Öner Canavar

Investigation of yield and yield components of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivars in the ecological conditions of Berlin (Germany)

) SUMMARY Sunflower is an important oilseed crop because of its wide adaptability, suitability to mechanization, low labor needs and high protein and oil contents. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between growing degree days and yield and yield components in different sunflower hybrids and to identify environmental factors and crop characteristics that affect grain yield in sunflower without irrigation in Berlin environmental conditions. The study was conducted in the experiment fields at the Crop Science Department of the Agriculture and Horticulture Faculty of Humboldt University during 2010. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design, with four blocks of plots of eight Turkish cultivars (Sanbro, Tarsan, DKF-2525, TR-3080, EDR- 08-01, EDR-08-02, EDR-08-03, EDR-08-04) and two German cultivars (Pegasol, NK Delfi). It was determined that the differences among all the sunflower cultivars were statistically significant for plant height, stem diameter, head diameter, 1000 seed weight, dry matter, harvest index, seed yield per plant, seed yield, leaf number, GDD (Growing Degree Daysand sun radiation. The highest mean stem diameter, harvest index and 1000 seed weight were obtained from Pegasol. NK-Delfi had the highest mean head diameter and consequently the highest seed yield (3,876.6 kg ha-1), followed by DKF-2525 and Sanbro (3,498.7 and 3412.9 kg ha-1, respectively). The sunflower cultivars required between 127 and 137 days, 2,263.57°C GDD and 927.54 h sunshine radiation from planting to maturity, as the mean of all the cultivars. Generally, the seed yields of the Turkish candidate genotypes were lower than those of the other sunflower cultivars. The seed yield of these genotypes can be improved with another agriculture method. The rainfall and cold weather in May slowed the growth of sunflower and also the rainfall and cold weather in August delayed maturity. The dry and hot weather in June and July created stress on plants. In terms of seed yield, NK-Delfi, DKF-2525, Sanbro, and Pegasol proved to be suitable sunflower cultivars to be grown in Berlin.

COMPARISON AND DETERMINATION OF THE LEAF TEMPERATURE OF SUNFLOWER AND SAFFLOWER UNDER DROUGHT STRESS

SUMMARY Four sunflower (Tarsan, Sanbro, TR-3080 and DKF-2525) and four safflower (Remzibey, Dincer, Balci and TRE-ASL09/14) genotypes were tested in a greenhouse, sheltered from rain, under well-watered (60% FC) and drought stress (30% FC) irrigation field capacity to determine the effect of drought stress on the leaf temperature and compare the reaction responses against drought stress in terms of leaf temperature between sunflower and safflower. The effect was particularly apparent under conditions of drought stress indicating that all sunflower and safflower genotype responses gradually increase their leaf temperature under drought stress. The results of the study showed that leaf temperature of sunflower and safflower was lower than ambient temperature in both conditions. But the leaf temperature of sunflower and safflower were closer to ambient temperature under drought stress than under well-watered conditions, probably because of decreased transpiration cooling. It can also be exposed in this study that even though the leaf temperatures of safflower were generally higher than the leaf temperature of sunflower under drought stress, in general the safflower leaf temperatures in ambient conditions were higher than those of sunflower. It was found that statistical differences of the leaf and stem temperature measured by an infrared thermometer provide practically a rapid means of assessing plant water status and observe the performance of plant response to the effect of drought stress. Especially, the results revealed that the leaf temperatures of sunflower and safflower genotypes could be altered by not only drought stress but also the changing of ambient temperature and genetically property of them during the day. Therefore, to measuring of leaf temperatures should be done very carefully and should be measured on more leaves.

The influence of storage time on fatty acid, tocopherol and seed quality of peanut

The seed size and storage time of peanuts is important, not only for marketing, but for storage and the production of by-products like peanut butter, as well as its use as a source of cooking oil used in confectionary products for human consumption. The purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of storage time and seed size grade on the quality of peanut seed in 2008 and 2009. Storage time had a negative effect on seed quality parameters such as oil content and its lipid components like fatty acids, α-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol. Each different seed size also had a significant impact on all fatty acids, oil content, and the proteins of the seed in both years with the exception of palmitoleic acid and arachidic acid. The results of this study indicated that there was a negative relationship between oleic acid and linoleic acid. Oil stability in grade-2 and grade-3 seed size was significantly decreased with extended storage time. Generally, both the α-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol values of each grad...