Mesopotamia Journal of Agriculture

ABSTRACT
The Study aimed to identifying farmers\' attitudes toward sustainable agriculture in Al-namrood district and determining variance of farmers\' attitudes toward sustainable agriculture according to some the variables (Age, Agricultural Experience, Educational Level, and Ownership of Land). Data were collected through personal interviews using a questionnaire, 120 farmers, selected randomly which representing 17.14 % of the study population. Percentages, arithmetic means, and F test were used to analyze the data using through SPSS statistical Program.
The study revealed 86.7 % of farmers generally have neutral to appositive attitude toward sustainable agriculture. The study showed that there is no variance between vegetables farmers\' attitudes towards some practices of sustainable agriculture and research variables (Age, Agricultural Experience, Educational Level, and Ownership of Land). The findings indicated that farmers are aware moderately to the importance of sustainable agriculture in keeping of natural resources (landscape) and human health, as result weakness of agricultural research institutions in delivery of what are modern technologies for sustainable agriculture practices among vegetables farmers. For this the researcher was recommended that extensional training programs should be planned and executed in order to reinforcement the attitude of vegetables farmers towards sustainable agriculture as well as to extensional information campaigns to demonstrate importance of sustainable agriculture practices and manners of application it.

The objectives of this research were to determine the knowledge needs of vegetable cultivators in Rabeaa District / Neneveh Governorate in the field of anti-bush leaves by using Altopek pesticide, also to find out the differences of farmers knowledge needs according to some factors and to determine the relation between the knowledge needs and set of independent factors. The research sample included 93 respondents. The data were collected through questionnaire consisted of tow parts, the first one included the independent factors, while the second part consisted of 20 items. To measure the respondent knowledge needs by using Borich model. Data were analyzed by using arithmetic mean, analysis of variance and multiple step-wise regression analysis after testing the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The results showed that 63.441% of the respondents were medium knowledge needs, and the highest knowledge need was the item spraying of pesticide in a homogeneous unit area, also there were significant differences in the degree of farmers knowledge needs according to: age, education level, number of years using pesticides sources of information and previous training. While there were no significant differences according to: farmers attitudes towards use of pesticide and annual income. Multiple step-wise regression analysis should that education level explained 24.462% of the variation degree of farmers knowledge needs.

The research aimed to recognize the obstacles size of applying agricultural researches from the researcher’s point of view in Nineveh province and then to determine the differences in these obstacles according to some variables . The research sample included (116) respondents . Data were collected through questionnaire was specially designed for this research .The collected data were analyzed by using many statistical methods such as (person correlation coefficient , percentage weight , kruskal –wallis , mann –Whitney) .The results showed that the size level of application obstacles of agricultural researches were high tending to medium , also that aspect of the administrative and organizational and financial obstacles had ranked first according to size while the aspect of the technical and the social obstacles came At last . again it was found that there was no significant differences in obstacles size of application agricultural researches according to gender, background , scientific certificate, scientific status and number published research there was significant difference in the size of application agricultural researches according to official service period . The researcher concluded the fact that there are obstacles against applying the agricultural researches in the four aspects, and that the main problem that hinders the application of the agricultural researches is related to the administrative and the financial aspects. In the light of result , the researcher recommends the Relying on the national programs approved and financed by the ministry of the higher education or the ministry of agriculture or Nineveh governorate. These programs include – as members – agricultural researchers and extension employees and certain supporting authorities from the other ministries such as the ministry of sciences and technology and the ministry of trade. Through this program the most damaging problem is identified in the agricultural sector and then directing the researchers to find the solution for this problem and then cooperate with the extension employees to apply it in the farmers\\' fields for a period which is no less than three years until the results of the researches the degree of application by the farmers.

The research aims to assess and analyze the factors affecting the production and grain yields in Iraq during the period (1985-2008). I have used in the analysis method of least squares two-stage and has adopted the productivity of these grains selected as variable supported and the factors affecting them are: (per hectare of agricultural work, mechanical technology, chemical technology, Nominal Protection Coefficient, the domestic price for the year previous climatic variables, agricultural education, the proportion of spending on research and development), for the first phase of the analysis, and production variable is supported in the second stage and the factors affecting it are: (cultivated area, the volume of domestic demand, the degree of exposure agricultural world price, size of agricultural loans, estimated useful), has been used model measuring Two versions are linear and logarithmic and double where it relied on the concepts of economic theory and previous studies on the assessment and analysis of the factors affecting the production and productivity of grain crops which have been obtained from the time series data they reflect the factors affecting them all crops selected.

