Direct-fed microbials (DFM) feed additives have been shown to improve average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency in ruminant animals in many studies. So, this study aimed to evaluate effect of using fungal and bacterial DFM and their mixture on productive performance of growing lambs. Thirty-two Barkey lambs (3 months old, 22.31± 1.57 kg) were randomly assigned into four groups, 8 lambs of each according to live body weight. The first group (control) was fed control rations without DFM supplementation, while treated groups (Fungal DFM, Bacterial DFM and Mixed DFM) were fed the control ration plus 2.5 g fungal, bacterial or mixed (1:1) DFM; respectively. Results showed that groups fed ration supplemented with DFM (fungal, bacterial and mixed) recorded higher DM, TDN and digestible CP intake. Supplementation of lambs ration with DFM (fungal, bacterial and mixed) showed not significant (P>0.05) effects on rumen liquor TVFA's and ammonia concentration at 0, 3 and 6 hrs post feeding. While DFM supplemented rations showed significant higher rumen liquor pH at 0, 3 and 6 hrs after feeding compared to the control group. Numerically increase was recorded in cellulose activity as unit per ml rumen liquor for groups fed ration supplemented with bacterial and mixed DFM. Direct fed microbial supplementation significantly (P<0.05) improved nutrients digestibility as dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, crude fiber, nitrogen free extract, neutral  detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) as well as feeding values as TDN and digestible crude protein. Bacterial or mixed DFM supplementation showed numerically increased (P>0.05) in plasma total protein concentration compared to lambs fed ration not supplemented. While albumin, globulin, urea, triglycerides, creatinine ALT and AST, alkaline phosphates activity were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by DFM supplementation. Total gain and ADG were significantly increased (P≤0.05) for groups received rations supplemented with DFM compared to control group. Also DFM supplementation significantly (P≤0.05) improved feed conversion as DM, TDN, CP and DCP compared to the control group. It could be concluded that supplementing lambs ration with fungal, bacterial or mixed DFM improved feed intake, digestibility, average daily gain and feed conversion without any adverse effects on animal health and performance.

From an eco–economic perspective, the efficient use of nitrogen is becoming incrementally worthwhile in crop management. Therefore, growth, yield and seed yield response index of three sesame varieties (Shandwel–1, Giza–32 and Sohag–1) as affected by four N rates (0, 72, 108 and 144 kg N ha−1) were investigated during two seasons of 2013 and 2014. The study illustrated that Sohag–1 was the superior variety for achieving SPAD value and seed yield ha−1. Sesame plants can be fertilized with N at a rate of 108 kg ha−1 being recorded higher seed yield ha−1. Integration between proper variety as a genetic factor with the appropriate N rate applied as an environmental one, i.e. Sohag–1 x 108 kg N ha−1 (or Sohag–1 x 144 kg N ha−1) considered a marked practice for gaining high sesame seed yield as an economic product. Being Sohag–1 exhibited less reduction in yield under low N rate and highly response with high N applied it belongs to ER group.

Irrigation, water management under climate change conditions plays an important role in rationalizing water uses efficiency in the agricultural development processes specially under aridecosystems conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate the irrigation water requirement of savings landscaping areas under different recent techniques. So, this study focused on comparison between fully automatic with central control system (C.C.S) based on weather station and Control unit based on operator experience and background. The experiments were conducted during two years (from January 2014 to December 2015), in the site that located in District 5, New Cairo, Cairo, Egypt.  The results indicated the irrigation scheduling based on weather station data using a central control system (C.C.S) optimized maximize the irrigation water use efficiency and increase the amount of irrigation water saving  by about  14%, 36%,18% and 33% in Autumn, Winter ,spring and summer  respectively  in year of  (2014) and 7%, 29.7%, 16%, 33% in Autumn, Winter, spring and summer,  respectively in year of  (2015) compared with the other irrigation scheduling when based on calculated according to traditional method. In addition,  the results revealed that scheduling practices based on weather station data by using central control system could reduce the average of power consumption (about 314 KW) in year of (2014) and (about 347 KW) in year of  (2015).  Moreover ,the results revealed that the cost of water consumption for the central control system based on the data of the meteorological station for the two years 2014 and 2015, the years of study  were 018601 L.E./ 2 years compared with the other irrigation schedule when calculated according to the operator's experience was 010101 L.E./ 2  years. Where the cost of 36172, 13603, 23393 and 33642  L.E./ 2 years in the winter ,spring, summer, autumn and respectively of the central control system and 39600, 17068, 28820 and 45522  L.E./ 2  years in the winter, spring, summer, autumn respectively of the other system.

