The aim of this study is to enhance the fermentation temperature inside the digester by supplying the required thermal energy to be within the desired optimum range (mesophilic range) for biogas production during winter “cold days”. Two 50 L digesters were used in the experiment that was conducted at Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo. One is a treatment digester and the other is a control digester. The treatment digester is thermally enhanced by a parabolic trough collector, while the control digester operated at the ambient temperature. The experiment was conducted through December 2018 and January 2019. The results show that the average temperature in the control digester through the experiment was 21.5°C, while in the treatment digester it was 27.08°C. This means that the parabolic trough collector enhanced the fermentation temperature in the treatment digester by 20.6%. The total biogas yield of the control digester and the treatment digester was 9684.7 mL/kg. T.S. and 24649.69 mL/kg. T.S. respectively. By comparing both productivities, it was found that the productivity of the treatment digester was 2.5 times more than the productivity of the control digester.

The impact of climate on crop production has vital importance. Climate variables affect the different crops during different stages of the growth and the development. This research aims to study the environmental factors affecting the growth and production of barley (Hordeum Sp., Gramineae) in a hydroponic system, to provide information to farmers and decision makers by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Model for production prediction. Multilayer feed-forward ANN (fully connected) was used in supervised manner and the training method was the back-propagation algorithm by using MATLAB program. The inputs in the ANN model of barley were: seeds density (kg/m2), lighting duration (h/day), light intensity (Lux), temperature (cº), relative humidity (%) and growing period (days). The outputs were: plant length (cm), yield (kg/m2), protein (%), dry matter (%), and conversion factor. Results revealed that the optimal configuration for the ANN model consisted of four layers (6-25-30-5). The hidden layers had 25 and 30 nodes in the first and second hidden layers respectively for the ANN model. Hyperbolic tangent transfer function was employed in hidden and output layers of the ANN model. The learning rate and the momentum parameter were 0.005 and 0.9 respectively for the ANN model. Iterations were 10000 epochs during training process for the ANN model. The results showed that the variation between target and predicted outputs was small while the correlation coefficient (R) was 0.99. Also, the results revealed that the major parameters affecting on all the outputs were seeds density and the duration of the lighting followed by the other factors i.e. temperature (cº), relative humidity (%), growing period (days) and light intensity (Lux). Seeds density has a higher percent relative importance, on yield, plant length, protein (%), DM (%) and conversion factor equal to 22.8%, 24%, 25%, 24% and 22.8% respectively. The developed ANN model was beneficial tool for barley production prediction. The barley yield prediction could be helpful for farmers, decision makers and planning to manage their crop better by providing a series of recommendations about crops planting and clarifying its impact on changes to these factors under the study in order to avoid losses and reach the best benefit (maximization of yield).

It is estimated that the rice cultivated area in Egypt is estimated at about 1.4 million feddans producing about 3 million tons of rice straw. The same estimates indicate that the cultivated area of summer maize is estimated at 2.1 million feddans, which produces about 5.5 million tons of woodland (in 2013), Most of which are burned and not the maximum benefit. The problem of research is to increase the amount of agricultural waste, especially for rice and maize crops, and not to achieve the economic efficiency of these quantities of agricultural, And the study of the development of the area cultivated for each of the maize, cotton, sesame, sorghum, lupine, black beans, sugar beet, rice and the total of these crops in Egypt during the period (2000-2016) the annual average of about 324.44, 460.06, 72.66, 354.76, 4.07, 1471.2, 298.88, 1452.41, 3114.4 and the total area of the maize crop during the study period. The statistical significance of these equations was proved, while the sesame yield was not substantiated. The development of the production capacity of the most important plant waste was studied in Egypt during the period 2000-2016. The average annual production capacity of the maize, cotton, sesame,  sorghum, lupine, peanut, sugar beet, rice straw, These crops are 5586.12, 871.06, 94.47, 4.53, 235.65, 1711.65, 3217.06, 3217.06 and 2634.6 tons respectively during the study period. The  general trend equations showed a decrease in the production capacity of cotton, sorghum and thermos. While the production capacity of each of the sesame, peanut bean and sugar beet was increasing. The statistical significance of these equations was not proved, nor was the statistical significance of the production of maize, rice straw and total production capacity of these crops. The cost of feeding was about 13505.1 pounds, representing about 78.3% of the total average cost of the head, representing about 96.1% of the total average variable costs of the head of about 14049.2 pounds, and amounted to about 17574.8 pounds without the use of silage, which Indicates that the use of silage in nutrition leads to a reduction in feeding costs by about 4069.7 pounds per year, This is due to the lower daily costs of feeding the head of cows when using silage in feeding. The cost of producing a ton of milk for dairy cows that used silage was about 3849 pounds, while the cost of producing milk for the head of dairy cows that did not use silage for about 13715.1 pounds, The production of milk is about 2805.4 kg, and thus the cost of producing a ton of milk for dairy mixtures that did not use silage about 4888 pounds, due to lower feeding costs for animals that used silage than not used silage in feeding.

