A field experiment was conducted at the exper-imental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shoubra Elkheima, Kalubia governorate, during 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 seasons to study the effects of three sowing dates, i.e., the first of each of September, October and November, and four pinching treatments (pinching the apical head just after appearance, pinching the main head at the marketable stage, pinching the axillary head just after appearance (disbudding) and without pinching) on broccoli plants (Brassica olerasea var Italica), cultivar “Emperor”. Plants were grown in Kaliobia under loamy soil conditions. Plants of the second sowing date (first of October) produced the tallest plants and the highest number of leaves per plant. Plants grown on the first of October plantation, pinching the main head at the marketable stage or the com-bination between them recorded the highest values of number of siliques/ plant, number of seeds/ plant, and seed yield.

Accelerating global warming and water scarcity and improving water use efficiency are considered essential factors for achieving adequate crop development and productivity. Therefore, the authors targeted the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (Ps1) for improving growth, productivity, and water use efficiency of broccoli plants (Brassica olercea L. var. italica, cv. Belstar F1) under various irrigation regimes i.e., 50, 75, and 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc). Two greenhouse experiments were carried out in clayey soil. The combined inoculation of endomycorrhizae and Ps. fluorescens (Ps1) improved water use efficiency and consequently vegetative growth and yield. Under the applied irrigation regime 75% ETc of broccoli inoculated with both endomycorrhizae and Ps. fluorescens (Ps1) showed higher head weight (616 and 647 gram) than those grown under the irrigation regime 75% ETc combined with endomycorrhizae (568 and 559 gram) during the two seasons, respectively. However, a minimum yield value of 149 and 142 grams per plant was recorded for un-inoculated plants grown under 50% irrigation regime during both seasons. In conclusion, the combined inoculation with endomycorrhizae and Ps. fluorescens (Ps1) under irrigation regime 75% ETc was the optimum combination for increasing water stress resistance and broccoli productivity under water scar-city circumstances.

The effect of chitosan and salicylic acid treatments to investigate the seedling growth parameters of Broccoli seed sprouts (Tiburon f1) cultivar was the aim of this study. Salicylic Acid and Chitosan are the )elicitors( that stimulate the sprout, which are divided into Biotic (biological origin), abiotic (chemical or physical origin) elicitors and phytohormones have been applied alone or in combinations, in hydroponic solutions or sprays, and in different selected time points of the sprout growth or during post-harvest. Cumulative time had been completed (harvest time) using tap water, chitosan at 25, 50,100 ppm and salicylic acid at 65,130,260 ppm for seed soaking and sprouting , then precooled and air-dried sprouts were randomly chosen from glass jar (replicate) to collect data of sprout length, hypocotyl length, radical length, dry weight and fresh weight. Also, Samples of harvested 3, 5 and 7 days old etiolated broccoli dried using air draft oven at 65.5C° then grounded into powder for chemical analysis while fresh sprouts and seeds were analyzed for total phenols. However treatment with chitosan at 100 ppm cleared that the moisture, protein, ash, fiber, calcium , potassium, and total phenols of sprouts were increased by 9.63%, 33.73%, 11.80, 11.67%, 336.50 ppm, 196.43 ppm and 66.51mg/100g, respectively. Treated sprouts with salicylic acid at 65 ppm concentrate were also induced an increments on the same constituents reached 9.53%, 33.40%, 11.63, 10.46%, 333.50 ppm, 190.60 ppm and 62.90mg/100g, respectively over control (untreated). Therefore, treated sprouts with chitosan or salicylic acid could be considered as useful tool for improving the growth characters and bioactive metabolites of Broccoli seed sprouts For their Production of anti-cancer materials, As well secondary metabolic pathways respond to specific treatments with elicitors would be the basis for to enhance the production of secondary metabolites, in order to produce quality and healthy fresh foods

This study was conducted to demonstrate the effect of feeding on defatted soy bean and flaxseed flour as protein and phytoestrogen sources; broccoli and red cabbage as antioxidant sources; in addition to skimmed milk powder as a calcium source in prevention of bone loss and cell damage that usually accompanies aging process. Raw materials were subjected to proximate analysis and biologically evaluation on ninety six 4 month aged female albino rats. Eight rats were regarded as an initial group. Other eight rats were hold as a normal negative control group and fed on a basal diet. The remaining rats were ovariectomized and fed on low calcium diet for 8 weeks to produce osteoporosis model. Osteoporotic rats were divided into 9 groups (each of 8 rats) fed on standard diet supplemented with: I) soy bean flour, II) soy bean flour and broccoli, III) soy bean flour and red cabbage, IV) soy bean flour and mixture of broccoli and red cabbage, V) defatted flaxseed, VI) defatted flaxseed and broccoli, VII) defatted flaxseed and red cabbage, VIII) defeated flaxseed and mixture of broccoli and red cabbage. Skimmed milk powder and vitamin D were added to the diet of each tested group. One group was kept as a positive control and fed on a standard diet. The results showed a decreases in body weight, changes in relative weight of kidney and liver organs, physical properties of bone, also decreases in serum and bone minerals including; calcium, magnesium and phosphorus in osteoporotic model .A decreasing in estradiol and increasing in parathyroid hormone as a bone marker were also found. Results observed in tested groups showed that the highest recovery for the parameters were found in group IV which fed on standard diet supplemented with soy bean flour and mixture of broccoli and red cabbage followed by group VIII which fed on standard diet supplemented with defatted flaxseed and a mixture of broccoli and red cabbage. Therefore, it could be concluded that the aforementioned mixtures may be a promising sources to produce a functional food for prevention of bone loss and cell damage.

s of broccoli using steam or immersion in hot water as traditional technology and storage conditions by either canning or freezing on the content of compounds with antioxidant properties, i.e. vitamin C, carotenoids, chlorophyll, polyphenol and flavonoid compounds parameters was investigated. Results show that the content of carotenoids was 11.41µg/g while the content of chlorophyll A and chlorophyll B was 30.66 and 9.79µg/g, respectively. The content of both carotenoids and total chlorophyll were decreased after being treated prior to different period storage for 3 and 6 month. Fresh broccoli had 40.45µg/g total chlorophyll this content decreased more significantly for the control (fresh broccoli) than for treated and different storage samples. The content of vitamin C was 124.24 mg/100g. Frozen broccoli after blanching by steam and immersion in hot water at 0 times decreased the percent of ascorbic to 83.85 and 75.89%, respectively.  Jarred and canned broccoli with dill, coriander and parsley additives showed decrease in ascorbic acid to 45.98 and 40.55% meanwhile, jarred and canned broccoli without additives decreased ascorbic acid to 43.34 and 39.01%, respectively. Total polyphenols and flavonoids were 276.82 and 7.64 mg/100g on fresh weight. These contents were decreased after processing and different storage conditions. The present of antioxidant activity in fresh broccoli was 75.50%. The degradation of antioxidant activity was increased after 6 month period. The highest degradation observed with canned broccoli without additive while the lowest degradation showed with frozen broccoli blanched by steam which the percents of total antioxidant activities were14.84 and 29.65 %, respectively. The content of ferrous and zinc was 6.4 and 3.9 mg/100g on dry weight. Ferrous increased to 7.0 and 8.4 mg/100g with Jarred with dill, coriander and parsley additives and storage for 3 and 6 month broccoli and to 9.3 and 8.7 mg/100g with canned broccoli with dill, coriander and parsley additives.