<div style="text-align: justify;">The experiment was performed to investigate the effect of humic acid to drinking water on the laying performance and quality of eggs in Japanese quails. Hundred and forty, 9-weeks old female Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japanica) were randomly designated to four treatment groups forming 5 replicates each containing seven birds. Group I was the control group. Group II, III, IV were administered 250 ml/ton, 350 ml/ton, 450 ml/ton humic acid into drinking water, respectively. The egg characteristics were determined after 8th and 10th weeks of experiment. Addition of humic acid had a positive effect on the live weight change (p &lt; 0.05) and yolk weight (p &lt; 0.01). Egg shell thickness, albumen weight and yolk color were significantly (p &lt; 0.01) lower in the experimental groups than that of control group. However humic acid had no effect on egg production, feed consumption, feed efficiency and other egg quality.&nbsp; In conclusion, data of our study demonstrated that liquid humate applied in drinking water has significantly improved live weight change and yolk weight. The positive effects of liquid humates, possibly related to improved nutrient utilization through various metabolic activities in the body are yet to be further investigated.</div>

Influence of humic acid addition to drinking water on laying performance and egg quality in Japanese quails

<div>Background: Humic acid is a natural bio-stimulant, which has a major influence on growth and crop quality. Also, Magnetic water treatment enhances both crop productivity and quality, which leads to the efficient use of cultivated land by using water resources available for crop production. This study aims to determine the effects of magnetized water irrigation and application of humic acid with different concentrations as a bio-stimulation on tomato plants, Solanum Lycopersicon cv. Hybrid &ldquo;86&rdquo;. 
 
Methods: The experiment was conducted during the tow growing seasons of 2018 and 2019 at the Agricultural Experimental Station Farm at Abies region, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Egypt. The experiment design was split-plot with three replications. Two irrigation water treatments (magnetized and non-magnetic water) were arranged in the main plots and four concentrations of humic acid (0, 1, 2 and 3 g L-1) were distributed over sub-plots. 
 
Result: The results showed that irrigation with magnetized water had a positive effect on the vegetative growth traits, yield and its components and the quality of tomato fruits parameters. There was also a clear desirable effect of humic acid addition with different concentrations, as the results indicated that the use of the highest concentration of humic acid (3 g L-1) reflected the highest values for all the studied traits. The results of the interaction between irrigation with magnetized water and application of humic acid showed that the best results and the highest values for all studied characters were recorded when using magnetic water (MW) combined with 3 g L-1 of humic acid (HA), without significant differences from the interaction treatment MW combined with 2 g L-1 HA for most traits. However, the two treatments combinations MW with 2 g L-1 HA and Non-MW with 3 g L-1 HA didn&rsquo;t significant differ from each other for all studied characters at the two growing seasons. These results indicated that using the magnetic water with humic acid led to the possibility of reducing the amount of humic acid by one-third and enhances both crop productivity and quality of tomato plants. Generally, we can recommend using magnetized water irrigation with humic acid addition at concentration of 3.g L-1 or 2.g L-1 to enhance the productivity and quality of the tomato plant.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Enhancing the Productivity and Quality of Tomato using Magnetized Water and Humic Acid as Bio-stimulant Agents</div>

<div>Background: Among the different grain legumes, blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper)] is a well-known leguminous crop popular because of its nutritional quality and suitability for multiple cropping systems.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: A field experiment was conducted during Autumn season of 2018 and 2019 at Kalyani, Nadia to evaluate the effect of humic acid (HA) application on growth and yield of blackgram crop. The treatments were: Control (sowing of dry seed) (T1); Seed priming (soaking) in water (T2); Seed priming in 0.5% humic acid solution (T3); Seed priming in 1% humic acid solution (T4); Seed priming in 2% Humic acid solution (T5); Soil application of humic acid @1 kg/ha (T6); Soil application of humic acid @ 2 kg/ha (T7); Soil application of humic acid @1 kg/ha + 10 t compost/ha (T8); Soil application of humic acid @ 2 kg/ha + 10 t compost/ha (T9); Foliar application of&nbsp;0.01% humic acid solution 25 days after sowing (DAS) (T10); Foliar application of&nbsp; 0.05% humic acid solution (25 DAS) (T11); Foliar application of 0.1% humic acid solution (25 DAS) (T12). 
 