productivity agricultural laborer and its role in increasing agricultural productivity in a number of Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, Yemen) model using standard are semi-logarithmic and logarithmic and double where it relied on the concepts of economic theory and previous studies on the assessment of the reality of human development and its impact on productivity of agricultural work, which was obtained data from the time series and each country individually they reflect a state of properties vary from state to state depending on the nature economic structures in dealing with the variables of human development and this study reached an important conclusions is that deterioration pension for farmers led to low productivity work agricultural and twice the estimated productivity among workers in the agricultural sector, which counted from one of the reasons lower farm income and led to lower rates of spending on investment in the areas of education and scientific research in the countries of the study sample to make the agricultural sector prisoner of traditional production methods with low productivity, so we recommend the need to reduce poverty rates and urged government institutions to secure the health centers in rural areas of developing countries and increase wage rates and real income of the farmers in order to encourage them to exercise their profession and focus on means of research and development because of its significant role in the improvement and development of plant production

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of two kinds of cutting (hardwood and semi-hardwood) and five concentrations of auxins ( 0). (1000 mg.l-1 IBA + 1000 mg.l-1 NAA) . (2000 mg.l-1 IBA + 2000 mg.l-1 NAA). (4000 mg.l-1 NAA). and (4000 mg.l-1 IBA) on improvement of rooting percentage and rooting number and vegetative growth of fig cvs. "Aswad Dyalla and White Adriatic" . The experiment was factorial design in C.R.D . with 3 replicates and 12 cutting of each treatment. The most important results showed that hardwood cuttings were significantly superior on semi-hardwood cutting in all the parameters. except rooting percentage and shoots number. All auxins concentrations significantly increased all cuttings parameters in comparison with untreated cuttings. Also "Aswad Dyalla" cv. superior with " White Adriatic". The highest rooting percentage 100% obtained from semi-hardwood cuttings of "Aswad Dyalla" cv. treated with 2000 mg.l-1 IBA + 2000 mg.l-1 NAA or 4000 mg.l-1 IBA. or hardwood cuttings treated with 1000 mg.l-1 IBA + 1000 mg.l-1 NAA. or hardwood cuttings of "White Adriatic" cv. treated with 1000 mg.l-1 IBA + 1000 mg.l-1 NAA. while the highest roots number obtained from semi-hardwood cuttings of "Aswad Dyalla" cv. treated with 1000 mg.l-1 IBA + 1000 mg.l-1 NAA and the interaction between "White Adriatic" hardwood cutting treated with 4000 mg.l-1 NAA. which was significantly superior with most interactions.

This study was conducted at experiment Farm of Horticulture and landscape design Dep. / College of Agriculture and Forestry / Mosul University , during growing season 2010-2011 to investigate the effects of two planting dates : 4th ofJuly and 3rd of August, and foliar application of Boric Acid (17.4% Boron) at rate 0 , 30 and 60 mg/ L in three times (the first was done after one and two months from transplanting and one week before beginning of curds formation ) on quantity and quality of curd yield in three cauliflower cultivars : White Cloud, Greta (Hybrid) and Siria (Hybrid). The result indicated that the three varieties tested did not differ significantly in the total plant weight (leaves and stem and curd) , mean of total curd weight and its yield/ha. , mean of marketable curd weight and its yield/ha.
The first planting date (4/7) leads to a significantly increase in all above mentioned characters compared with plant planted in second planting date (3/8) and the increasing percentage reached to 98.88 , 104.07 and 74.9 % for the total plant weight , mean of total curd weight and its yield/ha. And mean of marketable curd weight and its yield per ha. Receptively. Boric acid treatment had no significant effect on all quantitative mentioned previously.
The qualitative characters i.e. curd circumference, curd diameter, curd thickness did not differ significantly between the varieties ,the curd produced from the first planting date increased significantly in curd circumference ,curd diameter, curd thickness more than curd produced from the second planting date. Whereas , Boric acid application had no significant effect on the above mentioned qualitative characters of the produced curd.

