In the current research, wheat grains were used to study the effect of grain soaking and sprouting using tap water and saline water (NaCl solution) on sprout growth, proximate analysis, minerals content, anti-nutritional and antioxidant compounds of sterilized grains (soaked for 0.33h) and soaked grains for imbibition (12h) and sprouted grain for 24h old. Results revealed that the longest radical of 24h old wheat sprout was observed at 2000 ppm NaCl, and shortest was observed at 4000 ppm NaCl. Soaked wheat grains (12h) for imbibition recorded the highest moisture content (10.2 to 10.9%) while soaked for 20 min (0.33h) in calcium hypochlorite for sterilization recorded medium content (8.8 to 9.9%) and the lowest one recorded in 24h  old wheat sprouts (6.9 to 7.2%). The low moisture content the high total carbohydrate, total fats and energy and vice versa. Soaked grains for sterilization period (0.33 h) and imbibition (12h) increased zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn) and calcium (Ca) while non-sterilized only potassium (K). Tap water increased sprout magnesium (Mg), and manganese (Mn) content while saline water increased sprout magnesium (Mg), and calcium (Ca) content. Grain sprouting was effective in reducing phytic acid, oxalate and alkaloids anti-nutrient in wheat sprouts especially when using sterilized grains. Soaking non sterilized grains for imbibition (12h) in saline water contained higher total phenol, flavonoids and total antioxidant. Etiolated wheat sprouts contained lower total  flavonoids and antioxidant compared with soaked grains in saline water.

Selenium is a trace element essential in animal nutrition and exerts multiple actions related to enhance animal production, fertility, immune response and antioxidant defense system of chickens. The aim of the present study is investigating the benefit effects of selenium nanoparticles (SEN) in-ovo injection on productive performance, express stimulate antioxidant defense system and immune response of hatched chicks.  A total of 210 broiler breeder eggs ( Habbard Star-Bro) were divided into three in-ovo injection treatment groups,( 0, 5 and 10 ppm SEN) and incubated. Hatchability traits , productive performance,  biochemical profile, antioxidant status and immune response of hatched chicks were estimated. Results indicated significant increase in HDLcholesterol, T3, GSR, GSH, IGA, IGM and IGG as affected by in-ovo inoculated SEN levels. However feed conversion ratio, triglycerides and MDA significantly decreased by in-ovo treatments. No significant alternations were recorded in hatched chicks weight, feed intake, body weight, body weight gain, carcass characteristics, and serum levels of protein fractions, cholesterol, LDL- cholesterol, ALT, AST, ALP, uric acid, creatinine and glucose in in-ovo treated groups compared with the control one. It is summarized that, in-ovo inoculation of different levels of SEN can improve feed conversion ratio, lipid profile, antioxidants status and immunity of  broiler hatched chicks.

Plectranthus barbatus Andrew (Coleus forskolii) is one of the important species of the genus Plectranthus (Coleus) belonging to family Lamiaceae, with a many of traditional medicinal uses in India. C. forskolii is only known source of forskolin; a compound with a many uses in pharmaceutical industries. C. forskolii was lack in Egyptian flora. Moreover, there were no previously studies on this plant in Egypt. Therefore, the present study used tool of biotechnology to conserve the stocks of this plant by micropropagation. C. forskolii seedlings came from its native Thailand at June 2013 and were put in the greenhouse in Desert Research Center for creating an efficient micropropagation protocol. The study was carried out on the effect of growth regulators (cytokinins and auxins) on different micropropagation stages of the explants. In multiplication stage, initiated shoots were cultured on MS medium supplemented with various concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/L) of cytokinins (6-benzylaminopurine (BA), Kinetin ( KIN) and Thidiazuron (TDZ). The mean number of axillary shoots per explant of C. forskolii reached the highest value 6.19 ±0.573 on MS medium containing 2.0mg/L TDZ. Where, the highest value of mean length was 6.44± 0.310 cm on MS medium containing 1.0 mg/L KIN. The mean number of roots / explant of C. forskolii reached the highest value and the mean length were 30.00 ± 0.577 and 11.8±0.860 cm respectively, on 1/2 MS medium containing 0.5mg/L indole-3-butyric acid(IBA). While, the highest value of shoot length was 11.8±0.860 cm on 1/2 MS medium containing  2.0mg/L naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). A percentage of 83% of rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized after four weeks and grown normally in the greenhouse in sterile soil mixture of garden soil,  vermiculate and sand (2:1:1/v/v/v). The protocol could be cost effective and useful in germplasm conservation and delivery of tissue cultured Coleus plants.

