Future of Food: Journal on Food

The impact of irrigation distribution uniformity and mulching soil on vegetative growth and yield of sweet fennel and squash plants

Ahmed Awny Farag
Agriculture Research Center
Mohamed Abul-Soud
mohamed Abdrabbo

Water shortage under climate change impacts performed the driving forces to enhance the agricultural practices to maximize the food production. Improve the distribution of irrigation water with mulching soil to satisfy the plants needs and provide optimum conditions for production consider the main objective of the current study. Two experiments of the study were conducted out at Central Laboratory for Agriculture Climate (CLAC), Agriculture Research Center, Egypt during winter and spring seasons of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 under open field conditions. The study objected to investigating the use of different numbers of PE lateral per growing bed (1 (OIL) and 2 (TIL)) with different distance between the inline drippers (30 and 50 cm) on sweet fennel and squash to get the harmony distribution of irrigation in clay soil combined with mulching or bare soil (control).  The trails of the current study presented in split plot design. The vegetative growth characteristics, yield parameters and N, P and K (%) contents of sweet fennel and squash leaves were measured.

The obtained results indicated that increasing no. of laterals from 1 to 2 laterals /bed while decrease the distance between drippers from 50 to 30 cm led to increase the vegetative characteristics, yield parameters and N, P, K (%) contents of sweet fennel and squash plants as a results of enhancing the soil moisture availability and nutrients uptake. The treatment TIL combined with 30 cm distance between emitters recorded the highest results of sweet fennel and squash followed by TIL combined by 50 cm distance between emitters. Applying black soil mulch led to increase the soil temperature during winter and spring seasons and also enhance the vegetative characteristics, yield parameters as well as N, P, K (%) contents of sweet fennel and squash plants compared to bare soil. Mulching soil led to increase the yield of sweet fennel and squash 35 % more than bare soil.  Include applying two laterals per growing bed and black mulch within the agriculture practices to increase the yield of vegetable crops had a general benefits on food security and mitigation climate change impacts.

Keywords : irrigation, distribution uniformity, mulching, vegetative, yield, sweet fennel and squash. .

Myanmar High School Students’ Perceptions of College and International Readiness in Western Society

Mark Speckien
Louisiana Tech University
Mark Speckien
Louisiana Tech University
International students are more likely to experience mental health issues and increased stress. Mental health is often surrounded by negative societal stigmas that act as barriers to seeking support and tend to lead to greater mental health concerns. International students tend to seek socioemotional support from other international student peers rather than seeking out counseling services. However, this study shows that LGBTQIA+ international students were less likely to seek socioemotional support from other international student peers due to fear of their sexual orientation being discovered and their families finding out about their identity. This study examines how LGBTQIA+ international students talk about their experiences on and off campus in relations to their socioemotional well-being. Specifically, this study sought to better understand the complexities of LGBTQIA+ students’ identities, and the challenges they faced in terms of their socioemotional well-being. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Keywords : international students, socioemotional well-being, mental health, identity development, intersectionality, LGBTQIA