The main objective of this investigation was carried out to study the ability of utilizing greenhouse solar dryers for drying of corn in order to obtain the best quality of dried grains for using it as seeds with the least drying time, and comparing with the natural sun drying method. Thus, contributing to increase the productivity. Corn cv. (Giza 168) was used for the experimental work at initial moisture content of 31.73% on dry basis (d.b). Two different drying methods of corn were tested for drying of ear and shelled corn. The two methods were natural sun drying and solar drying using greenhouse type solar dryers at different air velocities (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m/s). The experiments were carried out in rice mechanization center at Meet El- Dyba, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt during September 2016.   Experiment included the flowing variables   Two different drying methods (Solar drying method using greenhouse type solar dryer and natural sun drying method). Two different conditions of corn (complete ear-shelled corn). Three different air velocity (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m/s). High moisture ear and shelled corn was dried by using solar energy for heating air inside a greenhouse and compared with natural sun drying method. The results of quality tests that included standard germination test, vigor test and tetrazolium test for both drying methods for ear and shelled corn recorded high percentages for all treatments except solar drying of ear corn at air velocities 0.5 and 1.0 m/s. The average air temperature inside the solar dryer at air velocities 0.5 and 1.0 m/s reached to 43.9 and 42.4 ˚C respectively. High temperatures killed the germ of corn so the quality tests were reduced. Germination percentage of natural sun dried ear corn was 97 % and for solar dried samples at air velocities 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m/s was 79, 81, and 89%, respectively. The corresponding values for shelled corn were 93, 97 and 98 %.and 95 % for natural sun dried ones. The vigor test of dried ear corn recorded 90 for natural sun drying method and 34, 45, and 66% for solar drying at air velocities of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m/s, respectively. The corresponding values for shelled corn were 86, 96 and 97% respectively, and 82 for natural sun dried samples. The recorded drying times were 26, 24 and 28 hours to reduce the moisture content from an initial level of 31.73 to final level of 14.07% (d.b.) for ear corn and for shelled corn were 20, 16 and 24 hours to reduce the moisture content from an initial level of an initial level of 31.73 to final level of 14.07% (d.b.) for ear corn and for shelled corn were 20, 16 and 24 hours to reduce the moisture content from an initial level of 27.23% to 14.12% compared with 46 and 38 hours for ear and shelled corn dried by natural sun drying method. Hourly costs of ear corn drying were 0.95, 0.88, 1.00 and 1.03 L.E/ kg for solar drying at air velocities 0.5, 1.0 , 1.5m/s and natural sun drying respectively. The corresponding values for shelled corn were 0.74, 0.58, 0.89 and 0.96 L.E/ kg.

This study was carried out at the nursery of Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shames University during two seasons of 2015 and 2016 to study the effect of sowing medium and fertilization rates on vegetative growth and chemical composition of Swietenia macrophylla seedlings. Three different sowing media were used i.e., S M1= perlite: peat moss: compost (1:1:1), SM2 = perlite: peat moss: compost (1:2:1) and SM3 = perlite: peat moss: compost (1:1:2) (v/v). Also, four fertilization rates were used as follow: without fertilizer (control), 5, 10 and 15 g /plant of hydrocomplex fertilizer .The following data were recorded, stem length (cm), stem diameter (cm), number of leaves / plant, leaf area (cm2) and total fresh and dry biomass (gm). Moreover, chlorophyll a & b leaves contents (mg/g FW.), total carbohydrate content (mg/g DW), nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content in leaves (% D.W.) were determined. Regarding the effect of sowing medium, the obtained results showed that, using sowing medium which content the highest percentage of compost (1:1:2) significantly increased stem length, stem diameter, number of leaves/ plant, leaf area, total fresh and dry biomass, total carbohydrate content and potassium leaves content in comparison the other growing medium while, the differences were insignificant in chlorophyll a & b, nitrogen and phosphorus leaves content. Concerning the effect of fertilization rates, using fertilization at the rate of 15g/plant caused significantly increased stem length, stem diameter , number of leaves / plant, leaf area, total fresh and dry biomass, chlorophyll a & b content, total carbohydrate  content, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium leaves content in comparison the other fertilization rates with the exception of leaf area, chlorophyll  a , phosphorus  and  potassium leaves content at the rate of 10g/plant in the second seasons only. As for the interaction between sowing medium and fertilization rates, In general, application of growing medium which contain thehigh ratio of compost (1:1:2) was superior in all  tested characteristics followed by which contain the high ratio of peat moss (1:2:1)at 15 gm fertilizationas compared to the other treatments.

