There are many benefits for using rice straw as organic mulching as sustainable materials for saving irrigation water under sandy and drought conditions. This study investigated the effect of rice straw organic mulching on the water stress, soil salt accumulation, Microorganism activity, yield and water productivity of potato, sweet paper and cucumber crops under sandy soils conditions during 2019 and 2020 seasons in the research farm station of National Research Centre at Al-Nubariya Region, Al-Buhayrah Governorate, Egypt. There was a positive effect on the yield and water productivity by using the organic mulching by rice straw as sustainable mulch instead of plastic mulch. The rate of increase in yield of potato, sweet paper and cucumber were summarized where the highest rates of increase in productivity for all crops that were planted were achieved with the organic coverage of rice straw, with the largest amount of straw for the seasons 2019 and 2020 compared to no mulch and also compared to black plastic mulch where, the rate of increase in yield of potato were 23.4% , 30.21% and for sweet paper were 32.85% , 36.21% and for cucumber were 23.94% , 27.78% in seasons 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The experiments were carried out at Tamiya, Fayom, Egypt for developing a Calendula inflorescence picking machine suit to the small holding farmers. The machine was consisted of a cutting head and knapsack air vacuum unit. The cutting head was equipped with two saw discs rotating underneath calibration fingers. These fingers were used to measure the correct flowering stem length before cutting. Three types of cutting saw discs (plan,50teeth, and 100 teeth) were used at five disc speeds of 2.78,4.17,5.56,6.97, and 8.34 m/s to determine the optimum disc type and disc cutting speed that fitful a higher ratio of correct cutting stem length. Also, the same procedures were made with the optimum disc linear speed 6.97 m/s, and 100 teeth discs with fingers lengths of (125mm,150mm,175mm, and 200mm) at three fingers angles (0 o ,10 o , and 20 o). The results indicated that the optimum parameters were at 6.97 m/s disc linear speed, 100 teeth discs type, 150 mm finger length, and finger angle 10 o that gave average percentage of a correct stem cut length 93.

Water application efficiency, soil organic matter content, water stress inside root zone, EC soil, yield, quality and water productivity of potato were investigated under arid and poor sandy soils in Egypt during two growing seasons 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 at the Research Farm of National Research Center (NRC). Water application efficiency and the average of soil organic matter content were increased by increasing the amount of organic fertilizers applied. The values of the yield of potato and protein content and carbohydrates content were increased by increasing the amount of organic N-fertilizers applied up to 50% and it decreased with the continued increase in organic N-fertilizers addition. The values of the yield of potato were increased by increasing the amount of organic N-fertilizers applied up to 50% and it decreased with the continued increase in organic N-fertilizers addition. There are a set of positive effects resulted from the increase in the addition of N-organic fertilizers against one negative effect. The increase in the addition of organic N-fertilization led to an increase in the organic matter and thus increased the water application efficiency, thus a decrease in water stress and a decrease in the accumulation and concentration of salts in the area of root proliferation until reaching the best proportion of organic N-fertilization when adding 50% with 50% of mineral nitrogen fertilization, while the productivity decreased when continuing with the percentage of addition of organic N-fertilization until reaching the lowest values of productivity when organic N-fertilization is 100% where, the total percentage of nitrogen available (NO3) in the area of root proliferation decreased after the percentage of organic fertilization exceeded 50% and the negative effect of nitrogen fertilization stress on the decrease in potato productivity. Finally, the results of the study concluded that, the necessity of relying on organic nitrogen fertilization in addition to mineral nitrogen fertilization at 50% organic to 50% mineral without any significant impact on the productivity and quality characteristics of potato under arid and sandy soils conditions in Egypt.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

limate's change is one of the most important threats facing the world. That is because it causes a high ambient temperature. (UNEP, 2010). According to the report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO, 2015), the period 2011-2015 recorded the highest temperatures and was affected by Climate's change. Agriculture sector is strongly influenced by climatic conditions. A majority of works in agriculture are still performed outdoors under several weather conditions. High temperature, intensive insolation and elevated air humidity providing a dangerous work conditions. These weather conditions can lead to overheating (heat stress) and dehydration of the agricultural field workers. An index assessing heat stress in human beings, namely: Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) was used in this study. This study presents the effect of heat stress from the point of view of agricultural field worker occupational health safety. Comparison of the three agricultural working conditions reveals significantly more severe heat stress in wheat threshing, rice transplanting and cotton harvesting, in terms of both the frequency of heat-stress episodes and the number of hours associated with heat stress. The WBGT maximum values during the time from 11 am up to 4 pm for wheat threshing, rice transplanting and cotton harvesting operations were 34.2 o C at 2 pm, 31.6 o C at 1 pm and 30.8 o C at 1:30 pm respectively. While the WBGT minimum values were 31.7 o C at 4 pm, 28.4 o C at 11 am, and 28.5 o C at 4 pm respectively. The three presented work conditions are affirmed that a dangerous situation for agriculture field workers is stand. The values of the environmental parameters and its relation with heat stress during the day work hours under the previous field operations cleared that the heat stress has direct proportion with humidex and reversible proportion with air velocity and relative humidity. The agriculture field workers have exposure to hazard levels of heat stress resulting in high levels of body temperature. It is recommended to establish a sunshade for wheat thresher to provide a shade working area.