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

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.


Introduction
Egypt's agricultural land is limited to the Nile Valley and delta, with a few oases and arable land in Sinai. The total cultivated area is 7.2 million acers (1 acers equals 0.42 ha), accounting for only 3 % of the total land area. Except for some rain-fed areas on the Mediterranean coast, the entire crop area is irrigated. In addition, 900 000 acers of newly reclaimed land have been added to the agricultural area over the last four decades. The landholdings are dispersed, with farm units averaging in size about 2.5 acers. The total area cropped annually is approximately 11.5 million acers, representing a cropping ratio of approximately 2:1 (https:// www.fao.org/3/v9978e/v9978e0e.htm).
Egypt, is in North Africa across temperate grassland, desert and semi-desert biomes, has an arid climate, with annual average rainfall ranging from 60 to 190 mm along the Mediterranean coast to 25 to 60 mm in the Nile delta and less than 25 mm in upper Egypt and surrounding areas. The weather is generally very consistent, with plenty of sunshine. Furthermore, the Nile is an exceptional source of water, and the soil near the Nile is generally of high quality (Lomolino et al., 2017), https://weather-and-climate.com and https://www.fao.org/3/v9978e/v9978e0e.htm. In the last decade, Egypt's total agricultural crop production has increased by >20 %. During the same time period, the rate of population growth has been slightly faster than the rate of crop production growth (https://www.fao.org/3/v9978e/v9978e0e.htm).
Cultivated plants are frequently planted in gardens or crop fields to satisfy human desires The Egyptians from the pharaonic era till now not only cultivated their required crops in fields, but also ornamental plants for their numerous benefits (e.g., decoration, wind-breaking, fruit and flower production, use in traditional industry or shading and riverbank erosion control) in gardens, which were typically built in palace or house squares or established terraces on the banks of the river or its branches. In addition to medicinal and aromatic plants for folk meditation and manufacture of drugs (Ammar, 2021;Ammar et al., 2020;Ahmed et al., 2020;Manniche, 2006). Hence, this assessment will discuss the crop basket assessment around the Egyptian Nile River; Nile Delta, Nile Fayium, and Nile Valley. In addition to, highlighting on floristic and botanical characters of the assessed crop species. Furthermore, an evaluation of historical era for the introduction of these crops to Egypt, in addition to their economic values and ecological benefits. Likewise, geographic overview is assessed such as global phytogeography regions, continental distribution and world biomes.

Study area
Egypt is located in northeastern Africa, with the Egyptian Nile region spanning temperate grassland, desert, and semi-desert biomes, according to the world biomic map (Lomolino et al. 2017), with a length of about 1520 km (23 percent of the total length of the river), and housing an estimated population of 80 million people. The Nile Region in Egypt is made up of three parts: The Nile Delta, the Nile Fayium, and the Nile Valley. The Nile Delta is part of the Egyptian Mediterranean coast and stretches approximately 240 km from Alexandria at Abu Quir in the west to Port Said in the east; the Nile Fayium is a depression below the sea level formed by wind erosion 1.8 million years ago and covering approximately 12,000 km 2 ; and the Nile Valley stretches approximately 800 km from Aswan to the outskirts of Cairo (El-Shabrawy and Dumont, 2009;Dumont, 2018). The Nile region of Egypt is divided into 20 governorates, each with approximately 185 administrative centers (Fig. 1).
The Egyptian climate ranges from arid to hyper-arid, with the northern part of the Nile Delta classified as arid and the Nile Valley and southern part of the Nile Delta classified as hyper-arid. From 2012 to 2018, annual rainfall ranged between 80 and 200 mm year À1 (https://power.larc.nasa.gov/). The highest precipitation areas are found along the Mediterranean coast (e.g., around Alexandria).Summer's hot, dry season lasts from May to October (https://weather-and-climate.com).

Raw data collection
Raw data were collected through a performed questionnaire about the cultivated crops in centres of each governorate by visiting the agricultural management in each governorate of the studied area. Then these dates were verified via the Egyptian annual agricultural newspapers that were publicized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation from 2011 to 2021 for 185 centres. In addition, 24 field visits were performed covering the study area (March 2021-March 2022 to verify the collected data. In addition, checking herbarium sheets of Egyptian crops in the herbarium of the Agricultural Museum, Cairo (CAIM).

