Khaled Mohamed Refaie

Determining the optimal soil temperature in the active root zone to meet the requirements of different plant growth stages is crucial. Controlled greenhouse producers attempt to heat soil sectors in various ways without determining an appropriate or reliable soil temperature. A suitable smart method can be used to adjust the temperature in the active root zone to determine the optimal temperature and improve crop growth and yield. Cucumber plants grown in a plastic greenhouse were subjected to five different soil temperature treatments (13 as a control, 16, 19, 22, and 25 °C) over two growing seasons using carbon fiber smart thermal cable connected to a metal thermostat. The thermal cable was installed 10 cm below the soil surface, extended 20 m apart on three branches per replicate, and then buried and compacted well into the soil. The objective of this study was to determine the optimum soil temperature by smart thermal system, to enhance photosynthesis rate, growth parameters, and yield of cucumber, as well as improving the availability of nutrients within active root zone, and to minimize vapor pressure deficit. The experimental design was a completely randomized design with five treatments and three replicates. The smart soil heating system was a feasible economic option, with a benefit–cost ratio of 1.75% versus 1.1% for the traditional system, resulting in improved cucumber yield and quality, while saving approximately 30% of energy. Plant photosynthesis was positively correlated with total yield but negatively correlated with vapor pressure deficit, suggesting that the initial or mid-season increases in cucumber yield were partly due to the increased soil temperature at 22 °C. In conclusion, plants grown at 19 or 22 °C had significantly similar yields of 3.37 ± 0.09 and 3.71 ± 0.14 kg plant ⁻¹ , respectively, and most of these plants had higher yields than plants grown at 16 °C, with a yield of 2.33 ± 0.03 kg plant ⁻¹ . We suggest that a soil temperature of 22 °C is ideal for cucumber growers in the initial or mid-season, but at the end of the season the plant may not be affected, so a soil temperature of 19 °C can be used to save energy. Also, the possibility of presenting this intelligent system as an alternative the traditional one.

Innovative biogation techniques can be an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional irrigation and fertilization practices. Hence, this paper discusses the effect of microbial inoculation through different modern irrigation systems on peanuts, sandy soil productivity and irrigation systems. To the best of our knowledge, this approach has not been previously applied under drip irrigation system and during the crop’s physiological stages. An open field experiment was conducted in thirty-six controlled lysimeter containers with prepared sandy soil during the 2021–2022 growing seasons at the Dokki side, belongs to the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, Agricultural Research Center, Giza Governorate, Egypt. The objective was to evaluate a new technique of continuous supply of bio-fertilizers (Mycorrhizal or Yeast) within the effective root zone of peanuts during the different critical physiological stages, through drip irrigation systems (surface or subsurface), compared to traditional techniques directly to the soil or without. The experiment was conducted in a split-plot design with four replicates to evaluate the performance of biogation on soil characteristics, growth, quantity and quality of Peanut crop, beside the post-application irrigation systems. Biogation techniques using surface and subsurface drip irrigation significantly enhanced the efficiency of bio-fertilizer application, resulting in improved soil health and peanuts productivity with superiority 24.2% over traditional techniques. The results confirmed the hypothesis, biogation techniques can significantly improve soil health and crop productivity, opening up prospects for supporting agricultural production sustainability, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Therefore, further studies are needed to examine biogation techniques under different conditions.

Agriculture is a key pillar of the economy, constantly facing challenges due to population growth and climate change. Enhancing the sustainability and efficiency of crop production and improving water use efficiency are essential. to evaluate air injection into subsurface drip irrigation system for zucchini production as efficient method for subsurface drip irrigation systems to improve water use efficiency (WUE), and zucchini production in heavy clay soils. Results showed that injecting air through built-in emitters using a compressor during the last third of the irrigation time maintained acceptable system performance, as measured by indicators like CV, qvar, and EU%. It also improved the physical properties of dry sieved aggregates and enhanced the availability of macronutrients, significantly improving and maintaining heavy clay soil, leading to a 27% increase in zucchini crop yields and 22% water savings compared to the control. Economic analysis indicated that air injection was a feasible option, increasing gross returns by 21% compared to the control, with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.3% for air injection versus 1.8% for the control.

Scientists reported that biochar can improve soil properties in acidic soils, while in alkaline soils were shown negative results. A field study was done to evaluate the effect of biochar application solely in alkaline soil compared with biochar composts with farm yard manure (BC-FYM) and sulfur (BC-S). The results revealed that using solely biochar decreased yield of potatoes tubers to more than 6 % and 10 % using mineral and organic fertilization, respectively. This was attributed to the alkalinity effect of biochar and raises the soil pH, which might precipitate macro and micro elements in soil and become unavailable for plant absorption. While using mixtures of BC-FYM and BC-S were shown to enhance yield productivity of potatoes tubers 11.7 % and equal to control under mineral fertilization; and 25.13 % and 10.53 % using organic fertilization, respectively. Mixture of BC-FYM and BC-S proved to have the ability for recovering the alkalinity effect of biochar, improve nutrients availability in soil and increase crop yield of potatoes. In general, mixing biochar with FYM was efficient, economical and environmentally sound solution in alkaline soils.

Accurate estimation for groundwater recharge is required for more sustainable management to water resources. On-farm level, deep percolation is one of the water loss sources that researchers and agronomists work hard to minimize. However, on a large scale or district level, it is considered as a valuable source for recharging the aquifer. Indirect estimation to deep percolation would be an economic effective mean, especially for large scale studies. The presented research study aims at checking the capability of Land Information System (LIS) model in estimating deep percolation by soil-water balance equation. The model was validated using precipitation data extracted from meteorological stations randomly selected and distributed along the Nile basin. Multi-thematic map layers including all soil water balance model parameters i.e. deep percolation and change in soil moisture content were developed to the year 2013 at a scale of 10 km2. The relationship between measured rainfall values and estimated ones by LIS has a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.88. The obtained results revealed a good capacity of LIS model in estimating deep percolation on a large scale from its direct simulation to the soil-water balance parameters. It was found that deep percolation rates were generally higher in the Nile River's downstream than in upstream especially in Egypt, Sudan, and parts of Uganda. This is in contrary to the behavior of precipitation rates and both surface and sub-surface runoff. They were higher in upstream countries than in downstream ones. The highest deep percolation rate (19.63 mm day-1) was observed in Ethiopia and parts of Sudan during May 2013. It was found that low elevated lands with loose texture tend to have higher rates of deep percolation than elevated rocky lands. The current research results could be of great benefit for sustainable water management in Egypt. However, further study should be conducted in different agro-ecological zones in Egypt for more precise model calibration and validation. This may require access to a large amount of field data and long-term meteorological data to run the model.