Agriculture occupies an important position in the Egyptian economy. However, the agricultural sector is still undergoing many economic conditions and problems which have been hindered in the way of its development and modernization, which has directly or indirectly affected the role of the agriculture sector in economic development. Investment is one of the main means of development, The success of the development policy depends to a large extent on the volume of investments available and how they are distributed among different programs as well as the efficient use of those investments. Investment is one of the important tools in bringing about the structural change of the national economy. Through investment, technical progress plays its fundamental role. The rule is that any technical progress necessarily necessitates investment spending. If we look at economic growth in terms of work, investment projects contribute to increasing employment, Work productivity through increased capital intensity. This study deals with the current situation of national investment as well as agricultural investment in both public and private sectors in Egypt during the period 2000-2015, as well as the impact of the revolution of 25 January 2011 on the investment situation in Egypt. The time series was divided into three periods 2005), the second period (2006-2010) and the third period (2011-2015), the period of the revolution and beyond. The most important results are as follows: The general agricultural investment at current prices increases during the period of study (2000-2015). The revolution of 25 January also had a positive effect on the increase in general agricultural investment for the first and second periods.

A total of 75 pyogenic samples were collected from patients examinated for pyogenic infection in Sednawy hospital and Elmokhtaber laboratories. S. aureus isolated from pleural fluid out of five S. aureus (+ve coagulase, MSSA) exhibits resistant against all the concentration of Ciprofloxacin 0.5-20, Gentamycin 0.5- 5.0 µg/100µl and Amikacin 1 µg/100µl. The highest potent of phytoextracts either extracted by water or methanol was detected by clove comparing with mint, thyme, sage and garlic, whereas garlic essential oil gave completely abolish of S. aureus (P.F). The highest synergism was obtained in combination between the lowest inhibitory concentration of Gentamycin 10 µg/100µl  or Vancomycin 1 µg/100µl or Amikacin 2.5 µg/100µl with thyme Eso (1:3), which resulted to increase the efficacy by 4.4 or 1.5 or 1.6 respectively  comparing to recommended dose of the tested antibiotics alone. Increasing the concentration of garlic essential oil (GEso) from 10 up to 100 µl/well increment the efficacy of inhibition up to 10, 3.7 and 4.5- fold when standard dose of Gentamycin, Vancomycin and Amikacin were used individually against S. aureus P.F. The minimum bactericidal concentration of garlic essential oil was recorded at 2 µl/ml as it resulted to reduce the count to be 0.04%. Analysis of garlic essential oil by GC-MS dedicated six sulfur compounds represented 88.8644% of total detected compounds in garlic essential oil.

The study aimed to throw light on the current status of the area, productivity and production of citrus, orange and lemon in Syria, the development of the quantity and value of exports and imports, the export and import price of citrus, the development of the quantity and value of exports and exports price of the orange during the study period, the geographical distribution of Syrian exports of orange for the period (2007-2011), and standard samples for external demand on oranges. The foreign trade of citrus was in Syria the study showed that the production of citrus growing at a rate of about 38.12 thousand tons per year and the cultivated area of citrus growing at of about 1.35 thousand acres per year, the increase in the productivity of the hectare was not significant in any mathematical relation. The production of oranges increased by about 45% per year and the cultivated area of oranges increased by about 0.94 thousand acres per year, the increase in the productivity of the hectare was not substantiated in any mathematical relation. The production of lemons increased by about 6.73 thousand tons per year, growing at of about 0.28 thousand acres per year, the increase in the productivity of the hectare was not substantiated in any mathematical relation during the study period. The quantity of citrus exports increased by 24.9% per year, the value of citrus exports increased by 25.5% per year, the quantity of imports of citrus is increasing at a rate of about 19.5% annually, the value of imports of citrus is increasing at a rate of 24.9%, the quantity of exports of oranges is increasing at a rate of about 23.1% annually and the value of exports of oranges is increasing by 18.1%. The export price of oranges decreased by about $ 22.09 per year. In addition, the factors determining the average per Iraqi capita share of Syrian orange has been studied which indicated inverse relation between the dependent variable and the Syrian export price per kilogram in dollars, with an increase of 1% the average per Iraqi capita share of Syrian orange decreased by 2.45%. As well as a positive relation between the dependent variable and the average per Iraqi capita income in dollar and the export price of Turkey in dollars, by the increase of these factors of 1% the average per capita Iraqi quantity of Syrian orange increased by 1.98% and 1.37%, respectively. In addition, the factors determining the average per Jordanian capita share of Syrian oranges were calculated according to the export price of Syria in dollars. The model shows a positive relationship between the dependent variable and the export price of Lebanon in dollars. The average per Jordanian capita share of Syrian oranges was 2.88% and 0.75% respectively, which shown an inverse relation between the dependent variable and the export price of Syria in dollar, with an increase of 1%, the average per Jordanian capita share of Syrian orange decreased by 4.4%. The most important indicators of foreign trade of Syrian orange for the most important countries showed Russia in the first position in terms of the market share, which is about 96.1% of the total Syrian exports. It is clear that for political reasons between Syria and Russia. Then, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait came second with 1.7% of Syrian exports.