Composting technique is considered as one of the environmentlly friendly methods used for recycling the excess residues of rice straw ( RS) and solving the environmental problems of olive pomace (OP) by-product of the olive oil industry. For this purpose, three compost piles were made from mainly rice straw, different ratios of olive pomace and some agricultural wastes viz. tomato hallum, banana residues and farmyard manure to evaluate the stability and maturity of composted materials during 90-day composting period. The first pile (A) was made of 60% RS+10% OP+10% tomato hallum+10% banana residues+10% farmyard manure, the second pile (B) wase made of 50% RS +20% OP+10% tomato hallum+ 10% banana residues+ 10% farmyard manure while the  third pile (C) was made from 40% RS + 30% OP10% tomato hallum+ 10% banana residues+ 10% farmyard manure. Representative compost samples were taken after 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 days of the composting process. The results revealed that slight increase in temperature occurred through the first 2-3 days of composting to reach  the maximum values at 30 days of composting (thermophilic stage). All the composts showed a more pronounced increase in pH, EC, bulk density and total nitrogen, while total organic carbon significantly declined with composting progress. Consequentially, the C/N ratios became narrowed during composting process where they reached 18.80 for pile C. At maturity stage, the greatest values of humification parameters (Humification index, Humification degree and Humification rate) were obtained by pile C followed by pile B. Meanwhile, the ratio of  NH4+/NO3- as an indicator to nitrification process, Extinction coefficient (E4/E6) as well as CO2 rate decreased gradually to reach the minimum values. Finally, the highest values of germination index (92.22 and 95.39%) were achieved with pile C for cress and barley seeds, respectively

The current study was aim to remediate olive mill waste water (OMWW) to reduce its phenol content and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) using fungal isolates. OMWW samples were drawn from the outlet of olive presser at Agriculture Research center, Egypt and characterized. Inoculating 25% diluted waste sample on Potato dextrose agar plates, incubated for 2 weeks at 25oC, resulted in 8 fungal isolates, of which isolate 5 was selected based on its capabilities to degrade phenol and reduce COD, compared to the rest of the obtained isolates. Comparison was conducted between the selected isolate and the fungus Pleurotus columbinus as a reference to test their potencies to degrade phenol and reduce COD in OMWW at concentrations from 100 to 10% over 4 weeks and results showed low degradability and weak tolerance of the two organisms at concentrations from 50 to 100%, while at 40, 30, 20 and 10%, phenol degradation and COD reduction over the 4 weeks treatment were more obvious. At all concentrations P. columbinus showed better competency for phenol degradation and COD reduction than isolate 5. Decolorization and growth of the two organisms were investigated in OMWW at 40 to 10% concentrations. P. columbinus, again, showed better competency over isolate 5 where it 79 and 49% of the color were removed after 4 weeks by P. columbinus and isolate 5, respectively. Total carbohydrate was also determined in the treated OMWW over 4 weeks and results showed it decreased from 6.05 to 5.2g/L in 40% OMWW and from 4.27 to 3.6 g/L in 30% OMWW, while it increased from 3.1 to 4.37g/L in 20% OMWW and from 1.46 to 3.9 g/L in 10% OMWW. Finally, the presence of indol acetic acid and gibberellins in 20 and 10% OMWW was tested as affect by the treatment with P. columbinus over the period of 4 weeks.Results showed that, after 4 weeks, IAA content decreased from 29.4 to 23.25 µg/ml in 20% OMWW, and slightly from 15.6 to 13,15 µg/ml in 10% OMWW. For gibberellins, the change after 4 weeks in 20% OMWW was not significant, that it decreased from 1.36 to 1.25mg, while it increased from 0.667 to 1.58 mg/ml in 10% waste in the same period. It can be concluded that remediating OMWW with P. columbinus can achieve a better results and the treated waste may be suitable for irrigation of crops.

