Category Archives: b_original_articles

Ahmed M. Abbas¹, Sabah Hammad¹, Wagdi Saber Soliman²

¹Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt

²Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan 81528, Egypt

Abstract

Contamination with heavy metals is a critical problem facing large areas of agricultural soils. Seed, a developmental stage, is considered highly protective against environmental stresses. This study aimed to examine the influence of two heavy metals; copper and lead, on the germination of Acacia tortilis, A. raddiana, and Prosopis juliflora.

Seeds were exposed to different concentrations of copper and lead including control, low (1000 ppm) and high (2000 ppm) copper or lead, low mix (500 ppm of copper and lead), or high mix (1000 ppm of copper and lead).

High copper and high mix had highly negative effects on germination of A. tortilis. Germination of A. raddiana was slightly affected under stress. While all stress treatment showed significantly negative effects on germination rate of Prosopis juliflora. Both Acacia species were not significantly affected after recovery, while the germination of stressed seeds of Prosopis juliflora has been induced after recovery. The 1^st germination day was greatly affected with treatments, especially for Prosopis juliflora, where 1^st germination day delayed about eight days under high mix treatment compared to control.

The results suggested that heavy metals had negative impacts on germination rate. Prosopis juliflora was more sensitive to heavy metal stress compared to Acacia species.

Keywords: Copper; Lead; Germination; Acacia tortilis; Prosopis juliflora

Akihiro Kihara, Hiromi Kawasaki*, Satoko Yamasaki, Hideaki Hanaoka, Shingo Yamane,

Md Moshiur Rahman

Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan

Abstract

In most of the countries, agriculture is until now, one of the most important sectors. In general, farmers usually carry out heavy physical activities for the long duration. We aim to explain the conditions for examining health guidance and maintaining physical fitness of older farmers. Questionnaire survey and measurement of body function were carried out in this study. Multiple linear regression analysis was carried out using the data from 43 males of the same corporation. They took part in all the physical condition measurements and responded to the entire questionnaire. The concept of after harvest physical condition of those who think 'maintaining a good physical condition’ and ‘exercise after work is easy’ was significantly higher compared to those who did not share this view (p value = 0.021 and 0.044, respectively). Strong positive feelings still remain in the corporation and agricultural continuation among the older farmers. As this number increases so does the action intention related to health. The attitude, the subjective norm, and a feeling of control to action are related to an action intention which is a proactive stage to maintain good physical condition.

Keywords: Agriculture, Older Farmer, Physical Condition, Safety, Japan

Saber Fayez Hendawy¹, Mohamed Salah Hussein¹, Heba M. Amer¹, Ahmed E. El-Gohary¹,

Wagdi Saber Soliman²

¹Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Dep., National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

²Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan 81528, Egypt

Abstract

Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis L., is a remarkable medicinal plant containing number of phytochemicals with pharmaceutical and flavoring uses. As part of development of agro technology package of practices for large scale cultivation of rosemary, experiments were designed to examine the influence of soil texture using different ratios of sand and loam soil.

Pot experiments were conducted at the Experimental Station of National Research Centre during 2015 and 2016 successive seasons. To determine the best soil texture and type for rosemary cultivation, seven different combinations of sand: loam (100:0, 75:25, 66.75: 33.25, 50:50, 33.25:66.75, 25:75, and 0:100) were filled in 30cm pots where shoot tip cuttings of rosemary were planted.

All growth characters such as plant height, number of branches, herb fresh and herb dry weight were measured. Maximum values were recorded in 100% loam soil comparing with other soil types. Essential oil yield was also higher in 100% loam soil compared to others. Results showed that soil types had a pronounced effect on chemical constitutions of essential oil with higher major constitutions, camphor and α-pinene, under sand soil.

These results suggest cultivation of rosemary in loamy soil for higher productivity as well as in sandy soil for higher quality.