The experiment were performed in the traditional house that belongs to the Department of Horticulture and landscape design / College of Agriculture and Forests /University of Mosul from the period between the 1th of Nov. 2010 to the 20th. Of June 2011. The aim is to study the effect of some agricultural factors on growth and flowering of Pelargonium X hortorum L.H.Bailey known as Zonal, cv. Hidemi. The experiment included studing the effect of fertilization with Humic acid with 0, 3.5, and 5.25 mg/liter and spraying the Vegetative growth with Cycocel 0, 1500 and 3000 mg/liter .Factorial experiment was implemented by using the Factorial Experiment in Complete Randomized Design with three replicates and six plants for each. The results have shown the following: Fertilizing Humic acid with a concentration of 3.5 mg/liter led to a significant increase in plant height 9.088 cm, leaves number 15.943 leaf/plant and leaf area 241.083 cm2 /plant compared with control, in addition an increase in the number of inflorescence and the number of florets in the inflorescence. The highest values Anthosyanine found in plant that fertilized with Humic acid 5.25 mg/liter, These values are significantly different from those obtained at fertilizing Humic acid with a concentration of 3.5 mg/liter.Spraying with any of the Cycocel concentrations led to a significant reduction in the plant height. A significant increase in the number of leaves formed on the plant add chlorophyll in leaves was noticed as well when sprayed with the two used concentrations.Generally speaking, it could be said that the plants fertilized with Humic acid at a concentration of 3.5 mg/liter interaction with spraying with Cycocel at a concentration of 1500 and 3000 mg/liter had the advantage of obtaining the largest number of leaves besides an increase in the number of inflorescence up to 2.833 inflorescence /plant. On the other hand, fertilizing with Humic acid at a concentration of 3.5 mg/lite interaction with Cycocel at a concentration of 3000 mg/liter caused an increase in the Anthosyanine concentration in flowers up to 60.810 mg/100 g wet weight.

This research was conducted at one farm of the Agriculture and Forestry College. Zea maize class 106 was planted in the lysimeters with a dimensions of 2*2*1 meters. Three irrigation treatments have been chosen with two deblicates. The first one was full irrigation (FI) which irrigated to 100% of available water after consumed 50% of it. The 2nd treatment was deficit irrigation (DI) which they were irrigated to 50% of available water after depletion and 75% .The 3rd treatment were partial root zone drying (PRD) which was irrigated to 50% of available water after depletion 75%. The consumptive use was measured by a lysimeter method and was estimated by the following equations: Class Pan A ,FAO-PM-Grass and FAO-PM-Alfalfa and these values were 310.82 , 264.42 , 242.26 , 195.85 mm.sea-1 respectively. Water use efficiency showed high values when the consumption use was measured by FAO-PM-Alfalfa through all irrigation treatments, while these values decreased when the consumptive use was measured by the other methods. The values of yield response parameter were decreased to 0.48 , 0.68 when the consumptive use was measured by the following methods lysimeters , Class Pan A , FAO-PM-Alfalfa respectively for the second deficit irrigation treatment, however the values of these parameter were increased in the third PRD treatment where the consumptive use methods.PRD treatments showed high consternation values of Abscisic acid during the vegetative and flowering stages 29.64 , 33.14 mg.L-1 for the third treatment, however the concentration values of this acid was lower in both full and deficit irrigation treatments.

The unsupervised classification was used for the data (1989, 2009) of the American satellite Landsat. The result showed that we obtained six land cover types (dense forests, open forests, pastures, agricultural lands, soil and rocky lands). Were These all lands types identified and compared with the land control points of (65) samples and for both of the data. The accuracy of classification of the spatial data was calculated and evaluated depending on the scales used for this type of studies, which include: the error matrix of the percentage of each type and for the map as a whole. The accuracy of both of the data (1989, 2009) were (84.62%) and (83.08%) respectively and that indicates a good accuracy for both classifications. Also the statistical scale (Kappa) was used to calculate the accuracy which was (0.81 and 0.79) respectively for the two data classified for the year (1989 and 2009). The change in the covers in the period between the data collection showed that there were increases in the open forests, pastures and the agricultural lands with percentages of (2.924%, 3.78% and 1.225%) respectively. The high increase was in the open forests and pastures. But the increase was slight in the total area of the agricultural lands. From the other hand, we see a loss in the area of the dense forests, soil and the rocky lands. The highest loss was in the dense forests (2.242%) and rocky lands (1.918%), while the loss in the soil was slight (1.769%).