Floristic analysis and botanical characters
Crops were identified and their accepted names were verified by the author. The identification of some species was revised according to their kept herbarium sheets in Agricultural Museum Herbarium (CAIM). Growth form, flowering times and sex forms of the surveyed species were determined in the field. The main detected sex forms are bisexual, unisexual (momoecious and dioe-cious) or polygamous (Shaltout et al., 2010). Flowering times represents the season of the flowering activity of each surveyed plant, and then these parameters were verified by these references (Ammar, 2015;Ahmed et al., 2020;Ammar et al., 2020;Ammar, 2021;El-Beheiry et al., 2015). There were main four cultivation habitats of the studied crops regarding to agricultural duration: winter crop fields (yield at winter months from December to February), summer crop fields (yield at summer months from June to August, late summer or late winter crop fields (yield at spring months from March to May or Autumn months from September to November) and orchards (fruit or ornamental perennial trees). Crops propagated sexually by seeds, but they propagated asexually by one or more of these 10 methods: division (stolons and offsets), spores, plantlets, separation (bulbils, bulbs, suckers and corms), cutting, air layering, grafting, rhizomes, tissue culture and budding. Propagation methods of the surveyed species were identified and gathered by asking farmers and agricultural engineers, then verified by these reference: (Kumar, 2011;Ammar, 2015;https://resourcecentral.org/plant-propagation-methods/) and (https:// www.mastergardenproducts.com).

Global phyto-geographic regions, continental distribution and biomes
Crop flora was assessed according to Takhtajan 's system (1986) which divided the world into 35 biogeographic regions, world regions for the endemism of plant, based on the distribution of land plants (Lücking, 2003;Lomolino et al., 2017). Also, the crop distribution was evaluated in the 6 world continents; Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and North America and South America as the crop origin (Lomolino et al., 2017). Crops were evaluated in relation to their biomes, the classification of the natural vegetation groups of the world according to the distribution of climatic regions and soil types. Biomes were classified into 9 regions; arctic tudra and ice, boreal forest, temperate deciduous forest and subtropical evergreen forest, temperate grasslands, temperate rainforest, desert and semi desert, tropical deciduous forest and savanna, tropical rainforest and alpine tundra (Lomolino et al., 2017).

Floristic analysis and botanical characters
One hundred and ninety-one crop species, sub-species and varieties were recorded, from them 170 species were currently examined by the author, while 21 species were considered as a historical gap belonged to 7 families and 19 genera, they were found only as herbarium sheets in Herbarium of Agricultural Museum in Cairo (CAIM) or historical literatures (Table 1.) The 170 crop species were surveyed, belonging to 101 genera and 45 families were documented in 185 field centers along the Nile River. The most represented families were Fabaceae (19 species and sub-species of the total, followed by Poaceae (18 species and sub-species). The most recorded genera are Citrus (7 species and sub-species of the total, followed by Brassica (6 species and sub-species) ( Fig. 2a and b). The most recorded growth forms are herbaceous plants (113 species = 66.5 % of the total species), followed by trees-shrubs (39 species = 22.9 %). Agricultural habitats; winter crop field (74 species = 43.5 % from the total recorded crops), summer crop fields (58 species = 34.1 %), late summer or late winter crop fields (41 species = 24.1 %) and orchards (55 species = 32.4 %). One hundred thirty-three species in one habitat, 16 in 2 habitats and 21 in 3 ( Table 1, Appendix).
Some plants reproduce also asexually by spores. These recorded crop species are mainly bisexual (151 species = 88.8 % of the total), followed by monoecious (14 = 8.2 %), while one species reproduce asexually by spores (0.6 %) (Appendix). There is an increase in the flowering activity of the recorded species gradually from December (28.3 % of the total species) till reaching a maximum value in June (40.1 %). The period from March to June is characterized by the highest flowering activity, while the period from September to November is characterized by the lowest activity (Appendix).

