the mango biscuit and a reference. The total phenolic content (TPC) was assessed with the Folin–Ciocâlteu method, while the antioxidant potential was tested using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Titratable acidity and alkalinity were also determined. …

Development Of Genomic Resources And Group Specific Markers For Evaluation Of Genetic Diversity Of Pathogenic Rhizoctonia Species, Juanita Gil Bedoya

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rhizoctonia is a complex genus in the phylum Basidiomycota comprised of several taxa distributed across different families in the order Cantharellales. Many species in the genus have been identified as plant pathogens, saprobes, or beneficial mycorrhizal symbionts of orchids. Rhizoctonia isolates are divided into binucleate and multinucleate and then classified into anastomosis groups (AGs) based on the ability of compatible hyphae to fuse. Binucleate Rhizoctonia species (Ceratobasidium spp.) are classified into 21 AGs identified with letters (AG-A to AG-U). Multinucleate Rhizoctonia species (Thanatephorus spp.) are identified with numbers and classified into 14 anastomosis groups (AG-1 to AG-13, and bridging group …

Assessing The Evaporation Method For Soil-Water Retention Curve Development And Comparison Of Soil-Water Characteristics Across Different Tillage Practices In A Furrow-Irrigated Corn (Zea Mays L.) System, Jeferson Prass Pimentel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The thesis comprises three studies. The first study in this thesis (Chapter I) focused on a six-year corn field experiment to assess the influence of conservation agricultural practices on soil properties and their long-term effects on water-use efficiency and yield. Non-tillage management did not significantly reduce soil bulk density compared to conventional tillage, as no differences were observed between non-tillage and tillage systems throughout the 6-year experiment. There was no difference in total water-use efficiency among soil management practices in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Even though in one year of the study, a significant 24 kg ha-1 mm-1 improvement …

Cellular Control Of Proteostasis, Cytoskeleton Organization, And Polarity Remodeling During Infection-Related Development By The Rice Blast Fungus, Audra Rogers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the intricate processes underlying fungal infection-related development is crucial for combating plant pathogens. In this study, we investigate the coordination of morphogenetic transitions during plant infection by Magnaporthe oryzae, the blast fungus. We focus on three key aspects: protein quality control, cytoplasmic microtubule organization, and cell-end marker proteins. M. oryzae forms a specialized infection cell known as an appressorium. The proper formation of this cell is crucial for the pathogen to infect a susceptible host. First, we investigate protein quality control mechanisms during infection-related development. Our findings demonstrate that aggregated proteins are sequestered into quality control compartments within conidia …

Environmental And Agronomic Evaluation Of Struvite In Rice Production Systems, Diego Della Lunga

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Furrow-irrigation constitutes an alternative water regime that has been increasingly adopted in Arkansas. Among the management of nutrients in furrow-irrigated systems, phosphorus (P) represents a substantial challenge. The environmental sustainability of rice (Oryza sativa) production systems needs to be evaluated across different water regimes and fertilizer-P sources. Therefore, the objectives of the following studies were to: i) evaluate season-long carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions and global warming potential (GWP) under different tillage treatments [i.e., conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT)] and at different site positions (i.e., up-, mid-, down-slope) along the predominant slope of a production-scale, furrow-irrigated rice …

Evaluation Of Water Hardness And Ph On Soybean And Cotton Insecticide Efficacy, Taylor Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Insecticide efficacy often varies by location and year. Many factors can influence an insecticide’s efficacy, but an often-overlooked factor is the quality of water in a carrier solution. Water quality includes many parameters, but two important ones are water hardness and pH. Research has shown that water hardness and pH can affect some pesticides. Multiple experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of water hardness and pH on insecticide efficacy. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of water hardness and pH on the efficacy and residual control of chlorantraniliprole for the control of corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie). Leaf …

The Influence Of Rusty Crayfish And Zebra Mussel Invasion On Yellow Perch Population Dynamics In North-Central Minnesota Lakes, Kendra Fink

Biology Graduate Theses

Over the last 50 years, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources standard fisheries survey catch rates of Yellow Perch have declined. Yellow Perch Perca flavescens are an important, widespread game fish, are essential prey species for Walleye Sander vitreus and other piscivorous fish and rely greatly on benthic resources through many life stages. Aquatic invasive species (AIS) like rusty crayfish Faxonius rusticus and zebra mussels Dreissena polymorpha have the potential to change water quality, vegetation and prey assemblages in aquatic systems and could cause shifts in energy flow, subsequently altering growth, condition, and maturity of native fish species. In this study, …

