MINIMIZING POSTHARVEST LOSSES IN POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.) TUBER USING GAMMA IRRADIATION, MINT OIL AND PACLOBUTRAZOL UNDER UNREFRIGERATED STORAGE CONDITION

This experiment was carried out on potato tubers during the two successive seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 at the Department of Natural Products Research, National Center for Radiation Research and Technology, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt. The research aims to reduce losses resulting from the storage at room temperature and to reduce cold storage costs of potato tubers using gamma radiation, mint oil and paclobutrazole treatments.     Potato tubers cv. Sponta were treated with 100 Gy of gamma radiation, 5% of mint oil and 100 ppm of paclobutrazole during the two successive seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. Results showed that, tubers irradiated with 100 Gy and soaked in 100 ppm paclobutrazole scored the lowest percentage of weight loss, sprouting, shrinkage, decay and total lost percentage. As for the effect of soaking tubers in 5% mint oil, results showed a higher percent of shrinkage than other treatments. On the other hand tubers irradiated with 100 Gy of gamma irradiation then soaked in 100 ppm of paclobutrazole had higher contents of starch than other tested treatments

Evaluation of New White Maize (Zea mays L) Genotypes Under Drought Stress Using Selection Indices

Thirteen drought tolerance or resistance indices including stress tolerance index (STI), stress susceptibility index (SSI), tolerance index (TOL), geometric mean production (GMP), mean production (MP), harmonic mean (HM), yield index (YI), yield stability index (YSI), drought resistance index (DI), sensitivity drought index (SDI), relative drought index (RDI), stress susceptibility percentage index (SSPI) and modified stress tolerance (K1STI and K2STI) were calculated based on grain yield under drought and normal irrigation conditions to identify the best maize genotypes that can be grown under water stress condition. Yield under stress and favorable conditions were significantly and positively correlated with MP, GMP, YI, STI, KI.STI and K2.STI at Sids and Sakha environments. These results indicated that these indices were more effective in identifying high-yielding genotypes under drought stress as well as normal conditions. Cluster and biplot methods for screening drought-tolerant genotypes revealed that genotypes G5, G15, G20, G21, G22 and G23 at Sids and G3, G5, G8, G10, G11, G12, G13 and G21 at Sakha as the most drought tolerant genotypes. Cluster analysis divided the genotypes into three groups i.e., tolerant, sensitive and semi-sensitive to drought conditions. The tolerant group consists of 5 and 9 genotypes, the semi-sensitive group consists of 13 and 15 genotypes and the sensitive group consists of 12 and 6 genotypes at Sids and Sakha, respectively

Investigation of microstructure, tribological, and corrosion behaviors of TiN@AISI 316 CN processed by rf plasma

Abstract In order to enhance the tribological and corrosion properties of AISI 316 substrate, rf plasma carbonitriding was involved to form a carbonitrided layer on AISI 316 base substrate. The deposition of TiN top layer was executed engaging titanium nitride target in argon plasma atmosphere. All the deposition working parameters were reserved to be constant excepting the deposition period that was altered from 4 to 20 min. The effect of TiN top layer thickness on the structure, tribological and electrochemical characteristics of TiN@AISI 316 CN duplex treatment was explored. It was demonstrated, that the duplex coating enhanced the hardness (max: 1740 HV0.025 for TiN (1325nm)@AISI 316 CN sample) and improved the wear and corrosion resistance. Besides, the coefficient of friction is reduced to 0.12–0.2 for TiN@AISI 316 CN duplex treated samples compared with untreated AISI 316 which recorded a value of 0.47