The current investigation was planned to apply some biotic and abiotic treatments singlely and/or combined to control bacterial soft rot diseases of lettuce under field conditions in Qaha region, Qalyubia Governorate, Egypt. The application of resistance inducers (jasmonic acid and salicylic acid), antibiotics (norfloxacin and tetracycline) and bio-agents (isolates of B. subtilis and Ps. fluorescens) significantly reduced the disease severity as a single treatment compared to the control treatment. Obtained results indicated that resistance inducers appeared to be most effective against bacterial soft rot disease of lettuce compared with other treatments, while antibiotics were less effective at controlling the disease. However, the interaction between bio-agents as soil drench treatment, antibiotics, or resistance inducers as foliar treatment significantly reduced the severity of lettuce bacterial soft rot disease compared with the control treatment. Furthermore, the interaction between disease severity was more reducted with interaction treatments between Ps. fluorescens isolate rather than interact with treatments between B. subtilis isolate and other treatments. However, the interaction between the isolate of Ps. fluorescens as bio-agent treatment or norfloxacin as antibiotic or salicylic acid as a plant resistance inducer, were the most effective methods to control the disease compared with other treatments. Meanwhile, the interaction between resistance inducers and antibiotics as foliar treatments were significantly reduced from the severity of lettuce bacterial soft rot disease compared with the control treatment. Disease severity was more reduced with the application of interaction between norfloxacin and resistance inducers than the interaction between tetracycline and resistance inducers. Meanwhile, the severity of the disease decreased more with the application of interaction between salicylic acid and antibiotics than the interaction between jasmonic acid and antibiotics. Generally, all combination treatments were more efficient than single treatments alone to significantly manage the spread and the infection of the disease compared to the untreated control.

This study focuses on the evolution of urban encroachment on arable land in Egypt. There are three forms of encroachment on arable land. The first type is the removal of the fertile topsoil of agricultural land for the main purpose of bricks manufacturing. The second type is the setting aside of arable land and letting the land go unproductive for long time periods. The third type is the permanent conversion of arable land to buildings. The total acreage lost to encroachment from January 25, 2011 revolution till November 18, 2018 is about 85 thousands feddans of fertile land.  The first type of topsoil removal constitutes 7.7 percent of the total lost acreage .While setting aside of arable land constitutes 35.5 percent and the conversion of arable land to buildings constitutes 57.8 percent of total land lost to encroachment . Rapid population growth is the main driver for accelerating encroachment on arable land in Egypt. This is especially evident in the governorates that are not endowed with desert backyard. Gharbeya governorate is a good example of densely populated regions with no desert backyard that could be used for urban expansion. The study  reveals that population in Gharbeya grew during the period 2006-2017 with an annually rate of 2.1 percent.  While cultivated area and cropped area declined with an annual rate of 1006 feddans and 2992 feddans respectively during the same time period. The continued encroachment on agricultural land is a major threat to Egypt’s food security due to the limited base of arable land in Egypt. In fact per capita share of arable land is declining very rapidly over the years. For example, the ratio of population to arable land increased from 10.4 in 2006 to 15.4 in 2017. The country is attempting to make up for the lost land through reclamation of desert land. Unfortunately, reclamation of desert land is very expensive endeavor and requires major investment in basic infrastructure such as roads, irrigation networks, power grids, and social infrastructure. Therefore it is of utmost importance for the government to pay due attention to the problem of urban encroachment on old arable land and devise policies and legislations that would put a brake on this phenomena .