Salinity is a stress factor affecting the production of crop in many regions.  Calcium can reduce Na+ transport to shoots in rice. Two greenhouse experiments were conducted in Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt, during 2015 growing season of rice to evaluate the effect of different calcium concentrations on survival percent along with uptake of Na+ and Cl- ions by two varieties of rice (Oryza sativa L.) differing in salt-tolerance. The first experiment was undertaken to study the effect of different calcium concentrations on survival percent of IR28 (salt-sensitive) and Nona Bokra (Salt-tolerant) seedlings which were transferred to salinized nutrient solution containing 0.5% NaCl and a variable calcium concentrations at 4, 40, 100 and 200 ppm; plants were grown up to 40 days. The second experiment investigated the effect of different calcium concentrations on growth, uptake and transport of Na+ and Cl- ions in the two rice varieties differing in salt-tolerance. The seedlings were transferred to salinized nutrient solution containing 0.5% NaCl and calcium ion concentrations at two levels, 4 and 40 ppm. Plants were harvested at 0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 days from salinization. The results indicated that the salt-tolerant variety (Nona Bokra) survived for more than 40 days under exposure to 0.5% NaCl when calcium concentration of the culture solution ranged from 40 to 200 ppm Ca++. The low calcium ion concentration (4 ppm) depressed the growth of plants at 5 and 7 days after salinization.  In Nona Bokra, the shoot had less sodium and Cl than the root. This implies that the salt tolerance of Nona Bokra may be attributed to the restricted translocation of Na+ and Cl- from the root to the shoot. Sodium as well as cloride content in the shoot of IR28 was more than twice that of Nona Bokra.  An adequate amount of Ca+2 tended to lower the salt injury caused by high levels of salinity in rice plants. The effect of calcium ion on salt tolerance varied greatly between Nona Bokra and IR28 varieties.

Decline of grapevine due to soil borne fungi was surveyed during 2013- 2015 summer growing seasons at El-Fayoum, El-Gharbeia and El-Beheira governorates, Egypt, Syndromes of declined grapevine plants included growth retardant of shoot system and root-rot as well as decrease of grapevine fruit yield  quality. Isolation trails from root of declined trees of different grapevine cultivars i.e., superior, flame seedless, King robi and crimson was carried out. The most soil borne fungi associated with root-rotted grapevine were Fusarium oxysporum Schlechtend, Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc, Botryodiplodia theobromae, Rhizoctonia solaniKuhn and Macrophomina phaseolina(Tassi) Gold. Fusarium spp. are the main fungal associated with different infection types of declined root of grapevine either a singly or in combination with B. theobromae or R. solani as second infection type and third infection type with B. theobromae + R. solani. Under soil artificially infested with 5% (w/w) of each fungal isolates inocula of fourteen isolates obtained were varied for causing wilt and root-rot symptoms of grapevine trees and reducing growth parameters plant height, root length, root size, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root than the control. Botrydiplodia theobromae isolate No. (7)was the most caused root-rot and disease severity of shoot and root of grapevine plant(100%)  followed by Fusarium avenacum caused (87.5%) of root –rot and disease severity of shoot and root. Fouthermore, Fusarium avenacum isolate was the most fungal isolate in reducing growth parameters expect root length.  This is first record that Fusarium avenacum as a causal organism causing root rot disease of grapevine in Egypt.

Chlorella vulgaris belonging to Chlorophyta and Nannochloropsis  oculata belonging to Chrythophytawere used in the currentstudy to evaluate whether their successive indoor growth using industrial food waste (okara) as a growth medium enriched with organic carbon and nitrogenThe basic nutrient solutions were BG-II for Chlorella, while F2 was used for Nannochloropsis growth. Okara was used in four concentrations ( 25 , 50 , 75 and 100% )  verses to control and based on its initial nitrogen content. Original waste was diluted by 4 fold of tape water prior inoculation. The investigated parameters were dry weigh (g.l-1); total chlorophyll (mg.l-1) and total carotenoids (mg.l-1). Maximum dry weight of Chlorella was obtained with 25% of okara waste. As for Nannochloropsis, a slight increase was observed with all okara concentrations used. Lower okara concentration (25%) enhanced chlorophyll accumulation by Chlorella vulgaris, while higher concentration (100%) reached the maximum with Nannochloropsis oculata. Completely opposite pattern was observed with total carotene.