Social Media Impacts On Arkansas Consumer Perceptions Of Gmos, Elizabeth R. Berner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study builds upon previous consumer perceptions of GMOs studies. A need existed to determine what, if any, effects social media messages about GMOs had on consumer perceptions in Arkansas. The study utilized a qualitative approach with three focus groups. Data were analyzed using descriptive code. Participants were found to have a general understanding of GMOs, though discussion about what a GMO product was took an uncertain tone. Most participants did not consider GMOs as a factor when purchasing products. Rather participants considered characteristics such as price, quality, and convenience. Participants did not believe the infographics had changed their opinions …

Developing Recommendations For Broad Mite, Polyphagotarsonemus Latus Banks, In Blackberry, Rubus Subgenus Rubus, Jared Bradley Linn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Broad mite, (Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks) (Acari: Tarsonemidae), is an economically important pest of blackberry production across the world. Since it was first reported on primocane-fruiting blackberries in 2010, little work has gone into developing IPM tools and understanding impact on floricane-fruiting cultivars. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of broad mite feeding on floricane-fruiting cultivars of blackberry, develop an efficient and accurate field scouting strategy, and investigate the impact of cultivar and trellising technique on the development of broad mite populations. Experiments consisted of evaluating floricane fruiting cultivars by quantifying broad mite populations and cataloging their …

Extraction Of Transcriptional Regulators For The Polyhydroxyalkanoate Depolymerase Gene From Streptomyces Nymphaeiformis, Kara B. Eppard, Stephen F. Baron

Honors Projects

Plastic waste has become an increasingly prevalent environmental pollutant. This problem is exacerbated by the inability of plastic to degrade under most natural conditions. In contrast, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biologically produced, plastic-like polymers that can be broken down and metabolized by bacteria. The bacterium Streptomyces nymphaeiformis can degrade the PHA, polyhydroxybutrate (PHB), using an extracellular PHB depolymerase, which is encoded by the phaZ gene. PHB depolymerase is synthesized only in the presence of PHB or its monomer, but not glucose, suggesting that transcription of phaZ is regulated, presumably by transcriptional regulatory proteins that bind to its promoter region. The DNA …

Growing Agriculture Literacy’S Presence In America’S Classrooms, Emily Stone

Journal of Food Law & Policy

“Americans, as a whole, were at least two generations removed from the farm and did not understand even the most rudimentary of processes, challenges, and risks that farmers and the agricultural industry worked with and met head-on every day.” This quote perfectly describes the mindset of agriculture stakeholders in 1981 as they began to realize the drastic steps our education system had taken away from using principles of agriculture in K-12 education. As they saw it, Americans were moving out of rural America, away from farms, and becoming less connected to the food they daily consumed. Simultaneously, the education system …

The Contradictory Nature Of U.S. Laws And Nutrition Programs And Their Effects On Infant Feeding, Lily Patel

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The contradictory nature of U.S. laws, including the laws concerning infant feeding, though supposedly aligned with policies to promote wellness in Americans, can exacerbate gender and race inequality and work against the National Strategy. The overarching goal of U.S. laws concerning infant feeding is to ensure that infants are fed, nourished, and receive proper nutrition. However, the laws often appear to be directly contradictory to one another in the priorities they are promoting.

Mechanical Properties Of Natural Osmia Lignaria Silk And Recombinant Expression Of The Silk Proteins, Jackson Morley

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The use of petroleum-based plastic and the subsequent waste has led researchers to explore alternatives in the form of biopolymers. Spider silk and hagfish intermediate filaments show the potential to be advantageously utilized in textile and biomedical industries. Bee silk is a sparsely studied biopolymer that has shown potential to be added to these other impressive biopolymers. Osmia lignaria, is a solitary bee native to the western United States. Silk from these bees can be isolated while the larvae are spinning their silk. The silk from these bees has been mechanically tested for strength, stress, strain, and elasticity. Cocoon …

