Abstract:The present work was conducted during the two successive seasons of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 at the experimental farm of ElQuassassin Hort. Res. Station, Ismailia Governorate, and Biotechnology Laboratory, Horticulture Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Egypt. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of three compost fertilizer levels 4, 6 and 8 ton per Fadden using five cultivars of bitter fennel on growth, fruits yield and volatile oil production of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill). These cultivars were Netherland, Indian, Azoricum, German and Local fennel. Several trails were studied including growth and yield production, biochemical (the volatile oil) and molecular genetic (RAPD-and ISSR-PCR) characteristics under Egyptian sandy soil. The results showed that increasing compost level progressively (form 4 to 8 ton/ Fed) and significantly increased the values of such parameters. Azoricum cultivar was superior to other cultivars under study, as it showed the best growth in terms, fruits yield, fruit volatile oil (%) and volatile oil production per plant and Fadden. The main compounds in all fennel volatile oils were: Anethole, Estragole, Fenchone and Limonene. The highest percentage of Anethole found in German cultivar, while the lowest percentage found in Local cultivar, where the highest percentage of Estragole (= Methyl chavicol ) compound undesirable found in Local cultivar, while the lowest percentage found in Netherland and German cultivars. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular fingerprinting markers were employed as genetic markers for the assay of the genetic relationship of five fennel cultivars.In RAPD analysis, 10 selected primers displayed a total of 98 amplified fragments, in which 60 (61.22%) were polymorphic fragments. Thirty-one out of 98 RAPD-PCR fragments were found to be useful as cultivar-specific markers. The largest number of RAPD-PCR markers was scored for Indian variety (68 markers), while the lowest (49 markers) was scored for Netherland variety. In the meantime, the highest number of RAPD-PCR cultivar-specific markers was generated by primer OP-C04 (7 markers), while the lowest number of RAPD-PCR specific markers (1 markers) was generated by primers OP-A13 and OP-B04. In ISSR analysis, 4 of the tested ISSR primers generated variable banding patterns. A total of 26 out of 34 ISSR fragments were polymorphic. Eleven DNA amplified fragments were considered as cultivar-specific markers. The cultivars distribution on the consensus tree according to the banding patterns of RAPD differed from that based on ISSR. This may be due to the possibility that each technique of amplified different parts of the genome. Therefore, it would be useful to use a combination of the banding patterns of the two technique in order to use more segments sites of the genome that verify the validity of the consensus tree

The present study was carried out at the Experimental Farm of El-Quassassin Hort. Res. Station, Ismailia Governorate, Hort. Res. Institute, Agric. Res. Center, Ministry of Agric., Egypt. during the two successive seasons (2010/2011) and (2011/2012) to investigate the effect of water requirements (1150, 2300 and 3450 m 3 / fed.) and fertilization treatments (mineral fertilizers NPK (control) at the rate of 300 kg / fed ammonium sulphat, 300 kg / fed super phosphate and 200 kg / fed potassium sulphate), (three sources of organic manure, i.e., poultry manure (PM), compost (C) and cattle manure (CM) at 10,15 and 20 m 3 / fed) respectively and their interactions between them on growth, dry ray flowers yield and active ingredient of marigold (Calendula officinales L.) plant using drip irrigation system under sandy soil condition.Irrigated marigold plants by 3450 m 3 / fed water recorded maximum values of plant growth parameters ,i.e., plant height, number of branches / plant, plant fresh and dry weights, yield of dry ray flowers / fed, carotenoides and olenolic acid in flowers of marigold plant as compared to other irrigation treatments. While, the lowest values of these parameters were obtained with 1150 m 3 /fed water. On the other side, water use efficiency (WUE) was the highest with 1150 m 3 /fed irrigated water in both seasons. Plant growth parameters and the yield of dry ray flowers/ fed, WUE, carotenoides and olenolic acid content in flowers were increased significantly with plant fertilization with poultry manure (PM) at 10 m 3 / fed. Interaction treatment between water quantity at 3450 m 3 / fed and poultry manure (PM) at 10 m 3 / fed or the same rate of irrigation combined with mineral fertilizers was the superior treatments for enhancing plant growth, yield of dry ray flowers and chemical constituents in flowers of marigold plants in both seasons. While the interaction between 1150 m 3 / fed water and poultry manure (PM) at 10 m 3 / fed was the best treatment for increasing water use efficiency (WUE) in both seasons.It could be concluded that irrigated marigold plants by 3450m 3 water/ fed combined with 10m 3 /fed poultry manure (PM) was the best treatment for enhancing plant growth parameters, yield of dry ray flowers, carotenoides and olenolic acid in flowers. On the other side, water use efficiency (WUE) was the higher when irrigated plants with 1150 m 3 water / fed combined with 10 m 3 /fed poultry manure.