field experiment was conducted in newly reclaimed sand soil to find out the most efficient combination between irrigation system and deficit irrigation management can be used for date palm trees “Zaghlol cultivar”. Results revealed that the average water requirements of date palm trees gradually increased from 1504, 1279, 1128 and 978 for drip to 2522, 2143, 1891, and 1639 m3/fedSeason for bubbler irrigation system in combination with 100, 85, 75 and 65% deficit irrigation treatments respectively. Data indicated that EC1:5 in dS/m gradually increased with decreasing deficit irrigation levels from 100 to 65% and with increasing soil layer depth to 60-90 cm either in parallel or perpendicular direction of drip or bubbler irrigation lines. While opposite result was observed for soil moisture distribution. Results showed an evident decrease in crop yield as affected by water stress associated with decreasing deficit irrigation treatments from 100 to 85, 75 and 65 % by about 167, 155, 153, 151 for drip and 181.5, 168, 172 and 169 kg/Tree for bubbler irrigation systems. Data revealed that water use efficiency increased from 0.10 for 100 % DI to 0.93, 0.83 and 0.64 m3/kg for 85, 75 and 65 % deficit irrigation under drip and slightly decreased from 0.16 for 100 % DI to 0.14, 0.12 and 0.11 m3/kg for bubbler irrigation systems respectively. It could be concluded that the best method for managing irrigation of date palm trees "Zaghloul cultivar" in the study area is the irrigation using bubbler system with 75% deficit irrigation  treatment. This combination treatment gave acceptable yield of about 172 kg/tree with saving a substantial amount of Irrigation water reached to about 25% (1891 m3/fed or 22 m3/tree) with WUE of about 8.09 kg/m3.

The present work was aimed to evaluate Chenopodium quinoa cultivar CICA (Chenopodium quinoa Willd. cv. CICA), in field experiments, as a new and non-traditional leafy crop in Egypt under saline (ECe 17.9 dSm-1) and non-saline (ECe 1.9 dSm-1) soil conditions. Production of biomass, some morphological, physiochemical and yield components traits were estimated at 40 days from sowing date. Biomass production of young quinoa shoot under saline soil was significantly higher by 25% than non-saline soil. Quinoa plants cultivated under saline soil also showed significant high performances for most of morphological traits. Although salinity led to accumulate Na+ concentrations in the leaves by six folds higher than that found in the leaves produced under non-saline soil conditions, but no significant reduction has been observed for K+ concentrations. Moreover, salinity was significantly increased magnesium concentrations in quinoa leaves. On the other hand, no significant increase has been detected of proline or total soluble carbohydrates concentrations in leaves of quinoa grown under saline soil as compared to non-saline soil. This clearly indicated that quinoa plants, during early growth stage, tended to utilize inorganic ions rather than organic solutes to regulate its osmotic potential under saline conditions. Chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid concentrations were significantly decreased under saline soil. Also, concentrations of crude fiber, crude fat and iron in the leaves of quinoa plants grown under saline soil conditions were significantly decreased. Meanwhile, salinity has no significant influence on crude protein concentrations. These results revealed that the quinoa has the ability to grow and produce considerable high leafy vegetable yield with good quality, in terms of high protein, in land unsuitable for conventional vegetable crops.

Angular leaf spot, caused by P. syringae, is one of the most important bacterial disease of watermelon. For disease management, growers rely on copper bactericides, which are effective after the first two weeks of transplanting, while they couldn’t be applied before that due to the high phytotoxicity they may cause to the plant. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antibacterial activity of three new copper composites, core-shell copper (CS-Cu), multivalent copper (MV-Cu), and fixed quaternary ammonium copper (FQ-Cu), as potential treatments to control the disease before the emergence of the first true leaf where copper is not available, and to identify the possibility of applying the newly designed copper composites during that period to significantly reduce secondary dispersal of disease inoculum. In vitro, 50 μg/ml of metallic copper from MV-Cu and FQ-Cu significantly reduced the P. syringae populations after 2hrs of exposure compared to the untreated control (P= 0.05) and were more effective than using the Kocide® 3000. Greenhouse studies demonstrated that MV-Cu and FQ-Cu significantly reduced the disease incidence compared to both Mankozeb+ Kocide® 3000 and untreated control when using the seed inoculation method. In contrast, none of the nano-composites significantly reduced disease incidence when using the spray inoculation method. MV-Cu and FQ-Cu managed to significantly reduce seedling to seedling disease transmission under greenhouse conditions (P = 0.05). This study highlights that copper composites have the potential to manage P. syringae in the first two weeks of transplanting and reducing the contamination rate from infected to healthy transplants

This investigation was carried out to study the effect of calcium chloride and storage period on fruit quality of Golden delicious apple cv. Collected at mature stage from private farm at Elbeida region. The fruits were stored at refrigerators of Horticultural Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Omar Al-Mukhtar University. Through the growing season of 2014/2015. The University, through 0.5 and 1% treatments contained three CaCl2 concentrations vis. 0, at five storage periods (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) weeks. Obtained results revealed that using CaCl2 at both concentrations improved most fruit quality parameters throughout storage periods.

