Kufa Journal for Agricultural Sciences

Flooding significantly impacts livelihoods, poverty, and human populations. This study assessed flood vulnerability among smallholder farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Specifically quantifying flood vulnerability at the farmer level and identifying vulnerability levels across three zones. The study employed Principal Component Analysis, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, and the Farmers\\' Vulnerability Index to analyzed data collected from 350 smallholder farmers across three zones in Niger State, with post-estimation tests conducted to confirm result reliability. Key findings revealed significant variations in vulnerability levels across zones, with Zone A exhibiting the highest vulnerability (Farmers\\' Vulnerability Index (FaVI): 0.914), followed by Zone C (FaVI: 0.646), while Zone B showed notably lower vulnerability (FaVI: 0.174). The vulnerability patterns were primarily influenced by exposure and sensitivity levels, with Zone A showing the highest exposure (0.829) and sensitivity (0.341) to flooding, while Zone B demonstrated superior adaptive capacity (0.490). Largely, 63.71% of farmers fell into the high vulnerability class, while 36.29% showed lower vulnerability levels. These findings highlight the heterogeneous nature of flood risks and adaptive capacities within the state. The study recommends improving drainage systems, constructing flood barriers, and providing subsidized fertilizers and NGO relief in vulnerable zones, while maintaining effective practices in resilient areas to enhance agricultural resilience.

The current study aimed to extract gum from chia seeds, study its chemical composition, and determine the optimal conditions for extracting gum from seeds, which included (soaking temperature, soaking period, and mixing ratio), as well as studying the inhibitory activity of gum against some types of bacteria that cause food spoilage. The results of the chemical composition of the gum extracted from chia seeds indicated that the gum contained 6.88% protein, 3.12% fat, 5.60% ash, 2.43% moisture and 81.97% carbohydrates. The results of determining the optimal conditions for the production of extracted plant gum showed that the highest yield of gum reached (9.54%) when extracted at a temperature of (30 C ͦ) and a mixing ratio of (1:40) and a soaking time (60 minutes). This treatment differed significantly from the rest of the treatments were at the level of (p < 0.05), while the lowest yield was recorded for the extracted gum (1.30%) at a temperature of (40 C ͦ), mixing ratio (1:20), and at soaking time (120 minutes). The active groups were identified in the plant gum by Fourier Trans Form Infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, and it was observed that groups ((OH), ((C-H), (C-O), (C-O-C), (C=O), (COO-) and (H-H) or (C-H) in the gum extracted from chia seeds. The inhibitory activity of the extracted plant gum was also tested against some types of bacteria that cause food spoilage, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and at different concentrations (200, 300, and 400 )micrograms. The highest inhibition ability of the gum was against Escherichia coli with a diameter of 23 mm and at a concentration of 400 micrograms, while the lowest inhibition ability was against Staphylococcus aureus with a diameter of 14 mm at a concentration of 200 micrograms.

Entomopathogenic fungi are considered biological control agents for insects, which have a safe and environmentally friendly role. The action of insect pathogenic fungi is not limited to their mechanism of action to produce spores. However, it also secretes secondary metabolites, which also have a role in insect pathogens and have recently been shown to have a role in the biosynthesis of nanoparticles. Isaria fumosorosea is one of the most important E. pathogens that also, secrete many secondary metabolites. The current study included the detection of secondary metabolites of I. fumosorosea by GC-Mass analysis and the possibility of using these metabolites as reducing agents in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Results revealed that the crude filter contains many compounds such as sorbitol, heptadecane, Z-5-nonadecene, and heneicosane through GC-Mass analysis. The results also indicated that the secondary metabolites were successful in the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles the properties of which have been described by several methods such as UV-Vis spectrophotometer where The absorption accrues at 419 nm. Moreover, the field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) explained the size and shape of Ag NPs where the range size was 44.66 -89.23 nm with roughly circular or spherical shape. In conclusion, the crude filtrate of I. fumosorosea contains many secondary metabolites compounds which showed effectiveness in the biosynthesis of AgNPs.

