A study was carried out on the resistance of four cereal crops (barley, wheat, sorghum and maize) to cereal aphid species at Assiut, Egypt. The results obtained show that there were significant differences among the cultivars tested. Among the five barley cultivars; Giza 132 was highly susceptible while the remaining cultivars were moderately resistant. Among the five wheat varieties; Gemiza 11 and Giza 168 were highly susceptible, followed by cultivars Sids 12 and Shandauel 1. Sids 1 showed moderate resistance. Among the five sorghum cultivars; Dorado was highly susceptible and Sphinx was susceptible. The aphid population declined significantly on Giza 15 and Hourse that were relatively (slightly or low) resistant (RR). The lowest aphid number recorded on the local (Baldi) variety showed moderate resistance. Among the five maize cultivars; the local (Baldi) cultivar was highly susceptible, followed by Unico 6, Triple 310 and Unico 131 that showed relatively resistance. The remaining cultivar, Unico 81, was infested with a low number of aphids and showed moderate resistance. The influence of aphid infestation on grain yield losses of wheat and barley cultivars were also evaluated.

Climate change is a major threat to most of the agricultural crops grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas globally. Drought stress is one of the consequences of climate change that has a negative impact on crop growth and yield. In the past, many simulation models were proposed to predict climate change and drought occurrences, and it is extremely important to improve essential crops to meet the challenges of drought stress which limits crop productivity and production. Wheat and barley are among the most common and widely used crops due to their economic and social values. Many parts of the world depend on these two crops for food and feed, and both crops are vulnerable to drought stress. Improving drought stress tolerance is a very challenging task for wheat and barley researchers and more research is needed to better understand this stress. The progress made in understanding drought tolerance is due to advances in three main research areas: physiology, breeding, and genetic research. The physiology research focused on the physiological and biochemical metabolic pathways that plants use when exposed to drought stress. New wheat and barley genotypes having a high degree of drought tolerance are produced through breeding by making crosses from promising drought-tolerant genotypes and selecting among their progeny. Also, identifying genes contributing to drought tolerance is very important. Previous studies showed that drought tolerance is a polygenic trait and genetic constitution will help to dissect the gene network (s) controlling drought tolerance. This review explores the recent advances in these three research …

Climate change is a major threat to most of the agricultural crops grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas globally. Drought stress is one of the consequences of climate change that has a negative impact on crop growth and yield. In the past, many simulation models were proposed to predict climate change and drought occurrences, and it is extremely important to improve essential crops to meet the challenges of drought stress which limits crop productivity and production. Wheat and barley are among the most common and widely used crops due to their economic and social values. Many parts of the world depend on these two crops for food and feed, and both crops are vulnerable to drought stress. Improving drought stress tolerance is a very challenging task for wheat and barley researchers and more research is needed to better understand this stress. The progress made in understanding drought tolerance is due to advances in three main research areas: physiology, breeding, and genetic research. The physiology research focused on the physiological and biochemical metabolic pathways that plants use when exposed to drought stress. New wheat and barley genotypes having a high degree of drought tolerance are produced through breeding by making crosses from promising drought-tolerant genotypes and selecting among their progeny. Also, identifying genes contributing to drought tolerance is very important. Previous studies showed that drought tolerance is a polygenic trait and genetic constitution will help to dissect the gene network (s) controlling drought tolerance. This review explores the recent advances in these three research …

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Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is an important pulse crop, which provides useful source of protein for human and animal consumption. The faba bean cultivation area around world has been slightly decreased due to the lack of cultivars adaptable to various biotic and abiotic stresses effects of which tend to gradually increase as consequences of climate change. Breeding for improved faba bean with biotic and abiotic stress tolerance will maintain and increase the cultivation area of faba bean by producing new cultivars having high tolerance to these stresses combined with high yield. Climate-smart traits (CSTs) can be used to evaluate faba bean genotypes for stress tolerance and to select the true promising genotypes for target traits. Moreover, the advances in genetic research in faba bean should be exploited in accelerating breeding programs to genetically improve CSTs. Unfortunately, the progress of …

ABSTRACT:The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of spraying ascorbic acid on Japanese quail eggs submitted to high temperature during4th to 14th days of incubation period on embryogenesis, hatchability, embryonic mortality rate and chick quality.Six hundred Japanese quaileggs were divided into two equal groups of 300 eggs each according to incubation temperature. In the first group: eggs were incubated at 37.5°C (thermoneutral incubation temperature NIT 37.5°C)and 65% relative humidity (RH)from 1st to 14th days of incubation. The second group: (high incubation temperatureHIT 41°C): Eggs were incubated at 37.5°C during the first 3 days of incubation and from day 4th to 14th incubation temperature (IT) was raised to 41°C and RH65% for three hours per day. The eggs were evenly divided into three ascorbic acid (AA) treatments. The first one was sprayed with distilled water (control AA0), while, the second and third groups were sprayed with solutions containing 15 and 30gAA/L, respectively.The results concluded that HIT group had the highest embryo weight, embryonic mortalities and lower hatchability% compared to NIT group. The chicks weight (g) and triiodothyronine (T3) concentration were significantly lower (P≤0.05) in HIT group compared toNIT group. Glucose level and heterophil: lymphocyte (H: L) ratio wereincreased significantly (P≤0.01) as affected by thermal manipulations.The embryonic development, embryonic viability as well as hatchability improved by spraying ascorbic acid as compared to the untreated group.Values of glucose, T3, RBCs, PCV% and HGB were significantly increased in the blood of hatching chicks by spraying AA solutionas compared to control while, residual yolk and H: L ratio was significantly(P≤0.05) decreased by spraying AA solution . The embryonic development, internal organs%, PCV% and HGB has been affected by interaction between incubation temperature and ascorbic acid. It could be concluded that, spraying eggs of Japanese quail exposed to heat stress with AA solutions (15 or 30 g/L) daily during4th to 14th days of incubation period, may be an alternative method to minimize embryos heat stress and maximize the embryonic viability as well as hatchability, immunity of hatched chicks and chick quality.

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