Exploring different organic manures in the production of quality basil seedlings.

In recent years, the demand of people for medicinal and aromatic plants has dramatically increased. For this reason, a large number of researches are being conducted to make these plants more quality. In this sense, this study explored the effects of domestic peat, bat guano, chicken and sheep manures, and vermicompost on the growth, quality traits, and nutrient contents of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.). For this purpose, an experiment in greenhouse conditions was arranged in a completely randomized design with four replications. The treatments included control (100% Peat/Perlite) and three doses (2%, 4%, 6%) for each of four organic manures. In total, there were 13 treatments. The study showed that there were significant differences among treatments for aesthetic appearance score, height, and fresh and dry weights of plants with the exception of crown width. Control and "94% Peat/Perlite + 6% Bat guano" had the lowest and highest values of all growth and quality traits. Overall, it concluded that "94% Peat/Perlite + 6% Bat guano" should be used in planting basil. Further studies including different organic manures and their combinations are required to obtain better growth and quality traits as well as physiological traits of basil.

Identifying of Quercus vulcanica and Q. frainetto growing in different environments through deep learning analysis.

Quercus is one of the important elements of forests worldwide. But the diagnosis of the species in this genus in particular using leaves is pretty challenging due to the presence of natural hybrids and phenotypically plastic trait expression. In this sense, this study aims to classify the leaves of Q. vulcanica and Q. frainetto using convolutional neural networks, VGG16 and VGG19, and Xception deep learning architectures to determine which method has the best performance in species assignment. For this purpose, leaf samples were collected from a total of 300 trees of 6 natural populations using a total of 1459 leaf images, 491 from Q. frainetto and 968 from Q. vulcanica. Before exporting images to the deep learning model, RGB/gray filters are applied and images are optimized with contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization to achieve maximum performance in the deep learning model. Accuracy rates of deep learning architectures varied from 79% (Xception) to 95% (VGG16). The VGG16 deep learning model provided superior performance compared to the others. Developing a mobile device using images from natural populations of many oak species will be beneficial not only for practitioners but also for scientists and local people.

Variability in morphological traits of seedlings from five Euonymus japonicus cultivars.

In this study, we investigated the variability in morphological traits of seedlings from five Euonymus japonicus cultivars. We measured seedling heights, root collar diameters, leaf lengths and widths, root lengths, root numbers, and twig numbers of 60 seedlings from each cultivar. The E. japonicus cultivars Variegate and Green Rocket had the highest (95.8%) and lowest (70.3%) rooting percentages, respectively. With the exception of root lengths (p > 0.05), all morphological characteristics significantly differed among all cultivars (p < 0.05). In particular, the cultivar Green Rocket performed better than all other cultivars, with greater seedling heights and root collar diameters. These data warrant further studies for quantifying differences in traits among these cultivars.

Identifying and assessing environmental awareness of hotel and restaurant employees' attitudes in the Amasra District of Bartin.

Environmental damage occurring on individual, institutional, and societal levels is one of the major problems in the world and results from mostly unconscious human behavior. This damage poses serious threats to human health and other habitats. The aim of this study is to determine the level of environmental awareness of hotel and restaurant employees in the Amasra District of Bartin, Turkey. For this purpose, a descriptive survey method is used to measure 16 items with a 5-point Likert scale. Data are obtained from 200 employees in the hotels and restaurants as of 2015. The reliability coefficient is found to be 0.74. This data reveals that only 43% of hotels and 72% of restaurants in Amasra have recycling bins. Males and Bachelor's degree holders have more environmental awareness. Enterprises established after 2011 follow popular journals related to environment more than those before 2011. As a result, it is essential to organize educational meetings and seminars related to environmental awareness for hotel and restaurant employees in order to improve the tourism industry's environmental impact. The results show that the legislation has resulted in general environmental awareness and that the organizations are willing to change their business processes and environmental strategies. Nevertheless, despite their actions, there is little awareness of the benefits that can result from cost reductions resulting from environmentally friendly practices. Those affected by their suppliers act to reduce waste but do not deploy formal environmental management systems or use environmental messages to market their goods or services.

Effects of fruit collection date on Phillyrea latifolia L. seed germination.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of date of fruit collection on the germination of Phillyrea latifolia L. Fruits were collected between September and December of 2007, in Egirdir, Turkey. It was found that the one thousand seed weight for the species seeds was 400 g, with significant differences among dates of fruit collection. The highest germination percentage of 58% was obtained from the seeds collected on the ground from previous years on the 1st of September 2007. The seeds from crown on the 1st of September 2007 had a germination percentage of 42%. Moreover, seeds from crown on the 1st of November and December 2007 and 15th of October and November 2007 did not germinate. In conclusion, P. latifolia seeds collected on the ground from previous years could be sown in early autumn to obtain a high germination rate.