Mesopotamia Journal of Agriculture

This study was conducted to study the effect of different initial body weights of Awassi Lambs used for fattening and its outcome on growth and some carcass characteristics, 15 Awassi lambs were divided into 3 groups which differed in their initial body weight, first group was (22.00 ± 0.22 kg), second group was (29.80 ± 1.21kg), and the third group was (34.20 ± 0.66 kg). All lambs were fed the same ration which consisted of barley, wheat bran and soybean meal, the ration had 14.39 % crude protein and 2499 Kcal/kg of metabolized energy. Results showed a significant decrease (P< 0.05) in the average daily weight gain and total average weight gain in the third group which had the higher initial body weight when compared with first group which had the lowest initial body weight, the results also showed that using lambs with low initial weights in the first group caused a significant decrease (P<0.05) in carcass weight as compared with the second and third groups which had lambs fattened with higher initial weights 18.76 kg , 24.63 kg and 25.25 kg for the three groups respectively. Total fat percentage of the carcass decreased significantly in the second group 15.83% in comparison with the first group 17.29% and the third group 18.68%, Total fat percentage was also significantly lower in the first group 2.741kg compared with the third group 4.047kg.

The conversion of electrical energy into heat energy, which results in internal energy generation, is the underlying premise of Ohmic heating. An experimental batch Ohmic heating unit was built and manufactured for this study. The effect of voltage gradient of alternating current during batch Ohmic heating on orange juice was investigated. Parameters such as temperature, electrical current, time consumption, system performance coefficient, and heating rate of orange juice under Ohmic heating process were studied. The time consumption such as (23.02, 11.25, and 2.19 minutes) to reach the Ohmic pasteurization temperature (95 °C) was decreased as the voltage gradients (9.20 V/cm, 12.64 V/cm, and 25.28 V/cm) increased respectively. The electrical current was rapidly increased (4.46 Amp.) in accordance with the higher voltage gradient (25.28 V/cm) to attain the pasteurization temperature. With rising voltage gradients, Ohmic heating resulted in greater system performance coefficient values. The heating rate appears to have grown dramatically as the voltage gradients increased.

This experiment was conducted in Shamamik- Erbil state in Iraq-Kurdistan Region during the middle of summer of 2021 in order to determine the effects of different blade angles and forward speeds of potato digger in the fuel consumption and mechanical damages. Split plot arrangement under Randomized Completely Block Design was replications. Two blade angles (180) and (220) were located as main plot, while three forward speeds 2.6, 3.51 and 4.36 Km.h-1 were located as sub plots. The results were as following: the blade angle of (220) recorded the lowest percentage values for all studied traits, namely, undamaged tubers, severe damage, slight damage, lifted tubers and damage index except in digging depth and fuel consumption which gave higher values than those obtained from the blade angle of (220). By increasing the forward speed, weight of (undamaged tubers 69.11%, lifted tubers 79.27% and digging depth 26.16cm) were decreased, while the rest of the traits increased. At any blade angle (180 , 220), as the forward speed increased, the values of (severe damage1.84%,2.87%,slight damage17.50%,12.48, fuel consumption 44 , 43 litter.ha-1 and damage index 142 , 104) were increased, while the other attributes decreased.

The research aims to measure the level of application of drip irrigation technology by vegetable farmers in Alqosh district/Nineveh Governorate, and identify the correlation between the level of application of drip irrigation technology by vegetable farmers and some independent variables. The research community included all the vegetable farmers in Alqosh district, who numbered 200 farmers. A simple random sample of them was taken by 60%, thus bringing the number of respondents to 120 farmers. A questionnaire was prepared consisting of three parts, the first part included the independent variables (age, educational level, land area, tenure, training courses). the second part, it included a scale to measure the level of farmers’ application of the drip irrigation technology, and it might consist of 21 items, while the third part included 10 problems that hinder the application of the drip irrigation technology. The data were collected by the personal interview method. After that, the data was emptied for the purpose of statistical processing using the Spss program. The results showed that 64% of the respondents had a medium level of application. The results also showed that there is a significant correlation between the independent variables (age, educational level, tenure and training courses) and the level of application. while there is no significant correlation between the land area and the level of application, as it was found that the problem of clogging the nozzles with suspended materials, sediments and salts ranked first with an average of (3.533).