The Egyptian agriculture relies on technology to develop the productivity of most of the main crops, including cereal crops, especially wheat, which is reflected in increasing of the cultivated area. According to the Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS): Egypt Vision 2030, The cultivated area with wheat had reached about 1326 thousand feddan in 1980, then it continued to increase until it reached about 1955, and2716 thousand feddan in 1990, and 2007 respectively, and reached its maximum in 2016 by about 3351 thousand feddan. Also, the productivity duplicated from about 1.36 tons/fed. in 1980, and reached about 4..2 tones/fed. in 2016. Egypt plans to reach the area cultivated with wheat to approximately 4.2 million feddan and about 3.6 tons/fed of its productivity in 2030, in order to increase Autarky to about 81% from the locally production. To achieve this target, the absorption of technology must be further increased by increasing the different technology methods, which is reflected in productivity increasing. Wheat crop was selected for the field study through the availability of field data to estimate some economic and statistical indicators that are difficult and it may be impossible to use the secondary data in its estimation. Also, The governorate of El-Behaira was selected According to the relative importance of wheat-cultivated area,where as total area is about 378 thousand feddan representing about 11.27% of total Egyptian cultivated area, it also selected according to the availability of different  types of machines which existing in that region. The study aims at estimate the economic efficiency of agricultural labor use in the light of specific modern technology which is used in Egyptian agriculture, represented by agricultural mechanization technology from the production farms of wheat crop in El-Behaira governorate during the agricultural season (2015-2016) in the short and long run of wheat farmers, where a simple random sample was selected from three villages in El-Behaira governorate (Berijat, Damshli, Alqam), The sample units divided three categories: the first category (less than 0.5 feddan), the second category (0.5 feddan - feddan), the third category (feddan and more) Short and long run for each category, in order to estimate some indicators of production and economic efficiency, and economics of scale. The estimation of short-run production function shows that total elasticity is about 1.3, 1.3, and 1.06 for the first, second and third categories of the sample respectively, while total elasticity is about 1.1 in the long-run, which reflecting the increasing returns to scale and farmers are producing in the first phase of the law of diminishing returns. The estimate of the cost functions in the short-run shows that the optimal production is about 14.1, 36.4 and 88.3 ardabb respectively for the three categories in the study sample, and the optimal production is about 47.7 ardabb in the long-run.

