Background: Enriching the soil with organic matter such as humic and fulvic acid to increase its content available nutrients, improves the chemical properties of the soil and increases plant growth as well as grain yield. In this study, we conducted a field experiment using humic acid (HA), fulvic acid (FA) and recommended dose (RDP) of phosphorus fertilizer to treat Hordeum vulgare seedling, in which four concentrations from HA, FA and RDP (0.0 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100%) under saline soil conditions . Moreover, some agronomic traits (e.g. grain yield, straw yield, spikes weight, plant height, spike length and spike weight) in barley seedling after treated with different concentrations from HA, FA and RDP were determined. As such the beneficial effects of these combinations to improve plant growth, N, P, and K uptake, grain yield, and its components under salinity stress were assessed. Results: The findings showed that the treatments HA + 100% RDP (T1), HA + 75% RDP (T2), FA + 100% RDP (T5), HA + 50% RDP (T3), and FA + 75% RDP (T6), improved number of spikes/plant, 1000-grain weight, grain yield/ha, harvest index, the amount of uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) in straw and grain. The increase for grain yield over the control was 64.69, 56.77, 49.83, 49.17, and 44.22% in the first season, and 64.08, 56.63, 49.19, 48.87, and 43.69% in the second season,. Meanwhile, the increase for grain yield when compared to the recommended dose was 22.30, 16.42, 11.27, 10.78, and 7.11% in the first season, and 22.17, 16.63, 11.08, 10.84, and 6.99% in the second season. Therefore, under salinity conditions the best results were obtained when, in addition to phosphate fertilizer, the soil was treated with humic acid or foliar application the plants with fulvic acid under one of the following treatments: HA + 100% RDP (T1), HA + 75% RDP (T2), FA + 100% RDP (T5), HA + 50% RDP (T3), and FA + 75% RDP (T6). Conclusions: The result of the use of organic amendments was an increase in the tolerance of barley plant to salinity stress, which was evident from the improvement in the different traits that occurred after the treatment using treatments that included organic amendments (humic acid or fulvic acid).

Barley (Hordeum vulgare, L.) is the fourth most important cereal crop in the world. Salinity decreases the productivity of plants grown under salinity conditions. It leads to deficiency and limited absorption of water and nutrients, ionic stress, oxidative stress, and osmotic imbalance. In saline soil, a field experiment was conducted to verify the effects of nine combinations among three levels of bio-fertilizers, i.e., control (without), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB), as well as three levels of phosphorus fertilizer recommended dose (RDP) on barley yield, its components and nutrients uptake, to evaluate the useful influences of these combinations to improve P management under salinity stress related to yield and its components as well as N, P, and K uptake in barley. Findings revealed that the combination AMF + 100% RDP improved plant height, length of spike, spikes weight, number of spikes plant⁻¹, weight of 1000-grain, straw yield, grain yield, uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) in grain and uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) in straw by 19.76, 33.21, 40.08, 33.76, 14.82, 24.95, 47.52, 104.54, 213.47, 168.24, 124.30, 183.59, and 160.84% in the first season, respectively. Meanwhile, the increase was 19.86, 29.73, 40.47, 39.94, 14.92, 24.95, 47.94, 104.73, 213.33, 168.64, 124.47, 183.86, and 161.09% in the second season, respectively. AMF showed greater efficiency and effectiveness compared to PSB in improving yield and its components for all studied traits. The results of principle component analysis indicated that all combinations except AMF + zero% RDP, PSB + zero% RDP, control + zero% RDP, and control + 66% RDP showed high scores on positive PC1, where all studied traits were high. Therefore, it is recommended to inoculate the soil with AMF or PSB with the addition of phosphate fertilizer at the recommended dose under salinity conditions, i.e., AMF + 100% RDP (T1) or AMF + 66% RDP (T2) or PSB + 100% RDP (T4). The use of bio-fertilizers has increased plant tolerance to salt stress, and this was evident from the increase in different traits with the use of treatments that include bio-fertilizers.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is one of the most important perennial forage crops to build effective diets for livestock producers. Forage crop improvement depends largely on the availability of diverse germplasms and their efficient utilization. The present investigation was conducted at Ismailia Agricultural Research Station to assess twenty-one alfalfa genotypes for yield components, forage yield and quality traits during 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. The genotypes were evaluated in field experiments with three replicates and a randomized complete block design, using analysis of variance, estimate of genetic variability, estimate of broad sense heritability (h_b²) and cluster analysis to identify the inter relationships among the studied genotypes as well as principal component analysis (PCA) to explain the majority of the total variation. Significant differences were found among genotypes for all studied traits. The general mean of the studied traits was higher in the second year than the first year. Moreover, the combined analysis showed highly significant differences between the two years, genotypes and the year × gen. interaction for the traits studied. The genotype F18 recorded the highest values for plant height, number of tiller/m², total fresh yield and total dry yield, while, the genotype F49 ranked first for leaf/stem ratio. The results showed highly significant variation among the studied genotypes for crude protein %, crude fiber % and ash %. Data revealed that the genotypes P13 and P5 showed the highest values for crude protein %, whereas, the genotype F18 recorded the highest values for crude fiber % and ash content. The results revealed high estimates of genotypic coefficient and phenotypic coefficient of variation (GCV% and PCV%) with high hb2, indicating the presence of genetic variability and effective potential selection for these traits. The cluster analysis exhibited considerable genetic diversity among the genotypes, which classified the twenty one genotypes of alfalfa into five sub-clusters. The genotypes F18, F49, K75, S35, P20, P5 and P13 recorded the highest values for all studied traits compared with other clusters. Furthermore, the PC analysis grouped the studied genotypes into groups and remained scattered in all four quadrants based on all studied traits. Ultimately, superior genotypes were identified can be utilized for crop improvement in future breeding schemes.

