This study was executed to investigate the potential of agar-agar, a nontoxic and non-degradable

gelling agent, as a promising coating agent to improve and protect banana fruit

against fungal postharvest diseases i.e., crown, finger, neck and flower end rots which are

caused by fungal isolates of Colletotrichum musae and Fusarium moniliforme. Coated-ba-nana

fruit samples with different concentrations of agar-agar suspension particularly at

2.0 g · l−1 exhibited a significant reduction in incidence and severity of postharvest diseases

compared to untreated fruit. Banana fruits dipped in agar suspension at 2.0 g · l−1 for 5, 10

and 15 min showed significant reduction in disease incidence and severity. Moreover,

application of agar suspension as a coating agent at 2.0 g · l−1 significantly decreased

weight loss (%), firmness loss (%), and soluble solid concentration of banana fruit for

15 days at 25 ± 2°C. Scanning electron microscopy observation confirmed that the fruit

coated with agar colloid at 2.0 g · l−1 had significantly fewer cracks and showed smoother

surfaces than untreated fruit. This explains the quality improvement in agar-coated fruit

compared to uncoated fruit. Overall, agar colloid, a safe coating agent, could be used to

protect banana fruit against postharvest rot diseases and extend fruit storage life during

ripening and storage.

The decolourization of Turquoise Blue HFG by immobilized cells of Lysinibacillus fusiformis B26 was investigated. Cells of L. fusiformis B26 were immobilized by entrapment in agar and calcium alginate matrices and attached in pumice particles. The effects of operational conditions (e.g., agar concentrations, cell concentrations, temperature, and inoculum amount) on microbial decolourization by immobilized cells were investigated. The results revealed that alginate was proven to be the best as exhibiting maximum decolourization (69.62%), followed by agar (55.55%) at 40°C. Pumice particles were the poorest. Optimum conditions for agar matrix were found: concentration was 3%, cell amount was 0.5 g and temperature was 40°C (55.55%). Ca-alginate beads were loaded with 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 g of wet cell pellets and the highest colour removal activity was observed with 2.0 g of cell pellet at 40°C for alginate beads. Also, 0.5 and 1.0 g of pumice particles that were loaded with 0.25 and 0.5 g of cell pellets respectively were used and the results were found very similar to each other.

In this study, agar-based nanocomposite films containing ultra-porous silica aerogel particles were fabricated by gel casting using an aqueous agar/silica aerogel slurry. The silica aerogel particles did not show significant agglomeration and were homogeneously distributed in the agar matrix. Transmission electron microscopy observations demonstrated that the silica aerogel particles had a mesoporous microstructure and their pores were not incorporated into the agar polymer molecules. The thermal conductivities of the agar and agar/5 wt.% silica aerogel nanocomposite films were 0.36 and 0.20 W·m–1·K–1, respectively. The transmittance of the agar films did not decrease upon the addition of silica aerogel particles into them. This can be attributed to the anti-reflection effect of silica aerogel particles.

Different techniques have been devised to detect herbicide resistance in weeds, and the overall aim from this study was to compare four different assay techniques for evaluating acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicide resistance in sterile wild oat (Avena sterilis L.). A resistant sterile wild oat population (R) was collected from the wheat field in Kozan, Adana province, Turkey. The susceptible (S) population was collected from the border of the same field. Effects of different doses of mesosulfuron-methyl + iodosulfuron-methyl -sodium and pyroxsulam + cloquintocet-mexyl were assessed in agar based (seed and seedling) assay, Petri dish with seeds, and whole plant pot assay. In the agar based assays, the level of resistance was evaluated by measuring coleoptile and hypocotyl lengths, and survival of seedlings. Plant height and shoot dry weight were measured in the Petri dish and whole plant pot assays, respectively. Results from the dose response analyses showed that both the R and S populations were extremely sensitive to mesosulfuron-methyl + iodosulfuron in the seedling bioassay. The resistance indices (RI’s) of the R biotype treated with mesosulfuron-methyl + iodosulfuron in the agar based seed, Petri dish, and whole plant assays were 2.29, 2.63 and 4.18, respectively. The resistance indices of the R biotype treated with pyroxsulam + cloquintocet-mexyl was 3.41, 5.05 and 2.82 in the agar based seed, Petri dish, and whole plant pot assays, respectively. The agar based seed assays and Petri dish assay provided feasible, accurate, rapid, and cost effective opportunities to identify resistance in sterile wild oat.

Magnetic nanoparticle’s different applications in nanomedicine, due to their unique physical properties and biocompatibility, were intensively investigated. Recently, Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, are confirmed to be the best sonosensitizers to enhance the performance of HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound). They are also used as thermo-sensitizers in magnetic hyperthermia. A new idea of dual, magneto-ultrasound, coupled hyperthermia allows the ultrasound intensity to be reduced from the high to a moderate level. Our goal is to evaluate the enhancement of thermal effects of focused ultrasound of moderate intensity due to the presence of nanoparticles. We combine experimental results with numerical analysis. Experiments are performed on tissue-mimicking materials made of the 5% agar gel and gel samples containing Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with φ  = 100 nm with two fractions of 0.76 and 1.53% w/w. Thermocouples registered curves of temperature rising during heating by focused ultrasound transducer with acoustic powers of the range from 1 to 4 W. The theoretical model of ultrasound-thermal coupling is solved in COMSOL Multiphysics. We compared the changes between the specific absorption rates (SAR) coefficients determined from the experimental and numerical temperature rise curves depending on the nanoparticle fractions and applied acoustic powers.We confirmed that the significant role of nanoparticles in enhancing the thermal effect is qualitatively similarly estimated, based on experimental and numerical results. So that we demonstrated the usefulness of the FEM linear acoustic model in the planning of efficiency of nanoparticle-mediated moderate hyperthermia.