Depending on the geochemical forms, heavy metal (HM) accumulation is one of the most serious environmental problems in the world and poses negative impacts on soil, plants, animals, and humans. Although the use of biochar to remediate contaminated soils is well known, the huge quantities of waste used and its recycling technique to sustain soil in addition to its use conditions are determinant factors for its characteristics and uses. A pot experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design to evaluate metal forms and their availability under the application of garden waste biochar (GB) pyrolyzed at different temperatures, and a sequential extraction procedure was designed to fractionate Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu of the contaminated soil. The results show that the TCLP-extractable Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu were significantly decreased depending on the biochar addition rate, pyrolysis temperature, and tested metal. The acid extractable fraction was significantly decreased by 51.54, 26.42, 16.01, and 74.13% for Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu, respectively, at the highest application level of GB₄₀₀ compared to untreated pots. On the other hand, the organic matter bound fraction increased by 76.10, 54.69, 23.72, and 43.87% for the corresponding metals. The Fe/Mn oxide bound fraction was the predominant portion of lead (57.25–62.84%), whereas the acid fraction was major in the case of Cd (58.06–77.05%). The availability of these metals varied according to the application rate, pyrolysis temperature, and examined metals. Therefore, the GB is a nominee as a promising practice to reduce HM risks, especially pyrolyzed at 400 °C by converting the available fraction into unavailable ones.

A field trial was carried out at The Experimental Farm of Al-Sheikh Allam Al-Monshaah, Sohag governorate, Egypt which is located at 26° 52- 41= N latitude and 31° 75- 96= E longitude during two successive growth seasons of 2017/18 and 2018/19 to investigate some natural soil amendments (poultry manure, PM; farmyard, FYM; compost, CO ; mud rock, MR) with two application levels (20 and 40 ton/ fed) (fed= feddan= 0.420 hectares = 1.037 acres) to assess their effects on soil hydro-physical properties and to find the suitable application level for wheat crop production. The results showed that the soil texture differed fromsand to loamy sand with slight no changes as a result of soil amendments applications (SA). The SA reduced the soil bulk density especially in the surface layer at high application level. They increased the saturation percentage, field capacity and available water. The positive effect of SA on the soil moisture constant could be arranged in the descending order of PM > CO > MR > FYM. The infiltration rate (IF) of surface layers differed from 0.17 to 0.68 cm/ hr. as an average of both growth seasons. The IF rate increased as the amount of SA increased. It is considered slow for FYM, CO and MR treatments and moderately slow for PM treatment. The effect of SA on IF could be sorted in the descending order of PM > FYM > CO > MR. The main hydraulic conductivity (HC) of both seasons of the top soil (50 cm) varies from 0.05 to 0.17 m/ day. It increased as the level of SA increased. It is also considered slow for FYM, CO and MR treatments and moderately slow for PM treatment. The effect of SA on the HC could be set in the descending order of PM > FYM > CO > MR.

The current study was conducted at The Experimental Farm, Fac. of Agric., Al-Azhar Univ., Assuit, Egypt (27° 12- 16.67= N latitude, 31° 09- 36.86= E longitude and at 51 m altitude) during the winter season of 2018 (September to December). The research work aimed to assess the performance of surge irrigation compared to the continuous one by measuring the advance rate of the wetting front, inflow/ outflow rates, distribution uniformity, application efficiency, suitable furrow length and surge numbers. Surge flow irrigation leads to a decrease in advance time compared to continuous flow. The reduction percentages in advance and recession time are more pronounced under low discharge rate and long furrow length. Surge flow irrigation used less amounts of water than continuous one. Surge flow could save almost one third of the applied water by continuous flow especially into long furrow with 5 surges of medium discharge rate. The larger discharge coupled with large furrow resulted in the maximum water saving of about 28% among all the other combinations. For all possible combinations, the volume ratio remained less than one indicating that less total water is required to complete the advance phase in surged irrigation compared to continuous one. Surge flow showed higher application efficiency than that of continuous one. The higher application efficiency (83%) was observed under 5 surges flow into 100 m furrow length with 1.2 L/S discharge rate. Water losses by deep percolation were more pronounced in short furrow length than that of long one and they were minimized by surge flow. Surge flow realized higher distribution uniformity (DU) than that of continuous one.