Result: Soil application of humic acid along with compost had significant effect on number of pods m-2, though; other yield components such as seeds pod-1, seed index was statistically at par in most occasions. The maximum seed yield (1295.53 kg ha-1 and 1298.47 kg ha-1 in 2018 and 2019, respectively) was obtained from the treatment T9 and the second-best treatment was T8.</div>

Growth and Yield of Blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] Crop as Influenced by Humic Acid Application

<div>Cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.], known commonly as &ldquo;Guar,&rdquo; is a vital legume crop grown mostly under rainfed conditions in arid and semi-arid regions of India during the Kharif and summer season. Numerous horticultural strategies may be used to improve the growth and productivity of guar including sea weed extract and humic acid. A field experiment was conducted to determine the influence of seaweed extract and humic acid on growth, yield and post-harvest characteristics of cluster bean. Seaweed extract and humic acid were administered in the field as foliar spray at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 per cent concentrations in a randomized block design (RBD) consisting of seven treatments and three replicates. The results indicated that the higher concentration of 0.3 per cent seaweed extract and humic acid produced significantly higher plant height, leaf number, pod number per plant and total yield per hectare as compared to the lower concentrations and control. The post-harvest study revealed that foliar treatment of 0.3 per cent humic acid and seaweed extract resulted in a lower percentage of physiological weight loss and increased the shelf life of pods compared to untreated.</div>

Effect of Foliar Spray of Seaweed Extract and Humic Acid on Growth and Yield of Cluster Beans [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] var. Pusa Navbahar

<div>Background: Plant allelopathy refers to the release of chemicals from plants or microorganisms into the environment, may have direct or indirect, beneficial or harmful effects on other plants or microorganisms. When plants grow in an unfavorable environment, 
more allelochemicals will be secreted and the expression of allelopathic effects will increase, giving plants a certain competitive advantage. Hairy vetch is one of the most promising allelopathic crops and the aqueous extract of hairy vetch has an inhibitory effect on the root length and seedling height of grass crops. The current study aimed to study the allelopathic effect of hairy vetch on alfalfa, and exploring an ecological method to remove the root system of alfalfa. 
 
Methods: In this experiment, the allelopathic effects of the seeds, stems and leaves, roots extracts and root exudates (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 mg&middot;mL-1) on the seed germination and seedling growth of alfalfa were evaluated. And the main allelopathic substances from the stem and leaf extract were isolated and identified using high performance liquid chromatography- mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). 
 
Result: The results showed that all of the extracts can inhibit alfalfa seed germination and seedling growth and stem and leaf extract had the strongest inhibitory effect, especially for inhibiting the root growth. A main allelochemical substance, o-coumaric acid, was screened out and the root length of alfalfa was completely inhibited at 1.6 mg&middot;mL-1 of o-coumaric acid. The findings of these experiments show hairy vetch has strong allelopathic effect on alfalfa and o-coumaric acid is a chemical growth inhibitor.</div>