Historical view
One hundred sixty-six crop species had extracted date of introducing to cultivate in Nile Region, Egypt from other countries via previous literatures and historical herbarium sheets (98.8 % of the total recorded species). There was a highest record of the Egyptian crop plants' age in the Pharaonic era (80 species = 48.2 % of the recorded species), while there was a slight crop plant introduction through the Ancient Greek civilization (7 species and sub-species), the Ptolematic era (3 species and sub-species) and the Islamic era (6). There was a slightly increasing of plant introduction through the start of the era of Mohamed Ali Family; from 1800s to 1850s (16 species = 9.6 %), then the period between 1850s and 1900s (27 species = 16.3 %), followed by (19 species = 11.4 %) in the period between 1900s and 1950s. There was a slightly deceasing of the plant introducing via the modern era; (4 species = 2.4 %) in the period between 1950s and 2000s, and also (4 species = 2.4 %) via the period more than the year 2000 ( Fig. 3, Appendix).

Economic values and Ecological benefits
The whole species in Nile region have at least one trait of the actual or potential economic values: 51 species have one use, 72 have 2 services, 33 have 3 services, 13 have 4 services and Annona cherimola have 5 services alone (Tables 1 and 2, Appendix).

Floristic analysis and botanical characters
One hundred and ninety-one crop species, sub-species and varieties have been recorded throughout the Egyptian Nile region, with 170 species (89.0 percent) currently under investigation, belonging to 101 genera and 45 families. Whereas 21 species (11.0 percent) belonged to 7 families and 19 genera, they were only found as herbarium sheets in the Herbarium of the Agricultural Museum in Cairo (CAIM) or in historical literatures. (Ammar, 2015;El-Beheiry et al., 2015) recorded only 173 crops in Egypt's Nile Delta, belonging to 44 families and 99 genera, regardless of whether these crops were widely cultivated or not. The majority of the 22 crops evaluated as historical gaps are wild species that are still used as medicinal plants or for other purposes, but are not widely cultivated as crops. e.g., Origanum vulgare and Mentha longifolia sub sp. longifolia. Fabaceae was the most represented families (11.2 percent from the currrent recorded species), followed by following Poaceae (10.6 percent). Citrus was the most commonly recorded genus (4.1 percent), followed by Brassica (3.5 percent).
According to (Ammar, 2015;El-Beheiry et al., 2015), Poaceae had the highest value (12.7 percent of total species), followed by Fabaceae (12.1 percent), and Cucumis had the highest value (4.6 percent), followed by Brassica and Citrus (4.0 percent for each). Herbaceous plants have the most recorded growth forms (66.5 percent), followed by trees and shrubs (22.9 percent). This result agreed with (Ammar, 2015;El-Beheiry et al., 2015), who found that herbaceous plants were the most abundant (71.1 percent), followed by trees and shrubs (23.9 percent). Agricultural habitats include winter crop fields (43.5 percent of all crops recorded), followed by summer crop fields (34.1 percent). According to (Ammar, 2015;El-Beheiry et al., 2015), the majority of species grow in the winter (68 percent), followed by the summer (18 percent).
The majority of crops reproduce bisexually (88.8 percent of the total). The predominance of hermaphrodites is a common feature of the world's floras (e.g. 92 percent of the British flora is hermaphrodites: (Lewis D, 1941). The flowering activity of the recorded species gradually increases from December (28.3 percent of the total species) to a maximum value in June (40.1 percent). The frequency of flowering time in the Nile Delta gradually increases from March to May, with the lowest frequency occurring from June to November (Shaltout et al., 2010). According to (El-Beheiry et al., 2015), the frequency of the flowered species radually increases from 24.8 percent in December to 44.6 percent in May. Crops were propagated sexually (86.2 percent) by seeds and asexually mostly by cutting (13.8 percent). The majority of flowering plants are propagated sexually through seeds, but some crops are propagated through at least one asexual method in addition to seeds (Said, 1994). Cuttings, layering, division, and budding or grafting were the most common asexual propagation methods. According to (El-Beheiry et al., 2015), the majority of crops in the Nile region were propagated by seeds (86.3 percent of total crops), such as Phaseolus vulgaris and Anethum graveolens, with cutting (14.5 percent, e.g., Strelitzia reginae).

