Salinity is one of the most limiting abiotic stresses in agricultural productivity. Exogenously applied antioxidants successfully enabled salt-stressed plants to cope with stress. Two-season field experiments were conducted consecutively in 2016/17 and 2017/18 to study the effects of foliar applications of singular (ascorbate, AsA; proline, Pro; and glutathione, GSH) or sequential (AsA-Pro-GSH and GSH-Pro-AsA) antioxidants on growth, yield, physio-biochemical attributes, and enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidative defense system of Vicia faba L. (CV. Sakha-1) plants grown under saline soil conditions (EC = 4.53 dS m⁻¹). Under soil salinity conditions, AsA, Pro, or GSH-Pro-ASA improved growth and productivity, photosynthesis efficiency, stomatal conductance (gs), plant water status, as well as enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. However, sequential AsA-Pro-GSH foliar application followed by singular GSH significantly exceeded all other treatments (i.e., AsA, Pro, and GSH-Pro-AsA), improving growth characteristics (shoot length, shoot fresh and dry weights, and leaves area), photosynthesis efficiency, stomatal conductance, plant water status, and yield and its components (green pods weight/plant⁻¹, green pods yield/hectare⁻¹, and seed yield/hectare⁻¹), as well as enzymatic (ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase) and non-enzymatic (AsA, GSH, Pro, phenolic aglycone, phenolic glycosides) antioxidants compared to control. Overall, our results clearly demonstrate that sequential AsA-Pro-GSH foliar application has a positive effect on salt-stressed Vicia faba plants.

Weeds are very problematic for tomato production worldwide. Differences in formulations of the same herbicide have different effects on weeds and crops. There are no published studies on the effect of the capsule suspension of pendimethalin (Pend) products on tomato in Egypt. The present study aims at evaluating three pre-plant Pend products compared with a post-plant metribuzin (Met) and hand hoeing on their efficiency on weed control and on the growth, yield, yield attributes, stand loss rate of tomato plants, and their economic benefit implications in tomato production. During the fall-winter seasons of 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, six weed control treatments were studied including three pre-plant Pend products, a post-plant Met, hand hoeing, and un-weeded control in tomato field experiments. Weed density, fresh weight [FW], and FW reduction% were measured. Tomato measurements included stand loss rate, vegetative growth parameters, leaf chlorophyll concentration, fruit diameter and length, marketable and total yields, fruit total soluble solids, and pH. All herbicides and hand hoeing treatments significantly reduced weeds FW. Stand loss rates of tomato were 0% in hand hoeing followed by Sencor (~ 9.3–11.1%). Vegetative growth and leaf chlorophyll concentration were improved in all treated plots as compared to the control. The highest significant increases in tomato branch number, plant height, stem diameter, and shoot FW were observed in Sencor and Mostmicro treatments. The highest marketable and total fruit yields were observed with Sencor. Met had the highest benefit–cost ratio in the study. All herbicides were effective against various noxious weeds, but tomato “hybrid 65,010” was more tolerant to Met which resulted in better yields than those obtained with Pend products. The most cost-effective method of weed control was Met.

This study assessed the variability within and among populations of three Egyptian onion cultivars (Red Behari, Giza-6 Mohasan and Line-70) during storage at normal room temperature. Selection response was estimated towards improving storability of medium to large sized bulbs. The bulbs were checked at 45-d intervals to discard sprouted and disease infected bulbs. The histograms analyses suggested normally distributed initial data for bulb weight, diameter and length. The estimated descriptive statistical parameters revealed appreciable differences among and within the analyzed onion populations. Bulbs of cv Giza-6 Mohassan and Line-70 were excluded after 135-d in storage as all their bulbs developed sprouts. Red Behari cv showed sprouting after 235- 280-d. At this time, the histogram for Red Behari cv strongly skewed left as result of small bulbs predominance. Only some medium sized bulbs remained. These bulbs may be useful for population improvement in cv Red Behari or crossed with other cvs. The bivariate analysis for genetic and phenotypic associations showed high r values for bulb diameter and length with bulb weight during storage. These traits had a high genetic component as shown by heritability (H2) and coefficient of variation (cv). It is concluded that genetic variation exists for improving storability in Egyptian adapted onion. Medium sized bulbs (primary trait) with improved storability can be attained either by direct selection or indirect selection using bulb diameter (secondary trait)