Pine is one of the prevalent trees in Zawita forest and a grows naturally on the mountain slopes, to study the competition and spatial analysis in a forest ofZawita, (13) samples were taken from areas of dimensions (60 X 60) m, at each samples, measurements of the past five years growth were taken , regression models for each of growth in diameter ( ΔD ) and basal area ( ΔBA ). It become clear that change in diameter ( ΔD ) showed in many of spaces different from the subject tree and the highest correlation at the distance (3-30)m and it indicates that increase in the total basal area of trees adjacent to subject tree has led to increase the link, which indicates the existence of competition between the subject tree and other trees, change in basal area of subject tree( ΔBA ).
We note a correlation between it and basal area of trees adjacent at different distance and increasingly concentric, it seemed that there is a correlation highly, used as evidence competition between the change in diameter of subject tree and the total basal area at many of concentric circles and reached maximum at two circles ( 9-18 )m and ( 9-15 )m .

This study was conducted at Akra region ( 36.75° N and 43.88° E)
northern Iraq, during 2006 – 2007 water year. The elevation of study area is
approximately 766 m above sea level. The average annual precipitation is
720.46 mm and the mean annual temperature is 18.1˚ C. Interception loss was
calculated by measuring gross rainfall, throughfall and stemflow in two forest
stands, the first is pine ( Pinus brutia Ten.) plantation 800 trees per hectare at
28 years old, and the second is Terebinth (Pistacia khinjuk Stock.) plantaion,
950 trees per hectare, at 18 years old. Gross rainfall was measured by using
five rain gauges (12.5cm) in diameter and one rain gauge recorder(CASELLA). Throughfall was measured by using 18 rain gauges of (12.5cm) diameter distributed randomly under the canopy of each stand. The stemflow was measured from eight trees selected randomly within each stand. The result indicated that the amount of Throughfall , stemflow and interception in pine and Terebinth stand were ( 63.31 , 0.34 , 36.35) and (83.55 , 2.36 , 14.09) percent of gross rainfall (780.22 mm) respectively. Regression equations were carried out between rainfall as independent variable and throughfall, stemflow and interception as dependent variables. The study involved the chemistry of precipitation, throughfall and stemflow, The result showed that the concentration of cations and anions increased after the rainfall passed through the canopy and flowed via the bole, the sequence of total cations and anions concentration decreased in the order of: stemflow < throughfall < rainfall.

Sunflower crop sowed with densities of distance between plants (25,30, 35,40 cm) for three varieties Mangarin, Azur and Locc carried out with the factorial experiment in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in the field of Agricultural Technical College Alrashidia - Mosul at autumn season 2011 to study it's effect on growth and yield. The results showed that the variety Azur had a good performance for plant height, individual plant seeds yield and total seeds yield characters, the distance 25cm between plants were which achieved an increase in plant height, stem diameter and total seeds yield, a decrease in the average of characteristics when increasing the distance between the plants was shown, The interaction between Locc variety and distance 25cm between plants was higher in total seeds yield .

The experiment was carried out at al-Alkosh location in Nineveh Governorate in the agricultural season of 2009-2010. The aim of the present research is to study the effect of OD Pallas herbicide with three doses (45 4102 و 41044 ,g/donum) ,Chevalier (11.25g/donum) and Granstar(37.5g/donum) + Topic (15g/donum) herbicides in controlling broad and narrow leaf weeds growing with durum wheat um rabee variety and to obtain the effect of these treatment on the yield of wheat. The experiment was set out as Randomized Complete Block Design with three replicates. The results showed that OD Pallas gave a significant reduction in the number of broad and narrow leaf weeds and their dry weights and this results had a positive reflect in increasing the yield of wheat. The highest yield production of wheat was obtained with using OD Pallas at concentration of 125 cm³/donum(336,3 kg/donum) whereas the yield in the control treatment was only 110 kg/donum . Furthermore the presence of weeds in the control treatment led to a reduction in the yield production of up to 59,4%.

This research was conducted – out at the greenhouse . department of field crops . college of agriculture and forestry . University of Mosul in 2008-2009 . This research including to studies in the design and analysis in which four doses of the growth regulator IAA (0. 250. 500 . 1000 PPm) . Were used in the way of soaking the seed before planting for a period of up to 12 hours. the second method used in this research as spraying with the same dose on the plant at the tellering stage for the durum crop wheat variety cham – 3 for the first study and with the variety of cham -6 in the second study. The results of the first study showed that the highest value obtained were from number of grains / spike and weight of grain (gram/pot) and weight of straw (gram / pot) and number of grains/ pot when used the concentration of 1000 ppm and the highest value for character of plant height in the control of treatment and the concentration of 1000 ppm and highest value for the character of number spike / pot were at the dose of 500 ppm. When used spray method. the results showed a significant increase in the number of grains / pot and number of grains / spike and grain weight ( gram / pot) on the method of soaking . where as there was no significant differences between the two methods in the rest of the studied traits. The second study revealed concentration at 1000 ppm gave a highest value for plant height . whereas there was no significant differences between all concentrations used for the growth regulator IAA for the other parameters. theplant height number of grains / pot . the number of grains / spike . weight of grain (gram / pot) . the weight of straw (gram / pot) . were significantly increased when used the spray method . on the other hand there was no significant differences between the methods for all other characters.