The problem of research is the low and low wages in the agricultural sector, which makes it an employment sector, indicating that there is imbalance in the structure of the labor market in the agricultural sector, and thus the current deviation of agricultural employment from the optimum level that achieves economic efficiency, hence the main objective of The research is to assess the equilibrium situation of the labor market in the Egyptian agricultural sector, and determine the most important factors affecting it, through the study of both sides of the demand and supply of agricultural labor through Simultaneous Equations Model. The most important results obtained were:  1 - For the function of demand for agricultural labor: It was found from the estimated equation that the increase in the wages of the agricultural worker by one pound leads to a significant statistical decrease at a significant level of 5% in the demand for agricultural labor by about 135 thousand workers, as shown from the estimated equation Effect of production value Agricultural demand for agricultural employment amounted to about 29.7 thousand workers million workers. The impact of the supply of agricultural labor in the demand for agricultural labor, which reached about 645 thousand workers, was also shown.  2- For the agricultural labor supply function, the estimated equation shows that increasing demand for agricultural labor leads to an increase in the supply of agricultural labor by 1 million and 9,000 workers. It is also shown from the estimated equation that increasing the wage of the agricultural worker by one pound  leads to an increase in the supply of agricultural labor by about 39 thousand workers.  3- As for the equilibrium situation of the labor market in the Egyptian agricultural sector, it was found that the wage of the agricultural worker amounted to about 43.338 thousand pounds / year, ie about 118.73 pounds / day, which is different from the actual situation of the wage of the agricultural worker, which averaged 26.164 thousand pounds / year Ie about 71.68 pounds / day as an average for the last three years. This means that the wage of the worker in the agricultural sector is less than the equivalent of 47.05 pounds per day. In addition, the total number of agricultural workers in the agricultural sector reached about 6.34 million workers, which differs from the actual situation of the supply of agricultural labor which reached 7.780 million workers as an average for the last three years. This means increasing the supply of agricultural labor to the balanced size of agricultural labor by (1.44 million workers), which explains the low wages in the agricultural sector, in order to load the agriculture sector with a larger number of workers than is supposed to be and hence the low wage in the agricultural sector and thus become an employment sector that will negatively affect the attractiveness of investments in the agricultural sector Which represents a sector Wide in the Egyptian economy is not negligible.

he efficiency and biochemical effects of certain insecticides belonging to different groups namely: flubendiamide (diamide), pyridalyl (phenoxy-pyridaloxy), clothianidin (neonicotinoide), fipronil (phenylpyrazole) and spirotetramat (tetramic acid) and pirimiphos-methyl (Ops) were tested against 2nd larval instar of Spodoptera littoralis laboratory strain using dipping technique. The efficacy of the tested insecticides are arranged as follows to LC50 values. The results showed that flubendiamide was the superior toxicant insecticides ( LC50 1.03 ppm) followed by pyridalyl (2.13 ppm) then fipronil (7.42 ppm), clothianidin (26.87ppm), pirimiphos-methyl (76.31 ppm) and spirotetramat (431.91 ppm). Biochemical effects of the tested insecticides on acetylcholine esterase (AChE), glutathione-s-transferases (GST), adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase), phenoloxidase, total calcium, and total protein were determined in the treated larvae. Data showed highest significant increase at AChE activity in treatment of fipronil by change% (70.59), while treatment with pirimiphosmethyl recorded highest significant decrease by change% (-56.41). Whereas, all treatments recorded increase in GST activity except pirimiphosmethyl recorded non significant decrease. All insecticides treatments were showed a decrease in phenoloxidase activity the highest decrease recorded by pirimiphos-methyl treatment by change % (- 53.06). Regarding change percentage of ATPase, activity data recorded significant increase with pirimiphos-methyl treatment by (72.91%).  However, total protein in all treatments showed a significant decrease. On the other hand, treatment with pirimiphos-methyl recorded a significant decrease in total calcium and the corresponding change % was   (- 6.0%). Previous data confirmed the mode of action of the novel tested insecticides.