This research is concerned with the estimation of farmer’s demand for chemical fertilizers. The data were collected from a sample of farmers in two villages in Bani Sewaf Governorate in the summer of 2015.  Most farmers use two kinds of fertilizers; namely urea and superphosphates. Urea is provided to farmers in certain quotas at subsidized prices through the government controlled agricultural cooperatives. Farmers however find it necessary to rely on the free market to supplement the subsidized quotas of urea.  The research begins by estimating the Cobb-Douglas production functions for two field crops which are wheat and maize. Then the production functions coefficients are used to calculate the underlying cost functions. From the cost functions we were able to drive the conditional demand functions for chemical fertilizers with the help of Shephard’s lemma.   The estimates of all functions seem reasonable and consistent with economic theory. The elasticities of wheat production with respect to urea and superphosphates are 0.27 and 0.03 respectively. The wheat cost function is an increasing function in input prices and in output level. The conditional demand function for urea in wheat production is homogenous of degree zero in input prices; that is doubling the input prices will leave the demand for urea unchanged. Similar results for the maize crop were attained.  The maize production elasticities with respect to urea and superphosphates are 0.16 and 0.06 respectively. The results are statistically significant. The isoquant equation indicates that decreasing urea application by 0.42 sack can be compensated by increasing superphosphates application by one sack in order to keep the level of maize production at 18 ardab per feddan. The conditional demand function for urea reveals that an increase in the price of urea by EGP 5 would reduce the demand for urea by 0.78 sacks.

Concentration of heavy metals (Pb-Cd-Cr) was determined, that’s most polluted environment and rivers in fourteen varieties of vegetables throughout two growing seasons (2013-2014  &2014-2015), belonging to the three groups of vegetables (leaves and tuber and fruits), and using atomic absorption device, where the samples were collected from six different locations in Hama, and close to the course of the Orontes River, which vary different in irrigation operations and source of irrigation water.   Results of this study showed that no significant difference (P> 0.05) between the types of vegetable groups in the content of heavy elements at each locations seposatly. But it clearly showed the presence of very high significant differences (P <0.0001) in the contents of vegetables from heavy elements collected from sites, this effect is due to irrigation water. Also, the average concentration of cadmium was higher than the global natural concentrations in accordance with similar studies, the average lead, and chromium were lower than the averages of similar vegetables from other countries.

In a comprehensive study, soil   surface (0-60cm) and subsurface (60-120cm) samples, (industrial- wastewater and wells water samples beside of plant samples (forest and wild shrubs) were collected from Almarawea’ah area, Al-houdiadah governorate. The objective of the study was to evaluate the environmental impact of wastewater that flow from food factory. The water is used for irrigating a silty loam soil and plants grown thereon which were evergreen trees (wind breaks) since 25 and 5 years ago (the first and second stages, respectively). Also, the analysis of chemical, physical, biological and microbial indicators was done. Obtained results showed that soil salinity was increased three times but sodium adsorption was increased 10 times as a result of using wastewater for irrigating the evergreen trees since 15 years ago where the EC and SAR were 0.115mS\cm and 1.3, respectively in the non-treated soil as compared with the treated one which were 0.37 mS\cm and 12.5 for EC and SAR, respectively. There was no significant impact for soil depth 0-60 and 60-120cm as well as for years of applications (5 and 25 years) on all the evaluated properties. However, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron contents in treated soil were slightly increased with no significant differences. On the contrary, potassium and manganese were significantly increased at 0.05 level as compared to non-treated one. Regarding to the plant analysis the obtained data showed that no significant differences between the concentration of the studied elements (N, P, K, Fe, and Mn) in leaves of trees (their local names are Muraimerah and Damas) and shrubs (Thomam and Abad). However, zinc concentration was high in shrub plants (2350.5 ppm) compared to trees (103.5 ppm) which indicated that shrub plants can collecte high levels of zinc ( zinc hyperaccumulatorplant). For water, comparison of samples collected from ground water wells (near and far) and wastewater samples collected morning and evening, the results indicated that using factory wastewater for irrigating trees to be used as wind breaks was suitable way to prevent expected environmental contamination and transmission of those contaminants to the ground water

The purposes of this study are to: i) assess the agricultural extension middle level managers’ willingness to use cell phones in extension services, and ii) investigate the factors affecting their willingness to change and their change- related behavior. The DINAMO scale developed by Metselaar (1997) was used to assess their willingness to use cell phones in extension. Data were collected from 19 agricultural extension middle level managers representing 67.86% of the total number of middle level managers (28 mid-managers) by questionnaire during their annual meeting that was held on May 2015. Mean scores, percentages, and Chi-square test were used for data presentation and analysis. The results showed that the respondents’ overall willingness to change is 220.2 which represents 72.2% of the total score; this implies that extension middle level managers are entirely have positive willingness to use cell phones in agricultural extension services. There are seven variables have significant relationships with extension middle managers’ willingness to change namely: Managers' affective orientation towards the use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =38), The value of use cell phones for the agricultural extension organization (ᵡ2 =37.07), Collegial attitudes towards use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =38.22), Self-control factors (ᵡ2 =38), External control factors (ᵡ2 =36.24), Control over and contentment with use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =24.7), and Perceived complexity of use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =31.16). On the other hand there are five variables affecting the change- related behavior of the middle managers as follows: Managers' affective orientation towards the use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =51.19), Collegial attitudes towards use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =51.12), External control factors (ᵡ2 =50.34), Control over and contentment with use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =25.82), and The middle manager's willingness to use cell phones in extension (ᵡ2 =24.61). It could be concluded that there is a strong opportunity for using cell phones in extension services, and the respondents are ready for the beginning of such initiative.