Melittobia acasta (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), tüm dünyada yayılış gösteren, bugüne kadar Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera ve Lepidoptera takımlarına ait 90’nın üzerinde konukçu türü olduğu bilinen bir ektoparazitoittir. Konukçuları arasında Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) da yer almaktadır. Çalışmada oldukça yaygın iki tür olmalarına rağmen, M. acasta’nın konukçu listesinde yer almayan Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) ve Galleria mellonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)’nın laboratuvar koşullarında parazitoitin konukçusu olma potansiyeli araştırılmıştır. Konukçu denemeleri C. capitata pupaları ile G. mellonella’nın hem son dönem larvaları hem de pupaları üzerinde yürütülmüştür. Çalışma sonucunda parazioitin her iki türü de konukçu olarak kullanılabileceği belirlenmiştir. Bu konukçular ve Ms. domestica’nın pupaları üzerinden elde edilen parazitoidin gelişme süreleri, ergin birey sayıları, eşey oranları ve parazitleme oranları tespit edilmiştir. Parazitleme oranları Ms. domestica pupa > C. capitata pupa > G. mellonellalarva> G. mellonella pupa olarak sıralanmasına rağmen, gelişme süreleri, elde edilen birey sayısı ve eşey oranları aynı sıralamada gerçekleşmemiştir. Ayrıca, G. mellonella larvalarına maruz bırakılan parazitoitin preovipozisyon ve ovipozisyon süreleri, ömür boyu verdiği yumurta sayısı, larva, prepupa, pupa ve ergin çıkış yüzdeleri ile gelişme süreleri de ortaya konulmuştur. 

Urban least well-off and poor households in Bauchi Metropolis face challenge of accessing affordable, reliable and sustainable cooking and heating fuel supplies. As such, the urban least well-off and poor have leveraged their energy demands on use of wood-charcoals, which produced and utilise through mostly informal supply and demand chains that are associated to low efficiency in production methods and ineffective household utilisation factors that contribute to environmental and health dilapidation. This study sought to establish the relationship between physico-chemical characteristics of wood-charcoals commonly produced and utilised and users’ perception on charcoal species preference in Bauchi Metropolis. A laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the physico-chemical characteristics of the wood-charcoals. This was done prior to the field survey on perception preference to users to collaborate their views or otherwise on the burning and fuelling characteristics of the examined wood-charcoal species. A survey was undertaken using questionnaires to assess the users’ perception preference on the commonly used wood-charcoal species in terms of their solidity, ease of ignition, heat output intensity, rate of devolatilisation, burning time, ash generation and smoke. Of all the wood-charcoal species examined, Ficus platyphylla (Ganji) and Anogeissus leiocarpus (Marke) had low moisture contents (4.17, 4.60%, respectively), high calorific value (33.58, 30.09 Mj/kg, respectively) and low ash content (5.35, 6.51%, respectively) together with their glassy index evident by high aluminium, potassium, and silicon contents,  indicating that these charcoal species have high-quality combustion and fuel outputs compared to other charcoal species with least combustion and fuel characteristics. Despite these qualities, these species can’t provide cleaner energy that could cut pollutant emissions, and at the same time bring huge environmental quality and health benefits, yet users perceptibly give preference to these charcoal species based on their combustion and fuelling performance impression.

Apricot fruits with rich aromatic profiles are appreciated by consumers for their flavor, sweetness and juiciness; these characteristics are strongly related to the variety and ripening stage at harvest. Volatiles directly affect the sensorial quality and consumer acceptance of fresh fruits. The type and concentration of volatile compounds show great variability in apricots in cool subtropical conditions of Turkey. Aroma is a complex trait, determined by genetics and variety characteristics, followed by climatological conditions, ripening stage and cultural influences; it is further affected by harvest, post-harvest treatments, storage and processing conditions factors. In this experiment aroma potentials of apricot varieties were evaluated. Twelve apricot varieties including ‘Canino’, ‘Ethembey’, ‘Fracosso’, ‘Harcot’, ‘Macar’, ‘Monobella’, ‘Nebeb’, ‘Rakowsky’, ‘Roxana’, ‘Sakit-2’, ‘Soganci’ and ‘Tokaloglu’ were investigated for their volatile compositions by using diethyl ether solvent for liquid-liquid extractions. The identification of volatile constituents was performed by Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) instrument. The major volatile constituents of the varieties were acetaldehyde, hexanal, benzaldehyde, ethanol, 1-hexanol, (Z)-3-hexenol, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, linalool, ethyl acetate, hexyl acetate, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (E)-2-hexenyl acetate, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, (E)-β-ionone and γ-decalactone, limonene. The concentrations of the volatiles were significantly changed among the varieties. A total of 95 volatile compounds; C6 compounds, aldehydes, acetates, alcohols, esters, ketones, lactones, terpenoids and acids were found in the twelve cultivars. There were 52 compounds identified in ‘Canino’, 53 in ‘Ethembey’, 51 in ‘Fracosso’, 59 in ‘Harcot’, 56 in ‘Macar’, 63 in ‘Monobella’, 63 in ‘Nebeb’, 62 in ‘Rakowsky’, 64 in ‘Roxana’, 60 in ‘Sakıt-2’, 68 in ‘Soganci’ and 69 in ‘Tokaloglu’.