In animal breeding, linear body measurements are identified as predictors of body weight. The current study was conducted to estimate body weight (BW) by using body measurements including thoracic circumference (TC), withers height (WH), body length (BoL), rump height (RH) and front leg length (FLL) of donkeys. The study was conducted at three villages (Thorne, Archibalt, and Genau) of Blouberg Local Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa. A total of 74 donkeys (40 males and 34 females) aged from 3 to 4 years were used in the current study. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and simple linear regression. Correlation results indicated that in female donkeys, BW had positive and highly statistical significant (p  0.01) correlation with WH (r = 0.67) and not significant correlated (p  0.05) with TC (r = 0.14) and FLL (r = 0.28). In male donkeys, BW had positive and highly statistical significant (p  0.01) correlation with RH (r = 0.60) and not significant correlated (p  0.05) to FLL (r = 0.27). Regression findings indicated that WH had the highest r2 = 0.45 and MSE = 8.17 in female donkeys, while RH had the highest r2 = 0.36 and MSE = 8.86 in male donkeys.

The study was done during winter season 2020-2021 at field of College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, Duhok University, to evaluate the influence of different phosphorus fertilizer P2O5 rate (0, 60, 90, 120kg ha-1 on yield and yield components of four promising bread wheat Bura, Jehan-99, Apst-35 and Apst-26. The experiment was Laid out in factorial experiments using randomize complete block design with three replications. Significant difference in plant height, flag leaf area (cm), spike length(cm), No. seed spike, weight of seed per spike, 1000-seed weight and total yield were observed by the application of different phosphorus fertilizer 120kg ha-1. However, only days to 75% flowering was not significant affected by different rate of phosphorus fertilizer. Also the results exhibited that the Apast-35 was significant in plant height (104.91cm), flag leaf area (40 cm2), spike length (15.4cm), No. seed per spike (37), seed weight of spike (1.48g), 1000-seed weight (41.09g) and total yield 3.66 (t.ha-1). The simple correlation exhibited positive and significant between yield and plant height (0.89), leaf area (0.85), 1000-seed weight (0.76), No. seed per spike (0.87) and weight of seed spike (0.92), this main these traits were intributed to increase the yield under rate 120kg ha-1of phosphorus P2O5.

Ohmic heating is a unique thermal technology in which an electrical current is passed through a food product, causing heat to be generated. This alternative heating process was investigated in terms of energy efficiency and high quality method for a batch quantity of whole cow milk. The study's major goal is to show that it is possible to develop a heater that successfully pasteurizes milk on a laboratory scale. Before and after ohmic and conventional heating procedures, chemical characteristics (such as protein, acidity as lactic acid, fat, and solid non-fat), alkaline phosphatase, and microbial counts (such as total bacteria count and E. coli) of the milk were examined. When the maximum voltage gradient (19.13 V/cm) was used, the protein content of pasteurized milk remained unaltered. The fat level remained consistent at 5.10 % across all pasteurization methods. Both conventional and ohmic heating inactivated alkaline phosphatase and microorganisms. Different voltage gradients of 6.08 V/cm, 9.56 V/cm, and 19.13 V/cm were also studied to see what effect they would have on the ohmically heated milk's electrical properties (such as electrical conductivity and current).

Manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) are the two vital micronutrients for plants and moreover essential nutritional health components in humans. Iron deficiency is common in humans and causes many health issues. In this survey, wheat grains of two major wheat cultivars were analyzed for their Mn and Fe concentrations beside the natural gradient of micronutrient availability across Sulaymaniyah province, Iraqi Kurdistan. However only 20% and 7.5% of the soils samples were Mn and Fe deficient or below recommended level. The considered micronutrient concentrations in the grains of wheat were in the acceptable range which are reported globally (range 41.3 and 37.6 mg kg-1 respectively). Furthermore, high application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer in the studied calcareous soils could be strongly affected on the studied micronutrients concentration in the studied grain samples. The results indicate that adequate levels of Mn and Fe in the surveyed grains is a beneficial guide for quality of grains associated with human healthiness, where wheat grain bread is an essential food.

