Glyphosate (GLY) and glufosinate-ammonium (GLUA) are broad-spectrum, non-selective, contact herbicides that are commonly used in fruit farms Achieving the separation and detection of glyphosate and glufosinate from soil samples by chromatography is a challenging task as they are ionic and highly water-soluble compounds. The aim of this study is conducted to determine the dissipation of GLY and GLUA applied at two dose levels in three-depth soils of orange orchards. The residues of GLY and GLUA were determined by the HPLC-UV detector. The residual detection limits of GLY and GLUA of the method were 0.03 and 0.05 ng/g in soil respectively. The obtained data indicated that GLY persistent in the soil is very short, only for 7 days, following applications of 1 to 2 kg/fed in the orange crop. GLUA dissipated in soil within 14 days of application, regardless of dose. The half-life (T/2) of GLY and GLUA were 1.68 and 1.42 days at 0 cm depth, respectively. There was no significant difference between the half-life of the two herbicides in soil at three depths. These results showed that GLY dissipation occurs rapidly in soil. However, GLUA was moderately persistent in soil. The two compounds tested showed a reduction of dry weight for four types of weeds after 14 days of recommended and double-rate application.

This study was conducted to reduce the volume of solid wastes by using unmarketable potato tubers for producing biodegradable plastic films to substitute oil-based plastics “OBP” which is often not biodegradable. Starch-based plastic films “SBP” were produced with different concentrations of glycerol (5, 10,15, 20,25, 30, 99.5%v/v) as a plasticizer. The physical properties of SBP including thickness, density, water absorption, and biodegradability, were studied, as well as mechanical properties including tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, elongation % and the required energy for the firm were also investigated compared with OBP samples. The results showed that the maximum value of extracted starch was 13.5% obtained by blending potato tubers. SBP films with elevated glycerol concentration in-creased the sample thickness but decreased its density. Glycerol 20% gave the best flexible compact structure SBP films. The average thickness and density of SBP film (20% glycerol) were 0.25 mm and 80.11 Kg/m3 respectively. Meanwhile, the average thickness and density for OBP films were 0.41 mm and 24.39 Kg/m3 respectively. The rate of mass loss of SBP films with 20% glycerol concentration was 72% after 96 days while the rate of mass loss for OBP films is neglectable. Consumed energy for the firm was 44.05 and 31.06 N. mm.

The materials used in this study were four commercial varieties of Egyptian cotton; two (Giza 86 and Giza 90) belonging to the long staple class and the others (Giza 88 and Giza 92) belonging to the extra-long staple category. Within each variety, nine lint cotton grades namely: Fully Good (FG), Good/Fully Good (G/FG), Good (G), Fully Good Fair/Good (FGF/G), Fully Good Fair (FGF), Good Fair/ Fully Good Fair (GF/FGF), Good Fair (GF), Fully Fair/Good Fair (FF/GF) and Fully Fair (FF) were used. Thus Fully Good (FG) is the top quality grade and the others are progressively lower; i.e. Fully Fair (FF) is the lowest grade. Fiber properties were measured by using the Cotton Classifying System Version-5 instrument (CCS-V5). Data collected for the following characteristics were: reflectance degree (Rd %), yellowness degree (+b), trash%, dust%, fiber fragments%, total trash%, No. of neps and Micronaire value. Mean squares due to all nine grades of long and extra-long staple cotton varieties in combined analysis were highly significant over seasons for all studied characters except yellowness (+b) and fiber fragments% in Giza 92. Highly significant mean performance values of four cotton varieties and nine lint grades for each variety for all studied characters, it became clear that there were significant genetically differences between studied varieties and fiber cotton lint grades within each variety. Gradually increased for yellowness degree, trash%, dust%, fiber fragments%, total trash% (trash, dust, fiber fragments) and number of neps, while gradually decreased for reflectance degree (Rd%) and micronaire value with significant level as transfer for all tested varieties from (FG) grade down to the (FF). All studied varieties showed highly significant negative correlation between fiber cotton grade with yellowness, trash, dust, total trash% and No. of neps, while highly significant positive correlation between fiber cotton grade with reflectance degree and micronaire value. Total trash% and micronaire value as well as reflectance degree and their interactions were the most contributing and influencing of fiber cotton grades. Also these properties and their joint effects are prevailing factors which affect the personal judgment of the grader at evaluating the cotton grade.

