The combination of adsorption and photodegradation processes is an effective technique for the removal of dye contaminants from water, which is motivating the development of novel adsorbent-photocatalyst materials for wastewater treatment. Herein, novel nanocomposite porous beads were developed using titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanotubes embedded in a sodium alginate (SA)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) matrix using calcium chloride solution as a crosslinker. The prepared nanocomposite beads’ performance was examined as an adsorbent-photocatalyst for the breakdown of methylene blue in aqueous solutions. Several operation factors influencing the dye decomposition process, including photocatalyst dosage, illumination time, light intensity, and stability were investigated. The findings demonstrated that the removal activity of the beads changed with the TiO₂ weight ratio in the composite. It was found that SA/PVP/TiO₂-3 nanocomposite beads presented the greatest deterioration efficiency for methylene blue dye (98.9%). The cycling ability and reusability of the prepared SA/PVP/TiO₂ nanocomposite beads recommend their use as efficient, eco-friendly materials for the treatment of wastewaters contaminated with cationic dyes.

Plant-associated microbes (endophytes) have a significant relationship to enhance plant growth and crop productivity by producing proficient bioactive metabolites. Since endophytes promoted plant growth either directly by releasing active metabolites such as phytohormones or indirectly by suppressing the growth of phytopathogens, so, in this work, biomass yield of local endophytic Trichoderma harzianum was maximized at shake-flask scale and scaled up via 7-L Bioflo310 fermenter using continuous exponential fed-batch fermentation mode. Subsequently, the effect of these cells as bio-fertilizer was assessed using two-barley grain genotypes (Russian and Egyptian seeds) via an intelligent hydroponic system based on Internet of Things (IoT). To reduce the cost of a biomass production line, agro-waste media containing potato, onion, garlic, pea, and cabbage peels were chosen as the culturing medium. The pea peel medium was found to be the best producer of biomass (2.2 g/L). The cultivation factors were evaluated to improve this biomass yield. The results showed that the maximum biomass production (4.9 g/L) was reported by adjusting the medium pH at 5.0 that inoculated with 10% of spore suspension, then incubated at 30°C, and 200 rpm. Then, this biomass yield was scaled up kinetically (505.4 g/L) by using exponential fed-batch fermentation mode via a 7-L bioreactor. The stimulation impacts of this endophytic T. harzianum on the growth of different barley genotypes (Russian and Egyptian seeds) were determined using a controlled hydroponic chamber. The total chlorophyll, carotenoid, and carbohydrate amounts in treated Russian showed the proficient stimulation percentage (81.05, 80, 40.8%) compared to the Egyptian barley groups (76.39, 73.5, 25.9%) respectively. Also, the maximum carbohydrate content (83.95 ± 1.7%) was recorded in the case of Russian barley. Via this work, the optimal combination conditions for the cost-effective biomass production of endophytic T. harzianum were designed industrially via a fed-batch fermentation system using the cheapest culturing medium. Furthermore, by applying this promising bio-fertilizer, the total cost of barley production via an IoT hydroponic growing system was reduced. Besides, these animal diets (sprouted barley) could be produced in 3 cycles per month.

Climate change is the greatest threat to agriculture and food security, particularly in developing countries. Climate change occurs as CO2 levels in the atmosphere rise, causing changes in wind patterns and rainfall and rising temperatures. This study assumes that climate change will have a long-run impact on Egypt's agricultural sector. So, an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) was applied to examine the effects of climate change factors and other economic factors on Egyptian agricultural GDP in the short and long run from 1990 to 2020. The findings indicate that climate change factors have a long-run impact on Egypt's agricultural sector. In the long run, CO2 is the primary cause of Egypt's increasing temperatures. In the short run, climate change occurs because CO2 levels in the atmosphere increase, resulting in global warming, storms, floods, and rising sea levels. The result is that rising temperatures have reduced agricultural GDP.

Barley is a globally important strategic cereal crop, which grows well under various climatic and drought-stress conditions. In Egypt, barley is a major winter crop cultivated in old and newly reclaimed lands that suffer from a lack of irrigation, low soil fertility, and salinity of both soil and water. However, there is a lack of awareness of the nutritional role of barley for both humans and animals. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the actual status of cultivated areas of barley, especially in newly reclaimed lands in Egypt during the period (2004/2005–2018/2019). The study is based on descriptive and quantitative analysis using means, growth rates, relative importance, and robust regression. Results show that barley cultivated areas in newly reclaimed lands represented about 76.9% of total cultivated areas during (2004/2005–2018/2019). It means that barley is more adaptable in dry and marginal areas, meaning it is a sustainable plant that can face drought, land degradation, and climate change. Also, production costs, farm prices, and net return of barley are the most important factors that affect the producer’s decision to cultivate barley during the study period. In addition, there is excessive use of some variables during the study period; after estimating the production function of barley using robust regression, it is shown that it is necessary to reduce these variables in the production process to achieve economic efficiency.

Existing wastewater treatment systems face several significant challenges. So, the main purpose of this study was to apply an effective technology for these systems especially textile industrial wastewater (TIW). Currently, beneficial microorganisms are gaining widespread adoption. One of them is referred to as Effective Microorganisms (EM). Which is a product in liquid form which consists of many varieties of non-pathogenic microorganisms, which coexistence between aerobic& anaerobic microorganisms. This liquid EM is used to bio remediate TIW. This study evaluates the efficacy of various EM dosages (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25ml / 525ml sample) during different retention times (15 and 35 days) along the experiment and quantifies multiple physico–chemical parameters and their respective removal percentages. These parameters are: Electrical Conductivity (EC), pH, Temperature (Temp.) , Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Nitrite (NO2), Ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), Phosphate – phosphorus (PO4-P), Nitrate (NO3) and some heavy metals (HMs) of (Cr, Ni, Cu, Fe, Pb and Cd). EM demonstrates significant potential for application in TIW, as it achieves high removal percentages for parameters such as ammonia with 96% removal efficiency, phosphorus by 100% and BOD5by 72.38%) at minimal EM dosages of 5 ml EM dose. However, it was ineffective in reducing COD and some of HMs average values.It was concluded that utilization of EM for bioremediation of TIW offers numerous advantages from economic viability, ease of design and environmentally friendly & sustainability