Plant breeding research in the first forty years of republican Turkey: the example of Plant Breeding Station in Eskisehir-Sazova

This doctoral thesis aims to evaluate the development of plant breeding research in Turkey by examining the activities of the Plant Breeding Station in Eskisehir-Sazova between 1923-1963. This period is also higly significant for the acceleration of the increase in agricultural production while a new nation were being established. One of these steps was the founding of plant breeding stations which were aiming to embark on reserch on the different plant species in the different regions of country. Besides discovering of new plant varieties which could benefit to national and regional economic development, these stations also had a role on the adoption of modern and rational agricultural methods by rural society, instead of the old traditional techniques. As the first station that was founded in Turkey, the Plant Breeding Station in Eskişehir-Sazova has contributed these process of development by the studies carried out on several varieties of grains, which were the primary agricultural products of the country. Nevertheless, this station is also a typical example of the changing methods and objects under the different political, ideological and economic circumstances that Turkey had been through. With this study, the activities of Eskişehir-Sazova station and its relations with the agricultural research policies in Turkey will be examined and thereby it will be possible to gain a better insight into the effects of plant breeding on the spread of modern agricultural techniques and a mindset based on market-driven agricultural production among rural society.