ones are the most dominant in the new reclaimed areas in Egypt. The main production constraints of this type  of  soil  are  low in organic carbon,  porosity,  stable aggregates, water retention capacity, and biological  activities. Agriculture soil should have not only a good structure but also a good structure which can persist for a long time (e.g., a structure of high quality and stability). Soil aggregates are structural units of soil, which create complex pore systems controlling gas and water storage and fluxes in soil. Formation and stability of natural soil aggregates are affected by dozens of different factors and their individual effects are hardly distinguishable. Therefore, to observe more clear the mechanisms governing their water and mechanical stability, it was found necessary to  study soil  aggregates. In that sence, some studies showed encouraging findings of increasing soil stable aggregates due to using different soil conditioners. The objective of this work is to assess some extracellular polysaccharides biopolymers, i.e., Dextran, Alginate, Xanthan, Pullulan, and Curdlan, which were produced in our laboratory under the most suitable production conditions, to test their effects on the physical proprerties of soil taken   from Toshka region at Aswan Governorate of Egypt. Data showed that soil porosity and MWDwet values have significant differences between all treatments and control under un-leaching processes. On the Other hand, in leaching processes, significant differences between all treatments and control were observed except in some treatments that using lower ratios of Pullulan and Curdlan biopolymers (i. e. 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8%). Generally, the beneficial order of enhancement of aggregate stability was obtained with Dextran, followed by Alginate, Xanthan, Pullulan, and Curdlan.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the beneficial effects of corn silk powder addition to   chicks diets containing poultry slaughter houses by- products (SH). A total number of 120 chicks were divided into five experimental groups of 24 chicks each in three replicates of 8 chicks. The first group was fed the basal control diet, the second and third groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 3 and 6% of SH, while the fourth group was fed the basal diet supplied with 6% SH plus 1.5% corn silk powder (CSP) and the fifth group was fed the basal diet with 1.5% corn silk powder. Live body weight and some blood parameters were recorded. Liver sections were examined to detect any histopathological signs of hepatic damage. Results showed that malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were significantly decreased in CSP treatment groups compared with the control un - supplemented group. The level of alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) were significantly increased in the SH–fed   chicken especially for those fed the 6% SH– supplemented diet, but the SP addition improved these parameters. Blood urea and creatinine were not significantly affected by different treatments. Live body weight and body weight gain were significantly increased as a result of CSP addition to diets. Dietary inclusion of 6% SH by-products caused deleterious effects on liver histology including disruption in the arrangement of hepatocytes, dilation of the portal vein accompanied by the presence of many necrotic and cirrhotic areas, but CSP addition to chicken diet enhances liver histological structure. It is concluded that CSP addition to broiler chicks diet could improve the productive performance of chicks and protect their organs from the deleterious effect of by – products SH contamination.

Pots experiment was conducted in the experimental farm of Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams Univ. during the seasons of 2015 and 2016 to investigate the effect of grafting on salt tolerance of watermelon plants. Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus, Hybrid F1) Aswan1 was grafted onto the rootstock of Flexifort pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima x C. moschata) and irrigated with four different concentrations of NaCl (0.0, 2000, 4000, 6000 ppm). Two samples were taken at  20 and 40 days after planting (DAP). Plant height, leaf numbers and area, branches number, root length, and shoot and root fresh and dry weights were negitavly affected by salinity in ungrafted plants and this effect was directly proportional to NaCl concentrations. On the contrary, grafting positively affected the aforementioned parameters and minimized the harmful effect of salinity. Furthermore, grafted plants showed higher growth vigor comparing with ungrafted control plants or plants received the same treatment of NaCl and these effects were mostly siginificant. An increase in membrane permeability (MP) was detected at 20 and 40 DAP by application of different levels of NaCl salinity and this effect was positively correlated with NaCl concentration. Grafted plants showed decreasing in MP with 12.7% higher LRWC than ungrafted plants. Under 2000, 4000, 6000 NaCl ppm salinity levels, the values of salt injury index recorded 15.1, 26.5 and 37.5 in ungrafted plants at 20 DAP comparing with 0.0, 6.9 and 12.9 in grafted ones.

