Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences最新文献

The common assessment of soil salinity posits a linear function, which transfers the electrical conductivity (EC) of highly diluted extracts to the standard state of soil paste. Our study examines this assumption and explains its limitations in a wide range of EC for highly saline soils of the Aral region in Uzbekistan. For a comparative EC assessment in the liquid phase from standard soil pastes and 1:5 aqueous extracts we used portable EC–meters. The dependences of EC, total dissolved solids (TDS), and soil–water potential on the pore water content were evaluated using centrifugation to separate the liquid phase from the soil matrix. The non-linearity of the relationship between the EC of water from soil pastes and 1:5 water extracts for both average and median data over a broad (0.4–160 dS/m) range of their variation is detected. A strong retention and concentration of electrolytes in fine pores and water films resistant to vacuum extraction, as well as the nonlinear EC versus TDS relationship in highly saline soils are attributed to this nonlinearity. A comprehensive statistical analysis showed that despite the general non-linearity, in the EC range from 0 to 30–35 dS/m, the results for 1:5 extract can be reliably converted to the standard state using the dilution model for the liquid phase of the soil with one basic parameter of soil bulk density. For hypersaline soils (EC > 30–35 dS/m), conversion based on the dilution theory is unacceptable due to a strong underestimation of TDS.

In this study, we investigate the impact of selected macroeconomic factors on agricultural financing practices in Djibouti. Therefore, the objective of this study is to understand how these factors influence the accessibility, distribution, and effectiveness of financial resources within the agricultural sector. To achieve this objective, we employed Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Wavelet Coherence Analysis on an annual dataset covering a span of 25 years, ranging from 1998 to 2022. The findings reveal that factors such as inflation, diminishing rural population, economic growth, and the institutional framework of the country exert negative pressures on the availability of funding for agriculture. However, amidst these challenges, we find that official development assistance serves as a positive mitigating factor, offering crucial support to the agricultural sector. These findings hold significant implications for policymakers in Djibouti by providing valuable insights into how to develop targeted interventions to support farmers, increase access to credit, and improve agricultural productivity, as it lays the foundation for investments in food security, technology adoption, and climate-resilient practices.

Water shortage and food security concerns are amplified by the spread of irrigated cultures within the context of climatic unpredictability. In the hot, arid MENA area, the frequent drought periods and the continuous deterioration of water resources limits the ecological system's functioning and the sustainable agricultural productivity. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the potential impacts of the evolution of water resources management on the environmental components, using Westerlund’s (2007) panel cointegration and the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCE-MG) estimator for a sample of six MENA economies over 35 years ((1990–2015). In the short run, there is unidirectional causality from agricultureadded value to CO₂ and from water productivity to CO₂ without any feedback. while, a bidirectional causality nexus was detected between energy consumption and CO₂ emission In the long run, however, a feedback causality has been obtained between CO₂ emissions, agriculture added value, water productivity, and energy consumption.

Sustainable water management, smart water systems, and energy transition in the water related activities are highly recommended as priorities towards a NetZero carbon global economic trend.

This study describes small-scale drum and disc pulpers developed to depulp Arabica and Robusta cherries in line with Benin and Rwandan farmers' needs. The purpose of the machines is to improve the uncontrolled conventional depulping means, which have led to a decline in parchments quality and can discourage coffee farmers. The development of the machines started with the identification of coffee depulping requirements, followed by analytical sizing of the major components, modeling, fabrication and finally testing. The fabricated machines using local material consist mainly of a hopper, depulping unit, discharge outlet, transmission system and a diesel engine, all supported by a rigid frame. The performance parameters of the machines evaluated with three replications of 3 kg for each variety and depulping clearance of 16 and 12 mm for Arabica and Robusta, respectively at 1200 rpm were analysed in GraphPad Prism V10.0.3. The t-test results of the drum pulper showed a mean pulping efficiency of 98.37 ± 0.73 and 85.00 ± 3.81 %, a capacity of 872.3 ± 91.05 and 924.1 ± 108.3 kg/h, a breakage rate of 0.91 ± 0.27 and 0.00 ± 0.00 %, a pulping index of 0.95 ± 0.01 and 0.70 ± 0.07 and a fuel consumption rate of 1.22 ± 0.54 and 0.86 ± 0.072 l/h for Arabica and Robusta, respectively. Whereas, the disc pulper showed a mean pulping efficiency of 75.56 and 87.5 ± 5.63 %, a capacity of 684.4 ± 215.9 and 756.80 ± 91.54 kg/h, a breakage rate of 0.15 ± 0.26 and 0.00 ± 0.00 %, a pulping index of 0.50 ± 0.14 and 0.79 ± 0.89 and a fuel consumption rate of 0.71 ± 0.30 and 0.73 ± 0.16 l/h for Arabica and Robusta, respectively. The drum pulper outperformed the disc pulper considering efficiency, the pulping index, and the mass of unpulped cherries. The performances revealed that smallholders could prefer both machines based on their settings for each coffee variety.