To study the effect of foliar application of boron on growth and yield ofsugar beet, two representing locations to Nineveh province which are differ in theirchemical and physical properties were selected. Four boron levels (0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5)mg B. L-1were sprayed, as boric acid (17.5%boron), using complete randomizedblock design (CRBD) with four replicates, the addition of boron was applied onceand after the plant have at least sixleaves. Theresults indicated that foliarapplication of boron resulted in a considerable increase in the fresh root yield ofsugar beet in Hawi-Alwasta location 66.97 , 87.37 and 39.47%. However inHammam Al-Alil location the first and second levels 2.5 and 5 mg B. L-1ascompared to zero boron resulted in an increase in the yield 2.18 and 39.33%respectively, while the highest level of boron 7.5 mg B. L-1caused a decrease inyield (-12.19%).The foliar application of boron resulted in an increase in sugarpercentage 13.95 , 18.60 and 10.46% in first location and 9.09 , 21.81 and 18.18%in second location as compared to zero boron respectively. However the yield ofpure sugar in first location were 0.964 , 1.061 , 1.130 and 0.920T.D-1and 0.764 ,0.932 , 1.673 and 0.710T.D-1in second location

To study the effect of magnesium on cation exchange characteristics, soilsamples were collected from salt-affected soils of five locations from Al-Jazeeranorthern irrigation project of Nenava province-Iraq.Cation exchange experimen between Ca and Mg inthe presence of sodium was carried out to quantify the Mgon the accumulation samples with ten electrolyte solutions using chloride salts ofNaCl, MgCl2.6H2O and CaCl2.2H2O with ratio of Na: Ca + Mg ranging from 1: 9 to9: 1. the SAR ranging from (0-40) and the total concentration of the chloridesolutions was 100 mmolcl-1.Revealing soils preference for calcium and magnesiumwas conductedbyusing electrolyte solutions with different Mg/Ca ratios.Theresults showed that the selectivity coefficient valuesof Mg-Ca ranged between(0.466-0.810) with an average 0.622 which reflect that Ca and Mg are not identicalin their exchange behavior and the studied soils showed a preference for Ca incomparison with Mg.Theexaminedsoils had a tendency to accumulateexchangeable Na when Mg rather than Ca was the complementary cation, the Na-Mgsystems had between 11.5-23.7% more exchangeable Na with an average of19%

hisworkwas carriedout on77IranianMamesh sheepraisedat privateflock in Erbilplainto studythe effect ofsomenon-genetic factorson BirthWeight(BW), WeaningWeight(WW), Daily Gain (DG)onMilk Production (MP).The overall meansof BW,WW,DG and MPwere4.99kg ,30.44kg ,0.283kgand894.85g,respectively .Type of birth ,sex of lamb ,weight and age ofdam affectedBW,WWandDGsignificantly(P<0.01).Type of birth,stage of lactationand ageof dam affected MPsignificantly(P<0.01) .It is concludedthat performance ofMamesh sheep in Erbil is accepted

A natural intergenertic hybrid carp ofBarbus luteusandCarassiusauratuswas recorded in Tigris River–Mosul-Iraq during fish caught in March andApril,2008.New hybrid with pink color and short two barbels (3mm)and thenumber of rays in the dorsal fin IV(10)and the number of pharyngeal teeth (2,3,5-5,3,2) and absence of serrates in third dorsal fin was the same asBarbusluteus,while the body and mouth shape with constriction in the head and in the number ofrays in pectoral fin (14) are the same as inCarassius auratus.But the number ofscales in lateral line (28) and the number of gill rackers (17) were characteristic tothe hybrid alone