A filed experiment was carried out under the conditions of the field of Crops Science Department. College of Agric and Forestry, University of Mosul in the season of 2011. The aim of the present study is to estimate the contamination of herbicides with water and to calculate the amount of herbicides absorbed by waterhyacinth plants. Three herbicides were selected for this experiment ,1. the plants treated with different doses of herbicides (Glyphosate and 2,4-D with two doses (2,4 L/ha) and Paraquat with dose of (1,2 L/ha) , 2. times of application (before and after flowering and 3. two methods of application (spraying and rope) .The experiments was set out as a randomized complete block design with three replicates .The results obtained from this study revealed that all herbicide led to a significant increases in the amount of herbicide contaminated with water when the herbicide sprayed on the vegetative parts , as well as it is noticed that the amount of herbicide contaminated with water was higher when the herbicide applied before the flowering stage as compound with plant sprayed after the flowering stage . It was observed that the amount of glyphosate and 2,4-Dherbicides absorbed by plants were much more higher (i.e. 4-6 times) than that one observed by glyphosate herbicide.

Eight inbred lines of maize were used in complete diallel crosses programe to estimate the components of genetic variance using Hayman analysis in addition to heterosis on the base of deviation of hybrids from mid parents and from best parents . The characters studied were number of days to 50% of tassel development ,number of days to 50% of silk development ,plant high(cm),height of main ear(cm),number of leaves over the main ear, number of leaves for plant ,leaf area(cm),ear diameter (cm),ear length (cm), number of rows/ear, number of grain/ear, 100-grain weight, plant grain yield(gm), oil percent and protein percent. The results showed both addition and dominance variance were important and significant for all character at 1% eaccept for ear diameter which was not Significant additive variance . Heterosis way delectated for crossZP-670xZP-505 on the base of deviation of hybrids from mid parents and from best parents for plant high ,high of main ear, number of leaves for plant ,leaf area ,ear diameter,ear length , number of rows/ear, number of grain/ear, 100-grain weight, plant grain yield and oil percent .
Key words : Gene Action , Hayman analysis .

Field experiment was conducted to study the performance of three shapes of moldboard plow shares including: Conventional share, Hoe share, and Sectioned share, at two levels of tillage depths included: 10-20cm and 20-30cm and two different speeds included: 3.50km/h and 5.30 km/h .And evaluating their effects on power requirements criteria (drawbar power, soil resistance force to cut and consistency, and energy utilization efficiency). And plowing criteria (soil adhesion on share surface, vertical deviation percentage, and horizontal deviation percentage). The results showed that increasing speed from 3.50-5.30 km/h lead to increased drawbar power, soil resistance force to cut and consistency, vertical deviation percentage, and horizontal deviation percentage but decreased energy utilization efficiency, soil adhesion on share surface. Increasing the depth from (10-20) to (20-30) cm lead to increased drawbar power, soil resistance force to cut and consistency, horizontal deviation percentage but decreased energy utilization efficiency, soil adhesion on share surface, vertical deviation percentage. Sectioned share significantly surpassed on Conventional share and Hoe share in all power requirements criteria and plowing criteria. The depth (10-20) cm with speed (3.50) km/h gave the highest rate of energy utilization efficiency 16.80 m³/MJ, while the depth (20-30) cm with speed (5.30) km/h gave the highest rate for each drawbar power 17.42 kw, soil resistance force to cut and consistency 14.51KN and horizontal deviation percentage 1.65 %. Sectioned share with speed (3.50) km/h succeeded in recording the highest of energy utilization efficiency 18.63 m³/MJ, while Hoe share with speed (5.30) km/h succeeded in recording the highest for each as drawbar power 14.68 kw and horizontal deviation percentage1.65%. Sectioned share with depth (10-20) cm succeeded in recording the highest of energy utilization efficiency 18.46 m³/MJ, while Hoe share with depth (20-30) cm succeeded in recording the highest for each as drawbar power 14.95 kw and soil resistance force to cut and consistency 14.67 KN. Sectioned share with depth (10-20) cm and speed (3.50)km/h succeeded in recording the highest of energy utilization efficiency 19.76 m³/MJ while Hoe share with depth (20-30) cm and speed (5.30) km/h succeeded in recording the highest of soil resistance force to cut and consistency 15.17 KN.