The study aimed to extract lactic acid from alternative and cheap sources rich in carbon and nitrogen sources by using lactic acid bacteria and using the produced acid as a preservative in dairy products such as soft cheese and extending its shelf life. Two ideal isolates L. paracasei and L. helvaticus were selected based on phenotypic and biochemical examinations, 16S rRNA test and the isolates recorded lactic acid production of 64.52 and 53.08 mg.l-1 respectively, using optimum conditions 7% molasses, 4% inoculum volume, at pH 6.9, at 38°C, 40% Whey Medium for 48 Hours. Lactic acid was used in different concentrations (0.5, 0.7, 0.9%) in preserving local soft cheese made from buffalo milk for 15 and 30 days at a temperature of 4 °C. Where the concentration of 0.9% recorded a significant superiority over the rest of the concentrations by registering the lowest microbial number at the end of preservation at 30 days, as the sample was completely free of aerobic bacteria compared to the control sample, which amounted to 122103 cells/gm cheese, while the number of psychotropic bacteria reached 89105 cells/g of cheese compared to a control sample that recorded 160105 cells/gm of cheese.The results of the sensory evaluation showed a significant superiority of the sample of soft cheese to which lactic acid was added at a concentration of 0.9%, compared to the control sample, by recording the highest scores through the characteristics of color, smell, taste, and general acceptance.

The experiments of the current study were carried out in poultry houses to the College of Agriculture, the University of Al-Qadisiyah, in AL-Diwaniyah City, Republic of Iraq. The current study aimed to compare the effectiveness of dietary supplementation of (Alhagi graecorum) on some qualitative characteristics of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) eggs. A total of 80 Japanese quail birds weighted an average of 125 g at 12 weeks of age were randomly distributed to groups based on Alhagi graecorum herb additive level in the diet : A without addition (control group), B (2%), C (4%) and D (6%). Each treatment was replicated in 2 cages (10 birds per each) in a 6-week experimental period. The results showed that the levels of addition did not lead to clear differences in the average of eggshell thickness, except for the birds of treatment B, C and D in the third week 0.250 mm for each, respectively; p<0.05. In the sixth week of the experiment, High significance difference (p<0.01) was observed in the relative eggshell weight, as the birds of C treatment achieved the highest values (15.22%). A significance difference was observed in the relative albumen weight at the first and third weeks (p<0.01), where the birds of the C and D treatments show significance p<0.01 (54.56% and 54.55%, respectively). On the same track, the birds of the two previous treatments alternated superiority in the relative yolk weight trait at the first and fifth weeks, respectively (34.57% and 38.41% respectively). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of A. graecorum herb at levels starting from 6% led to significant increase in the qualitative characteristics of the eggs of Japanese quail.

The current study examined the effectiveness of conidial concentration, fungal filtrate of M. anisoplae, and biologically manufactured silver nanoparticles in preventing infection by the rust-red flour beetle and the hairy grain beetle in flour sacks and jute bags. One commercial and one local M. anisoplae isolates were utilized. The synthesized silver nano-particles were characterized using, UV-vis spectrophotometer, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) analysis. The size of the nanoparticles ranged between (37.22 - 75.93) nm for local fungus, with an average of 53.82 nm, and (6.176 - 22.25) nm for commercial fungus, with an average of 12.372 nm. The efficiency of three types of treatments for local and commercial isolates was evaluated: conidial suspension (1×108 conidia/ml), fungal filtrate (100%), and silver nanoparticles (20%). The results demonstrated that the silver nanoparticle treatment outperformed the other treatments in providing protection against infection with T. castaneum and T. granarium after an 8-week storage period, with averages of 26.7-36 insects/bag and 47.7-66 insects/bag. The number of individual insects per bag in the remaining treatments was significantly higher than the silver nanoparticle treatment. In the control treatment, the insect densities were 366.7 and 586 insects/bag, respectively. This research indicates persuasively that biologically manufactured silver nanoparticles can be employed as a biological control agent in the treatment of grain bags and their products. It was resistant to both the rust-red flour beetle and the hairy grain beetle, which commonly infect stored products.