This study aimed at characterizing nutritional packages adoption by the small dairy farmers under crop-livestock production system. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative statistical analysis. A cross-sectional random survey covered a total of 200 farmers located in 4 governorates Sharqia, Monufia, El-Fayoum, and Minya (50 each). The socio-economic analysis indicated that the illiteracy level was higher (42%) in Minya governorate as compared to others. about half of the households (49%) have been working full time in their farms as farmer this means that they earn their living from agriculture. Family labor represented the highest percentage being 88%, 92%, 80%, and 86% for Sharqia, Monufia, El-Fayoum, and Minya respectively. The results further indicated that farmers who used silage, hay, and green forages, have the highest animal numbers, either from indigenous cows, crossbred cows, buffaloes, sheep, goat, and donkey compared to those who do not use the nutritional packages (non-adopters). The highest percentage of dairy, heifer, fattening, and growing for crossbred cows and buffaloes was detected under silage, hay, and untraditional green forages adopters comparable to those detected under non-adopters. Sharqia governorate had the highest number and consequently percentage of animals followed by El-Fayoum governorate. Silage adopters recorded the highest significant (P<0.05) value of daily milk yield (DMY) and total milk yield (TMY) for indigenous cow, crossbred cow and buffalo as compared to non-adopters. Calving interval significantly (P<0.05) increased for all dairy animals (indigenous cows, crossbred cows, and buffaloes) under non-adopters of nutritional packages being 387, 388.57, and 402 days for the aforementioned animals, respectively. Dairy animals reared under the Nile Delta had the highest significant DMY versus those under the Middle Egypt, where it was 4.05, 8.52, and 7.29 kg vs 3.76, 7.74, and 6.48 kg per day for indigenous cows, crossbred cows, and buffaloes, respectively. In conclusion, adopters of nutritional packages had the highest animal percent and recorded the highest productivity compared to non-adopters.

The response of different concentrations of α-amylase and ascorbic acid on rheological characteristics of weak wheat flour was studied by the three dimension polynomial quaternary model. Flour physicochemical characteristics, dough extensogram, bread texture profile analysis and sensory properties of pan bread were determined. All-purpose flour was treated by fungal α-amylase and ascorbic acid compared with strong flour which using for pan bread production, and then investigates differences of dough extensograms and pan bread quality characteristics. Predicting individual extensograph parameters (Y) was assumed by quadratic polynomial regression model for the independent variables (fungal α-amylase concentrations or ascorbic acid concentrations (X)) to optimize the extensograph parameters (Y) used regression analysis. Three-dimension contour plot was used as a method to study the response surface of different extensograph parameters (Y) as dependent variables with fungal α-amylase concentration and ascorbic acid concentration (X and Z) as independent variables. The obtained optimum predicting concentrations were verified, by using applied extensograph trials and then manufacturing pan bread. Using optimal predictive fungal α-amylase and ascorbic acid concentration levels give accepted extensogram parameters relationship r2 values and good pan bread quality, fit to the strong flour characteristics.

In this study, chemical and bio-control agents were  evaluated for their efficiency to control of  citrus fruit-rot disease  caused Alternaria citri  (K2) both, in vitro and in vivo trials. The most effective fungicides were score, montro and Iprodione compared with other fungicides depend on Ec50 and Ec90. While, the fungicide Pyraclostrobine had moderate effect on linear growth of A.  citri. Meanwhile, the Coprax, Coprareekh and Azoxystrobine were the least effective fungicide at Ec90.  Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtilis tested showed antagonistic action effect to a highly pathogenic isolate of Alternaria citri, with different degrees of inhibition. T. harzianum was the most effective compared with B. subtilis, in vitro trials. Also, all fungicides were evaluated on incidence of citrus fruit rot disease in vivo trials.  The disease incidence was reduced, but with different degrees. In addition, using T. harzianum, B. subtilis, B. megaterium (Bio-ARC) and Trichoderma   album (Bio-Zeid) decreased    incidence of citrus fruit rot disease. On the other side, T. harzianum showed the highest suppressive effect against citrus fruit rot pathogen. Generally, all tested fungicides and bio-agents were effective against the causal fungus in vitro and in vivo trials, but with different degrees.