Under screen house conditions, two experiments were carried out to evaluate certain bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates regarding reproductive potential of root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, infecting tomato or eggplant. Results on tomato revealed that, on the basis of average total percentages nematode reduction, the over topped results were gained with P. fluorescens (Pf2) which recorded the highest significant (P≤0.05) average nematode reduction (61.3%) and higher percentage reduction of females (77%) per plant. The second rank was obtained by Pf3 which reduced all nematode numbers as an average of 56.9%.On the basis of average total percentages plant growth and weight of fruit increases, four bacterial treatments can be ranked in a descending order as follows: Pf9 > Pf4>Pf1and Pf7, as they achieved the highest average total percentages increases of 96.0, 47.3, 38.2and 29.8%, respectively compared to other treatments and untreated check. Regarding to eggplant, the over topped results observed was achieved by P. fluorescens (Pf10) which recorded the highest average total nematode reduction (66.2%) with higher reduction of (J2s) in roots (89.9%) per plant and in soil (78.8%) per pot. The second rank was obtained by Pf9 and Pf2 where they reduced all nematode numbers as averages of 55.9% and 54.9%, respectively. Also Pseudomonas isolates enhanced the plant growth of eggplant, averages were found in a descending order as follows: Pf1 (20.0%), Pf9 (18.7%) and Pf10 (18.3%) . It is worthy to note that the most distinct growth criteria was fresh weight of roots as it achieved higher percentage increase (58.1%) by using Pf9 followed by Pf1 as it caused 40.6% increase compared to untreated check. The highest average percentage of fresh weight of shoot were recorded for Pf10 (26.4%) and Pf8 (22.1%). Whereas for dry weight Pf3 (29.8%) and Pf2 (19.1%). In conclusion, the tested biocontrol agent was efficient in controlling the root-knot nematode on tested plants.

This study analyzed the determinants of household demand for food away from home (FAFH) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Truncated generalized Poisson regression (TGPR) and truncated standard Poisson regression (TSPR) was applied to data from a random sample of 101 families. Maximum likelihood was used to obtain parameter estimates for these two models. TGPR was found to be optimal and appropriate for the analysis of demand data. Both income and number of household members had a significant positive effect, which is consistent with economic logic and reality in Saudi society. Price and taste also had positive effects on FAFH demand. Household income as an economic variable has a significant positive effect on the number of times that a household dines out during the month. When income increases by one thousand Saudi riyals, the demand will increase by 11%, which is consistent with economic logic. Household income as a quantitative economic variable and the number of household members as a quantitative demographic variable are the most important variables in household demand for FAFH. However, the effect of income is more significant than that of the number of household members. As this study investigated the impact of socio-economic and demographic factors on food away from home (FAFH) demand in Riyadh such as household income, number of household members, education level, prices and cleanness of restaurant, and taste of food. Still there are other variables could be used as potential variables could affect FAFH demand in Saudi Arabia in future research such as the change in number of working women which there is shift in the number of female workers recently. The future studies could look at the differences in socio-economic between consumers for different types of restaurants such as traditional, fast food, fish, and luxury restaurants. Due to the high demand for restaurant meals, officials should tighten the health control and close restaurants that do not comply with health requirements as well security and safety requirements. Restaurants should pay attention to improving the quality of meals and offering them at affordable prices to consumers.