This study was carried out to evaluate the efficiency of mixed algal cultures for wastewater treatment. Free and alginate-immobilized forms of mixed algal culture were used. The highest removal percentages of biological oxygen demand (BOD) were 86.4% and 71.2 % after 32hrs and 48 hrs. in case of free and immobilized cells, respectively. Moreover, the highest values of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal were 83.74% and 59.71% after 32hrs and 48 hrs for free and immobilized cells, respectively. Treatment with free cells showed removal values for total dissolved salts (TDS), phosphorus and NH3-N were 20.5%, 34.6% and 43.8% respectively after 32 hours. While in case of immobilized cells the highest removal values 18.4%, 34% and 58.5%, for TDS, Phosphorus and NH3-N, respectively were recorded after 48 hrs. Generally, concentration of heavy metals decreased due to treatment with algal free and immobilized cells. As a result of treatment with algal free and immobilized cells, 100% and 95.9% of Cu wastewater content was removed after 8 hrs and 48 hrs, respectively. Moreover, 96.2% and 98.1% of Fe was removed after 32 and 48 hours due to application of free and immobilized cells, respectively. As a result of inoculation with the mixed algal cultures in free cells 99.4% of Mn and 84.2% of Zn content were removed after 32 hours. Whereas, 98.6% of Pb content was removed after only 8 hrs. In case of using the immobilized cells the highest removal percentages of the three heavy metals recorded after 48 hours as follow 97.8% of Mn, 89.0% of Pb and 97.37% of Zn. Accordingly, treatment of wastewater with mixed algal free or immobilized cells is a fruitful method to produce an effluent of high quality to be used for irrigation. Whereas, the algal free cells were found to be more efficient than the immobilized ones.

This research is aimed at investigating the evolution of the food gap of faba beans and its underpinning factors. Faba beans constitute the most basic foodstuff Egyptian diet.  Among all legumes the beans crop occupies the largest acreage and provides the beans crop occupies the largest acreage and provides the largest volume of production. However, domestic production of faba beans is increasing falling short of its ability to meet the domestic consumption  requirements. That is the food gap of faba beans is widening year after year. In fact the gap increased substantially from 73 thousand tons in year 2000 to about 650 thousand tons in 2016. By an increase of about 891%, this research is intended to study the evolution of the food gap of faba bean in Egypt During the period (2000-2016).

Accurately estimation of actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa) as a parameter of irrigation scheduling is very critical for efficient use of limited irrigation water resources. The objectives of this study were to (1) build, verify and validate an expert system for managing on-farm irrigation water of some soils under Egyptian conditions, (2) study the effect of coefficient of uniformity (CU) and distribution uniformity for center pivot irrigation system, (3) study the effect of the precise estimation of daily actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa) on maximizing yield and improved water use efficiency. A rule-based program named CPISM-ES (Center Pivot Irrigation System Management- Expert System) was codes and compiled using python3.7.2 language. The program was verified using ready-to-use software programs (cropwat-8 and climwat 2) for estimating the daily reference evapotranspiration and a spreadsheet named the (FAO56Ax8.xls) introduced by FAO-56 for estimating the irrigation water management parameters. It also was validated by carrying out a field experiment at site :-El Salhyia(11.2 m above sea level, 30,35°N,30,26°E), was obtained from several different sources. The irrigation expert system aims to provide the farmers by the irrigation expertise to determine the exact water needed at exact time according to the crop requirements and the environmental factors which effect factors. The experiment included the following factors: a) obtaining climatic data from a weather station b) estimation crop evapotranspiration) coefficient of uniformity (CU) and distribution uniformity for center pivot irrigation system.  1- The estimation of actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa) using crop coefficient. 2- The seasonal cumulative ETa estimated by single-kc approach of El Salhyia (1875 m3 f.1season-1). 3- Yield: the highest of crop potatoes for El Salhyia (16.2 t.fed-1). 4- Water use efficiency: the maximum value of water use efficiency for El Salhyia (0.75 kg m-3).