The Impact Of Environmental Pollutants On Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease Pathogenesis., Tyler Charles Gripshover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Steatotic liver disease is brought upon by differing etiologies and its global prevalence is expected to keep increasing over the next several decades. Particularly, alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) manifests from excessive alcohol consumption where the liver retains lipids and progresses with metabolic dysfunction. Previous studies have demonstrated that environmental pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) promote metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), in diet-induced obesity models. However, it is unknown if environmental pollutants may also promote ALD pathogenesis. Thus, this dissertation focuses on characterizing the effects of PCB126 in a rodent ALD model followed by multiple ‘Omics approaches to identify mechanisms …

Molecularly Defined And Spatially Resolved Cell Atlas Of The Whole Mouse Brain, Meng Zhang, Xingjie Pan, Won Jung, Aaron R Halpern, Stephen W Eichhorn, Zhiyun Lei, Limor Cohen, Kimberly A Smith, Bosiljka Tasic, Zizhen Yao, Hongkui Zeng, Xiaowei Zhuang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In mammalian brains, millions to billions of cells form complex interaction networks to enable a wide range of functions. The enormous diversity and intricate organization of cells have impeded our understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of brain function. Recent advances in spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomics have enabled systematic mapping of the spatial organization of molecularly defined cell types in complex tissues1-3, including several brain regions (for example, refs. 1-11). However, a comprehensive cell atlas of the whole brain is still missing. Here we imaged a panel of more than 1,100 genes in approximately 10 million cells across the …

Gru-D-Weibull: A Novel Real-Time Individualized Endpoint Prediction, Xiaoyang Ruan, Liwei Wang, Charat Thongprayoon, Wisit Cheungpasitporn, Hongfang Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: In the era of healthcare digital transformation, using electronic health record (EHR) data to generate various endpoint estimates for active monitoring is highly desirable in chronic disease management. However, traditional predictive modeling strategies leveraging well-curated data sets can have limited real-world implementation potential due to various data quality issues in EHR data.

Methods: We propose a novel predictive modeling approach, GRU-D-Weibull, which models Weibull distribution leveraging gated recurrent units with decay (GRU-D), for real-time individualized endpoint prediction and population level risk management using EHR data.

Experiments: We systematically evaluated the performance and showcased the real-world implementability of the proposed …

Selecting Patient-Reported Outcome Measures For A Patient-Facing Technology, Priyank Raj, Youmin Cho, Yun Jiang, Yang Gong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: This article provides insight into our process and considerations for selecting patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) designed for self-reporting symptoms and quality-of-life among breast cancer (BCA) patients undergoing oral anticancer agent treatment via a patient-facing technology (PFT) platform.

METHODS: Following established guidelines, we conducted a thorough assessment of a specific set of PROMs, comparing their content to identify the most suitable options for studying BCA patients.

RESULTS: We recommend utilizing the combination of EORTC QLQ-C30 + EORTC QLQ-BR45 as the preferred instrument, especially when developing a dedicated "breast cancer-only" application.

DISCUSSION: When developing and maintaining a dashboard for a PFT …

Virtual Reality In Simulation-Based Emergency Skills Training: A Systematic Review With A Narrative Synthesis, Jonathan R Abbas, Michael M H Chu, Ceyon Jeyarajah, Rachel Isba, Antony Payton, Brendan Mcgrath, Neil Tolley, Iain Bruce

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: An important role is predicted for virtual reality (VR) in the future of medical education. We performed a systematic review of the literature with a narrative synthesis, to examine the current evidence for VR in simulation-based emergency skills training. We broadly define emergency skills as any clinical skill used in the emergency care of patients across all clinical settings.

METHODS: This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The data sources accessed during this study included: PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, AMED, EMCARE, HMIC, BNI, PsychINFO, Medline, CENTRAL, SCOPUS, Web of Science, BIOSIS …

The Influence Of Watershed Restoration Initiative Habitat Treatments On Mule Deer Relative Use And Fawn Production In Utah, Jaylin Solberg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Multiple factors could be the cause of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) population decline across the West such as an increase in non-native vegetation, human expansion, climate change, or a combination of these. Populations of mule deer generate substantial revenue for local communities and hold ecological, cultural, and social value. Therefore, wildlife researchers are increasing their efforts in improving environmental conditions that support mule deer growth. The Utah Department of Natural Resources and partners have taken proactive measures through the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) to improve mule deer habitats by restoring these environments to improve their quality for …