Abstract only

The institute is the oldest research organization in Turkey founded in 1925. In 1951, the Institute and the Dryland-Fanning Experimental Farm, which was established in the same location in 1929, merged as an Agricultural Research Institute. Subsequently, the Institute was renamed as Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute (TZARI). After moving to a new campus, it has been renamed again to Anatolian Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) in 1996. Breeding studies on food legumes have started since the middle 60-ies. At the beginning, research institutes of Turkey worked independently. Their active cooperation began in 1977 with the initiation of the National Food Legume Research Project. Since then, 18 lentil, 19 chickpea and 15 dry bean varieties have been developed and numerous agronomic experiments have been carried out to develop suitable management practices by the Turkish research institutes. Food legumes have become widely cultivated in these regions and gradually replaced fallow-cereal systems that had been traditional cropping system before. Today AARI is actively engaged in breeding and agronomy of cereal crops. Much attention is paid to the research of bacteria and viruses, which significantly affect and impede bean yields. Studies under dry bean breeding programs in AARI focus generally on such issues as resistance to diseases, high yield, adaptation and seed quality. Introduction of machinery in harvest operations is one of the major objectives ofthe institute. Food legume crops are very important in human diet for their high-protein qualities, particularly for those consumers who cannot afford meat pro- ducts. Lentils and chickpea have some advantages over other legumes in rotation with cereals and their breeding and agronomy occupy an essential place in research projects of AARI.

English

0409|AGRIS 0401|AL-Maize Program

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection