Vegetables export in general and tomatoes crop in particular are facing serious challenges in Egypt with regards to declining competitiveness in global markets in addition to some other challenges related to the ability to penetrate global markets and the variation in prices for different importing countries. This is in addition to the variation in demand conditions in importing markets. Through reviewing the competitiveness indicators for this crop. the paper shows that the quantity and value of tomato exports was highly fluctuating during the period under investigation. The lowest value was recorded in 2000 and amounted to 1.7 thousand tons. The maximum value was recorded in 2013 and amounted 74.8 thousand tons. Since then. the variable showed high fluctuation until 2018 where the quantity exported reached 41.8 thousand tons. The exporting value also was fluctuating. It reached its lowest in 2000 and amounted to 454 thousand dollars while the maximum reached around 728.7 thousand in 2015. The value decreased to 488.6 thousand in 2018 while the tomato exports also fluctuated since 2000 till 2007 and reached its maximum in 2017 with around $1513 /tons. The value showed a fluctuating trend where it reached around $1169/ton. The Saudi market dominated the market with around 37.16% of total Egyptian tomatoes exports. whether fresh or frozen. The paper also shows that the export competitiveness index for tomatoes during the mentioned period is above unity which means there is clear export competitiveness in global markets. The average index value reached around 1.33. which means that this crop is one of the very important crops that efficiently competes in the global markets.The paper finally shows the penetration parameter is weak and that there is minimal increase in this indicator. This means that there is a possibility to increase exported quantities from tomatoes through studying the reasons behind the fluctuations and design some policies and export mechanisms that can improve export competitiveness and penetration rates.

Calendulais one of the basic plants of ornamentals. It is used in various purposes as cut flowers and in gardens. They are rich with active compounds such as chlorophyll a and b, phenols, flavonoid, and carotenoids. The present study focused on mutation induction in order to improve the morphology of the plant which can increase the turnout of its market. In order to examine which mutagen will make the most noticeable and permanent improvement of the plant. For the mutagens, seeds were treated with three doses of gamma ray (2500, 5000, 7000Gy) and two chemical mutagens; colchicine and EMS; which were applied at concentrations of 1000, 3000, and 10000 ppm. With the aim to measure the plant improvement, we measured the plant morphology, its active compounds and protein profiling before and after treatments with both γ-radiation and chemical mutagen to see which one has the most effective imprint on the plant. The morphological parameters data showed the highest plant high by the two doses; gamma dose of 7000 Gy and EMS concentration 10000 ppm, while the lowest dose of colchicine (1000 ppm) made the most impact on the plant height. As for the highest number of leaves/plant, it was obtained at 5000 Gy and 10000 ppm of EMS, while 1000 ppm of colchicine had the same effect. But the number of flowers/plant was not affected by the gamma radiation and colchicine but increased significantly by 10000 ppm of EMS. Surprise, the flower diameter was not affected by EMS while decreased at 2500 Gy and 3000 ppm of colchicine. Considering the importance of flower shape, all treatments either gamma radiation or chemical mutagens showed noticeable changes. Whereas, the biochemical parameters measuring the active compounds, both Chl-a, Chl-b and carotenoids contents increased at 5000 Gy, while flavonoid increased at 2500 Gy. Although, all doses of gamma ray eliminated the phenols content. While the lowest used concentration of colchicine (1000 ppm) increased both of Chl-a, Chl-b, flavonoid and carotenoids, even though the 10000 ppm of colchicine increased the phenol. On the other hand, the highest concentration of EMS (10000 ppm) increased Chl-a and Chl-b while carotenoids, flavonoid and phenol increased at 3000 ppm of EMS. The protein-profile analysis showed fluctuation in the gene expression. The highest performance appeared at 7000 Gy of gamma treatment,1000 -3000 ppm of colchicine, while the same result was obtained by EMS at 3000 ppm.