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This investigation was conducted during two successive seasons of 2004 and 2005 at the experimental farm of El-Quassassin Hort. Res. Station, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, to study the effect of irrigation rates (1610, 3220 or 4876 m 3 /fed.) and fertilization treatments (NPK and organic fertilizers) on vegetative growth, volatile oil yield and chemical composition of Majorana hortensis L. plant in sandy soil. Application of the high rate of water irrigation (4876 m 3 /fed./season) gave the highest values of vegetative characteristic i.e., plant height, fresh and dry weight of herb/plant, dry weight of leaves and stems/plant, the yield of fresh and dry weight of herb per plant and per feddan and chemical composition i.e., volatile oil percentage and N, P or K content as compared with 1610 or 3220 m 3 /fed./season water amount irrigation in the three cuttings during the two seasons. Application NPK fertilization treatment (300 , 300 , 100 kg/fed. as ammonium sulphate, calcium superphosphate and potassium sulphate, respectively) surpassed significantly in vegetative characteristics, oil percentage and chemical content when compared with organic fertilization (compost, poultry and cattle manure). On the other side, poultry manure (10 m 3 /fed) gave significant increase in the most characteristics under this study when compared to the compost or cattle manure (15 and 20 m 3 /fed. respectively) fertilization treatments. Irrigation sweet marjoram plants with drip irrigation system at water amount of 4876 m 3 /fed./season gave 14.305 and 4.688 ton per feddan fresh and dry weight of herb, respectively and 2.63 % (dry weight) volatile oil percentage. The maximum contents of Terpinene-4-Ol and Linalool were obtained from the high level of irrigation (4876 m 3 /fed/season) combined with cattle manure fertilization treatment. While the high contents of 1,8 Cineole and Limonene were resulted from the high level of irrigation combined with poultry manure fertilization treatment.

Drying process may contribute to regular supply and facilitate the marketing of plants, because it facilitates the transport and storage. Two of the most commonly used herbs and cultivated throughout the Mediterranean region are parsley (Petroselinum sativum Hoffm.) and dill (Anethum graveloens L.) plants belongs to Fam. "Apiaceae" (Umbelliferae) were used in the present work. The present study was carried out at the Experiment Farm of Horticulture Research Station in EL-Kassasen, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, in two successive winter seasons of 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 to investigate the influence of some drying methods (shade at 20 ±2 °C, oven at 45 °C, sun at 30 ±3 °C and greenhouse at 35 ±5 °C), on the plant dry weight (g / 100g FW), moisture content (%), the volatile oil quality and quantities of parsley and dill plants. The physical and chemical properties of the volatile oil of the two fresh plants viz., specific gravity, refractive index and optical rotation were determined and are included in this study. The results showed that the shade drying method was the best treatment to produce the highest volatile oils percentage of both plants, while oven drying gave the highest percentage of volatile oils components. On the other hand, sun drying method was the lowest one since it caused a decrease in the plant quality. The G.L.C. of the parsley volatile oil revealed a total of 10 compounds were αand βpinene, sabinene, limonene, α-and βphellandren, myrcene, p-cymene, myresticine and apiol. The total identified compounds constituent 74.6, 79.5, 91.1, 86.6 and 72.1 % in the oil of the control, shade, oven, sun and greenhouse drying methods, respectively. While, the G.L.C. of the dill volatile oil revealed a total of 11 compounds were αand βpinene, myrcene, limonene, p-cymen, αand βphellandren, 3,9-epoxy-p-menthlen, trans-dihydrocarvon, cis-dihydrocarvon and carvon. The total identified compounds constituent 100, 97.7, 98.2, 92.2 and 89.4 % in the oil of the control, shade, oven, sun and greenhouse drying methods, respectively. The method of drying affected the proportion of the oil components in the two plants. The volatile oil % of the total main components (α-and βpinene, myresticine and apiol) was 34.5, 46.7, 59.4, 45.8 and 36.8 % of parsley plants in the oil of the control, shade, oven, sun and greenhouse drying methods, respectively. While, the volatile oil % of the total main components (αphellendren and limonene) was 71.2, 71.5, 78.6, 57.9 and 64.8 % of dill plants, in the oil of the control, shade, oven, sun and greenhouse drying methods, respectively. The method of drying included oven dried at 45 °C for 6 hr. was the best procedure to produce parsley and dill dried materials if compared with the other tested methods, since it kept the leaf volatile oils with characterised features increasing yield quantity and quality.