Potential Risk Of Organic Manures Application On Soil Salinization

Application of organic manures as fertilizer is essential in supporting plant with nutrients and soil improvement. Field and laboratory experiments were carried out to assess the effect of three organic manures on soil salinity. Field experiment was arranged in randomized split plot, the main plots were two levels of soil salinity at average of 2.9 and 8.7 mS/cm, the sub plots were alfalfa green manure, chicken manure and cow manure at rate of 20 t/ha added one month before sowing of maize crop. The results showed that; soil salinity was raised up to 5.5, 5.1 and 5.8 mS/cm in low saline soil in the first season for alfalfa, cow and chicken manure respectively, whereas in the second season the salinity was increased in respective up to 7.3, 5.3 and 6.4 mS/cm. The high saline soil salinity was increased from 8.7 mS/cm to 10.9, 12.4 and 13.1 mS/cm in the first season, and 12.6, 13.6 and 14.4 mS/cm in the second season for alfalfa, cow and chicken manure respectively. The results of the laboratory experiment showed that salinity level increased linearly with increasing rate of organic manure for all organic materials investigated in this study. Keywords: organic manures, soil salinity, sustainable agricultur

Screening Triticum aestivum L. genotypes for drought stress tolerance under arid land conditions

Screening of drought tolerant genotypes for arid land cultivation is the best approach to avoid yield losses as breeding and selection are time taking techniques. Current experiment was planned to evaluate late sown wheat cultivars potential for drought tolerance and adaptability in Jeddah region, KSA. Four wheat cultivars (Yocoro, Rojo, Faisalabad-2008, F-10 and L-7096) were tested against drought stress applied as (75% and 50%) of total crop water requirement. A 100% water requirement was also applied as control. Data regarding crop growth stages, growth, grain yield and yield contributors were tested by using MSTAT-C. Drought stress significantly decreased all growth and yield traits except harvest index and the effect of water stress was the most severe where 50% of the total water requirement was applied. Both studied crop growth stages (days to complete tillering and days to complete 50% heading) were also affected to applied water stress and effect was more pronounced for days to complete 50% heading. Studied cultivars responded variably for different growth and yield traits. Cultivar Yoco Rojo took minimum days to complete tillering and heading while L-7096 presented the highest plant height and dry biomass accumulation. Faisalabad-2008 reported maximum values for grain yield and yield contributors except spike length that was maximum in Yocoro Rojo. Based on the field evaluation, it’s concluded that Faisalabad-2008 produced significant results for growth and yield traits among studied cultivars and can be successfully grown in arid land conditions under limited water supplies.Â

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) seeds as unconventional nutritional source

The composition of roselle seed from oil, protein, ash, fiber, fatty acids and amino acids was determined and compared in three cultivars in order to use it as an unconventional nutritional source. Aswan cv. occupies the highest significant rank in protein (31.51), oil (23.70) and fiber (4.87%) contents. Aswan and Sewa cvs. had the highest significant unsaturated fatty acid composition, especially oleic and linoleic acids, with oleic acid having values of 36.22 and 33.34% and linoleic acid, 14.95 and 15.10% values. Protein of Aswan cv. had the highest significant values of seven essential amino acids and four non-essential amino acids, especially lysine and phenylalanine.Key words: Amino acids, fatty acids, nutrition, oil, protein, roselle, unconventional crops

Effect of Nitrogen, shading and intercropping on alfalfa-ziziphus agroforestry system under arid land conditions

To assess the arid lands agroforestry potential, a field experiment was performed at the Agricultural Research Station of King Abdulaziz University, located at Hada Al-Sham during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Alfalfa was evaluated in a Ziziphus agroforestry system at a distance of 1 m, 2 m and 4 m from the ziziphus tree and were supplied with three different levels of nitrogen fertilizer 0 kg/ha, 200 kg/ha and 400 kg/ha in the form of commercial Urea. The fertilizer were subdivided into split doses and applied as manual broadcasting after each cutting. A split-split plot design was used with three replications. Forage growth rate and biomass accumulation were measured at ten different intervals approximately at a period of 30-40 days. Forage was harvested in 10 different cuts and all this data consisting of plant height, fresh biomass accumulation and dry biomass accumulation and leaf nitrogen content were also measured. Statistical analysis described significant impact for intercropping, planting distance and nitrogen fertilizer on all studied traits. The maximum effect of urea fertilizer was documented for the highest dose of 400 kg/ha but it was statistically non-significant to 200 kg/ha. Distance of planting from the Ziziphus tree produced variable trend for all forages at different cut numbers but 2 m produced maximum plant height and biomass accumulation for most of the cut numbers. The interaction of 200 kg N/ha, intercropping and 2 m distance produced optimum forage growth and biomass accumulation as compared to the sole plantation under no fertilization. Â

IMPROVEMENT OF CANOLA SEED YIELD AND QUALITY USING SULPHUR AND IRRIGATION INTERVALS UNDER DIFFERENT IRRIGATION WATER SALINITY LEVELS

This investigation was conducted at Hada Elsham Experimental Research Station, King Abdul- Aziz University during 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 seasons, to study the effects of two irrigation water salinity levels (1200 mg/L and 10000 mg/L), three irrigation water intervals (3, 6 and 9 days) and three sulphur fertilizer rates (0.0, 4.0 and 6.0 t/ha) on seed yield, yield components and seed quality of canola, Pactole cv. The obtained results showed that seed yield kg/ha was significantly increased under the 1200mg/L irrigation water and 6t/ha of sulphur more than the seed yield/ha under the effect of 1200 mg/L irrigation water with 4 t/ha sulphur or 10,000 mg/L irrigation water with 6t/ha sulphur with no significant differences between the two later treatments. Irrigation every 3 days significantly dominated over the irrigation every 6 or 9 days on seed yield and yield components. Irrigation with 10.000 mg/L salinity water significantly decreased No. of branches /plant, No. of fruit/plant and seed weight/ plant. Besides, Protein content of the seed as well as oil content increased as water salinity increased in both seasons. As sulphur fertilizer rate increased seed yield, yield components protein and oil contents of seed significantly increased, in the two studied seasons

Path and Ridge Regression Analysis of Seed Yield and Seed Yield Components of Russian Wildrye (Psathyrostachys juncea Nevski) under Field Conditions

The correlations among seed yield components, and their direct and indirect effects on the seed yield (Z) of Russina wildrye (Psathyrostachys juncea Nevski) were investigated. The seed yield components: fertile tillers m-2 (Y1), spikelets per fertile tillers (Y2), florets per spikelet- (Y3), seed numbers per spikelet (Y4) and seed weight (Y5) were counted and the Z were determined in field experiments from 2003 to 2006 via big sample size. Y1 was the most important seed yield component describing the Z and Y2 was the least. The total direct effects of the Y1, Y3 and Y5 to the Z were positive while Y4 and Y2 were weakly negative. The total effects (directs plus indirects) of the components were positively contributed to the Z by path analyses. The seed yield components Y1, Y2, Y4 and Y5 were significantly (P<0.001) correlated with the Z for 4 years totally, while in the individual years, Y2 were not significant correlated with Y3, Y4 and Y5 by Peason correlation analyses in the five components in the plant seed production. Therefore, selection for high seed yield through direct selection for large Y1, Y2 and Y3 would be effective for breeding programs in grasses. Furthermore, it is the most important that, via ridge regression, a steady algorithm model between Z and the five yield components was founded, which can be closely estimated the seed yield via the components