Different formulations of pepper mint oil, i.e. bulk, nano-emulsion and nano-encapsulation were evaluated against 2nd and 4th instar larvae of the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.). Their effects on enzymatic activities and bionomics were also investigated. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) showed that the mean particle size of the prepared nano-emulsion ranged between 20-90nm. The encapsulation efficiency and loaded capacity percentages exhibited that distilled H2O was more suitable than ethanol in preparation of nano-encapsulation particles. Bioassay treatments showed LC50's on 2nd instars larvae were 70.59, 12.23 and 21.72 ppm for pepper mint oil, pepper mint nano-emulsion and loaded nanoemulsion, respectively. While on 4th instars these values were 80.47, 26.14 and 67.69 ppm, respectively. LC90's on 2nd instars were 104.75, 33.97 and 30.14 for pepper mint oil, pepper mint nanoemulsion and loaded nano-emulsion, respectively. While on 4th instars these values were 177.66, 71.37 and 102.29 ppm. Toxicity index and relative potency proved that nano-emulsion was more effective than loaded nano-emulsion, while the bulk preparation was the least effective one. Results of enzymatic activities showed marked effects of the three formulations of mint oil, significant inhibitions  were recorded for amylase, invertase, trehalase, protease and alkaline phosphatase, while significant increase in activities of cuticle phenoloxidase and chitinase. Effects of adding the three formulations to artificial diet of 2nd instar showed significant effects of the insect bionomics. Larvae durations, percentage mortalities, were increased as well as larval malformations. Also, pupal duration, percentage pupal mortality and pupal malformation were increased, while pupal weight was decreased. Adults longevity showed insignificant effects, while female fecundity and egg % fertility showed significant responce.

Direct-fed microbials (DFM) feed additives have been shown to improve average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency in ruminant animals in many studies. So, this study aimed to evaluate effect of using fungal and bacterial DFM and their mixture on productive performance of growing lambs. Thirty-two Barkey lambs (3 months old, 22.31± 1.57 kg) were randomly assigned into four groups, 8 lambs of each according to live body weight. The first group (control) was fed control rations without DFM supplementation, while treated groups (Fungal DFM, Bacterial DFM and Mixed DFM) were fed the control ration plus 2.5 g fungal, bacterial or mixed (1:1) DFM; respectively. Results showed that groups fed ration supplemented with DFM (fungal, bacterial and mixed) recorded higher DM, TDN and digestible CP intake. Supplementation of lambs ration with DFM (fungal, bacterial and mixed) showed not significant (P>0.05) effects on rumen liquor TVFA's and ammonia concentration at 0, 3 and 6 hrs post feeding. While DFM supplemented rations showed significant higher rumen liquor pH at 0, 3 and 6 hrs after feeding compared to the control group. Numerically increase was recorded in cellulose activity as unit per ml rumen liquor for groups fed ration supplemented with bacterial and mixed DFM. Direct fed microbial supplementation significantly (P<0.05) improved nutrients digestibility as dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, crude fiber, nitrogen free extract, neutral  detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) as well as feeding values as TDN and digestible crude protein. Bacterial or mixed DFM supplementation showed numerically increased (P>0.05) in plasma total protein concentration compared to lambs fed ration not supplemented. While albumin, globulin, urea, triglycerides, creatinine ALT and AST, alkaline phosphates activity were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by DFM supplementation. Total gain and ADG were significantly increased (P≤0.05) for groups received rations supplemented with DFM compared to control group. Also DFM supplementation significantly (P≤0.05) improved feed conversion as DM, TDN, CP and DCP compared to the control group. It could be concluded that supplementing lambs ration with fungal, bacterial or mixed DFM improved feed intake, digestibility, average daily gain and feed conversion without any adverse effects on animal health and performance.