This study reveals Spatio-temporal prognostication of macro and micronutrients present in entisols, inceptisols and alfisols soil groups at Anaimalai block of Coimbatore district, India through empirical analysis. The soil primary macronutrients and micronutrients for the period 2021–2032 were procured from Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), Linear Regression (LR) and Logistic Regression (Log R) models by setting out 2005–2020 soil nutrient datasets as input. 1627 soil samples were taken out through composite sampling method in the month of February 2021. The laboratory soil analysis was carried out for macro and micronutrients computation. Computed values were validated with the 2021 soil nutrient empirical models. R² values 0.88, 0.83, 0.85, 0.89, 0.88, 0.92, 0.90, 0.92 and 0.85 for soil pH, EC, Available nitrogen, Available phosphorus, Available potassium, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Zinc respectively divulges the reliability of ARIMA model in forecasting the soil nutrients and are spatially exposed. Spatio-temporal visualization of soil nutrients for a decade with large nutrient database as input along with field validation brings out promising forecasting model that reverberates on futuristic policy making for attaining sustainable agro-productivity.

This study measured the ability of the General Food Security Authority to provide wheat and support for the milling industry and flour production in Saudi Arabia, using econometric analysis. It was found from this study that the General Food Security Authority was able to increase the strategic stock of wheat, by 832.89 thousand tons, until it became sufficient for consumption needs for a period of 5.5 months. The average economic price of flour for local wheat is estimated at about 2884.64 riyals / ton, while it is 2,657.33 riyals / ton for imported wheat. The high economic price of flour in the case of using local wheat is due to raising the price of receiving local wheat to 1700 riyals / ton, especially after the Russian-Ukrainian war. The amount of support for milling companies for local wheat amounted to about 1520 riyals / ton, while it amounted to 1386.04 riyals / ton for imported wheat. The overall value of government support for flour production in 2021 was 5,472.44 million riyals.

This study investigated the morphological response of planted Hypericum perforatum to pedology and climatic conditions in Morocco. In total, 50 fragments detached from the mother stump of H. perforatum were purchased from France and planted in the botanical garden in Meknes 2021–2022. The monitored climatic conditions were temperature (Average (AVT), Minimal (MNT), Maximal (MT), precipitations (PR), and humidity (HD), while the pedology parameters were pH, MO, K, P, MgO, Na₂O, and N. We evaluated the effect of the plant on the microbiology around the roots. The effects of these parameters were tested on the biological parameters, including Diameter of principal stem (DPS), Length of principal stem (LPS), Number of secondary stems (NSS), leaves per plant (NL), and flowers (NF) of H. perforatum during growth. During flowering, LPS and NF were significantly superior in 2022 (67.84 ± 15.91 cm and 300 ± 0.00) compared to 2021 (147.8 ± 8.79 cm and 100.00 ± 0.00). During the vegetative stage, the NSS, NL, and DPS were superior (p < 0.05) in 2022 (10.2 ± 2.59 cm, 78 ± 8.86, and 1.48 ± 0.37 cm, respectively) compared to 2021 (7.20 ± 1.30 cm, 61.20 ± 8.53, 0.92 ± 0.53 cm, respectively). In 2021, vegetative stage was in April, while flowering was in June. In 2022, the vegetative stage was in April, while flowering was in May. In 2021, the pH and OM were similar between T₀ (8.08 and 4.66 %) and T_F (7.96 and 4.46 %) stages, while K, P, and N were significantly decreased in T_F (340.8 mg/kg, 52.81 mg/kg, and 0.229 %) compared to T₀ (369.6 mg/kg, 56.7 mg/kg, and 0.26 %). During T_F of 2022, the pH, N, and OM were similar compared to flowering of 2021, while K, and P were decreased in flowering of 2022 compared to flowering of 2021, while conductivity was increased during flowering of 2022. In contrast, K, MgO, and Na₂O decreased from 2021 to 2022. The fungi and bacteria decreased from 2021 to 2022. In contrast, the density of actinomycetes increased from planting to flowering. Despite the importance of this study, more investigations are needed to confirm the obtained findings and to clarify the effects of cultivation conditions on the phytochemicals of the plant.