<div>Allelopathic Potency and an Active Substance from Hairy Vetch</div>

Background: Linseed, popularly known as flaxseed, is a prominent dual-purpose crop cultivated for both fiber and oilseed crops. It is especially valued for its rich nutritional profile, which includes alpha-linolenic acid, an essential omega-3 fatty acid, along with dietary fiber and lignans, making it more suitable for value addition and sustainable agriculture. Despite its adaptability and uses, it faces challenges such as grain yield followed by oil yield due to moisture stress. In the past few years, it has received special attention due to its industrial application and health benefits. Although the individual impact of seed priming, use of humic acid, and sulphur on healthy seedling establishment, crop growth, and oil yield under limited water conditions has shown the beneficial impact, their synergistic studies remain to be explored. Therefore, an integrated effort with seed priming, humic acid, and sulphur was implemented to mitigate the adverse response to moisture stress. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: An experiment was executed using a split-plot design considering the most popular variety of linseed (LC 2063) over the research farm of Lovely Professional University. The main plot treatments consisted of three levels of irrigation: I0, I1, and I2, that is, no irrigation, moderate irrigation, and full irrigation, while subplots treatments comprised seven combinations, including seed priming with KNO3, humic acid, and sulphur used as soil application (C0&nbsp;to C6), whereas 15 mM of KNO3&nbsp;was used as seed priming and humic acid was used besal application @ 12 Kg ha-1. 
&nbsp; 
Result: The frequency of irrigations had a significant impact (p=0.05) on the phenological traits in linseed. Out of all the irrigation frequencies, two irrigations (I2) minimized the days taken to the branching and 50% flowering, and maximized the days taken to maturity, number of capsules plant-1 and oil yield qt ha-1&nbsp;as compared to single (I1) and no post-sowing irrigation (I0). As for the percent increase or decrease over control is concerned, I2 reduced days by 16% and 13%, and increased maturity, number of capsules, and oil yield by 7%, 23% and 22%, respectively. The combined application of KNO3&nbsp; and humic acid (C5) was the most effective treatment at (p=0.05), significantly reducing days to emergence, branching, 50% flowering and maturity by 47, 18, 13, and 4% respectively, and enhancing maturity, number of capsules and oil yield by 4%, 38% and 32%. A negative relationship was detected between the relative water content (RWC%) and proline content (&micro;mol g-1) across the irrigation regimes, wherein I2&nbsp;showed the highest RWC and lowest proline. Among the chemical treatments, C5&nbsp;maintained the highest RWC% and proline, followed by C4&gt; C6&gt; C3&gt; C2&gt; C1&gt; C0. Most of the parameters studied had a significant interaction effect between the irrigation frequency and chemical treatments at (p=0.05), indicating that the combined application of C5&nbsp;with I2&nbsp;can markedly enhance oil yield in linseed.

Enhancing Linseed Oil Yield using the Synergistic Effect of Seed Priming, Humic Acid and Sulphur under Optimized Irrigation

Background: The global trend at present is to utilise organic fertilisers of various types and sources to minimise the adverse effects of chemical fertilisers as much as possible. Humic acid is an organic fertilizer widely used due to its many benefits in improving the properties of soil and its effect on plant growth and production. The global production of hybrid varieties has been at a steady pace for years, driven by their productivity and the number of genetic combinations introduced, which increases the capacity of their genetic base and thus helps them adapt to environmental conditions or growth factors. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: The experiment conducted in Tikrit University, Salah Al-Din, Iraq, to investigated the effect of varying concentrations of organic fertilizer (0, 1, 2 and 3 ml L-1&nbsp;humic acid) on the three Zea mays plant genotypes (Toro, Vito and Jooly) growth characteristics and protein percentage, in the autumn season of 2025 using an RCBD design repeated three times. 
&nbsp; 
Result: Humic acid with 3 ml L-1&nbsp;superior in plant height, leaves number plant-1, leaf area, dry weight plant-1, leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD) and protein percentage, by percentage increase of 3.96%, 7.89%, 21.43%, 12.25%, respectively and leaf chlorophyll content reached 42.10 SPAD and protein percentage 8.6%. Jooly genotype was superior in the same traits by percentage increase of 15.84%, 2.72%, 8.35% and 9.78%, respectively and leaf Chlorophyll content 46.56 SPAD and protein percentage 8.70%. The interaction between 3 ml L-1&nbsp;humic acid concentrations and Jooly genotype superior in the same traits by percentage increase of 29.73%, 10%, 30.15% and 3.29%, respectively and leaf chlorophyll content of 48.25 SPAD and protein percentage 8.90 %. It can be concluded from this experiment that adding of humic acid helps in enhancing growth and protein percentage of new Zea mays L. plant genotypes.&nbsp;

Physiological Effect of Adding Concentrations of Humic Acid on Growth and Protein Percentage of Zea mays L. Plant Genotypes

Background: Lentil is second most important nutritionally dense pulse crop of India due to its ability to fix nitrogen, helps to maintain soil fertility and increase yield of other crops grown in rotations. Seed priming is a good innovative technology for improvement of emergence and plant stand under various stress conditions and also could enhance various defense mechanisms in seeds against biotic and abiotic stresses. The present study aimed to examine the effect of seed priming with&nbsp; silicic acid&nbsp; (3 mM @18 hr), humic acid (600 ppm @18 hr) and combination of humic and silicic acid (100 ppm + 1 mM @ 16 hr), that may reduce harmful effect of stress at seedling stage and improve early seedling vigor. 
 
