Quinoa may be a promising alternative solution for arid regions, and it is necessary to test yield and mineral accumulation in grains under different soil types. Field experiments with Chenopodium quinoa (cv. CICA-17) were performed in Egypt in non-saline (electrical conductivity, 1.9 dS m−1) and saline (20 dS m−1) soils. Thirty-four chemical elements were studied in these crops. Results show different yields and mineral accumulations in the grains. Potassium (K), P, Mg, Ca, Na, Mn, and Fe are the main elements occurring in the quinoa grains, but their concentrations change between both soil types. Besides, soil salinity induced changes in the mineral pattern distribution among the different grain organs. Sodium was detected in the pericarp but not in other tissues. Pericarp structure may be a shield to prevent sodium entry to the underlying tissues but not for chloride, increasing its content in saline conditions. Under saline conditions, yield decreased to near 47%, and grain sizes greater than 1.68 mm were unfavored. Quinoa may serve as a complementary crop in the marginal lands of Egypt. It has an excellent nutrition perspective due to its mineral content and has a high potential to adapt to semi-arid and arid environments.

Angular leaf spot, caused by P. syringae, is one of the most important bacterial disease of watermelon. For disease management, growers rely on copper bactericides, which are effective after the first two weeks of transplanting, while they couldn’t be applied before that due to the high phytotoxicity they may cause to the plant. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antibacterial activity of three new copper composites, core-shell copper (CS-Cu), multivalent copper (MV-Cu), and fixed quaternary ammonium copper (FQ-Cu), as potential treatments to control the disease before the emergence of the first true leaf where copper is not available, and to identify the possibility of applying the newly designed copper composites during that period to significantly reduce secondary dispersal of disease inoculum. In vitro, 50 μg/ml of metallic copper from MV-Cu and FQ-Cu significantly reduced the P. syringae populations after 2hrs of exposure compared to the untreated control (P= 0.05) and were more effective than using the Kocide® 3000. Greenhouse studies demonstrated that MV-Cu and FQ-Cu significantly reduced the disease incidence compared to both Mankozeb+ Kocide® 3000 and untreated control when using the seed inoculation method. In contrast, none of the nano-composites significantly reduced disease incidence when using the spray inoculation method. MV-Cu and FQ-Cu managed to significantly reduce seedling to seedling disease transmission under greenhouse conditions (P = 0.05). This study highlights that copper composites have the potential to manage P. syringae in the first two weeks of transplanting and reducing the contamination rate from infected to healthy transplants

This study was aimed to recognize the reproductive performance and herd composition of sheep and goat in six studied area located in east and west river Nile at Assiut governorate.A set of semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from 300 sheep owners based on single-visit-interviews.The study revealed that farmers keep mixed livestock species.Sheep and goat production are the major livestock activity in located study area.The average farm size of households surveyed in Assiut Governorate was 8.2 feddan.The farmers cultivated 50.74% and 50.86 % of their lands for green fodder and field crops in winter and summer, respectively.About 50.89 % of the total farm size area cultivated with animal fodder around the year.In summer 25.37%.Of the area was cultivated with field crops.The reproductive and productive performance of sheep and goats were discussed and data showed that, no significant differences were observed in lambing interval and age at first lambing between sheep and goats, while goats were significantly higher in litter size (P<0.01),lambing mortality (p<0.05)weaning weight (p<0.01) and age at marketing (p<0.05)than sheep.Generally, Sheep and goat production in the studied areas was constrained by different problems; where the major ones are availability and cost of feeds, limitation of land for the expansion of production and poor extension services.Sheep and goats are very important smallholder producers due to their biological factors such as short generation interval, twinning, short growth periods, do not require much space and low food requirements.In this domain, reasons of high lamb mortality rates should be identified and reduced in order to make sheep and goat production profitable and sustainable.

This study aimed to evaluate seed yield, morphological variability and nutritional quality for two cultivars of Chenopodium quinoa under high saline soil conditions (ECe 22 dSm-1) in Egyptian Northeastern coast. Responses to salinity were greatly differed between the two cultivars. The Peruvian cultivar CICA produced seed yield significantly higher than Bolivian cultivar Real. CICA cultivar also showed significant high performances for most of morphological traits. Among the 10 morphological traits, leaves dry weight, shoot fresh weight and leaves fresh weight showed significant positive association with seed yield. No significant difference has been found between both cultivars for most seed quality traits except for the concentration of crude protein and crude fiber in seeds were significantly higher in CICA cultivar. Although CICA cultivar exhibited significantly higher sodium concentration in the leaves than that found in the leaves of Real cultivar, but it was much more efficient in restricting sodium uploading into seed. These results revealed that the Peruvian cultivar CICA seems to be adaptable and more suited to dry-saline soil in Northeastern coastal region of Egypt, as it gave considerable high seed yield with better quality in terms of high protein and fiber percentage and low Na concentration in seeds.

A prerequisite for sustainable saline agriculture of cash crop halophytes in salt affected areas implies exact knowledge of their limits of salinity resistance.Hence, the first part of this study was carried out in pot experiment under greenhouse conditions to evaluate growth and seed yield of C. quinoa Willd.cv.Hualhuas to varying water salinity levels (0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mM NaCl).The limit of salinity resistance was estimated at 200 mM NaCl (~20 dSm -1 ) based on seed yield production.Depending on the results obtained from pot experiment, field trials were conducted in saline soil location (ECe 17.9 dSm -1 ) and in non-saline soil location (ECe 1.9 dSm -1 ).Seed yield significantly decreased under saline soil by about 61.7% .Beside quantity, soil salinity led to reduce the percentage of moisture, total carbohydrate and total fat contents in seeds.Salinity did not significantly alter the protein content in quinoa seeds.Significant increases in the content of ash and fiber were detected in response to high soil salinity.The high er ash content in seeds under saline conditions was due to the increase of Na + as well as K + , P 3-and Fe ++ concentrations.By contrast, soil salinity led to significant decrease of Ca ++ and Zn ++ contents in seed.Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis showed that most of Na + in the seeds produced at saline soil was mainly accumulated in the pericarp followed by embryo tissues, while, the interior reserving tissue (perisperm) exhibiting comparatively low concentration.Increasing most of essential minerals, especially Fe, in quino a seeds produced under high saline conditions given quinoa a distinctive value for human consumption.Quinoa can be grown and yielded successfully in salt-affected soils (ECe 17.9 dSm -1 ), where, most if not all of traditional crops cannot grow, although the yield was reduced however, the seed quality was not highly affected.