Vegetable production provide great value in the agricultural production sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Growers and agricultural engineers need a comprehensive database in Arabic lan-guage that can be available for use any time any where. Therefore, this research project was initiat-ed. The computer program was developed using Visual Basic Net 2005 which is one of the ad-vanced visual programming languages. We took into consideration easy usage and coherence be-tween all program components. Main results in-clude computer program with the data base, which includes: vegetable crops, diseases, insect pests and other pests that attacks vegetable crops, management tactics, cultural practices, irrigation requirements, planting dates, data search. Fur-thermore, field trips have been carried out to some vegetable farms in all the Kingdom regions. A digit-ized map of the Kingdom has been added to the program in addition to crop water and heat re-quirements. Various search capabilities have been developed in the program. After the completion of the program build up, verification trips have been carried out for five regions in the presence of farm-ers and extension specialists of the different direc-torate of the Ministry of Agriculture to test the accu-racy of steps used in the program. A manual for the computer program as well as leaflet on pro-gram set up and usage have been included. It is recommended to make this program available at the internet and distribute copies to the Ministry of Agriculture and its directorates as well as farmers.

Experiments were carried out on honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) during the winter of 2008 and spring of 2009 using colonies wintered with five levels of varroa infestation (0.0, 3.8, 9.0, 13.1 and 22.9%) in the Central Region of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The goal of the present work is to determine varroa treatment thresholds and colony collapse level. Response variables examined included varroa mite infestation level (%), cm2 of brood number of frames of brood, number of frames covered with adult honey bees and mites recovered on sticky boards. The data obtained reveled that no significant differences were noticed in cm2 of brood, number of frames of brood, and number of frames of bees in colonies (range of 0.0 to 9.0% varroa infestation or 0.0 – 0.9 mites/bee). Colonies with 13.1% infestation (0.13 mites/bee) exhibited a significant reduction in all measures of performance. The present results suggested that honey bee colonies can tolerate a level of 9.0% varroa infestation (0.9 mites/bee) during the winter without evidence of colony injury. It also suggested that 13.1% infestation (0.13 mites/bee) is the colony collapse or economic injury threshold in the Central Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Also colonies with 12.3 or more mites falling on sticky boards after 48-hour period were likely to have lower populations of bees and brood the following spring.

Garlic is promoted for use as a preventive factor against the formation of cancer. Although several compounds in garlic may have anti- cancer properties, the dially sulfide compounds are said to play a major role. garlic is known to help in regulating blood sugar levels. Therefore, yoghurt was manufactured by using the aqueous extract of garlic to produce a healthy yoghurt. Different concentration of this extract; 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% were added to yoghurt milk. Results showed that 0.1% of garlic extract was the best concentration which gained the highest score. The resultant yoghurt treatments were analyzed chemically and organoleptically when fresh and after storage at 5 + 1°C until 15 days. Yoghurt acidity was gradually increased during storage at 5 ± 1°C until 2 weeks, either for control or different treatments. On the other hand pH took an opposite trend of acidity. The resultant fresh yoghurt had high acetaldehyde, diacetyl, TVFA, viscosity values than control, whereas it showed low whey synersis. During storage at (5 ± 1°C) acetaldehyde, diacetyl decreased while TVFA, viscosity, whey synersis values were increased. Statistical analysis showed high significant difference (a 0.05) for acidity, TVFA, viscosity, diacetyl values and non significant difference (a 0.05) for acetaldehyde content between treatments and during storage.

ABSTRACT   Iron deficiency anemia is considered one of prevalent patients in developing countries, whereas it is well known that wheat flour is deficient in iron, hence, in this study wheat flour (72%) extraction fortified with celery seeds and cinnamon bark meal individually as a natural sources of iron at levels 5, 7.5 and 10 g/100 g wheat flour and preparation of biscuit samples. Iron content in wheat flour, celery seeds and cinnamon were determined. Biscuit samples were sensory evaluated and baking quality tested. Total iron and available iron were determined in biscuit samples. Biological evaluation for experimental rats designed and histopathological examination was tested for heart organ of rats. The results showed that wheat flour, celery seeds and cinnamon contained from iron 1.98, 57 and 50 mg/100 g respectively. Total iron and available iron increased in biscuits samples by increasing celery seeds and cinnamon additives compared with unfortified biscuits (control). Sensory evaluation of biscuit samples showed slight decrease in color, crunchiness and appearance while odor and taste significantly improved by increasing celery seeds and cinnamon additives compared with control. Baking quality of biscuit samples indicated increasing in weight, while volume, diameter and thickness slightly decreased by increasing celery seeds and cinnamon additives compared with control. Biological evaluation revealed that mean values of hemoglobin, hematocrit, red cell count, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, serum iron and serum ferritin significantly improved after 8 weeks in groups rats fed on biscuits fortified with celery seeds and cinnamon compared with control. Histopathological overhaul declared amelioration in organ heart for groups rats fed on biscuits fortified with celery seeds and cinnamon compared with anemic control.

The aim of this study was to use spreadsheet software (Excel) to solve linear programming models in formulating least cost rations of egg layers. The Ingredients used are corn, wheat, soybean meal, barley, wheat bran, protein concentrate, limestone, salt, dicalcuim phosphate, vitamin and mineral premix, vegetable oil. Results showed that the starter optimum ration for layers from (0 - 6) weeks, consist of these Ingredients (9.40, 26.91, 16.38, 38.71,' 4.51, 0.95, 1.09, 0.25, 1.18, 0.25, (Received April 18, 2009) (Accepted September 28, 2009) 0.33)% respectively and from (6-12) week of (0, 73.43, 8.72, 0, 14.37, 0, 0.99, 0.25, 1.39, 0.25, 0.57) % respectively, from (12-18) week (0, 78.36, 6.17, 0, 12.02, 0, 1.44, 0.25, 0.87, 0.25, 0.61)% respectively, from (18 week - start of production) (0, 15.55, 13.85, 0, 3.81, 0, 4.25, 0.25, 1.16, 0.25, 0.86 )% respectively, and during productive period from (0, 66.93, 10.62, 0,0, 9.09,9.01, 0.25, 3.82)% respectively, and the cost of these ration was 160.6, 130.70, 123.60, 145.22, 195.95) Iraqi Dinar/kg respectively. Results also show sensitivity report of allowable increase and decrease in ingredient cost and in constraint values and the shadow price.

Two Field experiments were conducted during the two summer seasons of 2007 and 2008 at EL-Serw Agricultural Research Station, Damietta Governorate, Egypt to study the effect of the time removal of weeds on associated weeds, growth, yield and its components in direct seeded rice in salinity land. Echinochilon crus – galli, Echinochilon colunum, Cyperus difformis, Cyperus longus and Dicanthium annulatum  were the major weed species. Competition beyond 8 and 10 weeks from sowing and weed competition for the whole season caused drastic reduction in the panicle length, number of panicles / m2 weight of 1000grain and grain yield. Grain yield of rice increased significantly with the increase of the duration of weed-free period. Weed free for the whole season and weed free for 10,8,6 and 4 weeks from sowing and weed removal at 4 and 6 weeks from sowing gave good results in this respect in both seasons. The period during 4 and 6 weeks after sowing was found to be an important factor in crop/weed competition. Weed cause 20 to 95% yield loss. Direct seeded rice ecosystems are most vulnerable to weed competition. Weed free is the most common and predominant method of control and is cost-effective. In direct seeded rice emergence of weeds begins with the germinating rice seedlings. This leads to competition between weeds and crop right from the very early stages. The degree of yield losses would depend on the type of weeds and the stage and duration of their competition with the crop. It could be concluded that the critical period of weed competition in direct seeded rice among 4- 6 weeks from rice sowing, thus it's important to remove the weeds at this time.

In greenhouse and field experiments, conducted in two successive winter seasons 2007/2009 the effect of phosphorus fertilizer treatments on incidence of wilt disease  of lupine, chickpea and lentil, as well as yield and yield component  was studied. Application of Phosphorus fertilizer (100 and 200 kg/fed; as super phosphate (15.5% P2O5) before planting) caused a reduction in incidence and severity of wilt diseases on plants of the three legume crops either in greenhouse and field experiments. In field experiments, results indicated that the most effective treatment was phosphorus at 100 and 200 kg / fed) respectively, which reduced the wilt diseases. Phosphorus fertilizer significantly increased yield characters i.e., plant height, number of branches, number of pods, seeds yield / plant and weight of 100 seeds.

In an attempt for utilization of some common spices, cinnamon bark, clove bud and ginger rhi-zom are popular implementations because of their flavoring and antioxidative activity, which mainly comes from polyphenols. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of spices or their essential oils compared with Diamicron30MR (60mg /100g diet) on the occurrence of oxidative stress in serum of induced diabetic rats by measuring the extent of oxidative damage as well as the status of the anti-oxidant defense system. Albino rats weighing 150 ± 5 g were injected with STZ (50 mg/kg) intraperi-toneally for induction of diabetes mellitus. Rats were divided into 17groups (each of 8 rats) of non-diabetic ,diabetic non-treated and diabetic treated rats with spice powders or their essential oils and mixtures. After 8 weeks, the diabetic rats fed on spices or their essential oils significantly decreased levels of blood glucose and significantly increased insulin level. The treatment also resulted in a sig-nificant improvement in lipid profile, liver functions and kidney functions. However, a significantly in-crement in the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPH-Px) and concentration of glutathione (GSH) were observed in blood of diabetic rats treated with all of the essential oils. The treated groups showed a significant decrement in thiobarbituric acid reac-tive substances (TBARS) in serum. Since the study of induction of the redox enzymes is considered to be a reliable marker for evaluating the antiperoxi-dative efficacy of the spices, these findings sug-gest a possible antiperoxidative role derived from such essential oils. Treatment with spices or their essential oils reduces the hepatic, renal, pancreat-ic and cardiac histopathological abnormalities as-sociated with STZ – induced diabetes mellitus

A laboratory study was performed to evaluate the role of Molass using four levels (C=0, 10, 20 and 40 g kg-1) on the water transport function [namely, penetrability (l), sorptivity (S) and infiltration rate (i)] during transient flow in horizontal infiltration in Sandy loam soil incubated with Molass at 25 ± 2°C and 80% relative moisture content at 33 Kpa. For 60 days. Boltzmann transformation  was used to esitmate penetrability by fitting the wet front distance X vs. square root of time (t). Equation of Philip (1957)  was used to estimate sorptivity (S) by fitting cumulative   depth of water observed (I) vs. . Infiltration rate (i) was calculated using equation. The contact angle (a), soil surface free energy  were measured and calculated for all soil treatments. We also studied the effect of Molass on aggregate stability from the values of Mean Wight Diameter (MWD) and Geometric Mean Diameter (GMD). Results showed significant response and decrease in all study water transport functions [(l), (S) and (i)] with distance 30 cm of wetting front advance in end time with increasing the  levels of Molass from 0.0 to 40 g kg-1. Value of contact angle increased from 49.54 to 76.17, while the value of soil surface free energy decreased from 135.9 to 76.8 (m N m-1). The addition of Molass played very important role in aggregate stability according to the value of MWD and GMD

In the present study a suitable methodology is developed for estimating crop area by integrating remote sensing and GIS based on land survey approach. Area frame surveys are common approaches to gather land cover data. In contrast to mapping approaches, area frame sampling is a statistical method. Based on the visual observation of sample geo-referenced points, area estimates are computed and used as a valid generalization without studying the entire area under investigation. The approach has also the important advantage of not involving/disturbing the land owners and the farmers. The survey concerning the estimation of yield for the major crop will be carried out by cutting small samples in the field. The sample covers the whole Nile valley and the delta, the observed area is about 35000 km² and the distance from South to North is about 1000 km. Digital topographic maps 1:5000 and SPOT5 satellite Images was used, 2,5m resolution, Ortho-rectified (DTM). The survey used the WGS84, Universal Transverse Mercator 36 N, which parameter are given hereafter. Three thousands sites were visited during the winter crop survey, the sample could be constituted of a sub-set of these sites and one point will be designed in each of the selected sites. If this point is wheat, it will be included in the yield sample and visited at harvest time. The sub sample is defined as points of observation, 250m x 250m apart; there are 10 points of observation, which are called points. They are located in two lines East-West of 5 points. There suits of winter survey of Nile Delta and Nile valley is about 12591563 Feddan. The main results of the field survey were that the total cultivation area is almost 76609500 Feddan. The cultivation area is covered about 61% of the total Nile Delta and Nile valley. Field crop is the major area in the Nile valley and Nile Delta, its cover about 48% of the total area of the NileValley and Nile Delta. Furthermore, the field crops cover about 79% of the total cultivation area.