Sapota fruits were coated with soyabean starch extracted by two different methods and using three different methods of coating (dipping, spraying, and brushing) to determine their effectiveness starch on edible coating stored under ambient (28 ± 2 °C) and refrigerated (3 ± 1 °C) conditions. The samples based on the above six combinations of starch extraction and method of coating were analyzed for physiochemical changes on fruits at 5-day interval for 25 days. The results revealed that the maximum weight reduction was observed in Ambient Control (AC) and Refrigerated Control (RC) samples as 29.89 % and 17.26 % on the 15th day of storage even though RC sample lasted for 25th day. The value for sugar-acid ratio were found as 28.33 (RDT1), 31.88 (RDT2), 33.40 (RST1), 34.22(RST2), 36.44(RBT1), 36.90 (RBT2), and 51.90(RC) on the 15th day of storage for refrigerated storage and for ambient sample it was found as 12.2, 12.82, 13.08,13.30,13.68 and 13.98, respectively, for ADT1, ADT2, AST1, AST2, ABT1 and ABT2 respectively on the 15th day. The Titratable acidity (TA), Vitamin C, firmness, decay incidence, water activity and colour characteristics exhibited higher values for the sapota fruits treated with soyabean starch as compared to the control samples. The RDT1 sample found better results and enhanced the shelf-life of sapota fruit by 2 weeks in comparison to the control samples (AC&RC) at both storage conditions.

The amendment of salt-affected soils with elemental sulfur (S⁰) has been recognized for its potential to effectively reduce soil salinity and pH, thereby enhancing soil physicochemical properties, promoting crop growth, and improving yields. Despite these known benefits, the widespread adoption of S⁰ for managing saline soils, particularly in arid calcareous regions, remains limited. Consequently, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of S⁰ on salt leaching, soil pH, nutrient uptake, plant growth, microbial diversity, and community structure under alkaline saline soil conditions. The study includes three main experiments: a preliminary column experiment without plants, a field trial with Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), and a greenhouse pot experiment with wheat (Triticum spp.). Our findings demonstrated that S⁰ incorporation into the soil exerted a positive influence, resulting in increased salt removal, reduced soil pH, and improved plant growth. Specifically, soil amendment with 750 kg S⁰ ha⁻¹ led to a substantial salt removal, exceeding double in the column experiment, approximately 91.3 % in the field trial, and about 34.1 % in the greenhouse pot experiment compared to the control. S⁰ amendment also significantly lowered soil and leachate pH in both field and greenhouse trials, with reductions of 3.3 % and 6.3 %, and 8.1 % and 4.4 %, respectively, relative to the control. Calcium and phosphorus uptake by Rhodes grass increased significantly by 75 % and 14 %, respectively, compared with the control. Soil organic matter content significantly increased from 0.6 % to 1.5 % compared to that of the control. This overall enhancement in soil conditions resulted in a considerable increase in Rhodes grass and wheat yields by 13 % and 59 %, respectively. While the prokaryotic diversity (16S V4 rRNA sequencing) in the Rhodes grass field trial was not significantly affected by S⁰ amendments after two months, the microbial community composition showed remarkable differences between the S⁰-amended and control samples. Eighty-three unique taxa were exclusively found in the S⁰-amended samples. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the amendment of soil with S⁰ is a promising strategy for the sustainable management of calcareous salt-affected soils in arid regions.

In crop growing, biostimulants are currently used to improve the advance and yield of crops. These biostimulants showed successful effects in various crops against severe stress factors. Therefore, integrative studies are required to define the usage of such products in agriculture. This study investigated the valuable impacts of biostimulants on the growth parameters of green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in Morocco known for its harsh climatic conditions. Equally, we studied the effect on the soil characteristics. The growth parameters were the number, length, and weight of leaves and pods, and were measured after, 21, 29, 35, 42, and 49 days of cultivation. The soil parameters were organic matter, macro-elements, and microelements. The obtained results exposed that the number of leaves was enhanced by 52.95 % in plants treated with biostimulants, while the improvement of foliar weight was estimated at 83.45 %. The treatment improved the weight of pods by 50 % after 75 days and by 63.65 % after 90 days. Similarly, the treatment improved the length of pods by 48 % after 75 days and by 78 % after 90 days. The improvement of growth parameters was in a time-dependent manner. These results are the first to clarify the faculty of biostimulants to enhance the growth performance of green beans under North African climatic and soil circumstances. However, more experiments are desired to evaluate the optimum quantities of biostimulants needed to get the maximum yield. Equally, future research is required to assess the influence of biostimulants on the nutritive quality of fruits.