The current study describes the effect of coloured plastic mulch, clear and black polyethylene (PE), on growth and productivity of different summer squash varieties grown on February “off-season”. A field experiment was carried out during 2012and 2013  seasons at the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt. The performance of different parameters studied for plant received different mulch treatments was superior to the control (bare soil) treatment. The genotypic differences among squash varieties investigated were found significant for all the studied parameters. Clear PE mulch was significantly more effective than the black PE mulch in this respect. Plants of cvs sown on clear PE flowered earlier than those sown on black PE or bare soil.Total fruit yield (ton/fed) was significantly increased by using clear PE (total fruit yield was 12.61 and12.94 ton/fed in the 1 st and 2 nd seasons, respectively; corresponding values for the bare soil were 7.61 and 7.74 ton/fed). Plants of ‘Eskandrany’ produced using clear PE were significantly the earliest to flower and gave the highest early and total fruit yield. It is concluded that mulching, especially clear PE,  can be usefully utilized to enhance the summer squash production when grown off-season

A field experiment was carried out during the two successive winter seasons of 2017/18 and 2018/19. The aims of the experiment were to investigate the effect of using three different mulch treatments (black polyethylene, clear polyethylene, and bare soil) on strawberry ‘Florida’ and ‘Winterstar’ cultivars (Fragaria X ananassa Duch) regarding the fruit yield, yield attributes, and some fruit quality characteristics (vitamin C, anthocyanin, acidity, TSS, and TSS: acidity), along with the financial aspects of using polyethylene mulching for strawberry productivity. Compared to the un-mulched plants, the total fruit yield of ‘Florida’ and ‘Winterstar’ plants was increased by ~40-49% and 17-18%, respectively in the black plastic mulching in the two years. Clear plastic mulching was accompanied by an increased total yield of ‘Florida’ by 19-34%, while decreased ‘Winterstar’ fruit yield by 14-24%. Regarding vitamin C content, the main effects of mulching treatment showed that plants grown in black plastic mulching had significantly higher vitamin C content than clear plastic (both seasons) or no mulching (second season). ‘Florida’ plants in the black plastic mulching achieved significantly the highest vitamin C levels compared to the other treatments. Similarly, ‘Florida’ plants in the black plastic mulching had higher TSS content than the other mulching treatments. Depending on the cultivar used and the growing season, plastic mulching (whether clear or black) was beneficial in improving the fruits anthocyanin content compared to the un-mulched plants. In conclusion, plastic mulching (especially the black) was helpful in improving fruits contents of vitamin C and anthocyanin compared to the un-mulched plants. Regarding the financial aspect, using black plastic mulching for strawberry production in Assiut governorate was more profitable than the un-mulched farm.

Production of pumpkin cv" Kafr Saad"(C. moschata), Damietta landrace, was assessed for plants rose from chilled seeds and girdled plants comparing with untreated ones when grown 50, 75 and 100 cm apart. Sowing was done on May of summer 2010 and 2011. The greatest number of leaves per plant and the highest leaf total sugar content (35 and 40 d after planting) was detected when growing at 75 cm within-row space. Growing plants 75 cm apart gave the highest fruit yield. Fruit yield of plants from chilled seeds substantially surpassed the yield of girdled plants and untreated. The increase in the yield from plants rose from chilled seeds averaged 36.00–40.44% over that of the untreated plants. Girdling either did not change the fruit yield or slightly reduced it as compared to control treatment. Fruit harvested from plants grown 75 cm apart was larger in weight than those produced from plants grown 50 cm apart but smaller than others grown at 100 cm. However, growing at 75 in-row space produced fruits containing elevated carotene, TSS and dry matter comparing with the other spaces. These internal fruit traits were the highest in girdling followed by seed chilling treatments. This study recommends growing pumpkin 75 cm apart employing seed chilling as a simple treatment that adding no production costs while can significantly enhance fruit yield and quality.

Soil salinity limits wheat growth, but several fungal species can promote the productivity under saline conditions. This study investigated how Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and Penicillium funiculosum and Fusarium oxysporum (PFFO) affected wheat growth under saline conditions.

Wheat, inoculated with AMF, or PFFO, or with AMF and PFFO, was stressed with 75, or 150 mM NaCl in the soil. AMF colonization, grain yield, shoot and root dry weights, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), and chloride (Cl), relative permeability, chlorophyll and proline contents and root malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined.

Salinity limited the grain yield, and reduced N, P and K uptake and chlorophyll content. As soil salinity increased, shoot Na and Cl contents, relative permeability and proline content, and MDA increased. PFFO enhanced root colonization with AMF, N and P uptake and AMF significantly increased N, P and K uptake and chlorophyll content and decreased proline, Na, Cl and MDA contents. Compared to AMF, or PFFO, dual inoculation with AMF and PFFO decreased shoot Na and Cl uptake, increased chlorophyll, shoot N and P contents and K/Na ratio and resulted in approximately 25, 35 and 43% higher grain yield at 0, 75 and 150 mM NaCl, respectively.