Keywords: Rosmarinus officinalis, Essential oil, Sandy soil, Loamy soil, Camphor

Nowara A. Mohamed¹, M. A. Radwan*²

¹Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Omar Al-Mukhtar University, El-Beida, Libya

²Department of Pesticide Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture (El-Shatby), Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

In vitro study was conducted to evaluate the effect of fourteen selected pesticides including six fungicides, four insecticides and four herbicides on the growth of a local strain of Trichoderma harzianum and on possible antagonistic activity of the treated fungus against Fusarium oxysporum. For compatibility study, each pesticide was tested at seven concentrations using poisoned food technique. While for the antagonistic activity study, treated T. harzianum was tested against F. oxysporium using dual culture technique under laboratory conditions. Significant differences were observed between the pesticides and the concentration used in the inhibition of mycelial growth and the inhibition increased with concentration increase. None of the concentrations tested of wettable sulphur, copper oxychloride, diazinon, cypermethrin, oxamyl, tribenuron-methyl and metribuzin suppressed the mycelial growth and the antagonistic potential of T. harzianum against F. oxysporium indicating the possibility of the integration between these pesticides and T. harzianum without any fear. However, the use of incompatible pesticides at all tested concentrations such as penconazole, iprodione, fenarimol and mancozeb and high concentrations of oxyfluorfen, glyphosate and imidacloprid may lead to inhibition of the growth and the antagonistic activity of T. harzianum as well as caution must be taken when using these pesticides in the disease management program. The obtained results will enable choice of combining T. harzianum with the selected pesticides within integrated disease management strategy.

Keywords: Antagonistic activity, Compatibility, Fusarium oxysporum, Pesticides, Trichoderma harzianum

Mohamed Amin Aboelghar, Ghada Ali Khdery

National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Using second generation of biofuel that does not affect food crop production is an issue of global concern.  Remote sensing (RS) proved to be efficient technique for inventory and monitoring the spatial distribution of biofuel plants at both local and regional scales. It is used also for site selection of the most suitable sites for the plantation of these plants through the integration of multi spatial layers. Spectral identification of these plants and the relationship between spectral and morphological parameters were not observed.

This work is considered the first step of a series of studies deals with the identification of the spectroscopic parameters and their relation with morphological parameters of the most common Egyptian natural vegetation. At this stage, two sources of fossil oil plants Jatropha and Jojoba were investigated. Spectral reflectance was measured using ASD spectroradiometer device and the spectral signature was identified for the two taxa. Secondly, optimal spectral zone and wavelength/s were identified for each sample. A Strong relation was found between chlorophyll content and spectral reflectance at visible spectral region. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was found to be highly correlated with chlorophyll content. Further work will be carried out to quantitatively relate the amount of ingredient fossil oil of these plants with spectroscopic characteristics.

Keywords: Jatropha, Jojoba, Spectroscopic Characteristics, Morphological Characters

Surrya Khanam*, Muhammad Mushtaq, Muhammad Sajid Nadeem, Amjad Rashid Kayani

Department of Zoology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Abstract

The present study was aimed to determine the population characteristics of the House shrew, Suncus murinus, in rural commensal habitats of Pothwar, Pakistan. The trapping campaign was conducted in four village sites of Pothwar on a seasonal basis from March 2012 through February 2014. In each village, snap traps were set in three types of structures (including, village households, shops and farm houses). The results showed that the shrew population in the rural human habitations had an unbiased sex ratio. Reproductively active individuals were present throughout the year. Reproductively active females outnumbered the inactive individuals. The species was predominantly eating animal food (mainly insects) in its diet along with the sufficient amount of plant matter. Overall, these results indicated that in commensal conditions shrew populations had diversity in their diet with the relatively continuous reproductive activity.

Keywords: Ecology, Food Habits, House Shrew, Indoor Habitats, Villages

Muhammad Mushtaq*, Surrya Khanam

Department of Zoology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Abstract

Commensal rodents are serious pests of household food storage items and cause significant losses to the farming community in many parts of the world including Pakistan.  The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of damage caused by the commensal rodents in various types of household structures in rural Pothwar. Losses were calculated on the bases of average population of rodents per structure, amount of cereals consumption by rodents and the average amount of food, a rat consumes in a day. Regression of daily captures on cumulative captures suggested a population of 1,060 rodents (3.02 per structure) from 350 structures (houses, shops and farm houses) of 12 sampled villages of Pothwar. Results on the grain losses caused by commensal rodents reflected that 9700.24 kg of wheat and other cereals were annually lost due to rodent’s consumption, from all the sampled structures, from an average village of Pothwar. In addition, sufficient amount of food items were contaminated by the rodent urine and / or feces and thus are unavailable for human use and may cause health issues.