A field experiment was conducted during the winter season of 2017/18 and 2018/19 at the experimental farm of Arab El-Awammer Research Station, Agriculture Research Center, Assiut, Egypt (27° 11/ N latitude, longitude 31° 06/ E and 71m altitude ASL) to evaluate the effect of different irrigation regimes (80, 100 and 120% of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and various intercropping patterns (wheat and faba bean intercropped with sugar beet) under drip irrigation system on sugar beet yield and its traits, crop water productivity and land equivalent ratio. The obtained results showed that sugar beet yield and its traits were decreased as the irrigation regime increased and with intercropping system with wheat or faba been. On the average bases of both seasons, sugar beet yielded 20.29, 18.17 and 16.64 ton/ feddan (feddan = 4200 m² = 0.420 hectares = 1.037 acres) at 120, 100 and 80% ETo, respectively. The relative reductions were 21.94 and 9.19% at 120, and 100% ETo compared to 80% ETo. Also, sugar beet yielded 19.48, 17.64 and 17.99 ton/feddan at sole sugar beet, intercropped sugar beet with wheat and intercropped sugar beet with faba bean, respectively. The reduction in sugar beet yield was 9.45 and 7.65% when intercropped with wheat and faba bean, respectively compared to that yielded for sole sugar beet. On the average basis of both seasons, the crop water productivity (CWP) values were 5.21, 5.60 and 6.35 kg/m3 at 120, 100 and 80% irrigation regime, respectively regardless the intercropping system. At 120% ETo, the CWP values were 4.82, 5.08 and 5.73 kg/m3 for sole sugar beet, sugar beet + wheat and sugar beet + faba bean, respectively. At 100% ETo, the CWP values were 5.24, 5.43 and 6.14 kg/m3 for the corresponding sole and intercropping system. The CWP values were 6.23, 5.99 and 6.83 kg/m3 for the corresponding sole and intercropping system at 80% ETo. The highest land equivalent ratio (LER) value (1.70) was recorded when sugar beet intercropped with faba bean and irrigated at 80% ETo while the lowest one (1.25) was attained when sugar beet intercropped with wheat and irrigated at 80% ETo. On the average basis of both seasons, the saved lands were 36.92, 35.51 and 29.71% at 120, 100 and 80% ETo, respectively regardless the intercropping system.

The field experiment was carried out at a private farm, Eneiybes, Juhayna, Sohag governorate, Egypt which is located at 26° 73- 67= N latitude and 31° 47- 56= E longitude during two consecutive growing winter seasons of 2019/20 and 2020/21 to assess the effect of seed priming on wheat yield and water productivity under drought stress. The experiment was laid out in a split plots design with three replicates. The main plots were assigned to drought stress (90, 75, and 60% field capacity, FC). The split plots were allocated to seed priming treatments (No, Hydro and CaCl2). The obtained results indicated that 90% FC with No priming treatment realized the highest amount of water consumptive use, WCU, 4866.45 m3 ha-1 and irrigation water applied, IWA, 6469.19 m3 ha-1 as an average value of both seasons. While the lowest amount of WCU and IWA were obtained at 60% FC with CaCl2 treatment since they were 3887.57 and 5169.66 m3 ha-1, respectively. The highest field irrigation water use (1.61 kg m-3) and crop water productivity (2.14 kg m-3) were attained at 60% FC with CaCl2 as an average value of both seasons While the lowest values were obtained at 90% FC with No priming treatment for the corresponding parameters since they were 1.20 and 1.59 kg m-3 , respectively. Wheat yield and grain N content were significantly influenced by irrigation regime, as well as by seed priming. The highest grain yield was recorded with CaCl2 treatment since it was 8.520 Mgha-1 at 90% FC in the 1st season and 9.320 Mg ha-1 at 75% FC in the 2nd season. The lowest grain yield (6.960 and 7.277 Mg ha-1 in the 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively) was recorded at 60% FC with No priming. The highest grain nitrogen content (2.94%) was recorded at 60% FC with CaCl2 as an average value of both seasons. While the lowest value (2.22%) was recorded at 90% FC with No priming as an average value of both seasons.It could be concluded that seed priming is a very useful practice that effectively mitigates abiotic stresses of water deficit at the same time increases crop water productivity and enhances wheat yield traits and its quality.

An experimental field was carried out during the growing season of 2019/20 and 2020/21 at The Experimental Farm, Fac. of Agriculture, Assiut, Egypt (27° 12- 16.67= N latitude and 31° 09- 36.86= E longitude) in order to evaluate the change in soil moisture retention and wheat plant response to different irrigation practices as well as their performances and water productivity. The tested irrigation practices (border, furrow, alternative furrow, gated pipe and surface drip) were arranged as factorial in a completely randomized design with three replicates. The soil moisture retention decreased clearly with soil depth for all irrigation practices through both seasons. On average basis of both seasons, the soil water retained in 60 cm soil depth was 12.36, 12.17, 11.99, 11.91 and 11.75 cm water depth for basin, furrow, alternative furrow, gated pipe and drip irrigation practices, respectively. It could be arranged the amount of retained water in descending order of basin > furrow > alternative furrow > gated pipe > drip irrigation practices. In general, it was noticed that the retained water in the top layer (0- 30 cm) was higher than that in sub layer (30- 60 cm). On average basis of both seasons, the relative increases in soil water retention in 60 cm soil depth were 3.79, 3.60, 2.00 and 1.40% for basin, furrow, alternative furrow and gated pipe, respectively compared to drip irrigation practice. The irrigation performance indices of gated pipe and drip irrigation were utmost the other irrigation practices. Water application efficiency, the non-beneficial water consumption, water storage efficiency and distribution uniformity was 84.15 and 85.29%, 18.85 and 17.25%, 58.04 and 56.15% and 90.68 and 90.90 for gated pipe and drip irrigation practices, respectively. The highest wheat grain and straw yield were attained at gated pipe and drip irrigation practices since grain yield was 3164.0 and 3113.0 kg/ fed. and straw yield was 3691.5 and 3646.0 kg/fed., respectively. It might be concluded that applying more irrigation water than can be stored in the top 60 cm of the soil profile will result in inefficient utilization of this water by winter wheat. Selection of a suitable irrigation method would depend on the specific conditions of water resources, crop types and management requirements.