Teama’s research while affiliated with Assiut University and other places

Yield Response of Late Planted Spring Sugarcane to Direct Set Sowing and Transplanting Mohamed O. A. Galal, Adel M. Abou-Salama, Elmahdy A. Teama and Ahmed Z. Ahmed Sugar Crops Research Institute Egypt Abstract: Sugarcane farmers in Egypt are currently delaying the spring season planting date to mid April or mid May instead of March to allow for a full- winter crop harvest such as broad bean or wheat. This process reduces cane growing season length and severely affects tillering pattern and net cane at the end of the season. This work was carried out to investigate yield response of some sugarcane varieties to transplanting as a method to overcome delayed spring planting. The work was carried out at El-Mattana Research Station, Luxor Governorate, Egypt (Latitude 25o 18´ N) in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons. Three varieties; i.e. G.T.54-9, G.98-28 and G.84-47 were planted using five planting methods namely; direct sowing on mid-March, mid-April and mid-May; along with two transplanting dates on mid-April and mid-May. Single eye cuts used for transplants were sown on March 1st in both seasons. A split plot arranged RCBD, in four replications, was used for the experiment. The three varieties were randomly distributed to the main plot while the five planting methods were assigned to sub-plot. The results indicated the variety G.T.54-9 was superior to the two other varieties in both seasons in number of millable cane/ha, cane length, cane diameter, cane weight, as well as cane and sugar yields. As for planting methods, direct sowing on March along with transplanting on April were superior in number of millable cane/ha, cane length, cane diameter, cane weight, as well as cane and sugar yields in both seasons. This indicates that transplanting in April could be used without any reduction of yield of cane while allowing for harvesting winter crop such as broad bean. Key Words: Crop rotation, Delayed planting, Sugarcane transplanting.

Experiments in 1997/98 and 1998/99 examined the stability of some quality traits for twelve F7 selected wheat lines. The lines were selected from the progenies of different bi-parental crosses carried out during previous research work. Lines A7, A51, A59, A64, and A68 were selected from the cross Linengradka×Sakha 69. Lines K1, K2, and K3 were selected from the cross Sakha69×Giza 164, lines K4 and K5 from the cross Sakha 69×Sakha 61, and lines K6 and K7 from the cross Sakha 69×Penjamo. Two control varieties (Giza 164 and Sakha 69) were also used. The lines were grown under twelve environments constructed from two soil types, three different nitrogen fertilizer levels, and two growing seasons. Combined analyses of variance showed different responses of genotypes for all studied traits to locations and nitrogen levels. The first and second order interactions involving lines, nitrogen, and/or locations were highly significant for all traits. The third order interaction had a significant and highly significant effect on coarse bran and flour contents, respectively. Means of the studied traits reflected the limited magnitude of differences between lines. Meanwhile, the pooled analyses of variance showed that genotype×environment interactions were highly significant for all traits. The linear component of G×E was highly significant for test weight, flour, and coarse bran contents only. As for stability parameters, lines varied in their calculated bi values as well as S²di. For test weight, all lines were stable except A59, K1, K4 and Giza164. Genotype K2 scored the highest mean (64.11 kg/hl). For flour content and coarse bran, Sakha 69 scored the highest flour (84.09%) and lowest coarse bran (14.10%). Most lines were stable for fine bran except for A68 and Giza164. For protein contents, lines A51 and K2 were the only unstable ones. All lines were stable for fermentation time except A7, A59, K2, Sakha 69, and Giza164. The most stable line for fermentation time was A64 while the lines A68, K5, and K6 were stable for dry gluten. Under the current experimental conditions, it could be concluded that line K7 is the only stable one for all traits. Sakha 69 and K2 were stable for all traits but fermentation time. Line K1 was also stable for all traits except test weight.

The effect of nitrogen fertilizer levels was investigated in 12 F7 lines grown in clay and sandy calcareous soils during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons at Assiut. Commercial cultivars Giza 164 and Sakha 69 were used as controls. Nitrogen levels were 50, 75 and 100 kg N per feddan [1 feddan = 0.42 ha]. Combined analysis of variance showed that all main treatments had highly significant effects on the yield components studied. High nitrogen rates and clay soil increased all trait values. Lines K5 and A7 produced the highest average yields (13.13 and 12.89 ardabs/feddan, respectively [1 ardab = 160 kg]). A highly significant correlation was found amongst traits except for seed index with straw yield, grain yield or harvest index. All first order interactions were highly significant for all traits except for straw yield for the soil × nitrogen interaction and plant height for the soil × line interaction. Soil type seemed to be the major factor affecting the highly significant interaction with nitrogen, while lines were the main contributors in the interaction with soil type. The second order interactions had significant or highly significant effects for all traits except plant height. Means of most traits in the second order interactions were clearly different, mainly due to soil type. In addition, late flowering lines had higher yields under low nitrogen levels compared to early ones due to the relatively longer period allowed for photosynthesis in late lines. Under the current experimental conditions, it was concluded that lines selected for maximum yield would vary in response to soil types. Regardless of nitrogen levels used in this study, lines A7 and A59 are considered suitable for clay soil, while K5 would perform better in sandy soil.

This study was carried out at El-Gorieb Experimental farm, Assiut, Egypt, to construct a model for defining and selecting wheat for yield under sandy calcareous soil conditions. The studied traits were from three groups; yield-related phenological traits, different light interception measurements, and photosynthetic pigments content. The work was carried out during 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons. Seventy-four F5 families driven from the cross of Sonora 64 × Sakha 92 (Triticum aestivum) were grown to estimate the correlations of these traits with yield and to define the model that best predicts yield of wheat. Highly significant Pearson (r) and Spearman rank correlations (rs) were found for grain yield with biological yield and harvest index. In addition, a significant Spearman correlation was found for the days to anthesis. Based on this model, the expected and actual yields of F5 families were similar as revealed by χ² and Spearman rank correlation tests. In addition, testing of expected F5 and actual F6 rank revealed similarity of the rank of both of them using Spearman rank correlation. Furthermore, five of the top ten expected higher yielding F5 families were present within the actual top ten F6 families namely 22, 43, 69, 73 and 78. These lines produced yields of 0.563, 0.565, 0.528, 0.509, and 0.636 kg/m², respectively. Based on this study, the use of the above mentioned model for selection could be helpful in identifying and selecting higher yielding families under sandy calcareous conditions.