Effect of zero tillage and different weeding methods on grain yield of durum wheat in semi-arid regions

Received: September 28th, 2020 ; Accepted: December 1st, 2020 ; Published: December 10th, 2020 ; Correspondence: [email protected] high grain yield of wheat is limited by the dominance of weeds, particularly wild oat. Therefore, to improve wheat yield under these conditions, a field experiment was carried out in Maru Agricultural Research Station, Jordan during 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 to investigate yield response of two wheat varieties (Triticum durum L.) to different tillage and weeding treatments. The experimental design used was a split-split arrangement in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Two-tillage treatments (conventional vs. zero tillage) were applied to the main plot, two wheat varieties to sub-plot, and five weeding methods (hand weeding, broadleaf + narrow leaf herbicide, broadleaf herbicide, narrow leaf herbicide, and controls) as a sub-sub-plot. The variety ‘Umqais’ had higher plant height, biological, grain, and straw yield than the variety ‘Sham’. Hand weeding slightly increased grain yield compared with mixed herbicides (the 2,4-D plus Antelope Clodinatop- propagyl). Furthermore, mixed herbicides presented a higher grain yield than using either single herbicide. The interaction between tillage systems and weeding methods was significant in both years. The highest (P < 0.05) straw yield (5,990 kg ha-1 ) was obtained by hand weeding under conventional tillage in the first season while the highest grain yield (2,005 kg ha-1 ) was obtained by hand weeding under zero tillage in the second season. Under all weed control treatments, the variety ‘Umqais’ had higher biological, grain, and straw yields than the variety ‘Sham’ in the second season indicating that variety ‘Umqais’ performed better under dry conditions. Our results confirmed the superior of zero tillage for increasing the grain yield of the variety ‘Umqais’, and for increasing the biological and straw yields of the variety ‘Sham’ under semi-arid rainfed conditions of Jordan

Enhancing Soil-Grown Strawberry Fruit Quality through the Synergistic Influence of Beneficial Microorganisms and Digestate

The use of livestock manure as agricultural soil amendments is a significant source of ammonia emissions and nitrate leaching. Anaerobic digestion of manure can yield to solid and liquid by-products usable as fertilizers that can limit these negative impacts. They could be further supplemented with plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM) to improve plant growth and yield. This study investigated the impact of PGPMs and anaerobic digestates on strawberry quality and rhizospheric microbial community. Strawberry plants were grown in soils treated with PGPMs (pure culture of Azospirillum brasilense or a commercial product with effective microorganisms) along with either liquid or solid digestate. Effects of digestates and PGPMs were evaluated by measuring plant yield and nutraceutical values, while the rhizospheric microbial community was assessed through an eDNA metabarcoding approach. Results suggest using PGPMs combined with digestates enhances plant yield, with increases of up to 40-60% in fruit yield and 9-18% in nutraceutical value, compared to the controls. The rhizospheric microbial community was influenced only by digestates. Nevertheless, these alterations have not led to significant changes in the community, thus ensuring its long-term stability. Moreover, PGPMs were not detected into the rhizospheric community. Our data pointed out that both PGPMs and digestates can represent a sustainable approach to increase strawberry plant yield. However, PGPMs require repeated inoculations in long-term projects to achieve and maintain desired outcomes. These findings emphasize the complexity of rhizospheric microbial interactions and underscore the importance of continued research to optimize agricultural practices while maintaining ecosystem stability

THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF KNOWLEDGE VALIDATION OF ERP TO LOW TECH SMES

Abstract: Knowledge Validation is a challenge in Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), as most of the available information is held in people&apos;s minds as tacit knowledge, or saved on each employees PC without sharing or common validation. This case study is based on a company in Leicester who installed an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system after two previous failed trials with different type of software. The underlying reasons for the problems were due to the distributed and tacitly held knowledge where the assumptions in one part of the company were inconsistent with other parts. The research goes through three years of ERP implementation and analyses the main problem of validating knowledge in more detail and identifies the consequences of failing to do this. It also describes the potential economic benefits for installing enterprise resource planning system in SMEs and investigates the claim of ERP vendors that their ERP solutions increase the performance of their customers, increase profitability and efficiency of work processes. It discusses the effects of ER

Jet-loop reactor with cross-flow ultrafiltration membrane system for treatment of olive mill wastewater

ABSTRACT: Olive oil extraction is one of the ancient agricultural industries all over the Mediterranean area and even today it is of fundamental economic importance for many industries found over the whole Mediterranean. However, this industry generates large amounts of olive mill wastewater (OMW) and due to its physicochemical characteristics it causes severe environmental concerns and management problems in the Mediterranean area, which is facing water scarcity. Technologies to reuse this wastewater will have a high impact at the economic and environmental level. The work presented aims to improve the use of jet-loop reactors technology for the aerobic biotreatment of OMW. A jet-loop reactor (100 L) coupled with an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane (MBR) system (JACTO.MBR_100 L) were tested for the influence of hydraulic parameters on OMW degradation and scale-up to 1,000 L. Chemical oxygen demand and total phenols (TP) decreased notably (up to 85% and 80% removal efficiency, respectively) after the biological treatment. The treated OMW (UF permeate) was evaluated as a source for irrigation and its impact on the soil and plant growth and their quality parameters.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bioactivities of holmium(III) and gadolinium(III) complexes of thymoquinone

Chemotherapeutic agents which are the main stay in cancer treatment are toxic with numerous contrary side effects. A number of chemical, physical, and computational techniques were applied to synthesize and elucidate the structural and functional characterization of the new designed bioligands and their metal complexes. Besides, several biological techniques for developing therapeutics and diagnostics agents of these new designed materials were used. The trivalent holmium(III) and gadolinium(III) metal complexes of thymoquinone (TQ) were synthesized. Toxicities and other bioactivites were undertaken with existing drug combinations and more effective tumor models will be established. The molecular structures of TQ-metal complexes were elucidated based on particular spectral approaches. The NF-kB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activated B Cells) luciferase, elastase release, superoxide anion (O2•−) generation, and DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) free-radical scavenging activities of TQ and its synthesized complexes were elucidated and discussed. The core research is to use coordination and organometallic chemistry to design new bioligands and binary, ternary, mixed ligand, multi metal multi ligand complexes pursing a bio target continuously with structure-activity relationships (SARS). &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; KEY WORDS: Thymoquinone, Holmium, Gadolinium, Bioactivities &nbsp; Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2021, 35(1), 87-96. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v35i1.

Risk factors for bacterial infections in HIV/hepatitis C virus-coinfected patients treated with interferon plus ribavirin

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