Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is a destructive disease that causes significant yield losses in wheat production worldwide, including in Egypt. The use of biocontrol agents is among the best eco-friendly management strategies to control this disease, as they are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than traditional chemical control methods. In a comparative analysis, antioxidant enzyme activity and various management approaches were compared with two bacterial biocontrol agents, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas putida. This study showed the remarkable efficacy of endophytic bacteria, B. subtilis and P. putida, in mitigating wheat stripe rust infection across three wheat varieties, namely Misr1, Gimmeiza11, and Sids12. B. subtilis exhibited superior performance compared to P. putida, resulting in infection types of 1 and 2.66, respectively, following inoculation. The highest reduction rate was observed with Tilit fungicide (500 ppm), followed by B. subtilis and Salicylic acid (1000 ppm), respectively. Variations in wheat varieties’ response to Pst infection were observed, with Misr1 exhibiting the lowest infection and Sids12 showing high susceptibility. Among the tested inducers, Salicylic acid demonstrated the greatest reduction in disease infection, followed by Indole acetic acid, while Oxalic acid exhibited the lowest decrease. Additionally, the study evaluated the activities of five antioxidant enzymes, including Catalase, Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), Superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POX), in the wheat-stripe rust interaction under different integrated management approaches. The wheat variety Misr1 treated with Tilit (500 ppm), B. subtilis, Salicylic acid, Montoro (500 ppm), and P. putida exhibited the highest increase in all enzymatic activities. These findings provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of B. subtilis and P. putida as biocontrol agents for wheat stripe rust control in Egypt, emphasizing their potential role in sustainable, integrated, and environmentally friendly management practices.

To study the response of maize hybrids to organic manure and micronutrients NPs application. In this regard, two field experiments were conducted at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University during 2018 and 2019 seasons at factorial experiments (two factors) in a split-plot system in three replicates. Where, the main plots allocated by farmyard manure rates (0, 10, 20 m3), while, the sub-main plots assigned with nano- practices of micronutrients (NPs) (spray water (control), nano- Fe, nano-Zn, nano- Mn, nano- Fe + Mn, nano-Fe + Zn and Fe + Zn + Mn) in both seasons. The results revealed that ear length (cm), number of rows/ear, number of grains/row, number of grains/ear, 100-grains weight (g), grain yield (t/fed), straw yield, biological yield (t/fed), harvest index (%) and grain protein content (%) of maize hybrid were, significantly, affected by organic manure and micronutrients NPs application, where soil application of sheep manure at the rate of 20 m3/fed with foliar application of combination between nano- Fe + nano- Zn + nano- Mn increased yield and its components of maize hybrid ‘TWC1100’ under the conditions of Alexandria, Egypt.

Two field experiments were carried out at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University, Egypt during 2017 and 2018 seasons, to study the effect of mineral, nano- fertilization, in addition to different weed control on growth and yield of sorghum. Split plot design with three replicates was used, where the main plots occupied by weed control treatments(hand hoeing one time before the first irrigation, hand hoeing twice the first one was before the first irrigation and the second one was before the second irrigation, Heraty sowing method, herbicide treatment before planting and herbicide treatment before planting + one hand hoeing), meanwhile, the combination between NPK mineral and NPK nanoparticles fertilizers (100% mineral NPK (240:60:60 kg/ha), 100% nano NPK (5 L/ha) and 50 % mineral NPK + 50 % nano NPK) were distributed at random within the subplots. Each subplot consisted of 5 ridges 3.50 m in length and 60 cm in the width and the plot area was 10.5 m2. The results revealed that, the yield and its components of the sorghum hybrid (Horas) were affected by weed control methods, mineral NPK, Nano NPK and their interaction. The highest value of yield characters of sorghum was achieved when applying hand hoeing one time with herbicide with fertilizing by 50% NPK mineral + 50% NPK NPs fertilization, also these treatments reducing the effect of weeds under Alexandria conditions.