Many countries are interested in production of Mushroom because of its high nutritive value. In Egypt, production of Mushroom is about 0.06% of the world production. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the economic feasibility of Mushroom production to evaluate the predicted profits in Egypt. The results showed that production of Mushroom significantly increased by 0.15 thousand ton/year. China, U.S.A and Germany are the top producing countries where 46.11% from the total world production is produced by these countries. The top exporting countries are China, Poland and Ireland since they export 57.67% from the total world exports of Mushroom. Meanwhile, Germany, Japan, England and U.S.A. are the top importing countries which import about 574.82% thousand tons/year through (2002- 2004). The study revealed that production of Mushroom is profitable as an enterprise for small investors in Egypt. Total production costs per year is about L.E. 8000. This small project gives two work opportunities and income of L.E. 12 thousand per year. The Internal rate of return of the enterprise is about 35% and the Payback period is about three years. Mushroom, the simple rate of return on investment is about 36%. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the least Internal rate of return supposing reduction of total income, is about 10% or increasing the total costs by 10%, the least Internal rate of return reached to14%. Whereas, simple rate of return on investment was estimated by 24% which was more than the interest rate in commercial banks that reached 10%. Therefore, This study recommends encouraging young-people enterprises in rural communities in new lands to produce Mushroom, by introducing technical consults, financial facilities for small investors. Also, limiting production and marketing difficulties, improving efficiency of marketing systems. In addition to maximizing production of Mushroom for exporting to the international markets and organizing training courses for spotting light on the economic feasibility of Mushroom to increase number of the investors to produce Mushroom.

This work was carried out in two successive summer plantations of 2004 and 2005 on potatoes cv. Spunta at Abou Awad village , Aga, Dakahlia Governorate, to study the influence of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi , nitrogen and potassium fertilization at rates of 50, 75 and 100% of recommended rate / fed. with foliar spraying of micronutrients (Fe150 , Zn 75, and Mn 75 ppm) and their interactions on plant growth , yield and its components, as well as chemical composition .Application of the tested rates of nitrogen and the potassium induced significant increase in vegetative characteristics (plant height, foliage fresh and foliage dry weight) total tuber yield (t/fed) , number of tubers/plant and tuber weight/plant, tuber dry matter , starch and nitrate content in tuber, as well as N,P and K concentra-tions in the leaves and micronutrients in the leaves (Fe, Mn and Zn) in both seasons.Similarly, plant height, chlorophyll content, fo-liage fresh and dry weights , total yield (t/fed), number of tubers , tuber weight/ plant, tuber dry weight , starch and nitrate content in tuber, NPK concentration in leaves and tubers , micronutrient content (Fe, Zn and Mn) in leaves gave the highest values with inoculation by VA Mycorrhizal fungi and some micronutrients .The interaction between NK, VAM fungi and micronutrient gave the highest values of vege-tative growth characteristics, number of tu-bers/plant, NPK in leaves and tubers and micronu-trients (Zn and Mn) in leaves when potatoes was fertilized with 100% NK of the recommended rate and inoculate with VAM fungi plus foliar spraying by micronutrients (Fe, Zn and Mn).as well as total yield (t/fed), tuber weight/plant, tuber dry weight, starch content in tuber , Mn and Zn in leaves, while The lowest content of nitrate in tubers was found when plants were applied with 50 (%) NK of recommended rate with inoculation by VA My-corrhizal fungi.Generally, the best results were obtained when potato received 75 % of NK of the recommended rate, inoculated by VA Mycorrhizal fungi and sprayed with micronutrients at dose of Fe 150, Mn 75 and Zn 75 ppm. This treatment resulted in the highest total tuber yield and its components and reduced chemical fertilizer inputs.

The protective effect of folic acid (FA) on he-patic oxidative stress in aged rats exposed to oxi-dative stress by supply drinking water with 1% H2O2 (v/v) was studied. Rats were divided into two groups, the first group was considered as standard one (F1) which was fed on basal diet and administrated 1 mg FA/ Kg body weight (BW) daily by stomach tube without addition H2O2 in drinking water. The second group was divided into five subgroups, the first subgroup was the control (F2) which fed on basal diet free from folic acid (FF) with 1 % H2O2 in the drinking water, while other groups from F3 to F6 were adminis-trated different concentrations of folic acid (1, 20, 40 and 80 mg FA/ Kg BW), respectively. Weight gain, total feed intake, feed efficiency, liver weight and its relative weight were estimated. Bi-ochemical assay: activity of antioxidant enzymes system such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), cata-lase (CAT); lipid peroxidation level as malondial-dehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxidase (H2O2); and liver functions [alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phos-phatase (ALP) and gamma glutamyl transferase (γ-GT), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)], were determined. Additionally, total protein (TP), al-bumin, globulin, A/G ratio, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin; and kidney functions [creatinine, urea, and uric acid]; and lipid profile as [total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides] were also, carried out. The obtained results showed accumulated weight gain which significantly increased in rats group administrated 40 and 80 mg/ Kg BW/d folic acid. No changes in relative liver weight among tested rat groups were recorded. No significant difference was observed in lipid profile, LDH and SOD between groups (F1 and F6). Data also indi-cated that F1 group recorded the best one which was low in MDA and high in CAT, followed by F6. Folic acid showed no effect on kidney func-tions. No histopathological changes were observed in liver of rat groups administered 40 or 80 mg folic acid / Kg BW/d, thus indicating that supple-mentation with high doses of FA had a protective effect from the hepatic oxidative stress in liver of tested rats.