This study was carried out at Agricultural Research Station, Department of Horticulture and Landscaping, Agriculture College, Diyala University, Iraq, the experiment was done during 2021–2022 seasons. The fruits of studied Genotypes harvested at maturity stage. The main aim of this experiment was to find out the suitability of these Genotypes to the market conditions, and which one was cope with consuming criteria, market conditions, and its capability to maintain marketing characteristics. The experiment included six genotypes obtained by crossing of cherry tomatoes lines. Three types of packaging fruits: 1 kg paper bags, 1 kg plastic containers, and packing under rarefied pressure in 1 kg containers, it was offered in the market under the temperature 25°C ± 2 and relative humidity approximately 30%. Measurements were taken four days after it was put on the market. Factorial experiment was carried out using the complete randomized design (CRD) with two factors and three replicates, and the averages were compared with multiple Duncan’s range test at a probability level of 0.05. The most important results of the study showed that there were significant differences for all the studied traits between the genotypes and the method of packaging, as some genotype were significantly superior, the genotype T9-H7 was superior as it gave less damage to fruits and less weight loss while the T14-2706 genotype was significantly superior in terms of fruit hardness and lycopene content. As for the genotypeT12-A3381 significantly superior to TSS as for the method of packing process with vacuum pressure bags gave the best method of packing for most of the studied traits.

A field study was carried out at the Agricultural research station of the College of Agriculture - University of Basrah, located at Karama Ali, south of Iraq in silty clay loam soil at the semi-arid climate to study the impacts of tillage systems (i.e., conventional tillage CT, deep tillage DT, reduced tillage RT, and no-tillage NT) and organic manure contented with 10% maize straw, 20% chicken manure, and 70% cow manure at a rate of zero (M0), 20 (M1), 40 (M2), 60, and 80 Mg ha-1 (M4) on some soil\'s physical properties and oat grain yield. The experiment was carried out in a split-block design with three replications. Bulk density (BD), aggregate mean weight diameter (MWD), penetration resistance (PR), water content (MC), and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) were measured in two periods at the beginning and end of the growing season. The results showed that DT achieved lower BD and PR, as well as higher Ks and grain yield, than CT, RT, and NT at both periods of the growing season. The highest MWD and MC values were achieved by NT, followed by RT in both periods. However, the addition of manure M1, M2, M3, and M4 resulted in a significantly increased in MWD, MC, and Ks, while decreasing BD and PR in both periods as well as increasing grain yield by 37.50, 74.34, 82.89, and 97.37 respectively, compared to M0. The interaction between the tillage system and the addition of manure had a highly significant effect (p < 0.01) on BD, PR, and Ks in both periods. According to the t-test, the results showed that there was a significant effect of the sampling period on the soil properties studied. BD, MWD, PR, and MC increased at the end of the season by 9.68, 10.13, 15.18, and 55.32% compared to the beginning of the season, while Ks decreased by 14.58% at the end of the season. The highest and lowest grain yields of oat achieved by (DT * M4) and (NT * M0), were 6.70 and 2.75 Mg ha-1, respectively.

A field experiment was conducted for the autumn agricultural season 2022 at the Agricultural Research Station - University of Basra - Karma Ali site Located between -30 500 latitude and -47 740, to study the effect of the experiment factors, which are the distance factor between the emitter holder with distances of 0-15-30 centimeters using double pipes, and the distance factor between the emitters by three coefficients 20-25-30 centimeters, between the emitters and the emitter discharge factor with two coefficients of 5-8 liters per hour-1. In the values of moisture content and electrical conductivity, The experiment treatments are distributed into three replicates by using a factorial experiment conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). showed that the use of double pipes at a distance of 15 cm between the pipes recorded the highest moisture content, followed by the zero distance between the pipes. While the highest moisture content was recorded at a distance of 20 cm between the emitters when using a discharge of 8 liters per hour-1. As for the electrical conductivity, the coefficient of distance showed 15 centimeters between the emitter holder, followed by the zero distance coefficient between the emitter holder with less electrical conductivity, and increases with increasing distance from the center of the marz. While the lowest electrical conductivity was recorded at the distance of 20 between the emitters and increased with the distance between the emitters. As for the discharge, the discharge has achieved 8 liters hour-1 less electrical conductivity, with the highest moisture content and the lowest electrical conductivity recorded at the treatment 15-20-8 for the distance between the emitter holder and the distance between the emitters and discharge, respectively.