Key Words: Media filter, Treated wastewater, Drip irrigation, Cotton Growth and Yield.INTRODUCTIONAccording to Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWIR), Egypt (2014) Agriculture expends a large amount of the obtainable water in Egypt, with its share exceeding 85% of the total demand for water. Utilizing treated wastewater represents a viable option. The study were carried out at Sarapium Forest, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in “Sarapium”, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, during 2018 and 2019 seasons to investigate the effect of media depth on the performance of different types of emitters for irrgating cotton (verity Giza 94) using treated wastewater. Also this study estimates the effect of using treated wastewater on the cotton growth, quantity and quality. The first experiment design for filtration performance was a split-plot with four replications. The main plots involved two media filtration depths (50 cm and 70 cm) and the sub-plots involved the time of operation (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100h). While the second experiment design for planting cotton was a split-plot with three replications. The main plots involved two plant distribution (Mutual and Opposite) and the sub-plots involved the three types of emitters namely: online 4 l/h compensative, online 4 l/h non-compensative and built- in 4 l/h-30cm non-compensative the distance between emitters were (30 cm).The results indicated that: Increasing media filtration depth from 50 to 70 cm has led to decrease the filtration flowrate with increasing pressure losses, biological oxygen demand (BOD5) and total suspended solids (TSS). The filtration flowrate decreased by increasing operation time from 0 to 100 but pressure losses, BOD5 and TSS was increased. Emitters performance of online compensative and built-in non-compensative were generally better than the online non-compensative under using wastewater quality and emitters performance decrease by increasing operation time from zero to 100 hours. Plants distribution significantly effect on growth and yield components of cotton. Planting cotton by mutual method gave the highest values of number of opened bolls per plant, seed cotton yield (Ken./fed.)

Dominated by intensive coffee monocultures for the last 30 years, farmers in the Central Highlands of Vietnam has been increasingly experienced with farming difficulties given resource degradation, market and climate uncertainties. In recent years, a number of farmers have diversified their coffee farms toward the forms of agroforestry: through integrating fruit and other crops into coffee farms. This study, by referring to the existing 10 agroforestry systems and 10 forestry ecological zones identified in the region for its approach, conducted in 20 communes throughout five provinces in the region at the coffee harvesting period in the end of 2018. In total, 249 farmers were identified through snowball sampling technique and successfully interviewed. Five major agroforestry systems are identified with sufficient sample size for statistical analyses. By detailed assessment of inputs used and revenue, this study proves that agroforestry systems strongly enhance farmer’s income. However, the success varies among the five studied provinces. Farmer’s technical know-how and their choice on 2nd crop made their agroforestry farming profit largely different. Given the fact that large percentage of land in the tropics is too dry, too steep, or too rocky to be classified as arable land which has been further problematic through increasing exposure to erosion resulting from unsustainable farming practices, often driven by intensive monocultures, efforts to promote agroforestry in Vietnam in particular and the tropics in general is thus needed, not only for surviving increasing population but also recovering and protecting the environment. In the situation of the Central Highlands of Vietnam, together with efforts in promoting agroforestry, a restructure of farming system needs to be considered in accordance with foreseeable difficulties in farming conditions, i.e., more water stress will be happened in certain provinces. These provinces should take a shift more toward less-irrigation dependent crops and reduce their dependence on coffee. These changes will create a better common guarantee for all farmers in coping with future uncertainties.