The hoverflies insect species are considered the most economic pollinators of various flowers, the adult visitors feed on nectar and pollen. Many of syrphid survivors are voracious aphid feeders in their larval instars and are considered greatest bio-control agent. They are beneficial insects when estimating the damage of pest control is consid-ered. In spite of their great economic importance, no progress has been estimated on taxonomy and biology of these insects in Syria. A surveillance studies of such flies were carried out in three loca-tions (Agroecosystems) in Deir-Ezzor, Eastern Syria during March-July 2006, based on number of captured adults. Yellow dish traps were used, and 12 spieces were identified and counted. This study will be an applicable addition to the availa-ble knowledge about the Syrian fauna.

This study was conducted at Sids Experimental Research Station, Beni Suief Governorate, starting from year 2000 to study the effect of rotation dura-tion (every year, 2- year rotation and 3- year rota-tion) and nitrogen fertilizer rates; 45, 60 and 75 kg N/ fed on growth, yield components and yield of cotton, as well as associated weeds. A split plot design was used with four replicates. The data indicated that crop rotation had significant effect on plant height, number of fruiting branches/ plant, number of open bolls, seed cotton yield/ plant and seed cotton yield/ fed. Seed cotton yield/ fed was increased by 10.99 and 23.62 % when 2-year and 3-year rotations were applied, compared to 1-year rotation (average of both seasons). In-creasing N- fertilization up to 60 kg N/ fed caused significant increases in all studied traits. The best estimate of yield (Y) plotted against N rate (X) for annually rotated cotton was the linear equation of Y =2.44 + 0.074x (R2 =0.81). Two years rotation showed a quadratic association with increasing the N rate, R2 = 0.86 and 0.88, respectively. The high-est values of total fresh weeds were 2.85 and 2.60 kg/ m2 (broad and grassy weeds) when 1-year ro-tation was applied, while the lowest values were 1.50 and 1.35 kg/ m2 when 3-year rotation was applied in the first and second season, respective-ly.

Different agents were tested as inducing re-sistance factors in tomato plants against root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. These agents include ethyl salicylic acid, (0.125 ml/l) jassmonic acid (0.125 ml/L) sincocin solution, (0.1%) agrispon solution (0.1%) water extract of mango malformed inflorescence (7.5%), coconut milk solution (2%) as root dipping during transplanting and spraying after one month from transplanting. Data obtained clearly indicated that sincocin solu-tion, extract of mango malformed inflorescence, agrispon solution and jassmonic acid led to a great reduction in disease severity, number of galls/ root, number of females/ root and number of egg masses/ root, followed by ethyl salicylic acid and coconut milk descending order. All tested agents did not affect juvenile's viability except mango malformed inflorescence extract and coco-nut milk solution which led to slight effect on juvenile viability. All tested agents increased plant growth in the presence of nematode inocula in comparison to untreated plants. In this respect coconut milk solution had the superior effect. Data indicated that the tested agents induced resistance in treated plant and the mechanisms of their mode of action needs further studies.

This work conducted on the research farm of Mallawi Agricultural Research Station, El-Minia Province, Egypt, during two successive seasons of 2004 and 2005 to study the role of the late plant-ings on the productivity of soybean. Three out of four genotypes selected to achieve that goal were new released cultivars, Giza-22; Giza-35; and Gi-za-111, and the commercial one, Crawford, the common parent of the three genotypes, as control. Three planting dates started on June 1st, June 15th for the second date of sowing and ended on June 30th for the third sowing date in both seasons. The package of the recommendations of soybean cul-ture carefully applied to get the best results of each sowing date. The results showed that all of the morphological, yield and productivity traits highly significantly affected by genotype and three out of five morphological traits, number of days to both flowering and maturity and plant height, also high-ly significantly affected by late sowing date. The other two traits, number of branches and leaf area at 75 days just significantly affected by late sow-ing date. In terms of yield and its components traits, only seed index highly significantly affected by late sowing date and yield per plot significantly affected by sowing time. All productivity traits were significantly affected by late sowing date specially the content of both oil and protein. Alt-hough yield per plot was significantly affected by late sowing date, the yield per plant was not af-fected by late sowing date indicating that the fac-tor of time of sowing may affect the rate of the germination and control the stand of the plots. Number of active nodules considered as produc-tivity trait because of the residual nitrogen that remain in the soil after harvest for the next crop. This number was significantly affected by sowing time and reached the highest values in the second date of June 15th that may due to the high tempera-ture at this time which lead to increasing the inter-action between soybean roots and the nodule bac-teria.