The study was carried out at the Grda Rasha field station of Agricultural researches which belongs to the college of Agriculture / Salahaddin University - Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, to investigate the host preference of small cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae (Linnaeus, 1758) on some crops of the family Brassicaceae and to estimate population density of the immature stages on two cultivars of Cabbage and Cauliflower crops. The results pointed to that Cauliflower variety were the preferred host for attracting of the adult females for eggs laying followed by the Cabbage, the Turnip and the Radish crops revealed low sensitivity to this insect during the research period. The highest mean of the egg and larval population density recorded in the second week of November were 2.69 egg/plant, 3.38 larva/plant respectively, and the higher mean of 1.83 pupa/plant was recorded in the second week of January, and the insect have nine generations in the year.

The effect of humidity contents of Tribolium confusum Duval (Coleoptera:
Tenebrionidae) and Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) on
tolerating exposure to high temperature degrees at different periods showed that the
average mortality percentage was in direct propotion with the increasing
temperatures 45 , 50 and 55 C° which was 4.07 , 88.89 and 100.00 % of T. confusum
respectively, while the percentages 46.67 , 74.44 and 79.25 % respectively for C.maculates. The rate of mortality increased by increasing of exposure periods 0.5 , 1.0 and 1.5 hrs which was 41.67 , 50.27 and 52.77 % respectively in T. confusum and 28.83 , 56.94 and 65.00 % in C. maculatus respectively. No rate of mortality was recorded in control. As for the humidity contents of the two insects, it was shown that the percentage of sap coefficient for T. confusum was higher than that of C. maculatus which was 0.528 and 0.394 % respectively.

The microwave radiation had different effects on rice var. The highest increase in the size was (56.26%) for the Indian var., (39.96%) for Bazyani, (39.25%) for Aqrawi var., (36.68%) for the Turkish var., (33.31%) for the Italian and (33.14%) for the Amber var. For the effect of the energy levels of microwave radiation on size increase percentage, the highest increase (40.86%) at 300 watt energy level, (39.99%) at 600 watt energy level, (39.60%) at 100 watt energy level and (38.61%) at 900 watt energy level. Periods of exposure to the microwave radiation, the highest increase in size was (40.83%) at 30 seconds exposure period, (39%) at 60 seconds, (39.45%) at 90 seconds and (40.69%) at 120 seconds exposure period.

The results showed increase in activity of the enzymes peroxidase , polyphenol oxidase and the total content of phenol in tomato cultivars infected with Meloidogyne javanica Raba'a cv. recorded significant superiority on the activity of peroxidase enzyme reached 0.74 Unit/g.fresh weight and total phenol content reached 6.69 mg/g. fresh weight compared with other cultivars. While it didn't differ significantly from Ward acv. In polyphenol oxidase activity reached 0.85 and 0.81 Unit/g. fresh weight in both cvs. respectively,This was reflected on number of gall/plant ,number of female/gram root and egg mass / gram root . It was noted that their values decreased with increasing of activity of peroxidase , polyphenoloxidase enzymes and total phenol content as observed in Raba'a cultivars which gave the lowest values reaching 15.3 , 18.6 and 5 for the same characters respectively.

The study included two field experiments for sunflower crop conducted during spring growing season of 2008 in two locations. The first was in AL-Rashidia (20 km) west north Mosul city, the second ones was in AL-Hamdanea (30 Km) east of Mosul city. The main objective was to find out the effect of potassium fertilization levels on growth, yield and quality of three sunflower cultivars. Each experiment was conducted according to factorial experiment in a randomized completely block design with three replications. It included three levels of potassium (0, 30 and 60 kg k per hectare-1) were applied to the soil during the sowing period, with three cultivars of sunflower crop (Saturn, Gordis and Majak).
The results could be summarized as follows:
The cultivar Gordis gave a high level for most growth, yield and quality parameters in both locations. Application of 30 kg K per hectare-1 led to a significant increase in plant height, leaf area, disc diameter, number of seeds per head, weight of thousand seed, seed yield, oil percentage and oil yield, while increasing concentration of potassium up to 60 kg K per hectare-1 caused a significant increase in protein percentage in AL-Rashidia and AL-Hamdanea locations. The interaction between the cultivars and potassium fertilization levels was significant in some growth, yield and quality parameters, the Gordis cultivar with potassium application to the soil with concentration 30 kg k.ha-1 was superior and gave highest values for plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, number of seeds.head-1, weight of thousand seed, oil percentage, oil yield, protein percentage and protein yield in AL-Rashidia location only, while the interaction between cultivars and potassium fertilization levels was significant in number of seeds per head and weight of thousand seed in AL- Hamdanea location only.

