A field experiment was conducted during the two summer growing seasons 2009 and 2010 at the Demonstration Field for Modern Irrigation Systems at Sakha Agricultural Research Station. The main objective of this study was to find out some practical effective ways regarding saving water particularly under the present status of water shortage facing Egypt. Gated pipes as improved surface irrigation technique was used for irrigating maize and the studied irrigation practices were; traditional irrigation or every furrow irrigation (EFI-Trt.A), cutoff irrigation (Trt.B), in addition two techniques of alternative furrow irrigation either fixed (FAI-Trt.C) or nonfixed alternate furrow irrigation (EAI-Trt.D). Moreover, two methods regarding computation of irrigation water should be applied; Ibrahim (Trt.E) and Penman-Monteith (Trt.F). Obtained findings indicated that some suitable techniques could be practiced regarding water saving without significant reduction in marketable grain yield. The mean values of maize grain yield can be ranked as; 3.6, 3.4=3.4, 3.3=3.3 and 2.8 ton.fed-1 obtained under treatments; E, B, D, A, C and F, respectively. While the highest water saving of nearly 12% equaled 353 m 3 .fed-1 or about 880 million m 3 at the national level (2.5 million feddan, 1 fed= 0.42 ha) could be obtained by; using gated pipes as improved surface irrigation, laser land leveling and executing either cutoff or alternate irrigation techniques. Moreover, accurate computation of irrigation water should be applied without excess or less than the actual water needs for the growing plants and depending on the availability of climate elements. In this direction, either Ibrahim equation that mainly depending upon pan evaporation and suitable for the studied area or the FAO Penman-Monteith equation could be used in computing irrigation water.

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Flood surface irrigation is the main watering system in Egypt and worldwide. Proper design of such system is the milestone for up-grading and improving surface irrigation as for other irrigation systems. In this regard, the said Soil Conservation Service (S.C.S) developed by the soil reclamation bureau, USA was the used tool in the evaluating and assessment of the implemented or the practiced parameters, which executed in cotton furrow irrigation system design in the Northern Nile Delta area. The field trial was conducted during the two growing summer cotton seasons 2017 and 2018 at the experimental farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, North Nile Delta area. Combined effects of different land leveling (i.e. traditional, precession (dead level =zero level), 0.05 and 0.10%) and irrigation inflow rates. (2.0, 2.7 and 3.3 Lps/m widths) were used. The stated treatments were implemented at fixed furrow length and width of 40.0 m and 0.75 m. respectively. The comparing elements between design created by SCS and the actual practiced measures were: furrow inflow rate (Lps/m), irrigation time (min.), advance time (min.), recession time (min.), opportunity time (min.), depth applied (mm), deep percolation (mm), deep percolation ratio and irrigation application efficiency (IAE).Moreover, extensive economic evaluation was done regarding seed cotton yield, total return, benefit/cost ratio and the specific cost. Analysis of obtained data revealed that application efficiency is acceptable for inflow rate at 2.0Lps/m width along with precession land leveling of 0.05 or 0.10%, providing the importance of using SCS in design furrow irrigation system in the clayey soils at North Nile Delta. Moreover, maximum water well land productivity were observed under the stated treatment (2.0 Lps/m width with 0.05 or 0.10% land leveling)

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Contribution of groundwater and the utilization of applied water are an effective ways in connection with water saving and increasing crop water productivity. A field experiment was conducted at Sakha Experimental Farm, Kafr ElSheikh Governorate, North Nile Delta area, Egypt during the two successive growing seasons of 2016/17 and 2017/18 to investigate the effect of irrigation scheduling i.e. irrigation amount and irrigation interval on wheat growth (cv. Sakha 93), yield, its components and cropwater relations. Split-plot design was used, the main plots were assigned to three levels of irrigation intervals; two, three and four weeks, while the sub-plots were three levels of irrigation; irrigation to field capacity + 10%, irrigation to field capacity and irrigation to field capacity -10%. The obtained results revealed that the highest values of growth traits and the highest yield of wheat were obtained when plants were irrigated till field capacity -10%. The highest values of both applied and consumed water were recorded under the same treatment, but it produced the lowest values of water efficiencies. It is recommended that irrigation every four weeks till field capacity -10% resulted in an average contribution of groundwater of 30.52% in the North Middle Nile Delta, Egypt.

A FIELD experiment was conducted at Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, North Nile Delta area, Egypt during the two successive growing seasons 2018 and 2019 to assess the interaction effect of skipping irrigation and co-inoculation of cowpea (Vigna 2019 to assess the interaction effect of skipping irrigation and co-inoculation of cowpea (Vigna radiata L.), with Bradyrhizobium sp. and some strains of Bacillus bacteria on growth dynamics, yield and water productivity. Spilt-plot design was used, the main plots were assigned to four treatments of water stress; I 1 : control treatment (no stress); I 2 : withholding one irrigation at the vegetative growth stage; I 3 : withholding one irrigation at the flowering growth stage; I 4 : withholding one irrigation at pod formation stage; while inoculation treatments were assigned to sub main plots which were: T 1 : inoculation with Bradyrhizobium sp. TAL 169 (control); T 2 : inoculation with Bradyrhizobium sp. TAL 169 + B. subtilis MF497446;T 3: inoculation with Bradyrhizobium sp. TAL 169 + B. coagulans NCAIM B.01123; T 4: inoculation with Bradyrhizobium sp. TAL 169 + B. circulance NCAIM B.02324. Our results of this present investigation showed that the flowering stage is the most sensitive stage in connection with cowpea watering following with vegetative and pod formation stages. Also, treatment I 4 T 4 recorded high values 7.61 g plant -1 , 39.00, 0.388 g plant -1 , 256.00 mg plant -1 and 1.054 mg g -1 FW at the first growing season for dry weight of plant, number of nodules plant -1 , dry weight of nodules, N and total chlorophyll contents compared to other treatments at 45 days after sowing (DAS), respectively. A similar trend was observed at 60 DAS. Irrigation at all stages accompanied with inoculation by Bradyrhizobium + B. circulance (I 1 T 4 treatment) gave the highest number of pods plant -1 , 100 seed weight and yield which the corresponding decrease in yield was 11.8, 1.4 and 0.4 %, for flowering, vegetative and pod formation stages, respectively. On the contrary, withdrawn irrigation at formation (I 4 ) under T 4 produced the highest values of productivity of irrigation water (PIW) and water productivity (WP). Herein, irrigation treatments followed the descending order of I 1 > I 2 > I 3 > I 4 . However, it followed as T 4 > T 3 > T 2 > T 1 under inoculation treatments. Thus, inoculation with Bradyrhizobium sp. + B. circulance under withholding one irrigation at pod formation stage could be efficiently used to partially eliminate the effects of water stress on growth dynamics of cowpea.

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