Cereals are the foremost necessary foods for growing population of human. Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is the first important and strategic cereal crop for the majority of world’s populations. It is the most necessary staple food. Although rice (oryzae sativa) has the second place because of planted area but it serves as the most important food source for Asian countries. Wheat and rice production may be severely restricted by biotic and abiotic constraints. Disease is the major biotic stress in several regions.Comparative sequence analysis is a powerful tool to study homologous gene families, define conserved gene functions between orthologs, and identify lineage- and species-specific genes. Most annotations of newly sequenced genomes are based on similarity with sequences for which functional information is available. Apart from conserved sequences, inter-species differences provide important clues about evolutionary history and species-specific adaptations. In our study, two RNA-sequencing data sets of resistant variety of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.,) after infection with leaf rust fungus, Puccinia triticina and resistant variety of rice (Oryza sativa L.,) after infection with blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae were compared. 31768 up-regulated genes in wheat and 3902 up-regulated genes in rice were filtered according to fold change more than 3 and removing variants, 250 upregulated genes of wheat and rice were aligned and phylogenetic tree was generated. The result of phylogenetic tree showed close relationship between ten aligned gene pairs of wheat and rice. Two pairs of aligned gene pairs were selected randomly, super family of these pairs were obtained, the result showed that each aligned pair of proteins shared the same protein family and the same annotation and all pairs participate in plant defense pathways. Then, the gene expression of the two pairs were validated by Real-time PCR after infecting wheat with Puccinia triticina and rice with Magnaporthe grisea. Each aligned pair of the two pairs shared the same manner of expression with few exceptions in rice.

The agricultural foreign trade sector is one of the most important sectors that have a direct impact on the economic development programs. Oranges occupy the first place among Egyptian citrus varieties, with Egyptian production of about 3.014 million tons representing about 70.4% of the total citrus production of 4.3 million tons (2012-2016). Its productive area reached 294.5 thousand feddans representing about 68% of the total area of citrus fruits, which amounted to about 433 thousand feddans during the same period. The problem of the study is the volatility of the quantity of Egyptian exports of oranges during the period of study (2000-2017), which made the Egyptian exports of oranges face great competition from many countries in foreign markets, which may lose them in their foreign markets and allow the competition to win these markets, The available statistics indicate that the average production of Egyptian oranges was about 2.6 million tons as an average for the period 2005-2017. However, the quantity of exports is only 23.5% of this production. The   objective of the research is to analyze the structure of the demand for Egyptian exports of oranges by achieving two main objectives: The first aims to study the development of Egyptian exports of oranges and the main importing countries. The second deals with estimating the price and cross price elasticities through the almost ideal demand system for Egyptian orange. The research was based on the use of descriptive statistical analysis in the presentation and characterization of export prices of Egyptian orange, and the variables of quantities and prices of the most competitive countries in each of the studied markets, The econometric analysis was used to estimate the market model of the demand for Egyptian oranges in each of the markets studied using the Linear Almost Ideal Demand System (LAIDS) model. The research was based on UN.org data. Comtrade http: //, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (2005-2017), as well as some scientific references related to the subject.