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In the present work, we evaluated four bread wheat cultivars, three nitrogen (N) fertilization amounts, and two planting dates. The experiment was conducted at Almarashda Agricultural Research Station during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 growing seasons to determine the effect of two sowing dates (November 25th and December 25th) and three nitrogen fertilization rates (125, 100, and 75 kg N Fadden-1) on the phenology, grain yield, and grain component composition of four Egyptian bread wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum, L), namely Sids 14, Shandaweel 1, Giza 171, and Gemm The research employed a split-split plot design with three duplicates. The results indicated that seeding late (25 December) considerably reduced all characters in both seasons when compared to the optimum sowing date (25 November), except for 100-grain weight, which remained the same. All attributes were improved as the N fertilization level was increased from 75 to 125 kg N Fadden-1. Sids 14 outperformed the other cultivars in practically all evaluated traits including grain yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed categories and crop varieties play an important role in wheat production in Egypt, which effect on genetic purity of wheat genotypes. So, this investigation aimed to study the effect of seed sources and varieties on yield and its attributes. Two field experiments were conducted at the Experimental Farm of Giza Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza Governorate, Egypt, during two successive winter growing seasons of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 on the optimum sowing date 15th of November. Four wheat varieties (Misr1, Gemmeiza 11, Giza 168 and Sids 12) and their seed categories (Basic, Certified and Farmer saved seeds) were used in this study. Yield and its attributes and off- type percentage were estimated in the field experiment, further more phenol color reaction and ISSR technology were carried out at Seed Technology Department Laboratory. The results indicated significant differences between wheat varieties and its seed categories for the most traits. Gemmeiza 11 variety gave the highest value in most studied traits i.e., flag leaf chlorophyll content SPAD, flag leaf area, spike length, No of spikes/m², No of grains/spike, 1000-grain weight and grain yield/fad., while the lowest value of those traits were recorded by Misr 1 variety. For the effect of seed categories on yield and yield attributes, basic seeds gave the greatest value for all characters, except for plant height where farmer seed recorded the highest value. Meanwhile insignificant effects were obtained from seed categories on flag leaf chlorophyll content SPAD. The interaction effects between varieties and seed categories indicated that Gemmeiza 11 and Sids 12 varieties with Basic and Certified seed categories gave the highest value of most traits, while Misr 1 Varity with farmer seed category gave the lowest value for yield traits. Insignificant effects were noticed between wheat varieties for the off- type % while seed categories showed highly significant effects where, Farmer saved seed recorded the highest value and Basic seed gave the lowest value for this trait. Wheat varieties showed different color reaction to phenol while seed categories took the same pattern in phenol color reaction for each variety. Eight ISSR primers were used for fingerprinting the four wheat varieties and their seed categories produced 97 band, 31 of them were polymorphic (68.04%) polymorphism. The highest level of polymorphism was observed in primer HB-12 which showed 95.00% polymorphism, while the lowest polymorphism was 28.57% in primer HB-09. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The near-surface groundwater aquifer that threatened the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, was investigated using integrated geophysical surveys. A total of 10 electrical resistivity imaging, 26 shallow seismic refraction, and 19 ground-penetrating radar surveys were conducted in the Giza Plateau. Collected data for each method were evaluated by state-of-the art processing and modeling techniques. A three-layer model depicts the subsurface layers and better delineates the groundwater aquifer and water table elevation. The resistivity of the aquifer layer and seismic velocity vary between 40 and 80 Ω m and between 1500 and 2500 m s -1 , respectively. The average water table elevation is about + 15 m, which is safe for the Great Sphinx, but it is still subjected to potential hazards from the Nazlet El-Samman suburb where the water table elevation reaches 17 m. A shallower water table at the Valley Temple and the tomb of Queen Khentkawes, with a low topographic relief, represents severe hazards. It can be concluded that a perched groundwater table is detected in the elevated topography to the west and southwest that might be due to runoff and capillary seepage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fruit of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) ‘Barhi’ is mainly harvested at Khalal stage, whereas fruits are physiologically mature, hard and crisp. Fruits are suitable for consumption at Khalal stage but due to their high moisture content, they are very perishable with low storage life. The physicochemical properties of Barhi fruits grown at Americana framers, Giza, Egypt, which packed inpolyamide/ polyethylene (PA/PE), polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), under cold storage temperatures (5±1 ºC) in response to vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) with N2 were studied. Fruits were analyzed at four time intervals after packing (0, 3, 6 and 9 weeks) and evaluated for their quality characteristics: texture, weight loss, total soluble solids (TSS), pH, moisture content, acidity and sugar content. The obtained results showed that the joint fruits stored in PP packages under MAP conditions with nitrogen had recorded the highest quality. These fruits had lowest TSS, weight loss, pH, acidity and moisture content and lowest change occurred in sugar content with a good texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]