The effect ofcarrot juice on sperm-headabnormalities was studied in whitemice afteroraladministration , in addition to the effect of cyclophosphamide (Cp)and their interactions in differentcombinations.Results indicated that carrot juice(0.1 , 0.25 , 0.5 ) ml administrated orally had no effectcomparedto the backgroundbaselineabnormalities. Cp (50mg / Kgof body weight) elevated the abnormalitiesto 9–15 times the background level (Negative control). Theseabnormalitieswerelowered due to the natural repair processesto 5 times on time spans6 days .Treatment ofanimals withcarrot juice before mutagen (Ca/Cp) had great effect toreduce the abnormalities, followed by using the juice with mutagen (Ca+Cp)treatment,while using the juice afteradministrationof Cp hadslighteffect to lowerthe abnormalities .Types of abnormalitieswerestudied; the sperms lost the hookwasinducedgreatly by Cp and by treatment (Ca+Cp).However , most types ofabnormalities such as sperm with atrophic head or with spherical heads , sperm withhammer shaped heads and sperm with rod shaped headswere lowered in general atsignificant levels (P<0.01) compared to positive control and some abnormal spermswere disappeared such as rod shaped sperms. Using the juice aftermutagentreatment (Cp/Ca)was effective in lowering the abnormalitiesto a significant levels(P<0.01) , but after 6 days and in time depending manne

10 years oldPlatanus occidentalisL.had been fallen from Ninavaplantation forest to examine the effect of stem height and diameter levels and theirinteractions on fiber length, fiber lumen diameter, fiber length/diameter ratio, rankleratio and specific gravity. The results indicated that generally the highest means offiber length, fiber length/diameter ratio and specific gravity were at the 1stheightlevel (0.3m),then these means decreased gradually by increasing height levels andit reached the lowest mean values at 8thheight level (14.3m). the effect of height onfiber diameter, fiber cell thickness and rankle ratio was found to be the lowest meanvalues at the1stheight level (0.3m), then these means began to increase as heightlevel increased until it reached the highest values at the 5thheight level (8.3m), thenthe mean values of fiber diameter and fiber cell wall thickness decreased graduallyuntil the 8thheight level (14.3m), while the lowest mean value rankle ratio was at 7thheight level (12.3m) then its value increased a little at the 8thheight level. The effectof diameter levels on studied properties showed that the lowest mean fiber lengthand fiber length/diameter ratio were at the pith, then it decreased gradually until itreached the highest value at the 4thdiameter level (near the park). Also it was foundthat the lowest fiber diameter and fiber cell wall thickness was near the pith, then itincreased gradually until it reached the highest value at the 3rddiameter level, then itdecreased for little value at the 4thdiameter level. The lowest rankle ratio was nearthe pith, then it increased gradually as the distance get closer to the park. Theresultsalso showed that the highest specific gravity was near the pith, then it decreasedgradually as the distance become closer to the park until it reached the lowest meanvalue at the 4thdiameter level

The present study was conducted in the forestry department Nursery collegeof Agriculture summel.during the period of the end of Nov. 2004 to the end ofNov. 2005 to study the effect of the different concentration of GA3 Number andfoliar period in growthand development of Quercus infectoria seedling. The studyrevealedthatthe concentration 45my/L of GA3 was superiority in all concentrationsand gave highestaverageofthe characters length growth dry weight of shootsgroups , dry weight Roots groups. Number of lateral roots and rate of shoots:Roots dry weight ratio [ 17.34 cm. 2.31g, 3.25g , 1.58 lateral roots and 0.710].Thefour spraying was superiority on the twoand three spraying and gave highestaverage of characters length growth, dry weight shoots groups, dry weight rootsgroup , number lateral roots and rate of shoots: roots dry weight ratio [13.37cm ,1.88g ,2.77g , 1.39 lateral root and 0.669].Regardingfoliar periods the three monthperiod was superiority in alltheperiods and gave highest average in all characters[12.84 cm , 1.83g , 2.71g , 1.37 lateral roots and 0.665]

This study was carried out at Ninevah plantation Nursery in Mosul city,during the period from mid January to the end of October (1999) to investigate theeffect of four collection times, and four cutting lengths, using tow planting methods(Vertical and Horizontal) in propagation of Salix seedlings. This experimentconducted as factorial experiment in Randomize of completely Block Design withthree factors and three blooks. At the end of the experiment number of branches,number of leaves, leave area and dry weight of the stem, branches and leaves wasstudies. The results showed that the collection time (15 February), cutting length(30 cm.) and vertical planting methodwas thebest and it gave higher meansfor allstudied characteristics.The result also showed that the following interactionbetween (collection cutting time 15 February and cutting length 30 cm.), (collectioncutting time 15 February and vertical planting method), (cutting length 30 cm. andvertical planting method) andamong(collection cutting time 15 February andcutting length 30 cm. and vertical planting method) were the best among otherinteractions.