A field study was conducted to find out the effect of cement dust on some physical traits of the soil in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf province - Kufa District for the soils surrounding Al-Kufa Cement Factory, which are of coarse texture with the aim of knowing and determining dust levels and its effects on some physical and chemical traits of the soil surrounding the plant and trying to mitigate its harmful effect on soil and plants, through some comparisons of some physical traits that have a direct effect. The study was conducted on six locations, including five locations affected by factory dust, located northwest-southeast of the factory, while the sixth location is towards the northwest of the factory, which is not affected by precipitated factory dust. Soil samples were taken at a depth of (20 cm), where the layer that interests us in the study, to analyze the physical and chemical traits. Some physical traits of the soil were measured, such as texture, bulk density, total porosity, void ratio, and soil resistance to penetration, with 7 replications for each of the studied comparative traits. Some chemical traits were also measured, which are the degree of soil interaction, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, and CaCO3%.The results showed that dust had an effect on the studied traits; The bulk density, which decreased with the increase of the dust factor, ranged between (1.52-1.77) mg. m-3, and this was reflected in turn on both the total porosity and the void percentage, as each of them increased with the increase of the dust factor, as the values of the total porosity ranged between (40.70-31.10)%,As for the void percentage, it ranged between (68.10-44.60)% for the same locations, and the soil resistance to penetration decreased with the increase of the dust factor, as its values ranged between (20.74-26.82) kg/cm2.

This study was conducted in poultry farm of the college of Agriculture - Al-Qasim Green Uni-versity, the effect of adding manganese sulfate for diet on the hormonal and histological re-sponse of aged roosters exposed to heat stress, 30 of Hy-Line roosters 50 week old was used, roosters were arbitrarily divided into 5 treatments,: 1st treatment T1: without manganese sulfates (comparison group), other treatments T2, T3, T4 and T5 were added manganese sulfates at (10, 20, 30, 40 mg / kg) respectively, the experiment continued for six periods, each period lasting two weeks, the roosters were exposed to a temperature of 30 ⁰C during the experiment period, results of this experiment showed there was a significant improvement (P≤0.05) for T3 and T5 in testosterone levels, and noticed significant increase of FSH in T4 and T5. There was a significant difference (P≤0.05) for T2 and T3 in GPX enzyme. In the thickness of the interstitial tissue, a significant difference (P≤0.05) was found in T3, a significant decrease (P≤0.05) was observed in the thickness of the germinal epithelium in T2 and T3, a significant difference (P≤0.05) in T3 no-ticed for diameter of the seminiferous tubes, a significant in the number of Sertoli cells for T3, and found a significant in the number of spermatozoa for treatments T2, T4 and T5. For the Vanguard of sperm, a significant increase in treatments T4 and T5. Significant increase of sperms was obtained in T2, T4 and T5 compared to T1.

The field experiment was designed to evaluate tested treatments to select which suitable treatment should be recommended to be used for Barhee date palm trees grown at Alexandria desert road near El-Sadat city, Egypt. GA3 and NAA were used in concentrations (25, 50 and 75 mg.L-1) individually and the mixture of each equal doses. Experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The obtained results revealed that the treatment GA3 + NAA (75 mg.L-1) was distinguished in the yield components (Bunch weight, retained fruits, fruit weight, yield /palm) and physical properties of the fruits (fruit weight, flesh weight, fruit length and width). In addition, application of GA3 + NAA at 75 mg.L-1 showed the highest values in physical characteristics of shees fruits (shees fruit weight, length and width). However, low fruit chemical properties of seeded fruits (TSS, TSS/Acidity ratio and sugar content, carotenoids) were observed in bunches treated with GA3 + NAA at 75 mg.L-1.