There are about 40 durum wheat varieties registered in Turkey. Around 10 varieties are being commonly cultivated. Amanos 97, &Ccedil / esit 1252, Ege 88, Firat 93, Fuatbey 2000, Burgos, Kiziltan 91, Sari&ccedil / anak 98, Svevo and Zenith durum wheat varieties were used in this study. Semolina and pasta have been produced in an industrial plant under constant process conditions from these varieties. In general, pasta quality is determined by three main factors, the raw materials, the production recipe and the production process. In this study, the production recipe and the production process were fixed and only durum wheat varieties were variable. So, the effects coming from the production recipe and the production process on pasta quality were eliminated. Physical, chemical and sensory properties of these pasta were determined and the effect of different durum wheat varieties on pasta quality has been investigated to give a clear idea to the Turkish pasta industry about the most commonly grown durum wheat varieties in Turkey, hoping that Turkish pasta in domestic and international Markets will continue to grow with the help of clear understanding about the quality characteristics of the durum wheat they are using. v The important criteria of acceptability of pasta products is its cooking quality and cooking quality of pasta products is of importance to consumers and also to wheat producers, breeders and manufacturers. The pasta samples produced from Svevo, Zenith and Firat 93 varieties got the higher scores than others in pasta cooking quality while those produced from Sari&ccedil / anak 98, &Ccedil / esit 1252, Kiziltan 91, and Fuatbey 2000 durum wheat were evaluated as relatively low. The main reasons of cooking quality differences can be interpreted as a result of the difference in protein quantity and quality of the varieties. The bright yellow color of pasta products, rather than cooking behavior taste, is reported to be one of the most important considerations in assessing durum wheat quality. In this study, the pasta samples produced from Svevo, Zenith and Burgos varieties got the higher scores than others in pasta color (yellowness) while that produced from Firat 93 had the lowest yellow color. The main reasons of yellow color differences can be interpreted as a result of the differences in carotenoid pigments, lipoxygenase and peroxidase enzymes contents of the varieties.

Legumes being the most important crops worldwide are limited in terms of adaptability and productivity mainly by the abiotic stresses. In this study, the aim was to understand tolerance mechanisms of lentil cultivars under drought stress by physiological and biochemical analyses. This study was carried out with six Turkish Lentil cultivars (Seyran, Kafkas, Malazgirt, &Ccedil / agil, &Ccedil / ift&ccedil / i, &Ouml / zbek) subjected to drought stresses (10% and 15% PEG) and their physiological and biochemical properties were examined to select drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive cultivars. Drought stress was applied for 5 days to 7 days-grown lentil plants. 12-days old, stressed and control plant shoots and roots were analyzed in terms of physiological and biochemical parameters (length, fresh weight, ion leakage, proline, MDA and H

The objective of this study was to optimize regeneration parameters of immature inflorescence culture of Triticum aestivum cv. Y&uuml / regir-89. The effects of dark incubation period and explant region on regeneration success were tested. Immature inflorescences were cut into 3 pieces as tip, mid, base and put onto 2mg /L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid containing callus induction medium. These explants were taken to regeneration after 6, 9, 13 weeks of dark incubation period. The regeneration capacities of calli were determined as rooting and shooting percentages. Shooting percentages were found to be 72.0 % for 6 weeks of dark incubation and 64.1 % for 9 weeks of dark incubation while it decreases to 26.1 % in 13 weeks of dark incubation period. This showed that prolonged dark incubation period decreased regeneration capacity of the callus. There was no significant difference in regeneration capacities of tip, mid and base regions of immature inflorescences, which reveals the potential of every region of inflorescence to be used as explant source in further transformation studies. Besides regeneration studies, optimization of transformation parameters for Turkish wheat cultivar Y&uuml / regir by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens AGLI containing binary vector pALl56 was performed. Transformation efficiencies were determined by monitoring the transient expression of uidA gene via histochemical GUS assay. Three to four weeks old calli were found to be more responsive to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Different media were tested for utilization during co-cultivation period. It was found that including phenolic compound acetosyringone along with ascorbic acid as an antioxidant was essential for succesful transformation.

Salinity is the 2nd major limiting abiotic factor on plant growth. As a result of this, soil salinity greatly reduce the yield of the crop production by dual action on plants which are ionic toxicity and water deficit. Therefore, improvement of stress tolerance is greatly concerned. This study was performed to screen and select a salt-resistant and a salt-sensitive cultivar among 6 Turkish lentil cultivars (Lens culinaris M.) which are &Ccedil / agil, &Ccedil / ift&ccedil / i, Kafkas, Malazgirt, Seyran and &Ouml / zbek according to the physiological and biochemical properties. 12 days old lentil seedlings which were exposed to salt stress (100 mM NaCl and 150 mM NaCl) for 5 days as well as control groups analyzed physiologically by root-shoot fresh weights, and lengths / and biochemically by ion leakage, MDA, H