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Lithium is found in trace amounts in all soils. It is also found in plants and in nearly all the organs of the human body. Low Li intake can cause behavioral defects. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the concentration and distribution of water-soluble Li in soils of the Jordan Valley and its concentration in citrus trees and some important food crops in view of the significant implications of Li for human health. The concentration of soluble Li was measured in 180 soil samples collected at two depths (0-20 and 20-40 cm) whereas its content was determined in fully expanded leaves collected from citrus and different vegetable crops. Concentrations of soluble Li in soils vary from 0.95 to 1.04 mg l(-1) in topsoil and from 1.06 to 2.68 mg l(-1) in subsoil, while Li concentration in leaves ranged from 2 to 27 mg kg(-1) DM. Lithium concentrations in leaves of crops of the same family or different families vary with location in the valley; i.e., they decreased from north to south. It is concluded that soluble Li in soils and the plant family did not solely affect Li transfer in the food chain. In addition, soil EC, Ca, Mg, and Cl, which increased from north to south, might adversely affect plant Li uptake. The current study also showed that consuming 250-300 g FW of spinach day(-1) per person is recommended to provide consumers with their daily Li requirement necessary for significant health and societal benefits.

Bell pepper is an economic product that widely used in the world. The total of Bell pepper and Chile pepper production of the world is about 25 million metric tons, while in Jordan about 5,000 ha are planted by bell pepper annually.During the 2010/2011 season,an experiment was carried out under plastic-house conditions at the Station of Princess Tasneem Bent Ghazi for Technological Research at Humrat Al-Sahen.To compare the effect of four fermented organic matter sources (cattle, poultry and sheep manure in addition to 1:1:1 mixture of the three organic matter sources), with that of the conventional treatment on soil properties and fruit nutrient content of bellpepper cultivar Marvello by using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates.Conventional treatment had a significant higher effect on the soil pH, EC, N, P, K and Na. Fruit nitrate content was within the acceptable levels. A high content of micronutrients (Zn and Fe) were observed in the conventionally treated bell pepper fruits.In addition, the bell pepper fruit content of minerals was higher in conventional treatment than all other organic treatments. The highest yield per plant was obtained by the conventional treatment, in comparison to other treatments. Although the reduction in yield per plant and the total yield reduction was about 20 % less than conventional farming, but the increase in profit was almost doubled due to higher prices of organic bell peppers.

Global warming directly affects the temperature and rainfall average. There were many studies discussing global climate changes in the Middle East. These studies show the ranges of increase in temperature were between 1.8° and 6.4° by the end of the 21 st century. The objectives of this study were to investigate the impact of global warming on groundwater resources in Jordan and to perform adaptation measures and management practices. Eighteen weather stations in Jordan were selected for the study. Accordingly, groundwater recharge was investigated under 16 different scenarios. In each of these scenarios temperature was raised by 2, 4 and 6 degrees and Precipitation was decreased by 10%, 20% and 30% interchangeably. The study concluded that the global climate change would have severe impact on available groundwater resources in Jordan. The predicted increase in temperature would cause increase in evapotranspiration as much as 9 % in the worst scenario. The increase of temperature alone of 2, 4, and 6 C o without any decrease in precipitation resulted in reduction of groundwater recharge by 21%, 37%, and 50% respectively. However, the reduction in precipitation by 10%, 20%, and 30%, would cause reduction of groundwater recharge of 25%, 48%, and 61% respectively.

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