This study was carried out during the two successive seasons (2017 and 2018) on the first and second ratoon of healthy uniform banana cv. Williams (Musa spp.) Plants grown in sandy soil under drip irrigation system in a private orchard located at El-Tahadi region, Cairo Alexandria desert road, Behaira governorate, Egypt. The investigation aimed to study the effect of different slow release potassium fertilizer (SRKF) (50% K2O) rates (100%, 75% and 50%) were added as soil drench during mid March, mid June and mid September while, potassium sulphate dose used in control treatment was added at monthly intervals as soil application from mid March until mid October on vegetative growth, productivity, total yield income and net return/feddan of banana plants. The obtained results showed that, all treatments had a significant effect on enhancing the vegetative growth parameters, i.e. number of green leaves /plant, plant total assimilation area (m2/plant), leaf total chlorophyll content (CCI) and leaf macro element content (N, P and K) as (%) as well as leaf micro element content (Fe, Zn and Mn) as (ppm). Also, improving yield (ton/feddan), bunch weight (kg), number of hands/bunch, hand weight (kg), number of fingers/hand, finger weight (g), finger length (cm), finger circumference (cm), finger pulp weight (g), finger pulp/peel (ratio), TSS (%), TSS/TA (ratio), total sugars (%). In addition, the total yield income (1000 LE) and net return/feddan (1000 LE) in both seasons. Moreover, all treatments had no significant effect on plant pseudostem height (cm), pseudostem circumferences (cm) and leaf area (m2) of plant in both seasons and bunch length (cm) in the first season only. Treatment of: slow release potassium at 100% gave the highest values of physical and chemical properties of banana plants cv. Williams in both seasons compared to, control treatment (100% potassium sulphate) and slow release potassium at 50% gave the lowest values.

The current study investigated the influence of Water Users Associations (WUAs) in the operation and the maintenance of the facilities of improved areas in Egypt. With the establishment of irrigation improvement projects, it was planned that WUAs would play an important role in improving water management and ensuring the sustainability of the improved system through enhancing the cooperation between farmers, scheduling the irrigation and maintaining the improved Mesqas (distributaries). The current study aims to check the actual situation after the implementation of irrigation improvement projects through collecting data from samples according to design questionnaires in the improved areas, and analyzing the collected data to investigate the influence of these associations. The results showed that the influence of WUAs in Egypt was still very limited. Irrigation practices were close to the old trend, which was targeting by irrigation improvement projects. The improved system was operated based on the natural relationships between farmers, with no predefined irrigation schedule targeting improving water management. The operator was the main person, and his role was just to arrange the irrigation based on the reservation of the farmers. Old lifting points were still used in the new system. This gave the farmers the chance to work individually, which could decrease the direct conflicts between them, but it had negative impact on water use efficiency. The maintenance of the system was poor, and the target was just to make the system work without considering the sustainability of the system. The study discussed the reasons behind the weak influence of WUAs including the characteristics of such organizations and different factors that affect their performance. In addition, the study suggested the required steps to improve the capacities of these organizations and to enhance the coordination between farmers including the precise distribution of water supply, and the support from the government.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic improvement in Zaraibi goats herd raised on El-serw research station located in the north eastern part of Nile Delta, Egypt. The station belongs to Animal Production Research Institute (APRI). Some body weights at different ages were included in genetic and environmental trends. These weights were 4-month weight (4M), 6-month weight (6M), and 12-month weight (12M). Data and pedigree information were collected from 1988 until 2018. The least square means of body weights at 4M, 6M and 12M were 12.14±0.02, 15.49±0.02 and 24.08±0.04 kg, respectively. Year of birth, season, gender of kid, parity of dam and type of birth significantly (P<0.01) affect growth traits. Genetic parameters were estimated using a multi-trait animal model program (MTDFREML). The same previous fixed effects were included in this analysis regarding the animal as random effects. The heritability of the studied body weights tend to increase as age increases. That is inversely matched with the environmental proportion of total variance which was found to be 0.72, 0.66 and 0.62 for M4, M6 and M12, respectively. The heritability value was estimated as 0.28 for 4M. Genetic trends were obtained as the regression of the predicted breeding values on years of birth and Environmental trends were obtained as the regression of year constants on years of birth. The annual genetic change trends were positive and significant for 4M, 6M and 12M (0.091, 0.121 and 0.158 kg/year, respectively) and the annual phenotypic change trends were (0.020, 0.045, 0.117 kg/year, respectively). Genetic trends for M12 trait were higher than those for other traits in this study. Genetic and environment correlations between 4 month body weight and other growth traits were positive. Negative environmental trends indicates poor management system for the flock during studied period. Weight at 12 months of age has the highest heritability in studied body weights and suggested to be selection criteria to improve yearling weight for Zaraibi goat.