The present study aimed to investigate the impact of salinity on vegetative growth, chemical constituents, and yields of cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) and the possible benefits of salicylic acid (SA) on these plants after damage from salinity. To achieve these objectives, two pot experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Egypt, during the two growing seasons of 2019 and 2020. The results revealed that salinity significantly decreased, and SA treatment substantially increased the plant height, number of compound leaves, number of internodes per plant, fresh weights of leaves and stems, productivity, photosynthetic pigments content, and concentrations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) of the cowpea plants compared with the control. The anatomical structure of stems and leaves of the plants were also investigated, and it was found that positive variations in the anatomical structure of the median portion of the main stems and blades of mature foliage leaves were detected in the stressed and SA-treated plants. In conclusion, SA treatment increased the salt stress tolerance of cowpea plants by improving the morphological and physiological attributes of the plants.

T HIS WORK was conducted during the two successive winter seasons of 2014/ 2015 and 2015 / 2016 at the Agricultural Experiments and Researches Station (Ghazala Farm), Faculty of Agriculture , Zagazig University , Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, to study the effect of foliar spray with selenium at concentrations of 0, 2.5 , 5 , 10 , 15 and 20 ppm on growth, chemical composition , yield as well as anatomy of stem and leaves of faba bean cv. Giza 716. The experimental results showed that foliar application with 20 ppm selenium showed no effect on vegetative growth , yield components ,seed quality, photosynthetic pigments (chl a , chl b, total chl and carotenoids) concentration, carbohydrates fractions , minerals and crude protein percentage. Foliar application with 10 ppm selenium significant improvement effects on vegetative growth , yield, seed quality, photosynthetic pigments, carbohydrates fractions, minerals and crude protein percentage of faba bean cv. Giza 716. Foliar application with 10 ppm selenium induced favorable enhancement in anatomical feature of stem and leaves. Exogenous application of selenium also induced prominent increase in diameter of stem, thickness of cortex, number of cortical layers, average length and width of vascular bundle, average vessels number per vascular bundle and average diameter of vessel . Likewise, increased thickness of both midvein and lamina, increased thickness of mesophyll size of midvein bundle, length and width of midvein bundle and vessel diameter were increased as a result of spraying selenium.

No abstract

With this research, we aimed to determine the impact of grafting and rootstock seed treated with Streptomyces griseus (MT210913) (S. griseus) or shikimic acid (SA) at a 60 ppm concentration on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) production grown under low-temperature conditions. Two open-field trials were performed during both winter seasons of 2020 and 2021 at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. A tomato cultivar (Peto 86) was used as a scion and two tomato phenotypes were employed as rootstocks (Solanum cheesmaniae L. (line LA 524) and GS hybrid), as well as self-grafted as a control. Effects of sub-optimal temperature on vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality were tested. The results indicate that, under cold stress, rootstock seed priming, especially with S. griseus, enhanced plant growth, total yield, and fruit quality properties. GS hybrid rootstock was more effective than that of S. cheesmaniae rootstock in terms of mitigating the negative effect of cold stress. GS hybrid, inoculated with S. griseus, increased the total yield per plant by 10.5 % and 5.7 % in the first and second seasons, respectively. Higher levels of GA3 and mineral content were noticed in leaves that were grafted and treated with S. griseus compared to the control treatment. Additionally, the great enhancing effects of all anatomical features of tomato plants were recorded with GS hybrid rootstock, inoculated by S. griseus. These results prove that grafting on GS hybrid rootstock treated with S. griseus is a potential choice to alleviate the cold stress of commercial tomato varieties.

The present study was conducted through the two growing seasons of 2017 and 2018 to disclose the impact of foliar application with different concentrations of stigmasterol (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm) on vegetative growth characters, yield of fresh herb/plant, anatomical structures of vegetative organs (main stem and leaves) and percentage and constituents of aromatic oil of basil plant. The obtained results indicated that stigmasterol application had a enhancing effect on growth and productivity as well as on the percentage and composition of volatile oil of basil plant and the maximum promotion was detected at 100 ppm stigmasterol. Such treatment induced favorable changes in the anatomical structures of vegetative organs.