Abiotic and Biotic Factors Affecting Crop Growth and Productivity: Unique Buckwheat Production in Egypt

Egypt did not previously grow buckwheat, due to the belief that the environment does not meet the factors of growth, development, and productivity in an arid or semiarid region. The present study investigated two species of buckwheat, <i>Fagopyrum tataricum</i> (FT) and <i>Fagopyrum esculentum</i> (FE), which were planted in two different soil, weather, and water property sites, including the first in Belbies City and the second in Sadat City in the middle of January, November, and March for two successive seasons, 2018–2019 and 2019–2020. The study uniquely focuses on Egypt to investigate three interactions of location × species, location × sowing date, and species × sowing date on growth and productivity. The parameters measured included plant height (cm), number of branches, internodes, and leaves per plant, fresh weight (gm), number of grains per plant, grain weight of 1 m², and yield (kg/Ha). Our results indicated significant differences in all measured interactions. For the location × species interaction, FT planted in Belbies City consistently outperformed all other combinations, with a plant height = 97.704 cm in the 1st season and productivity = 859.38 kg/ha in the 1st season, while FE in Sadat showed the lowest growth and productivity. For the interaction of location × sowing date, Belbies × mid-March sowing achieved the highest plant heights of 84.89 cm and 75.44 cm, and productivity of 702.88 kg/ha and 708.21 kg/ha in consecutive seasons. Conversely, Sadat City × Mid-March sowing resulted in the lowest plant heights of 57.500 cm, and 57.667 cm, and productivity of 490.67 kg/ha, and 444.55 kg/ha. The species × sowing date interaction further emphasized the superiority of FT sown in mid-March, which led to the best plant height growth of 95.78 cm in the 1st season and the highest productivity of 837.55 kg/ha in the 1st season. In contrast, FE sown in mid-March exhibited the poorest outcomes. The study provides an understanding of the two-way interactions affecting buckwheat cultivation in Egypt. Our results indicated its viability with appropriate species selection and sowing dates, contributing to agricultural diversity and sustainability.