This study is aimed at comparing swell drying versus conventional shade drying and optimizing the texturing by instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) of green okra pods. Differences in quality attributes such as content of flavonoids, carotenoids, and chlorophyll pigments, functional characteristics such as the antioxidant activity (AOA), microstructure and relative expansion ratio of dried okra pods were considered. The DIC processing parameters were the saturated steam pressure (0.2-0.6 MPa) and duration (40-60 s). A 2-parameter, 5-level central composite rotatable design was selected for establishing the experimental trials. They represent 8 factorial and star trials, and five repetitions of central/middle point of the square edges. Significant variations in total phenolic and flavonoid contents, carotenoids, antioxidant activity, and chlorophyll pigments were observed between swell-dried and conventional shadow dried okra pods. An increase of 25% and 99% was respectively observed for the relative expansion ratio and flavonoid content in swell dried okra pods compared with conventional shadow dried ones. The microstructure observations showed a significantly more porous open solid matrix of swell-dried okra pods compared to the compact/dense solid matrix of the conventional shadow dried okra pods. The optimum conditions of DIC-texturing were found to be 0.4 MPa for 50 s exhibiting the highest values of total phenolic content, flavonoids, antioxidant activity, and chlorophyll pigments with good preservation of the carotenoid content.

This project investigated the relative efficiencies of three pilot-scale constructed columns for enhancing drainage wastewater treatment processes to ensure compliance with Egyptian and international water quality criteria. In this investigation, basic materials (sand and gravel) and variable natural clay minerals zeolite (Z), diatomite (D) and bentonite (B) were utilized as packing materials to build up a Z column (ZC), D column (DC) and B column (BC), respectively. The three columns’ ability to remove pollutants from waste water for re-use in irrigation was investigated throughout one year (12 trials). The results revealed that the influent water had 211 mg/L total suspended solids, 6.09 mg/L total nitrogen, 36.67 mg/L biochemical oxygen demand, 56 mg/L chemical oxygen demand, 1700 mg/L total dissolved solids, 0.97 mg/L copper (Cu²⁺), 1.12 mg/L iron (Fe²⁺), 1.07 mg/L manganese (Mn²⁺), 1.02 mg/L lead (Pb²⁺), 1.05 mg/L zinc (Zn²⁺), and 46 × 10³ CFU/mL fecal coliforms. These parameters were higher than the values permitted by Egyptian and international licenses. The range of removal efficiency of these pollutants by ZC was 96–21%, by BC was 99–29.8%, and by DC was 99–19.80%. Regeneration studies for the spent adsorbents demonstrated that the percentages of pollutant removal were sufficiently high. The treated effluent produced by the three columns was suitable for irrigation purposes, especially at a contact time of four hours, with the order for column treatment efficiency being BC ˃ DC ˃ ZC. Treated water was classified for irrigation suitability according to the Agrifood Water Quality Index (AFWQI) as marginal from the ZC, very good from the DC, and excellent from the BC. Treatment of such drainage water using the BC and DC appears feasible, because the process is easily operated and leads to final treated effluent of high quality for agricultural uses. The economic cost also confirms the feasibility of this treatment.

The water footprint (WF), based on irrigation water quality, is important as a decision-making tool for crop selection based on the comparative advantage of water consumption and yield to maximize agricultural water productivity and sustainably improve water use efficiency. This paper presents a generic link between climate variability and water footprint. To support this link, a case study is presented for wheat and maize in different agro-climate zones in Egypt. In this study, the three agro-ecological zones, Nile Delta, Middle Egypt, and Upper Egypt, were selected to represent three different microclimates. The climate data were analyzed to estimate reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and calculate crop water use (CWU) for wheat and maize from 2015 through 2019. Cultivated area and yield data were analyzed during the study period. Water footprint (WF) was calculated for old land (clay soils) and new lands (sandy soils) in three climate regions based on blue and grey water. Green water was excluded due to negligible rainfall depths in Egypt. The results showed that the mean values of WF for maize were 1067, 1395, 1655 m³/ton in old land and 1395, 1634, 2232 m³/ton in new land under the three climate regions, respectively, while it was 923, 982, 1117 m³/ton in old land and 1180, 1258, 1452 m³/ton for wheat in new land for the three regions, respectively. The results show that the crop water use fluctuated over regions due to climate variability where the CWU values were 6211, 7335, 8007 m³/ha for maize and 4348, 4825, 5774 m³/ha for wheat in the three regions, respectively. The results show an 11% and 33% increase in maize and an 18% and 29% increase in wheat CWU in Middle and Upper Egypt regions comparing to what was observed in Nile Delta due to an increase in solar radiation, temperature, and wind speed. The Egypt mean value of wheat water footprint was 1152 m³/ton and mean value of maize water footprint was 1563 m³/ton. The data clearly show the effect of microclimate variability on WF and irrigation requirements between regions. The methodology and results from this study provide a pathway to help the policy makers to mitigate climate change impacts on crop yield and to enhance water resources management in major crop production regions by redistribution of the cropping patterns based on the comparative advantages of each crop within each region. The crop choices relative to the soil water retention characteristics could also contribute to the moderation of microclimate, which affects ETo and ETc and the water footprint.

Starch is the principal source of stored energy in plants, and its chemical composition varies depending on the botanical source of the starch. There are several different sources of starch, including conventional and non-conventional sources. The conventional sources of starch comprise cereal grains; tubers; roots; the pith of the sago plant; and legumes, mainly peas. However, there is a great demand for novel sources of starch to obtain other or new functional properties and to ensure the production sustainability of starch. The novel sources of starch comprise mango, jackfruit, litchi, longan, loquat, and banana. Starch has several different applications in the food industry and non-food sectors, including pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. In the food industry, starch can be used as a thickening and binding agent in the preparation of pudding, soups, sauces, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and infant foods. The use of starch in different applications depends on its functional properties, where gelatinization and rheological characteristics are the main functional and physicochemical properties of starch to define its applications in different industries. This chapter covers the chemical composition and structure of starch granules, with an emphasis on their physicochemical properties, such as swelling and solubility, gelatinization and retrogradation, pasting and rheological properties, and digestibility. It also focuses on starch functionality, its applications in different sectors, and the different methods for starch isolation. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->

The ASCE-EWRI recently published a report on the estimation of reference evapotranspiration for short canopies (ET_o) and tall canopies (ET_r) using a modified Penman-Monteith equation. Currently, another EWRI committee is developing crop coefficient (K_c) values to estimate crop evapotranspiration by multiplying by either ET_o or ET_r. Most crop coefficients were developed using either ET_o or ET_r, and, because the relationship between ET_o and ET_r varies with microclimate, it is difficult to convert crop coefficients from one reference surface to the other. In this paper, a simple method to convert between ET_o and ET_r and between the corresponding Kco and Kcr factors is discussed.