Mirza Gökgöl: Plant Scientist, Seed Collector, Agronomist, Breeder and Archaeo-Botanist

Mirza (Hacızade) Gökgöl (1897-1981) was an outstanding scientist with multiple talents and he had worked as plant scientist, seed collector, agronomist, plant breeder, botanist and archaeo-botanist. Despite the many challenges, he faced during his education and business life, he made many innovations, published several books and articles in the area of seed science, agronomy, wheat systematic, plant breeding and even archaeo-botany. The purpose of this review article is to recognize and appreciate Mirza Gökgöl’s contributions to the scientific world. After completing his Ph. D. program in Germany, M. Gökgöl established Istanbul Yeşilköy Agricultural Research Station, performed extensive seed collecting missions for landraces and wild relatives of cultivated crops, mainly of cereals, performed characterization and breeding programs with the collected germplasm, contributed to development of Crop Domestication Theory (Gene Centres Theory), published numerous scientific research papers and books on Turkey’s plant genetic resources, highlighting their significance and adverse effects of their likely loss. His publications are still among the mostly credited references in the area of plant genetic resources. Most of the bibliographic information cited here is extracted from his personal file kept at the archive of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Turkey. Apart from the archival information, I have also referred to members of his family through personal communications, to his publications and all the available published materials about Gökgöl.

Keywords:

Seed, seed collecting, biography, plant breeding genetic resource,

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Gökgöl M (1935). Türkiye buğdayları, Tom I (Wheats of Turkey-Die türkischen Weizen, Vol. I). Tarım Bakanlığı, İstanbul-Yeşilköy Tohum Islah Enstitüsü Yayını, No. 7 (Min. of Agric. İstanbulYeşilköy Seed Improvement Inst. Publ 7). Devlet Matbaası İstanbul (in Turkish, with German summary)
Gökgöl M (1938). Samen, die bei den Ausgrabungen in Alaca Höyük im Jahre 1936 gefunden worden sind (Seeds found during the excavations at Alaca Höyük in 1936). In: Koşay HZ (1938). Ausgrabungen von AlacaHöyük (Excavations from Alaca Höyük). Pp 185-186. Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara.
Gökgöl M (1939). Türkiye buğdayları. Tom II (Wheats of Turkey-Die türkischen Weizen, Vol. II). Tarım Bakanlığı, İstanbul-Yeşilköy Tohum Islah Enstitüsü Yayını, No. 14 (Min. of Agric. İstanbulYeşilköy Seed Improvement Inst. Publ 14) Ankara, (in Turkish, with German summary)
Gökgöl M (1955). Buğdayların tasnif anahtarı [Classification key of wheats]. Ziraat Vekâleti, Neşriyat ve Haberleşme Müdürlüğü [Min Agric, Publications and Communications Directorate] No. 716, Çelikcilt Matbaası, İstanbul, +172 pp (in Turkish)
Gökgöl M and Taşan R (1970). Yeşilköy Zirai Araştırma Enstitsü kuruluşu ve gelişmesi (1926-1961) [Establishment and development of Yeşilköy Agricultural Research Institute (1926-1961) (selfpublished)] (in Turkish)
Karagöz A (2012). Dr. Mirza Gökgöl Türk tarımına silinmez bir imza atmıştır [Dr Mirza Gökgöl put an indelible signature on Turkish agriculture]. Türkiye Tohumcular Birliği Dergisi (J Turk Seed Growers Assoc) 1(4):6-8 (in Turkish)
Kilian B, Knüpffer H and Hammer K (2013). Elisabeth Schiemann (1881-1972): A pioneer of crop plant research, with special reference to cereal phylogeny. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 61(1):1-18, DOI: 10.1007/s10722- 013-0017-x
Maggioni L, Katsiotis A, Knüpffer H, Kleijer G and Lipman E (2011). Report of a Cereals Network. Second Meeting, 21-24 April 2008, Foça, Turkey. Bioversity International, Rome, Italy.
Tan A (2010). State of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in Turkey. Second national report of Turkey on conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Menemen, Izmir, Turkey. http://www. pgrfa.org/gpa/tur/docs/turkey2_ eng.pdf
Zencirci N, Yılmaz H, Garaybayova N, Karagöz A, Kilian B, Özkan H, Hammer K and Knüpffer H (2018). Mirza (Hacızade) Gökgöl (1897-1981): the great explorer of wheat genetic resources in Turkey. Genet Resour Crop Evol, p 19, https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10722-018-0606-9
Zhukovsky PM (1951). Ecological types and economic importance of Anatolian wheat. In: Türkiye’nin Zirai Bünyesi (Agricultural structure of Turkey), pp. 887. Turk Sugar Beet Plants Publ 20:158- 214 (in Turkish, translated by C. Kıpçak, H. Nouruzhan, S. Türkistanlı)