الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the different types of local agricultural waste as a source for extracting cellulose, preparing nano-cellulose from bulk cellulose, loading urea on bulk and
nano-cellulose for use as fertilizer, and studying the effectiveness of prepared fertilizers on seed
germination rate and growth of wheat seedlings (Giza 171) during different growth stages.
Finally, studying the effect of adding prepared fertilizers on some chemical and biological properties of a sandy soil.
Ten different types of agricultural waste were collected (rice straw, rice husk, wheat straw, banana peel, sunflower seed husk, sawdust, bagasse, sunflower straw, corn straw, paper waste) and the bulk cellulose was extracted from them by alkali hydrolysis method. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that rice straw was the highest yielding bulk cellulose (26.37 %) by the extraction method used.
Bulk cellulose extracted from rice straw was used to prepare nano-cellulose by acid hydrolysis method, through three main steps including bleaching with Sodium Chlorite, acid hydrolysis with Sulfuric Acid 64%. Finally, the step of flocculation and evaporation of excess
water by cooling method to obtain a thin film of nano-cellulose.
For loading urea onto bulk or nano-cellulose, a 50% urea solution was used, which was added to a suspension of bulk cellulose at concentrations of 0.25 - 0.50 - 1.00% and a suspension
of nanocellulose in concentrations of 0.10 - 0.20 - 0.30%. An electric stirrer was used to homogenize the components of the mixture. Finally, the pH of the medium was adjusted to pH ≈ 8. The suspension was left for 48 hours to test the stability of the formulations. bulk and nanocellulose were characterized using SEM, TEM and XRD to confirm the access at the nanoscale level and FTIR analysis was used to confirm the occurrence of urea loading process on bulk and nano-cellulose.
The effect of urea fertilizer loaded on bulk cellulose and nano-cellulose on the germination of wheat seeds was studied. A complete randomized statistical design was followed. Six concentrations of bulk cellulose (0-0.1-0.25-0.50-1.00-1.50%), nano-cellulose (0-0.05-0.10- 0.30-0.40-0.50%) and three concentrations of urea (0-0.25-0.5%N) were used.) and a
combination of them. Five wheat seeds were soaked at these concentrations for a period of 3 hours, and the seeds were grown in petri dishes in an inclined position for a week in a dark
wheel at room mean temperature (28±5°C). The results showed that the use of nanocellulose significantly increased root length, specific surface area and vigor index. According to the
statistical analysis of the vigor index data, it was found that soaking the seeds using 0.3% nanocellulose treatment without loaded urea is the most efficient to enhance the germination of
wheat seeds.
Wheat (Giza 171) is cultivated in a pot experiment under greenhouse conditions using sandy soil collected from Al-Bustan area - Beheira governorate. In this experiment, a complete
randomized statistical design was followed. The efficacy of the application method (Soil -
foliar) and carrier type (bulk- and nano cellulose) and different concentrations of them loaded with urea (0.5% N) on wheat growth was tested. After 83 days of sowing, the different morphological characteristics of wheat plants (plant height, spike length, plant dry weight, fresh weight, root length, spike dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, water content of shoot,
harvest index and lifespan) were measured. The nutrient uptake (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous) and available of soil nitrogen and phosphorous were also measured. It was found
that the addition of nano-cellulose loaded with urea applied by the foliar method was statistically the best treatment for increasing most of the growth indicators, as well as reducing
the lifespan of the spikes by 30.1% compared to the control. The degradation or late of wheat seedlings was observed in some soil application treatments of bulk-cellulose loaded with urea,
54 as well as the change of surface soil color to greenish and dark brown. Therefore, a laboratory experiment was designed to investigate the effect of the applied treatments on some chemical
and biological properties of the soil.
To test the effect of adding different concentrations of urea-loaded bulk-cellulose and nanocellulose, and in the absence of urea, on different soil properties. A mass of 488 g of airdried soil (θm= 0.5%) was packed into free-draining plastic cups, at a bulk density of 1.65 g.cm3. The recommended fertilizer rates were added to the soil. The soil was saturated by capillarity
with different concentrations of bulk- and nanocellulose loaded with urea or without. The soil was left for free drainage to reach the field capacity. The soil was subjected to several cycles of wetting and drying for a period of 100 days under laboratory conditions (18.5 - 22.0 ⁰C). The cumulative soil water evaporation rate was measured by weight loss method. The total count of
bacteria and fungi was estimated, the type of fungi was identified, the availability of soil
nitrogen and phosphorous, and the soil pH. The results showed that the nano-cellulose significantly increased the acidity of the soil (lower pH) without urea loaded. The use of bulkcellulose in the presence of urea increased the availability of nitrogen in the soil. The use of urea-loaded nanocellulose increased the availability of phosphorous in the soil. In addition, the urea-loaded bulk- or nanocellulose treatments reduced types as well as the total count of pathogenic fungi (to 15-fold) and increased the total count of bacteria in the soil (to 20-fold)
compared with the same concentrations of bulk- or nanocellulose without urea.