Azolla pinnata is a small aquatic fern which considered as a multipurpose organism. It isused in bioremediation to remove heavy metals from polluted draining waters. In view of its potentiality, Azolla pinnata were tested for their growth on different media (Yoshida, peat moss, and Soil media) to select the best medium for the growth of Azolla. Then the best medium was examined for the potentiality of Azolla to withstand a different concentration of different heavy metals. Yoshida medium was the most suitable medium, as it recorded the highest significant records in fresh and dry weight, being 25.38 and 1.69 g/ pot respectively, the doubling time was 5.43 days, NPK% being 3.87, 0.85 and 1.95% respectively and nitrogenase activity being 14.32 μmol C2H4/ g dry weight. / hr). The fresh and dry weight of Azolla exposed to Pb+2,Co+2 or Cu+2, was found to be increased by increasing the concentration of the metals from 5 to 35 ppm/liter, then they decreased when the fern exposed to 45 ppm/liter for all of them. While, doubling time decreased gradually by increasing the concentration of Pb+2 , Co+2  orCu+2 from 5 to 35 ppm/liter and started to increase by increasing the concentration of Pb+2 to 45 ppm/liter in the medium.

The cropping pattern considers how to use the available agriculture resources from land, water, farmers ,capital and information technology. Thus the main objective of this study determines the optimum cropping pattern that will maximize net return and maximize net return of irrigation water . To achieve the main objective of this study the method of  Goal programming .has used .The results of research shown that: The available area was about 14.63 million Fadden has been fully used , The model maximize the total net return of the current crop in A.R.E.it estimated from 68.51 to 69.17 billion pound annually which increase about 0.66 billion pound which represent 1% from the current crops. While the total quantity of requirement water decrease from 61.19 to 58.95  billion cubic meter ,which decrease about 2.24 billion cubic meter which represent 3.66% of the current quantity of water. While the net return irrigation water for crops increasing from 1.12 to 1.17 pound /cubic meter which increase about 0.054 pound /cubic meter that represent 4.83% of the current net return irrigation water

Hydroponics is one of the modern agricultural techniques which applied in many European countries and a few number of Arab countries especially Arabian Gulf countries. Hydroponics comes as one of the alternatives proposed in Egypt to reduce the deficit in food balance and increase the self-sufficiency ratio for many strategic food crops such as wheat and maize. These alternatives based on applying the technique of hydroponics in green houses in the new land to produce the same production of vegetables which obtained from the old cultivated area.   The research aims mainly at -      Evaluating the project of hydroponics financially (for one hundred green houses, fifty for tomatoes and fifty for cucumber) as well as analyzing its sensitivity. -      Studying the economic impact of converting the use of 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% of vegetables cultivated area in the old agricultural land after redirecting it to produce wheat and maize. The results of financial and sensitivity analysis of the hydroponics project for cucumber and tomatoes indicated the feasibility of the project and recommended to adopt it in the following three cases: The original financial analysis before analyzing of project sensitivity. The financial analysis under condition of increase the production cost by 10% than the original financial analysis. The financial analysis under condition of increase the lending interest rate by 20% than the prevailing rate during the study (16%). The results showed also that the redirect of 100% of the area cultivated by vegetables in the old agricultural land to produce wheat and maize will result in achieving the highest increase in the self-sufficiency ratio for both crops to reach about 57%, 58% respectively, as well as reducing the yearly consumption of irrigation water by about 69 million m3/year than before. The results estimated the increase in self-sufficiency ratio of wheat and maize which will be achieved through applying the proposal of fourth alternative (redirecting of 25% of the area cultivated by vegetables in the old agricultural land to produce wheat and maize) by about 55%, 54% respectively, while it will reduce water consumption for irrigation by about 17 million m3/year than it was found in the old cropping pattern. Therefore results of fourth proposal are the lowest among other alternatives. The main recommendations of the research could be summarized as follows: -      Studying technically and economically the potential of applying hydroponics technique at the national level (farms of agricultural colleges and research centers). -      Preparing detailed studies for discussing the benefits, costs and risks resulting from applying the hydroponics technique. -      Preparing technical and economic detailed studies to investigate the possibility of adopting new cropping pattern in the old Agricultural land, through redirecting the area cultivated by vegetables to produce wheat and maize, while the old agricultural land  production of vegetables could be compensated through applying the technique of hydroponics in the green houses in the new land.