A field study was conducted under three different environmental sites within the region introduced for the first time in Iraq through the import of new ZT seeder. The study implemented in 2006-2007 season compared with conventional agriculture and sowing after chisel plow. It was applied on numerous varieties belonging to the three field crops Bread Wheat , Durum Wheat and Barley.
The grain yield results showed that the ZT planting method was equal with farmer planting method (conventional tillage) in all locations and crops studied while chisel planting method was the superior in this trait , this result is encouraging for the adoption of this new technology because the input in a ZT doesn't need cultivation, while in other studied traits results showed that the chisel method excelled in 15 traits, while the ZT method excelled in 9 traits and the farmer methods in 4 traits only, this results strengthens the recommendation to adopt the ZT planting method for its limited implementation cost compared with the rest of the planting methods . In the same time grain yield in ZT planting method was not less than conventional tillage (con.) in any way.

This experiment involved implementation of a full diallel crosses between five genotypes of bread wheat in the 2009-2010. Then the parents and their F1 generation including reciprocals were cultivated in the 2010-2011 growing season at the Agricultural Research Station in Koya / Erbil under rainfall conditions using a randomized complete block design with four replications. Some growth characters, grain yield and its components were studied. Genetic statistical analysis were done to estimate general combining ability (GCA) of the parents and specific combining ability (SCA) of F1 hybrids and reciprocals, also the genetic variance components (additive and dominance), environmental variance, average degree of dominance, heritability in broad and narrow sense, expected genetic advance, heterosis and genetic correlation coefficients among the characters were estimated. The results showed that some parents exhibited positive and high GCA, while some hybrids showed SCA for the majority of the characters. The values of additive genetic variance was more than the values of dominant genetic variance for days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, spike length, 1000-grain weight, and harvest index. While the values of dominance genetic variance was more than additive for flag leaf area, number of spikes per plant, number of grains per spike, biological and grain yield per plant. The values of heritability in broad sense were high for all characters, while heritability in narrow sense was high for some characters but moderate for others. The values of average degree of dominance was greater than one for flag leaf area, number of spikes per plant, number of grains per spike, biological and grain yield per plant. The expected genetic advance was moderate for plant height, spike length, and 1000-grain weight. Grain yield per plant revealed a significant positive correlation with flag leaf area (0.921), number of spikes per plant (0.883) and 1000 grain weight (0.698).

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) juices of three local varieties, namely, sour, sour sweet and sweet according to their taste were extracted using squeezing and centrifugation methods. Juices produced and local commercial pomegranate were investigated and analyzed for revenue percent and their proximate composition, ascorbic acid, sugars concentration, pH value and titrable acidity. Results showed that more juice was obtained by using centrifugation compared with squeezing method for all three kinds of pomegranate. Results also show that the range of moisture, Total Soluble Solid (TSS), protein, fat extract, crude fibers, ash, carbohydrate and energy were 81.3-86.2, 11.2-17.2, 0.6-0.8, 0.55-0.85, 0.1-0.6, 0.40-0.56, 12.02-15.93% and 55.88-74.57kcal/100ml, respectively. While, the range of total, reducing and non reducing sugars, glucose, fructose, ascorbic acid, pH value and titrable acidity were 11.81-16.57, 11.4-16.17, 0.38-0.41, 5.2-8.2, 5.8-7.8 g/100ml, 5.95-7.1 mg/100ml, 2.59-3.71 and 0.51-3.52%, respectively. Generally, it was concluded that there were significant (P<0.05) differences in some characteristic of pomegranate juice between the two methods of extraction for all three pomegranate varieties.