The study aims to using the surface water's drainage system maps whichprepared from the aerial photographs to draw the gully erosion maps of KandAnticline and its surrounding areas in northern Iraq. Gully erosion means and itsintensity at different positions of study areawere calculated. Its relation with thedistributed geomorphological aspects in the study area to determine the effects anddeformation of soil that affects an engineering structures such as Weirs and CheckDams. The analysis of gully erosion map which prepared by using computerprogram (Surfer 32) revealed that. The area has been affected by gully erosion inthree zones, where as light gully zone formed 14.95% of the area, moderate gullyzone formed 44.33% of the study area and thesevere gully zone formed 40.72% ofthe total area. This show that the area interfere from moderate to severe gullyerosion effects

This studycomprisedfourlocally cultivatedbread wheat varieties;(Abu–Ghraib3, IPA, 99, Tamoaz 2, and Iraq)which weresown in 2003–2004 underrainfedand supplementary irrigation (SI) with two levels of nitrogen fertilizer (0 and 80kg N. ha ̄1). The harvested grains stored for 3.5 year under room temperature beforemeasuring the parameters. The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of(SI) and N. fertilizer on some physiochemical properties. The results indicatedsignificant differences in protein contents, seed hardness, granularity, width,thickness, solvent retention capacity and protein sedimentation value amongvarieties. Nitrogen fertilizer affectedall these parameters, the second orderinteraction had no significant effect. Generally N. fertilizer and varieties had a greatinfluence on these criteria comparing with the supplementary irrigation

Seven durum wheatentries(Triticum durumDesf.) were used in this study .Six of them (Omgenil-3,Albit-9, Azeghar-2,Azul-5, Mna-1/Rfm-7, 1346/Lahn/Bcr/LKS4) introduced from (ICARDA) , in addition to the local growing variety(Waha) . Thestudiedtraits were :No.of days to 50% flowering , plant height,No.of spikesperplant , spike length ,No.of grainsperspike , biological yieldperplant, grain yieldperplant , harvest index , 1000-grain weight and protein percentage .These traits were genetically analyzed using Method-1 , Fixed Model of Griffing(1956) .Genotypes(Parents , F1s and reciprocals) were different at 1% significantlevel of probability for all the traits .General combining ability variances weresignificantly different forNo.of days to flowering , plant height ,No.of spikesperplant , spike length , 1000-grain weight , biological yieldperplant and proteinpercentage . Specific combining ability variances were significantly different forplant height ,No.of spikesperplant , biological yieldperplant , grain yieldperplant , harvest index and protein percentage . Reciprocal variances were significantfor all the traitsexcept for harvest index . Albit-9 and Azul-5 were superior in theirgeneral combining ability effects over the others . The crosses (Azeghar-2×Mna-1) ,(Omgenil-3×Albit-9) , (Omgenil-3×Azegar-2) , (Albit-9×1346/Lahn) , (Albit-9×Waha) were superior over the others in the specific combining ability effects forall the traits

he study was conducted during seasons 2006-2007 in semi assured rainfedregion (Rashedyi Region) with silty clay soil, to know the possibility of using seeddrill (Gaspardo SC-250)and its effects in some characteristics of mechanization andplanting of chickpea.(RCBD) was designed split plot design on three replication, themain plot were employed for different spacing planting (14.7, 29.4, 44.1) cm andsub plots were employed sowing depths (6-8 , 9-11) cm .The results indicated thatthe possibility of using seed drill(Gaspardo SC-250) for planting chickpeas at adistance (44.1) cm because it achieved the highest results on some yield and itscomponent were compared with others and less deviation ratio between the rows.Data also indicated that sowing depth (9-11) cm achieved significant differencesfor slippage percentage , deviation among planting rows, and crop yield .theinteraction between achieved row spacing (44.1) cm with sowing depth (9-11) cmhas achieved the best results on growth and yields properties