Phosphorus is the second most significant macro nutrient in rice productivity. Phosphorus fixation in Egyptian soil makes it unavailable for rice to absorb. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of microbial and chemical sources of phosphorus fertilizers on the Egyptian Sakha 106 rice cultivar by applying different sources of phosphorus to increase the bioavailability of soil phosphorus for plants and to allow it to be fixed biologically to change it from an insoluble form to a soluble and available form for rice to absorb. So, in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, a field experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt. The experiment was carried out using a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications to determine the best phosphorus source for rice and soil among various treatments, which included 100% single super phosphate (SSP) basal application (P1), 75% single super phosphate (SSP) basal application (P2), P2 + phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSBs) top-dressing, P2 + arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMFs) top-dressing P2 + phosphorus nanoparticles (PNPs) foliar spraying, P2 + phosphoric acid (PA) foliar spraying, P2 + (PSBs + AMFs) foliar spraying, P2 + (PSBs + PNPs) foliar spraying, P2 + (PSBs + PA) foliar spraying, P2 + (PNPs + PA) foliar spraying, P2 + (PSBs + PNPs + PA) foliar spraying and zero-phosphorus fertilizer. The results showed that the highest values were mostly obtained using the combination of 75% SSP basal application with the foliar spraying of PSBs, PNPs and PA, with substantial beneficial impacts on the leaf area index (3.706 and 3.527), dry matter accumulation (464.3 and 462.8 g m²), plant height (96.33 and 95.00 cm), phosphorus uptake in grain (24.3 and 24.49 Kg ha⁻¹), phosphorus uptake in straw (17.7 and 17.0 Kg ha⁻¹) and available phosphorus in the soil at harvest (21.75 and 21.70 ppm) in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, respectively; moreover, 75% SSP basal application with the foliar spraying of PSBs, PNPs and PA or 100% SSP basal application alone improved the number of panicles (506.3 or 521.1 and 521.9 or 547.1 m⁻²), filled grain weight (3.549 or 3.534 and 3.627 or 3.767 g panicle⁻¹), the percentage of filled grain (96.19 or 96.47 and 95.43 or 96.24%), grain yield (9.353 or 9.221 and 9.311 or 9.148 t ha⁻¹) and straw yield (11.51 or 11.46 and 11.82 or 11.69 t ha⁻¹) in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, respectively. Chemical P fertilizers combined with the foliar spraying of PSBs, PNPs and PA obtained the highest crop productivity and improved most of the examined characteristics without any significant changes with respect to chemical P application alone in some other characteristics, followed by 75% SSP + top-dressing with PSBs + AMFs. The treatment that included the combination of 75% SSP basal application and the foliar spraying of PSBs +PNPs +PA is recommended, as it might be utilized to boost rice yield by solubilizing P in soil and increasing the absorption efficiency. In addition, it reduces chemical P fertilizers by 25%, which would guarantee a cleaner environment and soil conservation.

This study was carried out using 22 promising restorer lines of rice and their parental lines to study genetic variability and genetic advance for yield and yield-associated grain quality traits and floral traits. These genotypes are evaluated in a replicated trial using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, during the seasons from 2012 to 2020. Analysis of variance revealed that highly significant variations were observed among the genotypes for all the studied characters. Both GCV% and PCV% were high for the number of spikelets per panicle, the number of filled grains per panicle, and panicle weight. The genetic advance in the percentage of mean was high for days to plant height, panicle length, number of spikelets per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle, panicle weight, grain yield per plant, anther length, anther breadth, duration of floret opening, and head rice percentage. Mean performance of the rice genotypes indicated that the genotypes NRL 59, NRL 55, NRL 62, NRL 63, NRL 66, and NRL 54-2 were promising for grain yield and associated desirable traits. Thus, some of these promising lines can be promoted as a new rice variety and could be used as a source for developing new hybrid combinations in hybrid rice breeding programs. The percentage of advantage over better parent and Giza 178 as the commercial variety was significant and there were highly significant desirable values among the genotypes for all the studied traits in the two years, indicating that the selection is effective in the genetic improvements for these traits.

Under salinity conditions, growth and productivity of grain crops decrease, leading to inhibition and limited absorption of water and elements necessary for plant growth, osmotic imbalance, ionic stress, and oxidative stress. Microorganisms in bio-fertilizers have several mechanisms to provide benefits to crop plants and reduce the harmful effect of salinity. They can be effective in dissolving phosphate, fixing nitrogen, promoting plant growth, and can have a combination of all these qualities. During two successful agricultural seasons, two field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of bio-fertilizer applications, including phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB), nitrogen fixation bacteria and a mix of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and nitrogen fixation bacteria with three rates, 50, 75 and 100% NPK, of the recommended dose of minimal fertilizer on agronomic traits, yield and nutrient uptake of barley (Hordeum vulgare) under saline condition in Village 13, Farafra Oasis, New Valley Governorate, Egypt. The results showed that the application of Microbein + 75% NPK recorded the highest values of plant height, spike length, number of spikes/m², grain yield (Mg ha⁻¹), straw yield (Mg ha⁻¹), biological yield (Mg ha⁻¹), protein content %, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) uptakes in grain and straw (kg ha⁻¹), available nitrogen (mg/kg soil), available phosphorus (mg/kg soil), total microbial count of soil, antioxidant activity of soil (AOA), dehydrogenase, nitrogen fixers, and PSB counts. The application of bio-fertilizers led to an increase in plant tolerance to salt stress, plant growth, grain yield, and straw yield, in addition to the application of the bio-fertilizers, which resulted in a 25% saving in the cost of mineral fertilizers used in barley production.