Effect of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) juice extracted by squeezing and centrifugation methods on lipids profile in healthy and induced hypercholesterolemic rats was investigated. Eighty adult male Sprague Dawley derived rats were individually housed in stainless steel cages having wires mesh bottoms and fronts in room maintained at 25-30 ºC, and light between 7:0 AM and 7:0 PM daily. Animals were randomly divided into two groups of forty animals, first group was undertaken to be the normal animals and the second group of other forty animals were fed on 4% cholesterol diet (Tables 1 and 2) before starting the experiment and fed 2% cholesterol diet through the experiments. Each group was divided into eight subgroups related to seven pomegranate juices and control, five each and fed the diets for 28 days. The rats were daily gavaged with 1 ml pomegranate juice after feeding except those of control groups giving 1ml distilled water. Lipids profile was measured at the beginning and at the termination of the experiment the rats were decapitated and blood was taken from the animals to measure again the above parameters. Results show that consumption of different pomegranate juices by healthy and hypercholesterolemic rats significantly (P<0.05) decreased TG, TC, LDL-C, TC/HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C and increased HDL-C values compared with control groups. In conclusion, pomegranate juice showed lipid-lowering effects in healthy and experimentally induced hypercholesterolemia rats, and could be requisite in reducing lipidemia as a factor of atherosclerosis risk.

The objectives of this investigation were to investigate the effects of plowing depths (D) (35, 45, 55, and 65 cm), forward speeds (S) (0.341, 0.551 and 0.761 m sec-1) and outfitted subsoiler foot with wings on equipment performance for two subsoiler shanks arrangement (oblique and parallel) in silty clay loam soil. A significant (p<0.01) decrease in draft and specific resistance were observed for oblique shank arrangement compared with parallel shank arrangement. Furthermore, the draft and disturbed area increased significantly (p<0.01) with increasing operating depth, whereas specific resistance decreased significantly (p<0.01) with depth for the oblique and parallel shanks arrangement respectively. The values of draft, disturbed area and specific resistance of the oblique and parallel shanks arrangement tested were affected significantly (p<0.01) by adding wings to subsoiler feet. Forward speeds had a significant (p<0.01) effect on studded parameters. The optimal performance were found with the forward speed of 0.341 m sec-1.

This research was conducted to study the K- kinetics’ adsorption- desorption phenomena in predominant soil orders (Mollisols, Entisols, Vertisols, Aridisols, and Inceptisols) of Kurdistan region- Iraq, Soil samples were taken from sixteen different locations at depth (0 – 30 cm) selected according to the variation in their soils order, physical, and chemical properties. The study included Kinetics of potassium adsorption and desorption were determined depending on miscible displacement techniques using 0.001M KCl and 0.01M CaCl2 respectively, by applying First order equation, and determine the desorption index (DI) depended on the ratio of potassium desorption and adsorption isotherm slopes: The main results refer, the adsorption capacity ranged from 2.52 to 4.46 cmolc kg-1 the lowest value was recorded in Inceptisols , while the highest value in recoded in Mollisols, but the desorption capacity was ranged from 1.11 to 2.67 cmolc kg-1 with the mean value 1.99 cmolc kg-1, the lowest value was recorded in Inceptisols while the highest value was recorded in Mollisols. Cumulative adsorption and desorption of potassium increased with increasing the time for all samples. The value of desorption index (DI) was ranged from 0.26 to 0.58. The low value of DI indicated increased hysteresis and increase difficulty of the sorbed K+ to desorb from soil surfaces.

A biological experiment was conducted at 20/1/2011 to 2/6/2011 in pots in the experimental farm of college of Agriculture, 3.5 km south of Arbil governorate, 36˚ 07N, 44˚01E, 0411359, 03997002 UTM. 411m above the sea level, during growing season 2011-2012 in order to determine the effect of different levels of phosphorus (0,10,20,30,and 40 mgkg-1 on heavy metals concentrations and uptake for different parts roots, shoots and grains of wheat plant Triticum durum L. cv.Summit. Soil samples were collected under the polluted location in the landfills were located between Bnaslawa district and Daratoo county, triple super phosphate fertilizer applied to soils to know the effect of phosphorus absorption and distribution of heavy metals in the different parts of wheat plant by using factorial Complete Randomize Design (CRD) with four replicates. The present investigation started at 24/1/2011 and plants were harvested at 2/6/2011. The increase of applied P caused a significant increase (p ≤ 0.05) of the dry matter weight of different parts of plant (roots, shoots and grains) and a significant decrease of heavy metal concentration. A negative correlation coefficient between P and Fe, Ni, Cd and Pb concentrations in roots were (0.98, 0.94, 0.95 and 0.99 and in shoots part 0.69, 0.93, 0.89, and 0.99 and in grains part 0.89, 0.90, 0.97, and 0.96) respectively.