Data showed that Penicillium funiculosum and Fusarium oxysporum promoted AMF symbiotic effects and alleviated the deleterious effects of NaCl salts on wheat growth

Doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica L.) has been reported as one of the most beneficial species worldwide. Its fruits are a good source of fibers, antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, essential minerals, monosaccharides, essential oil and flavonoids. Fruit extract shows anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer and pharmacological potential. However, there is a lack of investigations dealing with its genetic diversity. Therefore, a collection of twelve mature female palm landraces grown in the botanical garden of Aswan, “Egypt” were used for genetic diversity assessment based on phenotypic and molecular levels. 18 vegetal and chemical traits were evaluated. Fifteen of them showed highly significant variation among the tested landraces. Euclidian-based-dendrogram discriminated the tested landraces based on their phenotypic similarities to three main clusters showing a high level of variability. Molecular analysis using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) vis-à-vis start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphism markers displayed the relationships among the tested landraces molecularly. Both markers showed a reasonable degree of polymorphism, however SCoT was more effective than the ISSR by showing a higher percentage of polymorphism, polymorphism information content, resolving power and diversity index. Cluster analysis based on molecular data showed a clear relationship among the doum landraces. However, ISSR- and SCoT-based dendrograms were slightly different, and completely unlike that based on phenotypic data. Nevertheless, phenotypic and molecular evaluations might complement each other, and by data of both an excellent overview was obtained from principle coordinate analysis. The information herein is valuable and considered as a keystone for further proximate studies on doum genetic diversity to help in improvement and breeding approaches.

Doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica L.) has been reported as one of the most beneficial species worldwide. Its fruits are a good source of fibers, antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, essential minerals, monosaccharides, essential oil and flavonoids. Fruit extract shows anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer and pharmacological potential. However, there is a lack of investigations dealing with its genetic diversity. Therefore, a collection of twelve mature female palm landraces grown in the botanical garden of Aswan, “Egypt” were used for genetic diversity assessment based on phenotypic and molecular levels. 18 vegetal and chemical traits were evaluated. Fifteen of them showed highly significant variation among the tested landraces. Euclidian-based-dendrogram discriminated the tested landraces based on their phenotypic similarities to three main clusters showing a high level of variability. Molecular analysis using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) vis-à-vis start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphism markers displayed the relationships among the tested landraces molecularly. Both markers showed a reasonable degree of polymorphism, however SCoT was more effective than the ISSR by showing a higher percentage of polymorphism, polymorphism information content, resolving power and diversity index. Cluster analysis based on molecular data showed a clear relationship among the doum landraces. However, ISSR- and SCoT-based dendrograms were slightly different, and completely unlike that based on phenotypic data. Nevertheless, phenotypic and molecular evaluations might complement each other, and by data of both an excellent overview was obtained from principle coordinate analysis. The information herein is valuable and considered as a keystone for further proximate studies on doum genetic diversity to help in improvement and breeding approaches.

The combined influence of cadmium (Cd) and drought was evaluated on in vitro regenerated plants of banana ‘Grand Nain’ at morpho-physiological and molecular levels. A significant reduction was observed due to separate or combined treatments of Cd and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in total chlorophyll, carotenoid content, and all growth parameters except root length, which was increased under Cd treatment. Meanwhile, other traits were increased significantly under combined treatment of Cd and PEG (1 and 3%), including malondialdehyde, phenolic content, and peroxidase specific activity. Furthermore, molecular analysis using the inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers confirmed the harmful effect of Cd. Cadmium caused DNA damage reflected by 18.4% polymorphism compared to the control. Out of 14 polymorphic bands, 12 were absent due to Cd treatment and two bands existed only in Cd-treated samples compared with control. However, the addition of PEG was efficient to reduce the harmful effect of Cd on DNA profile. In this regard, 1% PEG reduced the number of polymorphic bands produced by Cd to the half, while 3% PEG was enough to give an equal DNA profile to that of control with no polymorphic bands. In addition, there was no effect of the separate PEG treatments on ISSR pattern compared with control. Results confirmed the mutagenicity and toxicity of Cd on banana. The effect of PEG-induced drought reduced the damaging effects of Cd by minimizing its uptake and accumulation in plant tissues.

The combined influence of cadmium (Cd) and drought was evaluated on in vitro regenerated plants of banana ‘Grand Nain’ at morpho-physiological and molecular levels. A significant reduction was observed due to separate or combined treatments of Cd and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in total chlorophyll, carotenoid content, and all growth parameters except root length, which was increased under Cd treatment. Meanwhile, other traits were increased significantly under combined treatment of Cd and PEG (1 and 3%), including malondialdehyde, phenolic content, and peroxidase specific activity. Furthermore, molecular analysis using the inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers confirmed the harmful effect of Cd. Cadmium caused DNA damage reflected by 18.4% polymorphism compared to the control. Out of 14 polymorphic bands, 12 were absent due to Cd treatment and two bands existed only in Cd-treated samples compared with control. However, the addition of PEG was efficient to reduce the harmful effect of Cd on DNA profile. In this regard, 1% PEG reduced the number of polymorphic bands produced by Cd to the half, while 3% PEG was enough to give an equal DNA profile to that of control with no polymorphic bands. In addition, there was no effect of the separate PEG treatments on ISSR pattern compared with control. Results confirmed the mutagenicity and toxicity of Cd on banana. The effect of PEG-induced drought reduced the damaging effects of Cd by minimizing its uptake and accumulation in plant tissues.

Potential therapeutic uses of fenugreek, Trigonella foenum-graecum, are famous in traditional medicine. More recently, it has been revealed that total saponin content in the defatted seed extract is related to the hypocholesterolemic activity of the seeds. Enhancement of growth of fenugreek plant and saponins content in the seeds was the main target of the current investigation. This was attained by the application of all possible combinations of humic acid (1000 ppm), micronutrients foliar fertilizer (1000 ppm) and salicylic acid (300 ppm). Data were recorded on leaf content of chlorophylls (a and b) and carotenoids, pods number and weight per plant, seed weight per plant, seed yield per feddan, weight of thousand seed, seed fixed oil percentage, fixed oil yield per feddan and total steroidal saponins in defatted seed extract. Different treatments exerted significant effect for improvement of the measured characteristics. Humic acid alone or combined with either or both of salicylic acid and the foliar fertilizer exhibited the best yield characteristics including seed and oil yields per feddan and total content of steroidal saponins.