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The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, is the greatest damaging insect of cabbage plants. Two field experiments were conducted at private farm in El-Kattawia area, Abu-Hammad City, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt to assess the effectiveness of abamectin 1.8 EC against cabbage diamondback moth. Two field experiments were performed at the same farm in different seasons (2019 and 2020).The experiments were conducted in a randomized block design with a plot size of 4 x 5 m with three replications. The concerned treatments were enjoined four times at 14 days intervals beginning from the 30 th day after cultivation. The pneumatic Knapsack sprayer was used to spray fluid (600 liters per hectare). Observations on larval population were made before spraying and on 3, 7, 10, and 14 days after spraying from 10 randomly tagged plants in each plot. Four doses of abamectin @ 9, 11,13, and 15 g a.i.ha -1 were assessed against the Plutella xylostella under study. Besides, Cypermethrin 10 EC @ 70 g a.i./ha , endosulfan 35 EC @ 420 g a.i./ha, spinosad 45 SC @ 75 g a.i./ha, and an untreated blank were also included in the field experiment.The findings concluded that treating with abamectin at 15 g a.i./ ha was the highest mean reduction which meaningfully blocked the population of diamondback moth larvae and recorded a mean reduction of 72.5, 70.7, 75.2, and 78.0 percent from untreated check after first, second, third and fourth sprays, respectively. While the results obtained from abamectin at 11 g a.i./ ha were on par with standard check spinosad at 75 g a.i./ha and excelled over cypermethrin and endosulfan. A similar trend was also observed in the second experiment. The yield of cabbage heads also increased significantly at all the doses tested in the two experiments under field conditions as compared to the control plot. The study demonstrates the potentiality of abamectin 1.8 EC as an eco-friendly bioinsecticide against the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). The doses of the studied abamectin @ 15, 13, and 11 g a.i.ha -1 were found to be highly effective to control the infestation of diamondback moth in the cabbage plants under the conditions of a semi-arid zone in Egypt.

The past three decades saw rapid and massive agriculture in Wadi Al-Molak at west of Suez Canal, Egypt. Land cover and pedon changes were studied in 850 km 2 of the Wadi Al-Molak catena using time series and paired-site approach, respectively. The aim was to better understand the anthropogenic impacts responsible for the change of land cover and soil characteristics vertically within pedons and horizontally across landscapes under different ages of cultivation. Five landscapes were recognized: mountains and piedmont slope at upland; alluvial plain at midland; bajada plain and Nile old deltaic plain at lowland.

No abstract

Geological parent material is a soil forming factor which controls the particle size distribution (PSD), geochemical characterization, and mineralogical properties. In Wadi Dahab Basin at southeastern Sinai of Egypt, four main tributaries (Al-Ghaib, Zoghra, Abu-Khashab and Um-Ism) and their subtributaries, having different geological parent materials, were selected and mapped. Sixteen pedons containing 51 sediment samples across the slope gradient (1335-9 m) of Wadi Dahab Basin representing all its tributaries and subtributaries were exhaustively analysed for the purposes of: (1) detecting the lithologic discontinuities (LDs) through soil morphology and uniformity indices; (2) recognizing the weathering intensity using the geochemical data; (3) identifying the sediments provenance via heavy mineral distribution; and (4) classifying the soils up to family level. LDs in most pedons revealed sequences of deposition and erosion processes and the heterogeneity of the parent material. The vertical distribution of coarse fragments within a pedon is proposed as a morphologic indicator (as with other clay-free basis indices) to detect LDs in soils. The Fe 2 O 3 and Al 2 O 3 were relatively enriched at downslope positions while SiO 2 , MgO, K 2 O, and Na 2 O were strongly lost during sediment weathering and soil formation, with the exception of CaO that was highly affected by CaCO 3 content. The heavy minerals characteristics suggest their mixed sources from sandstone, limestone, granites, and metamorphic rocks. The heavy minerals concentration and geochemical oxides in most studied pedons followed the LD set, indicating further approaches for detecting LDs. Pedons from upslope positions were immature sediments and classified as Entisols while pedons from the downslopes of Wadi Al-Ghaib, Wadi Zoghra, and Wadi Dahab's delta were submature sediments and classified as Aridisols. Furthermore, six families were identified across the study area. Indices based on PSD, geochemical, and mineralogical data were evaluated and further implications of the results were discussed in the text.