he problem of research was the low level of the local production capacity of plant oils with the increasing of Consumption requirement so the research aimed to find a way to cover the gap of oil crops.    The main findings of the research are as  follows    - The area of oil crops decreased from about 1160 thousand feddans for the year 2001 to about 697 thousand feddans at the end of the first period by half, in addition to the continued decrease of cultivated areas of oil crops from about 718 thousand feddans in 2009 the beginning of the second period to about 470 thousand feddans in 2016 Second period of study. It was found that the area cultivated during the period (2001-2016) took a general decreasing trend and a statistical significance of about 49.33 thousand feddans annually, with a yearly average of about 5.96% of the total area of about 827 thousand feddans. - Peanuts, rice, maize and cotton are among the most important crops competing to soybeans and sunflowers in terms of the profitability of the invested Egyptian pound, which led farmers to refrain from growing soybean and sunflowers crops.  The statistical estimate of the supply response function of soybeans indicates that the most important factors affecting the cultivated area in the current year depend on the net revenue in the pre vious year. The increase of one pound increases the cultivated area of the crop in the following year by about 6 feddans in the following year. It is also shown that the cultivated area in the current year of soybean crop is directly proportional to the cultivated area of the previous year. On the other hand, area under cultivation is affected by soybean revenue in the current year, in turn, by increasing the net revenue of maize crop. The increase of one pound is due to the shortage of cultivated area of soybeans in the following year by about 4 feddans in the following year. This is consistent with the economic logic. - As for the estimation of the response function of sunflower crop, it was found that the most important factors affecting the cultivated area in the current year depend on the net revenue in the previous year, increasing it by one  Egyptian pound will increase the cultivated area of the crop in the following year by about one feddan. While the cultivated area with sunflower crop in the current year is adversely affected by the increase in the net revenue of maize and peanut. The increase of one pound is due to the shortage of cultivated area of the sunflower in the following year by about 7 feddan, 2 feddan in the following year respectively.  The correlation between the strength of imports as a dependent variable and both the local production and size of the oil gap during the period 2001-2016 shows that there is a significant inverse relationship between the strength of imports and total domestic production. This is consistent with economic logic. Size of the gap is positive and morally significant. Size of the gap is 1,000 tons, which increases the import force by about 0.24%.An Economic study of the production and imports situation for some oil crops in Egypt             Arab Univ. J. Agric. Sci., Special Issue, 26(2C), 2018   In the light of the obtained findings of the research, it is possible to recommend the following points: 1. Apply the contracting farming between farmers for the purchase of oily crops with the predetermined guarantee price for oil crops by the Ministry of Agriculture to cover production costs and achieve a profitable profit margin, encouraging farmers to expand the cultivation of these crops.  2. The need to increase the cultivated area of soybean and sunflowers crops in the new lands away from the competitive summer crops in the old lands. Besides intercropping these tow mentioned crops among the main crops. 3. Improve the competitiveness of soybeans and sunflowers crops with competitive crops, which can be achieved by providing producers with a high yield varieties and new hybrids.

The present work was conducted to study the effect of red palm oil (RPO) and super red palm olien (SRPOL) on the nutritional parameters of rats suffering from hypercholesterolemic. The vitamins (E, A, D and K) and β carotene were determinate by HPLC and indicated that RPO and SRPOL are considered the richest vegetable oils of antioxidant specially α- tocopherol and β carotene. Thirty male rats weighting approximately 210 grams were divided into five groups, each group containing six rats. Group G1 fed on basal diet as a control negative group. Group G2 fed on basal diets containing 2% of cholesterol as a control positive group and the other groups G3, G4 and G5 fed on the same diet used in group G2, yet the corn oil was replaced by RPO in G3 and SRPOL in G4, Meanwhile, group G5 was fed on the same diet used in group G2 and supplemented with a drug contained Lipitor Atorvastatin (20 mg/Kg BW rat daily by stomach tube). Concerning biological evaluation all the studied dietary oils compared to positive control group caused an decreases in serum LDL-c and TC and significantly increased HDL-c over the feeding period of experimental rat groups, thereby decreased the TC/HDL-c and LDL-c/HDL-c ratios. Aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) enzymes and albumin in rats serum were generally decreased by RPO, SRPOL and drug Lipitor compared to positive control group.     Also urea, creatnine and uric acid levels in rats serum were significantly decreased by the studied oils and drug. However, a significant increment in the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPXs), catalase and total antioxidant were observed in blood of hypercholesterolemic rats treated with RPO, SRPOL and drug. As such, the treated groups showed a significant decrement in malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma.