Methods: In this field-laboratory investigation during 2022-2023, seed quality and yield quality attributing parameters i.e. germination percentage, seed vigor index-I and II, total chlorophyll, emergence percentage, final plant stand, final plant stand emergence, plant height, secondary branches, tertiary branches, number of pod per plant, average number of pod per plant, pod cluster, seed yield per plot and yield per plot were recorded in both laboratory and field conditions. 
 
Result: The results demonstrated a positive effect of seed priming on seed quality parameters against the stress. The highest seed quality and yield quality attributing parameter was recorded in treatment (T5) combination of humic and silicic acid as compare to control. The chemical priming with combination of humic and silicic acid was found to be most effective treatment to enhance plant stand establishment against stress.

Integrated Application of Silicic and Humic Acid Seed Priming for Enhanced Germination and Yield of Lentil (Lens culinaris L.)

<div style="text-align: justify;">Chemical communication plays an important role in reproductive and social behaviour of small mammals. The chemical constituents of urine were the main signal resources that can encode sex and social status. The purpose of the present study was to test volatile chemical substances in urine of the kinship and non-kinship Tupaia belangeri, volatile chemicals in urine were performed by the gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS), which is speculated that volatile chemicals in urine may had key role in its kin recognition of T. belangeri. The results showed that the components of volatile chemicals in urine were similar between the kinship and non-kinship T. belangeri, which the main components were Alcohols, Alkanes, Esters and Ketones, but the types of each materials were discrepant. &ldquo;Formic acid, octyl ester&rdquo; were absence or existence regularly, and &ldquo;a-Farnesene&rdquo; and &ldquo;2,4-Dithiapentane&rdquo; were found in kinship and non-kinship T. belangeri, which may be signaling substances in the urine. All of the results suggested that volatile chemical substances in urine were different in kinship and non-kinship T. belangeri, indicating that chemical communication based on signals in urine plays an important role in its kin recognition of T. belangeri.</div>

Analysis of volatile chemical substances in urine of the kinship and non-kinship Tupaia belangeri (Mammalia: Scandentia: Tupaiidae)

Background: Indian mustard, a key oilseed crop in India, is valued for its diverse culinary and health benefits. It faces significant challenges due to a wide range of abiotic stress wherein climate-induced water stress is one of them, which negatively impacts plant population, morpho-physiological growth and biochemical reactions. Thus not only the seed yield but also oil production is declining. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of humic acid and sulfur on phenology, membrane integrity, lipid peroxidation and oil yield in Brassica juncea under varying water regimes during the Rabi season of 2022-23 at the research farm of Lovely Professional University. The experiment was conducted in a split-plot design with a total of 16 possible combinations of water regimes and chemical treatments which include humic acid and sulfur. 
&nbsp; 
Result: The results indicated that most of the traits were noticed as statistically significant for both factors i.e. water regimes and chemical treatments at p=0.05%. Among the treatments, I3&nbsp;(Three irrigation) and C3&nbsp;(Humic acid + Sulfur) were detected as the most effective treatments in terms of percent increase/decrease, resulting highest value over the respective control. The highest % increase was noticed in the initial plant population, final plant population, days taken for maturity, oil content, the moisture content in oil, chlorophyll a, b, a+b and membrane stability index while the reduction in days taken for branching, days taken for the 50% flowering, relative density and malondialdehyde were noticed in the I3&nbsp;and C3. Thus the findings suggest that the 3 irrigations in combination with humic acid and Sulfur can effectively ameliorate the morpho-physiological growth by increasing the chlorophyll contents, integrity of the cell wall and oil yield in Indian Mustard.

Humic Acid and Sulphur Modulating Phenology, Membrane Integrity, Lipid Peroxidation and Oil Yield in Brassica juncea under Water Regimes