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is considered a vital leafy vegetable as regards of its vitamins, minerals, and other contents. Enhancing the quality and productivity is contemplated a paramount. Herein, five different organic fertilization (manures) and in combination were assessed on various parameters (head length, stem diameter, leaves dry weight, head fresh weight and total yield) in two seasons (2019/2020 and 2020/2021) compared to control under field conditions. As a result, in the first season, the mixture of animal and poultry manures plus animal manure itself significantly increased most of the examined parameters such as head length (22.60 and 20.33 cm, respectively), stem diameter (2.8 and 2.7 cm, respectively), and leaves dry weight (37.18 and 34.36 g, respectively). In the second season, the mixture of animal and poultry manures, animal manure, and poultry manure significantly improved most of the evaluated parameters, for instance, head length (14.33, 15.28, and 14.22 g, respectively), and head weight (434.44, 459.44, and 375.56 g, respectively). Thus, organic fertilization important to improve the physical and chemical properties of lettuce plants and also, for its safety for human health.

Successful seed production depends on the variety, the environment, and the agricultural practices. Limited information is available on the effects of green pod-picking treatments on the production of seeds. Therefore, two-season field experiments were conducted in 2019 and 2020 to study the effects of four green fruit picking treatments (no green fruit picking ‘T1’, first two pickings ‘T2’, first 4 pickings ‘T3’, and first 6 pickings ‘T4’) and six varieties (Pusa Sawani ‘V1’, Emerald ‘V2’, Eskandarany ‘V3’, Baladi Assiut ‘V4’, Beghera Iraqi ‘V5’, and NOKH-1002 “F1 hybrid okra ‘V6’) on okra growth and seed yield and quality. The results of the experiment showed that okra plants of T1, followed by those treated with T2 had higher number of dry pods, weight of pods/plant, and seed weight (kg/feddan), seed vitamin C, and pH. Plants of T3 were significantly taller than T1 in both seasons. There were differential responses of the studied varieties to the picking treatments. Plants of ‘Eskandarany’ with no pickings, followed by ‘Emerald’ with two pickings always had higher number of dry pods, weight of pods/plant, and seed weight (kg/feddan). We can conclude that okra plants with no green fruit picking, as compared to two, four, and six fruit pickings, can be the best option for seed production due to the observed higher number of dry pods, weight of pods/plant, seed yield and quality.

A two-year field study was conducted to study the possibility of partially replacing the nitrogenous fertilizer with the inoculum in a sandy land without affecting the growth, yield, and quality characteristics of sweet potato-sweet corn intercropping systems. The first factor was nitrogen fertilizer: Azospirillum brasilense (Ab, T1), 100 kg N ha ^− 1 (half-dose of nitrogen, T2), 200 kg N ha ^− 1 (full dose of nitrogen, T3), Ab + 100 kg N ha ^− 1 (T4), Ab + 200 kg ha ^− 1 (T5). The second factor was the intercropping systems (IS): (1) 100%IS =sole sweet corn or sole sweet potato, (2) 75%IS = 3 rows of sweet corn + one row of sweet potato, (3) 50%IS = two rows of each crop, (4) 25%IS = one row of sweet corn + 3 rows of sweet potato. The interaction showed that all intercropping systems within T5 surpassed other treatment combinations in all the studied traits, but it was comparable to the intercropping systems within T4. The lowest results were observed in all traits within the bacteria treatment (T1). The highest significant fat percentage and total solids were found in T5 + IS in sweet potato. Land equivalent ratio was greater than one in all treatment combinations, but the highest values were observed in T5 + 50%IS and T1 + 50%IS. As inoculating intercropped plants with Azospirillum spp. with either full- or half-dose of nitrogenous fertilizer under sandy land conditions had comparable growth and yield for both crops, we conclude that integrating intercropping (50%IS) with microbial inoculation and a reduced (half) nitrogen fertilizer dose can effectively lessen the reliance on synthetic nitrogen inputs. The best return was achieved by intercropping sweet potato with sweet corn at a ratio of 50% for each, combined with Azospirillum spp. + 200 N ha ^− 1 .