Assessment of the crop basket around the Egyptian Nile River; Eastern North Africa

Abstract

This assessment tends to evaluate the Egyptian crop basket around the Nile River, with a focus on their introduction history. A framework of growth forms, flowering time, sex forms, cultivation duration, propagation methods, economic values, and ecological benefits was used. A side from assessing were global phyto-geographic regions, continental distribution, and biomes.Twenty-four field visits were conducted covering the study area (March 2021 - March 2022) to verify collected data from the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, and checking the herbarium of Agricultural Museum, Cairo (CAIM). One hundred and ninety-one crops were recorded, of them 170 crops, belonging 101 genera and 45 families, are currently surveyed, while 21 crops are considered a gap, belonging 7 families and 19 genera. The most evaluated family was Fabaceae, while Citrus was the most evaluated genus. Herbaceous plants were the most recorded growth form (66.5 %). Most crops were bisexual, propagated by seeds, and grown in winter (43.5 %). Their flowering activity gradually increases from December reaching a peak in June.Most crops (48.2 %) return to the Pharaonic era, e.g., Aloe vera and Portulaca oleracea. The majority of crops evaluated as foods (80.7 %) and humidity tolerant species (56 %). The Mediterranean and Saharan-Arabian regions were the most represented (42.9 %). Most crops originated in Africa, then Asia. Temperate deciduous forest and subtropical evergreen forest were the major biomes. As the majority of the Egyptian crops return to the Pharaonic era, indicating the relative stability of the Egyptian climate over last years.