The study aimed at maximizing the utilization of rice straw and the economic return of rice straw recycling, leading to an increase in the economic return of the farms, which in turn leads to increaseing the added value of the agricultural sector on the one hand, and preserving the environment on the other hand. Rice straw, due to the increase in plant waste year after year, and the decrease in environmental awareness among the majority of farmers. The study was conducted at the level of Sharkia governorate and through the geographical distribution of rice straw at the level of the Sharkia centers. About 10.3% of the average production of Sharkia Governorate during the study period. The study relied on the first two sources in the preliminary data obtained from the questionnaire form.    The second source was the published secondary data published by the research authorities in the process of recycling agricultural waste. Eightyfive percent of the study sample had an idea of recycling. The largest source of their knowledge is the role of the agricultural association and the agricultural supervisor, and the farmers' proposals for tobacco The number of straws on the eastern level was estimated at 49.7 thousand pounds. If they were recycled, they would achieve a material return of 24 million pounds, and the amount of hay at the level of the republic was estimated at 2.91 million tons. In addition, it was found that the center of Zagazig ranked first in terms of the amount of rice straw burned in the governorate (the most needy centers are aware of the pollution of the environment, which increases the risk that it is considered the highest place Population density in Sharkia governorate.

Irrigation, water management under climate change conditions plays an important role in rationalizing water uses efficiency in the agricultural development processes specially under aridecosystems conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate the irrigation water requirement of savings landscaping areas under different recent techniques. So, this study focused on comparison between fully automatic with central control system (C.C.S) based on weather station and Control unit based on operator experience and background. The experiments were conducted during two years (from January 2014 to December 2015), in the site that located in District 5, New Cairo, Cairo, Egypt.  The results indicated the irrigation scheduling based on weather station data using a central control system (C.C.S) optimized maximize the irrigation water use efficiency and increase the amount of irrigation water saving  by about  14%, 36%,18% and 33% in Autumn, Winter ,spring and summer  respectively  in year of  (2014) and 7%, 29.7%, 16%, 33% in Autumn, Winter, spring and summer,  respectively in year of  (2015) compared with the other irrigation scheduling when based on calculated according to traditional method. In addition,  the results revealed that scheduling practices based on weather station data by using central control system could reduce the average of power consumption (about 314 KW) in year of (2014) and (about 347 KW) in year of  (2015).  Moreover ,the results revealed that the cost of water consumption for the central control system based on the data of the meteorological station for the two years 2014 and 2015, the years of study  were 018601 L.E./ 2 years compared with the other irrigation schedule when calculated according to the operator's experience was 010101 L.E./ 2  years. Where the cost of 36172, 13603, 23393 and 33642  L.E./ 2 years in the winter ,spring, summer, autumn and respectively of the central control system and 39600, 17068, 28820 and 45522  L.E./ 2  years in the winter, spring, summer, autumn respectively of the other system.

field experiment was conducted in newly reclaimed sand soil to find out the most efficient combination between irrigation system and deficit irrigation management can be used for date palm trees “Zaghlol cultivar”. Results revealed that the average water requirements of date palm trees gradually increased from 1504, 1279, 1128 and 978 for drip to 2522, 2143, 1891, and 1639 m3/fedSeason for bubbler irrigation system in combination with 100, 85, 75 and 65% deficit irrigation treatments respectively. Data indicated that EC1:5 in dS/m gradually increased with decreasing deficit irrigation levels from 100 to 65% and with increasing soil layer depth to 60-90 cm either in parallel or perpendicular direction of drip or bubbler irrigation lines. While opposite result was observed for soil moisture distribution. Results showed an evident decrease in crop yield as affected by water stress associated with decreasing deficit irrigation treatments from 100 to 85, 75 and 65 % by about 167, 155, 153, 151 for drip and 181.5, 168, 172 and 169 kg/Tree for bubbler irrigation systems. Data revealed that water use efficiency increased from 0.10 for 100 % DI to 0.93, 0.83 and 0.64 m3/kg for 85, 75 and 65 % deficit irrigation under drip and slightly decreased from 0.16 for 100 % DI to 0.14, 0.12 and 0.11 m3/kg for bubbler irrigation systems respectively. It could be concluded that the best method for managing irrigation of date palm trees "Zaghloul cultivar" in the study area is the irrigation using bubbler system with 75% deficit irrigation  treatment. This combination treatment gave acceptable yield of about 172 kg/tree with saving a substantial amount of Irrigation water reached to about 25% (1891 m3/fed or 22 m3/tree) with WUE of about 8.09 kg/m3.

