Nazim Sekeroglu

Antimicrobial activity and agricultural properties of bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) grown in northern parts of Turkey: a case study for adaptation

This study was designed to determine the adaptation capability of bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.), which is widely grown in tropical and subtropical climates, in northern parts of Turkey. In this study, plant height, number of fruits, fruit length, fruit width, number of seeds and fruit weight of bitter melon grown in field conditions were determined. The antimicrobial effect of the ethanol extract of fruit and seeds against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans microorganisms was tested in vitro by the disc diffusion method. In conclusion, plant height (260 cm), number of fruits (16 per plant), number of seeds (30.2 per fruit), fruit width (3.8 cm), fruit length (10.6 cm) and fruit weight (117.28 g fruit− 1) were determined; fruits were found to have antimicrobial activity against A. niger; oil and seeds were found to have antimicrobial activity against A. niger and E. coli.

Composition of Volatiles from Three Iris Species of Turkey

Abstract The genus Iris is known to contain gorgeous flowers with a violet-like scent. Iris is represented in the Turkish flora by 37 species. Nonetheless, no study has been so far performed on the volatile constituents of the Turkish Iris species. In this study, our objective was to determine compositions of volatiles of the individual plant parts, including flowers, rhizomes, and stems of three Turkish Iris species, namely: I. pseudacorus L. collected from two different localities (Beyşehir and Trabzon), I. kerneriana Asch. & Sint. ex Baker, as well as I. sofarana Foster (cultivated) by microdistillation. The volatile compounds of these species were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) systems, simultaneously. The main components were characterized as follows: I. pseudacorus flowers: hexadecanoic acid (30.3%), heptacosane (13.6%), 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one (11%); I. pseudacorus rhizomes: nonacosane (37.3%), triacontane (9.0%), octacosane (7.9%), pentacosane (7.7%); I. kerneriana flowers: α-kessyl acetate (14.7%), longipinene (10.8%), decanoic acid (10.6%), heptacosane (10.2%), hexadecanoic acid (9.5%), 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one (7.1%); I. kerneriana rhizomes: tetradecanoic acid (31.5%), heptacosane (10.0%), α-kessyl acetate (9.5%), nonacosane (8.8%), 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one (7.7%); I. kerneriana stems: nonacosane (18.3%), heptacosane (16.7%), pentacosane (10.3%), tricosane (6.0%); I. pseudoacarus rhizomes: nonacosane (26.2%), α-Kessyl acetate (14.7%), triacontane (7.3%), octacosane (7.4%); I. pseudacorus stems: octyl acetate (32.0%), nonacosane (14.4%), octyl butyrate (9.5%); I. sofarana rhizomes: decanoic acid (11.7%), α-pinene (8.4%), ethyl oleate (7.6%), irone (5.7%)

Variations in fatty acid compositions of the seed oil of Eruca sativa Mill. caused by different sowing periods and nitrogen forms

Background: Eruca is a native plant genus of the South Europe and central Asia where it has been cultivated since centuries. As the genus name implies, the oil is high in erucic acid. Materials and Methods: In this study, our aim was to investigate the effect of sowing periods (autumn and spring) and three forms of the nitrogen-containing fertilizers (manure, calcium nitrate [Ca(NO3)2, 15.5% N], and ammonium sulphate [(NH4)2SO4, 21% N]) on fatty acid compositions of the oils obtained from Eruca sativa Mill. seeds cultivated. All oils were obtained by maceration of the seeds with n-hexane at room temperature and converted to their methyl ester derivatives by trans-methylesterification reaction using boron-trifluorur (BF3). The fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) in the oils were detected by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results: All the samples analyzed were found to contain quite high amounts of erucic acid ranging between 46.64-54.79%, followed by oleic (17.86-19.95%), palmitic (7.25-10.97%), linoleic (4.23-9.72%), and linolenic (1.98-3.01%) acids. Conclusion: Our data pointed out that there is a statistically important alteration caused by these applications on the contents of only C12:0 and C14:0 found as the minor fatty acids, whereas no other fatty acids in the samples seemed to be affected by those criteria.