تعتبرصناعة الدواجن وخاصة تربیة البط من أحد الصناعات الزراعیة الهامة فى جمهوریة مصر العربیة ککل وبمحافظة الشرقیة بشکل خاص نظرا لترکز صناعة البط فى محافظة الشرقیة. لذا یهدف البحث الى دراسة الملامح الرئیسیة لصناعة انتاج البط فى محافظة الشرقیة بصفة خاصة. کما استهدف دراسة اقتصادیات هذه الصناعة بتقدیر دوال الانتاج. وحصر أهم المشاکل والمعوقات التى تواجه التوسع فى القطاع الانتاجى للبط. وتمثلت مشکلة البحث فی تقلص فى أعداد تربیة البط وعدم اهتمام معظم المربیین بالمزارع وعدم توفر آلیة واضحة من قبل الدولة للاهتمام بقطاع انتاج البط بالجمهوریة ککل وبمحافظة الشرقیة بشکل خاص بالرغم من الممیزات العدیدة لتربیة البط ومعامل تحویله الغذائى العالى ومقاومته العالیة للأمراض، الأمر الذى دفع بالباحث الى دراسة اقتصادیات بعض المزارع المتخصصة بتربیة البط بالمحافظة، وحصر أهم المشاکل والمعوقات التى تواجه أصحاب هذه المزارع. أعتمدت الدراسة على استخدام أسلوب التحلیل الوصفى والکمى وأسالیب الانحدار البسیط والمتعدد. کما اعتمدت الدراسة علی البیانات الثانویة بمدیریة الزراعة بمحافظة الشرقیة، بالإضافة إلى بیانات أولیة جمعت بواسطة استمارة استبیان. وکانت اهم النتائج:ان اکثر المشاکل الانتاجیة المتعلقة بالکتاکیت، تمثلت فی ارتفاع أسعار الکتاکیت وعدم جودتها وعدم توافر مصدر شراء الکتکوت، بینما المشاکل الانتاجیة المتعلقة بالأعلاف کان أرتفاع أسعارها وعدم تعامل الشرکة مع المربى مباشرة وعدم جودته وسوء التخزین وشراء اعلاف مجهولة المصدر وعدم توافر مصدر شراء العلف، بالاضافة الى المشاکل المتعلقة بالادویة والخدمات البیطریة وتمثلت فی مشکلة ارتفاع اسعار الادویة وعدم وجود الادویة وعدم توافر الاشراف البیطری، هذا بالاضافة الى المشاکل المتعلقة بالعمالة والمتمثلة فی قلة العمالة المدربة وارتفاع الاجر, وهناک مشاکل اخرى مثل مشکلة عدم توافر مصادر الوقود وعدم توافر مصادر الفرشة. کما تبین من دالة الناتج الکلی (Q) أن أهم العناصر الانتاجیة ذات التأثیر المعنوی علی الناتج الکلی للدورة الواحدة من مزارع بط التسمین تتمثل فى کمیة العلیقة المقدمة وعدد العمال وعدد الکتاکیت فی اغلب السعات الانتاجیة.وأوصى البحث بما یلى : 1. العمل على نشر ثقافة التدریب وذلک لتوفیر العمالة الفنیة المدربة.2. توفیر حملات توعیة بیطریة , وتوفیر أمصال ولقحات فعالة.3. توفیر الأعلاف باسعار مناسبة.

Land degradation is a global environmental issue, given the various negative impact on socio-economic and ecological implications. It leads to reduced production capacity in addition to soil erosion, physical /chemical /biological /economic land deterioration, and long-term loss (or degradation) of vegetation. When a severe deterioration in drought areas called the process of desertification i.e. arid, dry sub-humid and semi-arid areas. Desertification processes reduces the productivity of the soil and as a result effect on food stocks. The main objective of this study is integrating remote sensing data and a geographic information system (GIS) to evaluate the environmental sensitivity for desertification in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt based on the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) approach. The collected soil data; from description of represented soil profiles and analysis of soil samples, in addition to climate, plant cover, and management data were considered for assessing the sensitivity of desertification. The obtained results showed that 10.4 % of Wadi El Natrun area is considered severe sensitivity to desertification as a result of alkalinity and salinity, while the moderately sensitive area occupies approximately 10.93 % of the study area. The low sensitive one exhibits 76.3 %. This area is described by high soil quality because of the study area is one of the new development areas which were not affected by the factors of desertification. It can be concluded that the desert extension of El-Beheira Governorate (i.e. Wadi El Rayan) is one of the areas that possess valuable land resources which should be considered for future land reclamation projects. Similar international studies are recommended to be achieved with the use of multi-criteria GIS modeling (i.e. MEDALUS) which considered all relevant factors in the form of thematic layers for easier implementation and assessments. Present study represents one of the initial attempts to use the MEDALUS model for desertification assessment in the desert extension of El-Beheira Governorate.