Keywords: Cereals, Grain losses, Commensal rodents, Rural Pothwar.

Humam Shaaban Barhoum, Hisham Adib Alrouz, Ahmad Mouhamad Mouhanna

Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, Syria.

Abstract

Beekeepers in Syria have reported higher-than-usual colony losses in the last 8 years. These elevated losses average is more than 20% nationally. This study aimed to detect seven honeybee viruses in some provinces in Syria. RT-PCR was used in 240 Samples, which collected from eight provinces. It is shown that there is presence of four-honey bee’s virus (Deformed wing virus DWV, Acute bee paralysis virus ABPV, Chronic bee paralysis virus CBPV and Sacbrood virus SBV). The single viral infection rates were 100% (DWV), 18.89% (ABPV), 5.56% (CBPV) and 13.33% (SBV). DWV positivity prevalence in all studied regions, while the ABPV prevalence in four regions, and both CBPV and SBV prevalence in only two regions. This study is the first report of presence CBPV and SBV in Syria and adding a new recording of the ABPV in a new region.

Keywords: Honeybee viruses, RT-PCR, CCD

Muhammad Aslam Nadeem, Hafiz Muhammad Zia Ullah*, Abdul Majid Khan, Fida Hussain,

Muhammad Jamil, Idrees Ahmad

Oilseeds Research Station, Khanpur, District Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan

Abstract

This paper reports the release of new variety “Rohi Sarsoon” which is high yielding with erect growth habits. This variety was released in the year 2016 for arid and irrigated areas of agricultural lands. Rohi Sarsoon has been evolved from an elite line selected from progeny of a cross between KN-120 and KN-131 at Oilseeds Research Station, Khanpur during 2001-2002. Progenies F₂-F₅ were advanced by pedigree selection method. It is tolerant to Alternaria Blight, Powdery mildew, Downy mildew and white rust with yield potential 3927 Kg/hectare. The sowing time of this variety is 1-15 October with seed rate 0.60-0.80 Kg/acre. Plant color is light green with height of 160-173 cm and growth habits is determinate type. Its 1000 seed weight has been observed about 4-4.5 g. Leaf color is light green and seed contains 44-47% oil contents in it. Its meal contains 30-35% protein. This variety takes 155-160 days to mature and due to good performance it is recommended for the Southern Punjab and Cholistan areas in meeting of Federal Seed Certifiation and Registration Department held on 12 August 2016. Moreover, Rohi Sarsoon has got resistance against lodging, tolerant to aphid and best suited for Wheat­­­­­, Mung bean, Rapeseed, Bt Cotton, Wheat, Fodder, Rapeseed, Sugarcane crop rotation.

Keywords: Brassica napus, Disease resistant, Rohi Sarsoon, Variety, Yield

Nwokwu Gilbert Nwogboduhu

Department of Crop Production and Landscape Management, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources Management, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study assessed the economic impacts of direct seeding of rice as an alternative crop establishment method for farmers in Samaru, Zaria in the Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria. Specifically, it examined the changes in farmers’ inputs (labour and inputs) and level of productivity and incomes among direct-seeded methods such as broadcasting, drilling and dibbling and measured the economic returns on investment in direct seeding. Analyses included cost and return, and economic surplus framework. The economic analysis of upland rice production at both locations indicated that production of  NERICA 8 and JAMILA by either broadcasting or drilling method at the seed rate of 80 kg ha^-1 gave the highest gross margin as well as return on investment. The result revealed that NERICA 8 and JAMILA sown by broadcasting method at 80 kg ha^-1 was the most profitable with gross margin of N246, 166.50 with return on investment of N6.72. This was followed by broadcasting JAMILA at 120 kg ha^-1 seed rate which gave a gross margin of N194, 583.50 and return on investment of N4.32. However, the least gross margin of N61, 249.85 was observed when NERICA 4 was dibbled at 120 kg ha^-1    which brought a loss of N16, 716.50 and N 0.62k was lost per every naira invested.

Keywords: Economics, Direct Seeding, Upland Rice, Production