This research study was carried out during the two successive seasons of 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 at the farm located within the vicinity of the Arid lands Agriculture graduated studies and Research Institute (ALARI), Shobra Elkheima, Qalyobia governorate, Egypt, under an unheated plastic-house (25 m length x 9 m width x 3.5 m height). The experiments were laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with 3 replications, and the result data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). Chrysanthemum (Denderanthema grandiflora Ramat) cv. Zembla was employed in this research imported initially from DELIFLOR Company, in the Netherlands. Seedlings were planted in different substrate cultures to determine the most suitable local mixes for their cultivation and maximum production. Three of them were chosen from the local environment namely Water hyacinth, Palm fiber and Sugar-cane refuse in addition to Sawdust and Peat moss. The seedlings were planted into pots filled with eleven substrate culture mixes as follow: Water hyacinth (WH), WH + peat moss (1:1), Palm fibers (PF), PF + Peat moss (1:1), Coarse sawdust (CS), CS + Peat moss (1:1), Fine sawdust (FS), FS + peat moss (1:1), Sugar-Cane refuse (SC), SC + Peat moss (1:1) and Peat moss. The results indicated that the substrate combination of PF + peat moss (1:1) and WH + peat moss (1:1) gave higher significant values when compared to other remaining substrate with regards to vegetative parameters, i.e. plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves per plant and greenness of leaves as SPAD reading values. Also flower diameter exhibited a higher significant increase when PF + peat moss (1:1) + WH+ peat moss substrate combination was used compared to the other remaining substrates. Flower vase life also was influenced by the local substrate used in bringing up the cut-flowers and showed longer standing in the preservative solution when flowers were obtained from both of WH + peat moss (1:1) and Palm fiber + peat moss (1:1) compared to other substrate culture mixtures.

Land degradation is a global environmental issue, given the various negative impact on socio-economic and ecological implications. It leads to reduced production capacity in addition to soil erosion, physical /chemical /biological /economic land deterioration, and long-term loss (or degradation) of vegetation. When a severe deterioration in drought areas called the process of desertification i.e. arid, dry sub-humid and semi-arid areas. Desertification processes reduces the productivity of the soil and as a result effect on food stocks. The main objective of this study is integrating remote sensing data and a geographic information system (GIS) to evaluate the environmental sensitivity for desertification in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt based on the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) approach. The collected soil data; from description of represented soil profiles and analysis of soil samples, in addition to climate, plant cover, and management data were considered for assessing the sensitivity of desertification. The obtained results showed that 10.4 % of Wadi El Natrun area is considered severe sensitivity to desertification as a result of alkalinity and salinity, while the moderately sensitive area occupies approximately 10.93 % of the study area. The low sensitive one exhibits 76.3 %. This area is described by high soil quality because of the study area is one of the new development areas which were not affected by the factors of desertification. It can be concluded that the desert extension of El-Beheira Governorate (i.e. Wadi El Rayan) is one of the areas that possess valuable land resources which should be considered for future land reclamation projects. Similar international studies are recommended to be achieved with the use of multi-criteria GIS modeling (i.e. MEDALUS) which considered all relevant factors in the form of thematic layers for easier implementation and assessments. Present study represents one of the initial attempts to use the MEDALUS model for desertification assessment in the desert extension of El-Beheira Governorate.

Six weeks feeding trial using 210 one-day old unsexed Cobb 500 chicks was carried out to study the effects of addingphytase enzyme on growth performance, blood parametersand bone characteristics in broiler chicks. Three starter diets were used from 1 to 21 days; T100 {100% of Ca & non-phytate phosphorus NPP requirements (1.00% Ca and 0.50% NPP)}; T75{75% of Ca & NPP requirements (0.75% Ca and 0.38% NPP)} and T50 {50% of Ca & NPP requirements (0.51% Ca and 0.25% NPP)}. Three grower diets were used from 22 to 42 days; T100 {100% of Ca & NPP requirements (0.91% Ca and 0.46% NPP)}; T75{75% of Ca & NPP requirements( 0.68% Ca and 0.34% NPP)} and T50{50% of Ca & NPP requirements (0.45% Ca and 0.23% NPP)}. Seven dietary treatments were distributed according to diets fed consecutively during starter and grower phases as; (100/100) fed starter T100 then grower T100; (100/75) fed starter T100 then grower T75; (100/50) fed starter T100 then grower T50; (75/75) fed starter T75 then grower T75; (75/50) fed starter T75 then grower T50 and (50/50) fed starter T50 then grower T50.All diets added phytase enzyme (FTU 10000/Ton). Each treatment comprised of 30 chicks in 3 replicates of 10 chicks each. Results showed that live body weight and weight gain did not significantly affected by restricted Ca and NPP diets at starter period, where weight gain was significantly affected at grower period. Birds group received diet containing 100/75 with phytase (T3) gave the highest significant values for LBW and BWG, then 50/50 with phytase (T7) as compared with the other experimental groups during the grower and overall periods.Feed consumption and conversion ratio values were no significant differences among groups fed different dietary treatments during starter and grower phases. Plasma P concentrations was significantly affected however plasma Ca concentrations, GOT and GPT valueswere not significantly affected by the reduction of dietary Ca and NPPwith adding phytase. Percentages of tibia ash, Ca and P were significantly affected by dietary treatments. Supplementation of phytasehas a significant effect ontibia breaking strength, while supplementation of phytase hasn’t any effect on tibia Seedorindex.It is obvious that, the best performance was seen with (100/75) diet without any adverse effect on productive performance, blood parameters and most of tibia measurements and chemical composition.

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding different levels of threonine and tryptophan on growth performance, some serum parameters and carcass traits of broiler chicks under Egyptian summer conditions. Three hundred and sixty Ross 308, one-day-old broiler chicks were randomly allocated into nine treatments with 4 replicates of 10 chicks each. Three levels of threonine (100, 150 or 200 %) and three levels of tryptophan (100, 150 or 200%) according to dietary requirements for Ross 308 chick's guidebook were used in a factorial design arrangement to obtain nine experimental treatments. Two periodical diets were used (starter phase 1-21 days and finisher phase 22-35 days). Growth performance traits including live body weight (LBW), Body weight gain (BWG), feed consumption (FC) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were recorded at the end of each week. Carcasses were manually eviscerated and weighed. Components of total protein, albumin, cholesterol, and triglycerides were analyzed by using commercial kits. The results showed that chicks fed diet containing 200 % threonine had an improvement in live body weight, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. The performance index increased with the addition of threonine and tryptophan in the broiler diets. Serum total protein and globulin concentrations were affected by supplemental threonine and tryptophan. Dietary threonine, tryptophan did not affect serum albumin and triglycerides. Total cholesterol was increased with supplementation of threonine, tryptophan and interaction between them. Chicks fed 100% dietary threonine had the significantly better results in terms of the relative weights of carcass, edible parts and bursa compared to the chicks fed other dietary threonine levels, although tryptophan amino acid had not any significant effect on the above-mentioned traits. Giblets, liver, and heart weights percentage increase with increasing tryptophan level in the broiler diets. The relative weight of gizzard reduced with increasing level of both amino acids in the diets.In this study, it concluded that supplementation of threonine and tryptophan improves productive performance and health status of broiler chicks without imposing any toxicity as all blood components were in normal range.