Kufa Journal for Agricultural Sciences

The current study was carried out on a poultry farm that belongs to the Animal production department - College of Agriculture - University of Kufa, for the period from September 10, 2020, to October 14, 2020, for a period of 5 weeks, in which the effect of adding the ascorbic acid as antioxidant and ginseng root powder was studied. Red Ginseng (Panax) to reduce the effects of heat stress for broilers, the experiment included 420 unsexed Ross-308 chicks, one day old, with an average initial weight of 40 g, prepared from private hatcheries in the governorate of Babylon (Al-Anwar Al-Muradia hatchery). The chicks were divided into 7 treatments included for each Treatment of 60 chicks, with 3 replicates (each replicate is 20 chicks), and the treatments were divided as follows: T1: Standard (Control) without adding. T2, T3 and T4 were given 2, 4 and 6 g ginseng / kg of feed respectively, T5, T6, and T7 were given 2, 4 and 6g ascorbic acid /kg of feed respectively. The chicks were fed with starter diet for the duration of 1-21 days and finisher diet for the duration of 22-35 days. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that there was a highly significant (p<0.01) decrease in the numbers of Escherichia coli bacteria to T7, T6, T4, and T3 the treatments birds compared with the control treatment. The results also indicated a highly significant (p<0.01) increase in the numbers of Lactobacillus bacteria in T7 treated birds, T6, T5, T4 compared with the control treatment.

RETC is a computer program that can be used to estimate soil hydraulic functions by easily determining soil properties. Using van Genuchten model in the RETC program gave high accuracy for estimating the hydraulic functions e.g., θ (h), k (θ) and D (h), also the mentioned program is considered a good tool for potential optimization of water management especially though calculating irrigation water after consuming 60% of the available water in root zone restoring technique.

In the current study surface, soil samples (0 – 30 cm) from eight locations with a wide range in texture were collected RETC code is used to refine the water retention curve through minimizing the residual error according to van Genuchten – Mualem approach (1980). the obtained results indicated that the sum square SSQ (residual error) values becomes smaller after refining for eight studied soils which were (Avkendal, Berderash, Chemrash, Kanisark, Keperto, Khanik, Qerwola and Terbsbia), which their SSQ values before RETC refining were ( 0.0470264, 0.0680298, 0.0240080, 0.0190478, 0.0396200, 0.0166960, 0.094400 and 0.0199100) whereas these values decrease as fallowing (0.000333400, 0.000942618, 0.0000997008, 0.000167315, 0.002448800, 0.000243300, 0.00080000, and 0.000099917 ) with ha high coefficient of determination (R2) greater than (0.964) and the maximum refining was (0.000099917) at Chemrash silty clay loam soil with 0.9986 (R2), whereas the minimum value was(0.002448800) at Keperto loamy soil with 0.9720(R2) and this means higher precision in fitting using the retention model.

RETC code was used to analyze soil water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity functions which are the key parameters in any quantitative description of water flow into the unsaturated zone of soils, van Genuchten et. al. (1991)

A diallel cross comprising of eight pure lines of maize, ZP-505, IK58, HS, DK-17, ZP-430, ZP-595, U,N44052, and POL-158, was studied for nine traits (number of days to silking, number of days to tasseling, plant height, ear height, leaf area, number of rows per ear, number of grains per300-grain grain weight, and grain yield per plant, to identify the combining ability effects, nature of gene action heterosis. The results revealed that the mean square for all genotypes was highly significant for all which’s that is an indication of the genetic diversity between parentcausesch cause significant differences between single crosses among them. Also, it was shown that the mean square due to general and specific combining abilities was highly significant for all traits indicated the presence of additive and dominant gene effects controlling the effect of all traits. The ratio of general combining ability components to the specific combining ability components was less than one for all traits indicated that the dominance gene effects were more prominent for all studied traits. The line ZP-595 and POL-158 were the best general combiners for larger number of traits including grain yield per plant, and the crosses (ZP-505 x UN44052) and (HS x DK-17) showing highly significant specific combining ability effects and heterosis for larger number of traits and could be utilized for developing high yielding hybrid varieties as well as for exploiting hybrid vigor. The narrow sense heritability was low for all traits and ranged from 3.23% for 300 grain weight and 23.13% for number of days to silking.

A line x tester cross comprising eight pure lines, ZP–505, IK58, and HS, used as testers (female parents), DK-17, ZP- 430, ZP-595, UN44052, and POL-158, used as lines (male parents), was studied for nine traits (number of days to silking, number of days to tasseling, plant height, ear height, leaf area, number of rows per ear, number of grains per row, 300 grains weight and grain yield per plant, to determine the nature of gene action in parents and hybrids and estimation of heterosis. The results revealed that the mean square for genotypes, parents, and hybrids was highly were significant for all tray whichthat is an indication of the diversity between parents (lines and testers) causes cause significant differences between single crosses among them. Also, it was shown that mean square due to each of lines and testers was highly significant for all traits indicated the presence of additive gene effects controlling these characters, and that due to the interaction of line x tester was significant at 1% level for all traits meaning the presence of dominance gene effects controlling them. The ratio of general combining ability components to the specific combining ability components was less than one for all traitsindicatingd that dominance gene effects were more prominent for all studied traits. The tester ZP–505 and line ZP-595 were the best general combiner for largest number of traits including grain yield per plant, and the crosses (HSxDK-17), (IK58xUN44052), (HSxPOL158) and (ZP–505xZP-595) showing significant specific combining ability effects and heterosis for largest number of traits and could be utilized for developing high yielding hybrid varieties as well as for exploiting heterosis. The range of narrow sense heritability ranged from 20.98% for 300GW to 55.71% for GYP, as it was high for LA (50.68%) and GYP (55.71%), and moderate for other traits.

Water samples were collected from twelve sites from the Al-Jazirah River, the Jibasi River, the Bab Al-Hawa River, and the Al-Faw River, in four locations each, during January 2019. Chemical analyses of the water were carried out and classified according to some international classifications to assess its quality. The agricultural experiment was carried out in the wooden canopy of the Department of Soil Sciences and Water Resources at the College of Agriculture / University of Basra in Karmat Ali for the spring season of 2020 to study the effect of Al Jazeera water in the above sites and the effect of adding four levels of phosphate fertilizer (0, 40, 80, 120) kg P ha-1 on sunflower plant growth. The results showed a significant decrease in the values ​​of height and dry weight of the vegetative total of sunflower plants according to the values ​​of water salinity and pollution, and there was an increase in the phosphorous concentration in the studied plants with an increase in the level of added phosphorus, as the concentration of 120 kg P ha-1 recorded the highest percentages in the growth vocabulary of sunflower plants.