The effect of prior heat shock on the thermotolerance of Staphylococcus aureus in broth culture and induction of heat shock proteins was investigated. S . aureus cell wall was, also, examined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Specific bacteria were grown at 37°C the optimum temperature (control), sublethally heated at 47, 52, 57 and 60°C for various times, and heat treated at 68°C were done. The estimated average of the D68-values for the control was 4.83 min while for heat shocked treatments ranged from 5.43 to 10.23 min. The current results, also, indicated that 8 - 16 new bands were induced by applying heat shock treatments with molecular weights ranged from 9 to 135 KDa. The induced heat shock proteins further confirmed the increased the thermotolerance. Moreover, selected heat shock treatments caused severe destruction in cell wall (i.e., rupture, irregular and leakage of cell contents), while heat shocked cells after incubating at 37°C for overnight in enriched medium became similar to that of the one’s normal. The enhanced heat resistance of S. aureus should be thought-about in cause of planning effective thermal processes to confirm the microbiological food safety.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of ensiling and /or exogenous fibrolytic enzyme supplementation date press cake using in vitro batch culture technique . Untreated date press cake (DPC) and ensiled DPC with exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (ZAD1 and ZAD2) and with or without adding urea compared to corn grains were in vitro evaluated using batch culture technique. DM, NDF and ADF degradation and total gas production as well as fermentation parameters of the incubated samples were determined after 24 h of fermentation. Total VFAs, proportions are not affected (P > 0.05) by any of the treatments. However, value of ammonia concentration was higher (P < 0.05) with ZAD2+U group and urea group than date press cake (DPC). The pH value was highest (P>0.05) with the ensiling treatments. There were no significant differences in the values of DMD and OMD between the different treatments. But, the values of NDFD and ADFD were increased (P<0.05) in the corn group. Total gas production had no difference (P>0.05) between the corn grain and the DPC without any treatments. While, values of metabolizable protein (MP) and efficiency of microbial biomass production (EMP) were increased (p<0.05) with DPC compared to corn grains . There was no significant difference in the rumen activity when using date press cake (DPC) or corn grains. Moreover, the ensiling process did not cause a clear improvement in rumen fermentation.

Solar water pumping system may be a competitive application for remote and luxurious areas where power costs a lot. One may argue that solar photovoltaic water pumping systems not only comprises an environmentally friendly solution, but also contributes substantially to the satisfaction of remote communities’ water consumption needs. Therefore, the study aimed to manage pump for sprinkler irrigation system operated by solar power in small area of turf. The required hydraulic experiment and measurements were conducted using Direct-coupled photovoltaic pumping system to operating sprinkler irrigation network at the experimental farm of soil and water Research Department, Nuclear Research Center, located at Inshas, Sharkia Governorate, Atomic Energy Authority, Egypt. The essential idea to operate the sprinkler irrigation system and fulfill the water needs of turf area was to use a locally assembled pump-set to match the photovoltaic generator unsteady output. Results indicated that, solar radiation increased during summer (April and July), so the electric power, pump discharge, pressure head, Hydraulic horsepower (hp) and Photovoltaic conversion efficiency are affected as solar radiation changed.    Four mathematical equations has been derived to illustrate the relationship between solar radiation and electric power, pump discharge  pressure head , water hp and Photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PVCE) during the day hours.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) belongs to legumes reducing atmospheric nitrogen symbiotically through Rhizobia Spp. into proteins in a process leaves no carbon footprint. However, chickpea is highly susceptible to viral diseases, which limits productivity. Therefore, the current study is conducted, in two seasons (2015/2016, 2016/2017) to evaluate the symbiotic efficiency of Mesorhizobia in reducing the damage occurs in chickpea if was infected by chickpea yellow mosaic virus (CpYMV). For this aim, One viral (CpYMV) and two Mesorhizobial isolates (MS3All, MS8All) are isolated from open-fields of chickpea plants. Three chickpea experimental lines (F.07-268, F.07-258 and F.0744) and one Egyptian cultivar (Giza195) are dually infected by CpYMV and either of MS3All and MS8All. Then, infected plants are grown in pots in open-air at the cultivation area of the Faculty of Agriculture, Ain-Shams University (Shoubra). The results indicated that the viral infection led to a reduction in the dry weight of root (DWR) and shoot (DWS), the ratio of root-to-shoot (RSR) dry weight, the nodule counts (NN), the photosynthetic pigments and the nitrogen content (N2). Interestingly, the dry weight of nodules (DWN) is significantly increased in dually infected plants. Uniinoculated Chickpea using either of the two isolates of Mesorhizobia showed significant increase in all phenotypic parameters when virus infection is included; except for DWN that decreased com pared to control viral-infected plants but no mesorhizobia. The current study suggests that bacterial inoculation using Mesorhizobia is significantly reduced damaging effects of the virus on chickpea. Moreover, the MS3All isolate is suggested the more effective than MS8All and the experimental chickpea lines F.07-258 and F.07-44 had the highest significant levels of N2 for shoot than F.07-268 and Giza195 lines.