A study was conducted in an environmentally controlled greenhouse to evaluate two green bean cultivars, ‘Bronco’ and ‘Paulista’, under three application volumes of irrigation water based on replacing 100, 80, and 60% of evapotranspiration (ET). The experiment was in a split-plot design with three replications, recording vegetative growth, yield, pod parameters, water use efficiency (WUE), and chemical content of pods. The results showed that there were no differences between 80% ET and 100% ET for most parameters. In addition, 80% of ET increased the pod yield and improved the pod parameters and chemical composition. Therefore, this irrigation treatment can increase green bean productivity and improve pod quality. Reducing water application from 100 to 60% of ET progressively increased WUE. The ‘Bronco’ cultivar had a higher plant height, pod yield, WUE, pod weight, pod diameter, and total fiber amount than ‘Paulista’, while the ‘Paulista’ cultivar was superior in total chlorophyll, number of pods per plant, pod length, P, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, protein, vitamin C, titratable acid, and soluble sugar.

Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that significantly decreases the productivity of agricultural crops. Melatonin (MT) acts as an antioxidant and plays a vital role in overcoming oxidative damage. However, previous literature has not provided a clear understanding of the impact of MT on lettuce plants under salinity stress. So, we investigated the effect of exogenous MT at 0 μM, 50 μM, 100 μM and 150 μM on lettuce plants grown under salinity stress (0 mM NaCl, 50 mM NaCl and 100 mM NaCl) with respect to vegetative growth, photosynthetic pigments, relative water content (RWC), electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA), H ₂ O ₂ , O ₂ ^•- and antioxidants enzymes. Results showed that NaCl stress significantly decreased vegetative growth, RWC and photosynthetic pigments and in contrast enhanced dry matter, EL, MDA, H ₂ O ₂ , O ₂ ^•- , Na ⁺ , Cl-, peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione reductase (GR) of lettuce plants compared to non-salinized control. The results demonstrated that under salinity conditions, foliar applications of MT significantly alleviated the harmful effects of salinity and increased number of leaves, leaf area, fresh weight, chlorophyll (a), chlorophyll (b), total chlorophyll, carotenoids and RWC in comparison to untreated plants (control). Meanwhile, dry matter, MDA, H ₂ O ₂ , O ₂ ^•- , Na ⁺ , Cl-, POD, SOD and GR were significantly decreased compared to untreated lettuce plants. In this respect, spraying MT at 150 μM ranked the first, then 100 μM, compared to the lower concentration (50 μM). In conclusion, MT application can be used to alleviate harmful effects of salinity stress.

Background: Cassava is a major staple food crop for the people in tropical and sub-tropical areas, a non-traditional vegetable root crop in Egypt. It has important industrial raw materials for the production of starch, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and livestock feed. The current study is evaluating two cassava cultivars: American and Brazilian types under three bio-stimulants: glutamine, lysine, and active dry yeast, as foliar applications. Vegetative growth characters, tuber yield, and its quality as well as chemical contents of cassava tubers were evaluated. Results: The results showed that American cassava cultivar recorded the highest vegetative growth characters (plant height, leaves number, main stems, lateral branches, leaf area, and chlorophyll content), tuber yield (number and weight), and tuber quality (length, diameter, dry matter, and tubers-shoots ratio) as well as chemical composition (starch, total carbohydrates, N, P, and K). The foliar application of glutamine at the rate of 200 mg/L increased vegetative growth characters and tuber yield as well as tuber quality and improved chemical contents of cassava tubers. On the contrary, the lowest values of cassava growth and its productivity as well as chemical composition were associated to Brazilian cultivar when foliar sprayed by yeast at the concentration of 2 g/L. Conclusion: From this study, it could be concluded that American type of cassava is the most suitable under Egyptian conditions, which ranked the first in all vegetative growth characters, tuber yield, tuber quality, and chemical composition, with foliar sprayed by glutamine at the rate of 200 mg/L.

An important pest on artichoke is green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer). The associated predators of M. persicae, such as the coccinelids, Chrysopid and Anthocorids were recorded. In the present study, effects of the biological insecticide NeemAzal-T/S or diatomaceous earth alone or in combination against M. persicae and on the associated predators were evaluated. Experiments were conducted in the Production and Research Station of National Research Centre, El-Nobaria (northern Egypt) during the season of 2005/2006. Four treatments were applied on artichoke plants to control the aphids. Commercial NeemAzal-T/S significantly reduced the number of M. persicae. NeemAzal-T/S and diatomaceous earth in combination produced the best control of M. persicae and were safe on the associated predators. The indirect effects of the tested compounds on artichoke growth and yield parameters were studied. Neem in combination with diatomaceous earth ranked first to alleviate the adverse effects of aphids on artichoke plants and to improve the vegetative growth and bud yield, followed by neem alone, while diatomaceous earth alone came almost at the end.

ISHS IV International Symposium on Ecologically Sound Fertilization Strategies for Field Vegetable Production AN ATTEMPT FOR REDUCING MINERAL FERTILIZATION IN LETTUCE PRODUCTION BY USING BIO-ORGANIC FARMING SYSTEM