Soil solarization in combination with fungal antagonists and soil amendments has been sub-jected to evaluation as a potential disease man-agement strategy for the control of charcoal rot of sesame caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid. Solarization alone or in combination with Trichoderma pseudokoningii and Emericella nidulans singly or in mixed inocula reduces dis-ease incidence from 30 % (control) to 80%, 91 %, 82 % and 85% respectively. It is noted that while pairing improved the biocontrols potentiality of E. nidulans by increasing the number of healthy plants in both unsolarized and solarized soils it leads to decrease in the biocontrol potentiality of T. pseudokoningii. On the other hand the combina-tion of solarization with soil amendment with Eu-calyptus powdered leaves showed a synergistic effect by increasing number of healthy plants from 65 % in amended unsolarized soil to 77 % in amended solarized soil.

Weeds represent the most serious problem in wheat in Egypt. For their control, two field exper-iments were carried out during two winter seasons (2004/2005) and (2005/2006) at National Re-search Centre experimental station at Shalakan, Kalubia Governorate. Some groups of herbicides (Dirby, Harmony extra, Granstar, Ecopart, Illoxan, Topic and Arelon) as well as hand weeding and unweeded treatments were evaluated in wheat. In addition, herbicide combinations were also as-sessed. Harmony extra at 24 g / fed. provided ac-ceptable control for broad leaved weeds but failed to control completely narrow-leaved weeds. Topic at 140 g / fed. provided great control of narrow weeds (97.68% reduction in dry weight after 90 days from sowing). Mixtures of both Harmony extra +Topic at rates (18 g / fed. +105 g / fed.) were better than Harmony extra alone for weed control (99.19 % control, 90 days after sowing) and grain yield. Concerning the other herbicides, Granstar + Topic were effective in controlling both broad and narrow weeds. The efficacy of Harmony extra + Illoxan was lower (91.2% con-trol). Overall, Arelon or mixture of Harmony extra +Topic were the most effective treatments with regard to weed control and wheat growth, yield and its attributes. However, no carryover damage with all used herbicides was observed on wheat. Estimating individual amino acids in the yielded grain revealed increase in essential and nonessen-tial amino acids due to single or combined appli-cation of herbicides. Pronounced increase was recorded with Harmony extra and Topic

A field experiment was carried out in sandy soil to elucidate the possibility of using chloride form as a partial source for potassium in fertiga-tion of banana plants grown on a sandy soil. Growth, fruit yield and quality as well as plant nutritional status and Cl accumulation within both plant leaves and rhizosphere beside an economical elucidation were taken in to consideration to ac-complish such evaluation. Eleven gradual increas-ing KCl: KNO3 (0:100 - 100:0) ratios were applied with maintaining the concentration of all macro and micro nutrients except Cl constant. Obtained data indicated that increasing Cl existence didn’t adversely affect plant growth under this experi-ment. Treatments of 10:90 followed by 50:50 as well as 70:30 followed by 80:20 and either 90:10 or 10:90 (KCl:KNO3) were most stimulating treatments for increasing pseudo stem diameter and leaves number, respectively. Although total fruit yield bunch as well as number and length of fingers are less sensitive to increasing KCl:KNO3 ratio, number of hands/bunch and diameters of fingers were significantly and positively affected by increasing KCl existence. Treatment of 80:20 KCl:KNO3 was the most significant superior one for all measured fruit yield parameters. Although Cl content increased significantly in banana leaves and root surrounding area with increasing Cl ex-istence in the fertigation solutions, recorded con-tents seemed to be in safe ranges whereas no chlo-ride necroses symptoms were appeared at banana leaves. Contents of N, P and K as well as Cl in plant leaves were significantly, although in fluctu-ating manner, affected by increasing chloride oc-currence in fertigation solution. The encountered response of N, P and K contents seemed to be not only a resultant of increasing Cl occurrence in the root media but also as a reflection to changing the N form (NH4 and urea) compensating N-NO3 de-cline in the fertigation solutions having high Cl concentrations. The relatively high supplements of Cl (80:20 followed by 70:30 KCl: KNO3) recorded the highest economical net return. It could be con-cluded that KCl can be perfectly used in fertigat-ing banana plants grown on sandy soils. To in-crease safety of using chloride under such condi-tions, more work could be suggested particularly what concerns with calculating irrigation and leaching water requirements to prevent chloride accumulation in the root zone.