This study aimed at characterizing nutritional packages adoption by the small dairy farmers under crop-livestock production system. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative statistical analysis. A cross-sectional random survey covered a total of 200 farmers located in 4 governorates Sharqia, Monufia, El-Fayoum, and Minya (50 each). The socio-economic analysis indicated that the illiteracy level was higher (42%) in Minya governorate as compared to others. about half of the households (49%) have been working full time in their farms as farmer this means that they earn their living from agriculture. Family labor represented the highest percentage being 88%, 92%, 80%, and 86% for Sharqia, Monufia, El-Fayoum, and Minya respectively. The results further indicated that farmers who used silage, hay, and green forages, have the highest animal numbers, either from indigenous cows, crossbred cows, buffaloes, sheep, goat, and donkey compared to those who do not use the nutritional packages (non-adopters). The highest percentage of dairy, heifer, fattening, and growing for crossbred cows and buffaloes was detected under silage, hay, and untraditional green forages adopters comparable to those detected under non-adopters. Sharqia governorate had the highest number and consequently percentage of animals followed by El-Fayoum governorate. Silage adopters recorded the highest significant (P<0.05) value of daily milk yield (DMY) and total milk yield (TMY) for indigenous cow, crossbred cow and buffalo as compared to non-adopters. Calving interval significantly (P<0.05) increased for all dairy animals (indigenous cows, crossbred cows, and buffaloes) under non-adopters of nutritional packages being 387, 388.57, and 402 days for the aforementioned animals, respectively. Dairy animals reared under the Nile Delta had the highest significant DMY versus those under the Middle Egypt, where it was 4.05, 8.52, and 7.29 kg vs 3.76, 7.74, and 6.48 kg per day for indigenous cows, crossbred cows, and buffaloes, respectively. In conclusion, adopters of nutritional packages had the highest animal percent and recorded the highest productivity compared to non-adopters.

two successive seasons of 2015 and 2016 on Wonderful“ Pomegranates trees grown in sandy soil under drip irrigation system in a private orchard located at Giza governorate, Egypt . Trees were sprayed two times (at fruits size 8-10 mm & Re- spraying at one month later) with  Potassium silicate at (2500 &  5000 ppm) , Boron at(5 &10%) , Kaolin (1 &2% ) , Zinc oxidase (1000 & 2000 ppm) with wrapping as a commercial treatments . Spraying started at July  in the two seasons to improve fruit cracking resistance “Wonderful“ pomegranates  and study their effects upon yield components, physical and chemical fruit properties. Results indicated that the “Wonderful“ pomegranates cultivar had the highest values of fruit weight and the minimum cracking values were obtained by spraying Boron at (5 %) and potassium silicate at (5000 ppm) in both seasons and this treatments gave the maximum values with total yield/tree, /feddan and Marketable yield/tree, /feddan .Meanwhile ,number of arils per fruit ,total soluble solids , total sugar ,total acidity , (arils)/fruit weight was not affected but when trees treated with wrapping, without wrapping and zinc oxidase at (1000 ppm) sprays gave the minimum mentioned above characteristics. However, fruit weight, arils weight, ascorbic acid, anthocyanin and tannins %were increased as influenced by foliar spraying with all treatments in both studied seasons. Therefore, boron at 5 % and Potassium silicate at 5000 ppm treatments could be recommended for improving Wonderfull pomegranate cvs performance in cracking resistance alternative treatments to fruit wrapping under similar conditions of this study.