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IN EGYPT, the aim is to increase onion productivity through the application of natural and organic stimulants, harnessing sustainable agricultural practices to meet the growing demand for this essential crop. By adopting these methods, farmers strive to enhance yields while minimizing environmental impact, thus contributing to the nation's food security and economic stability. Therefore, a field experiment was executed under drip irrigation system over two consecutive seasons (2022/23 and 2023/24) to assess the efficacy of applying potassium humate and potassium fulvate at a rate of 5.0 kg per feddan. These compounds, derived from organic matter, served as the main factor alongside the control group. Additionally, natural stimulants, such as onion extract (250.0 ml L-1), garlic extract (250.0 ml L-1), ginger extract (2%) and moringa extract (2%), applied via spraying, were examined as the sub main factor alongside the control group. Various traits were assessed and quantified, including leaves chemical constituents (N,P,K,%) and chlorophyll content at 85 days after transplanting. Additionally, physical and quality characteristics of bulbs, such as bulb weight and diameter, neck diameter, total bulb yield, and marketable bulb yield, were measured. Furthermore, the bulbs' content of vitamin C, total dissolved solids, total sugar, dry matter, fiber, anthocyanin, pyruvic acid, carbohydrates and protein were determined. Concerning humic substances, the highest values for all examined traits were observed when potassium fulvate was applied, followed by potassium humate and then the control group. As for the natural stimulants, the most effective treatment was moringa extract, followed by ginger extract, garlic extract, and finally onion extract, with all natural stimulants showing better performance compared to the control group. Generally, treating onion plants with potassium fulvate in conjunction with spraying moringa extract yielded the most favourable results. By adopting sustainable agricultural practices and incorporating these effective treatments, farmers can optimize yields while minimizing environmental impact, thereby contributing to national food security and economic stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE COUNTRY has a tendency to secure food supply through vertical expansion by increasing productivity per unit area, especially under conditions of stress such as salinity, in addition to horizontal expansion in new lands that may be saline or irrigated with groundwater of high salinity which affects productivity especially for sensitive crops like beans. So, two field trials were conducted to study the effect of four cobalt foliar application rates (0 ppm (as control), 5 ppm, 7.5 ppm and 10 ppm) as the main plots and four bio-stimulant treatments (control, potassium humate, potassium fulvate and seaweed extract) as foliar treatment in the sub main plots on faba bean growth, yield and its components which cultivated under salt affected soil. During the winter seasons of 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, a split plot design was used. The obtained results could be summarized as follow: Foliar application of cobalt at 10 ppm concentration recorded the highest values of the vegetative growth, yield and its components compared to the other cobalt rates. Application of cobalt at 10 ppm concentration increased chl. a+b by 21.20%, proline content by 9.65% and seeds yield by 6.86% comparing with control treatment. At the same time foliar application of seaweed extract had a superior effect on all studied parameters with relative increments as example 41.84%, 45.41% and 13.63% for chl. a+b, proline content and seed yield, respectively compared to the other foliar treatments of bio-stimulants. The interaction among cobalt at 10 ppm concentration and seaweed extract achieved the highest values of vegetative growth criteria, yield and yield components of the tested plant. Economically founded that combination of cobalt at 10ppm and potassium fulvate application a viable alternative to existing treatments for increasing agricultural output and farmer revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biostimulants' application to plants can reduce the damage caused by abiotic factors such as drought or salinity and improve crop yield under these stressful conditions. In this work, several biostimulants, namely Terrabion Aminovit® (a commercial product based on amino acids), potassium fulvate, humic acids, and a seaweed extract, were applied to cherry tomato plants using fertigation at two doses of 0.2 and 1.0 g L−1. The plants were then subjected to a water stress treatment by completely withholding irrigation for 12 days. After the treatments, all plants were harvested to determine several growth and biochemical parameters. Pre-treatment with all biostimulants protected the tomato plants against dehydration, as indicated by a significant increase in leaf water content compared to the non-irrigated controls. Leaf fresh weight and root water content also increased, except in the plants treated with humic acids, by about 2 fold in plants pre-treated with Terrabion Aminovit® and 1.5 fold in the presence of potassium fulvate and the seaweed extract. The water stress treatment caused a significant increase in leaf proline content, up to 113.6 μmol g−1 DW, approximately 18 fold higher than in well-irrigated control plants; this value was significantly lower in Terrabion Aminovit® pre-treated plants but even higher, ca. 180 μmol g−1 DW, in those treated previously with the seaweed extract. These results indicate that proline is a suitable water stress biomarker in tomatoes and that the biostimulants probably differ in their mode of action, suggesting that the effect of the seaweed extract is mediated by proline accumulation. A significant activation of antioxidant enzymes, namely superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, and glutathione reductase, was also observed in water-stressed plants; application of the biostimulants resulted in all cases, in a significant reduction in the specific activities of the three enzymes, indicating reduced levels of drought-induced oxidative stress in the plants. We conclude that applying these biostimulants, particularly Terrabion Aminovit®, may help minimise the adverse effects of water stress on tomatoes by maintaining turgor and improving growth through mechanisms still unknown but which appear to involve, at least in part, enhancing the plants' antioxidant defence responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biostimulants’ application to plants can reduce the damage caused by abiotic factors such as drought or salinity and improve crop yield under these stressful conditions. In this work, several biostimulants, namely Terrabion Aminovit® (a commercial product based on amino acids), potassium fulvate, humic acids, and a seaweed extract, were applied to cherry tomato plants using fertigation at two doses of 0.2 and 1.0 g L−1. The plants were then subjected to a water stress treatment by completely withholding irrigation for 12 days. After the treatments, all plants were harvested to determine several growth and biochemical parameters. Pre-treatment with all biostimulants protected the tomato plants against dehydration, as indicated by a significant increase in leaf water content compared to the non-irrigated controls. Leaf fresh weight and root water content also increased, except in the plants treated with humic acids, by about 2 fold in plants pre-treated with Terrabion Aminovit® and 1.5 fold in the presence of potassium fulvate and the seaweed extract. The water stress treatment caused a significant increase in leaf proline content, up to 113.6 μmol g−1 DW, approximately 18 fold higher than in well-irrigated control plants; this value was significantly lower in Terrabion Aminovit® pre-treated plants but even higher, ca. 180 μmol g−1 DW, in those treated previously with the seaweed extract. These results indicate that proline is a suitable water stress biomarker in tomatoes and that the biostimulants probably differ in their mode of action, suggesting that the effect of the seaweed extract is mediated by proline accumulation. A significant activation of antioxidant enzymes, namely superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, and glutathione reductase, was also observed in water-stressed plants; application of the biostimulants resulted in all cases, in a significant reduction in the specific activities of the three enzymes, indicating reduced levels of drought-induced oxidative stress in the plants. We conclude that applying these biostimulants, particularly Terrabion Aminovit®, may help minimise the adverse effects of water stress on tomatoes by maintaining turgor and improving growth through mechanisms still unknown but which appear to involve, at least in part, enhancing the plants’ antioxidant defence responses.

Potassium fulvate (KF) is salt form of fulvic acids and has a functional role to improve plant growth and soil quality. Its response under reduced soil fertility is less reported, particularly in sand soil. We examined the beneficial effects of KF derived from leonardite when used with chemical fertilizers (CF) on maize's nutrient status, photosynthetic and agronomic traits in sand soil. KF, often extracted from leonardite, was applied to maize seedlings in four treatments. Composition and functional groups of KF found in leonardite were similar to fulvic acids extracted from other sources, and resulted in nutrient adsorption such as potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) uptake in shoot. Applying KF with CF enhanced the physiological and growth traits as well as biomass of maize compared to the application of CF alone. Further, KF with 75% CF produced results comparable to that of 100% CF alone. KF improved plant nutrition, enhanced photosynthetic parameters and growth traits, and increased the biomass of maize when CF application was reduced by 25% from the recommended amount. Thus, the application of KF with CF is the practical guideline for using CF for maize production in low fertility sand soil conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Soil Sciences & Agricultural Engineering is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Egyptian Journal of Soil Science is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Soil Sciences & Agricultural Engineering is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Soil Sciences & Agricultural Engineering is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Vegetable is the important source of nourishment or even the basic food consumable for humans. However, urban agricultural lands for vegetable production are linked to possible Cd contamination. To find an effective way to reduce Cd content meanwhile improve vegetable quality, the combination effect of potassium fulvate fertilizer, microelement and organic acid on Cd concentration and edible quality of cucumber and asparagus bean grown in Cd-contaminated field were evaluated. Compared with the control, the contents of vitamin C, soluble protein and soluble sugar in vegetables showed no differences among different treatments. For cucumber, the combination of different materials reduced the nitrate content (7.73%-21.15%) and reduced the Cd concentration (4.74%-26.50%). For asparagus bean, in the treatments with the combination of different materials, nitrate content decreased by 5.45%- 23.71% and Cd concentration decreased by 4.91%- 46.52%. The findings in this study may provide a novel and practical way to reduce heavy metal accumulation and improve vegetable quality and nutrition level in edible parts, thus to reduce human health risk caused by heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Soil Sciences & Agricultural Engineering is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Acrylic acid (AA) was graft copolymerized from cellulose (Cell) in presence of potassium fulvate (KF) in order to enhance the chemical activity of the resulting chelating polymer and the handling as well. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) proved that KF was efficiently inserted and became a permanent part of the network structure of the sorbent in parallel during the grafting copolymerization. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed intact homogeneous structure with uniform surface. This indicates improvement of the handling, however, it was not the case for the graft copolymer of acrylic acid onto cellulose in absence of KF, which is known to be brittle and lacks mechanical integrity. Effective insertion of this co-interpenetrating agent provided more functional groups, such as OH and COOH, which improved the chelating power of the produced sorbent as found for the removal of Cu 2+ ions from its aqueous solutions (the removal efficiency reached ∼98.9%). Different models were used to express the experimental data. The results corroborated conformity of the pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model to the sorption process, which translates into dominance of the chemisorption. Regeneration of the chelating polymers under harsh conditions did not affect the efficiency of copper ions uptake up to three successive cycles. A thermodynamic investigation ensured exothermic nature of the adsorption process that became less favourable at higher temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grafting polymerization of acrylic acid onto cellulose in presence of potassium fulvate (KF) as a co-interpenetrating agent results enhanced water sorption compared to materials prepared similarly in its absence. The insertion of potassium fulvate (KF) did not affect the grafting process and is thought to proceed in parallel to the graft polymerization via intensive polycondensation reactions of its function groups (-COOH and OH) with COOH of the monomer and OH groups of cellulose. The combination of graft copolymerization and polycondensation reactions is assumed to produce interpenetrating network structure. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) confirmed successful incorporation within the network structure which is an evidence for formation of interpenetrating network. The obtained structures showed homogeneous uniform surface as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained superabsorbent possessed high water absorbency 422 and 48.8 g/g in distilled water and saline (0.9 wt.% NaCl solution), respectively, and enhanced water retention even at elevated temperatures as revealed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). This could be explained by the high content of hydrophilic groups. The new superabsorbents proved to be efficient devices for controlled release of fertilizers which expands their use in agricultural applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CoFe 2 O 4 /C nano-sheets (NSs) have been synthesized by a facile molten salt method using cheap potassium fulvate as carbon source and sodium chloride as template. The morphology, crystallinity and composition of the materials were analyzed by TEM, XRD and XPS. The study on the catalytic performance of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) shows that CoFe 2 O 4 /C-600 nano-catalyst has the highest catalytic activity and the corresponding apparent constant is 1.91 min−1, this result is higher than that reported in most literatures. Catalytic kinetics of 4-NP reduction was studied in this article, and activation energy (E a) was calculated to be 14.31 kJ mol−1. The catalyst also shows good cycle performance and stability. This convenient method provides a reference for the synthesis of MFe 2 O 4 /C and other nano-metal oxides/C nanocomposite catalysts. CoFe 2 O 4 /C nano-sheets (NSs) have been successfully synthesized by a facile molten salt method using an inexpensive carbon source of potassium fulvate and sodium chloride as template. The CoFe 2 O 4 /C nano-catalysis with sheet structure exhibits high catalytic activity for reduction of 4-NP to 4-AP, especially, the CoFe 2 O 4 /C-600 nano-catalysts exhibit the highest 4-NP reduction catalytic activity and the corresponding apparent constant is 1.91 min−1. A facile method was provided for fabrication of MFe 2 O 4 /C composite, the material will be applied in other fields. Image 1 • The CoFe 2 O 4 /C nanosheets (NSs) were synthesized by facile calcination. • The potassium fulvate as low-cost carbon source was used to obtain CoFe 2 O 4 /C NSs. • The calcination temperature directly affects the thickness of the carbon material. • The CoFe 2 O 4 /C-600 NSs have highest catalytic performance for reduction of 4-NP. • Catalytic kinetics shown that activation entropy is reduced to 14.31 kJ mol−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CoFe 2 O 4 /C nano-sheets (NSs) have been synthesized by a facile molten salt method using cheap potassium fulvate as carbon source and sodium chloride as template. The morphology, crystallinity and composition of the materials were analyzed by TEM, XRD and XPS. The study on the catalytic performance of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) shows that CoFe 2 O 4 /C-600 nano-catalyst has the highest catalytic activity and the corresponding apparent constant is 1.91 min -1 , this result is higher than that reported in most literatures. Catalytic kinetics of 4-NP reduction was studied in this article, and activation energy (E a ) was calculated to be 14.31 kJ mol -1 . The catalyst also shows good cycle performance and stability. This convenient method provides a reference for the synthesis of MFe 2 O 4 /C and other nano-metal oxides/C nanocomposite catalysts., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)