Historical view
About 97.6 % of the current crops had extracted their date of introducing to the Egyptian Nile Region. There was a highest record of the Egyptian crop plants' age in the Pharaonic era (48.2 % of the recorded species). Agriculture was the backbone of the ancient Egyptian economy and was essential to the lives of the people who lived there. Agricultural practises began in the Predynastic Period in Egypt (c. 6000 -c. 3150 BCE) in the Delta Region of northern Egypt and the fertile basin known as the Faiyum, but there is evidence of agricultural use and overuse of the land dating back to 8000 BCE. Egyptians have continued to cultivate the basic strategic crops in their daily lives since the pharaohs' era until now, but they have sought to preserve their genetic origins through the ages primarily for food insurance and feeding their animals, such as Triticum aestivum, Hordeum vulgare, and Sorghum bicolor. In addition to other economic uses such as cloth and texture production (e.g., Gossypium barbadense and Linum usitatissimum) and oil extraction (e.g., Phoenix dactylifera; Manniche, 2006). According to the findings of this study, the majority of the Egyptian crop basket dates back to the Pharaonic era, indicating the relative stability of the Egyptian climate over time. As a result, eradicating poverty and hunger in Egypt is not as difficult as it is in countries where environmental and behavioural conditions are changing. B.C., when the people of the Prophet Moses asked him to replace their food with beans, onions, garlic, cucumbers, wheat and vegetables, he said to them, ''Go   It opens the pores of the liver and spleen, and it is the best and most valuable fruit, and indeed: (cuts hemorrhoids, and helps gout). Likewise, olives, because they are a fruit, a spice and a medicine from which the oil is pressed, and it is the important oils and fats for the people of some countries, and it is included in many medicines. He mentioned that they are in Mount Al-Tur in Sinai.
Sinai is located in Egypt (The Holy Quran, Surat Al-Teen: 1 and 2). The olive tree; a tree that emerges from Mount Sinai, and a tree erected in turn over the gardens. Mount Sinai means Mount El-Tur in Sinai, Egypt (he Holy Quran, Surat Al-Mu'min un: 20) (https:// quranenc.com/). In Egypt, The linen fabric was used to made from a beautiful plant with blue blossom (Linum usitatissimum). to use as cloths which wrap bodies of deads. Phoenix dactylifera, the famous date grow in the oases of Sinai. The palm tree is high, its trunk is straight, and its fronds are huge. The shape of palm fronds decorates the huge stone pillars in the capitals of ancient Egypt. Cyperus papyrus, the papyrus cane plant gave its name to the paper that was made from it since ancient times. Papyrus cane grows in the swamps of Houla in northern Palestine, as it also grows in the Nile Delta in Egypt. The papyrus grows to reach three meters in length or more and crowns its head with a hairy green flower. Egyptians used to cut the triangular stalk of papyrus and make From its peels are slices that they describe in two layers, vertically and horizontally, and press them together to make the famous paper (Patel Ellis, 2018). For thousands of years, Egyptian culture has been associated with many famous popular dishes containing recorded Egyptian crops, such as falafel; which contains: Vicia faba (Egyptian bean), Allium ampeloprasum (Kurrat), Allium cepa (Bulb onion), Allium sativum (Garlic), Petroselinum crispum (Parsley), Coriandrum sativum (Coriander) and Cuminum cyminum (Cumin). Furthermore, Egyptians are used to eat cooked Vicia lens (Lentil) and Vicia faba (Egyptian bean) as an inherited food (Abdennour, 2015;Leheta, 2015).

Economic values and Ecological benefits
For economic values; it is estimated that approximately 3.000 plant species have been used as human food throughout history, with approximately 200 having been domesticated as food crops (Simpson and Ogorzaly, 1995). In addition to the most common   (Heneidy, 2010;Soliman and Amer, 2002;Ammar, 2015;Ammar, 2021)).
Citrus aurantifolia (Key lime) is used as a source of volatile oils (limonene and linalool), citric acid, gives testy for food, medicinal purposes in folk medicine (Heneidy, 2010), while Citrus sinensis (Sweet orange) is used as a source of vitamin C., and Jasminum grandiflorum (Spanish jasmine) gives extracted oil from flowers used as perfume, and flavori (Heneidy 2010). Citrus aurantium (Bigarade orange), a beta agonist-containing agent, has been reported to help with weight loss (Preuss HG et al., 2002). Citrullus colocynthis, Mentha longifolia, Thymus vulgaris, Moringa oleifera and etc. are used as medicinal plants in a herbal drug industry (Abdel-Azim et al., 2011). Zingiber officinale has been used for centuries in many traditional systems of medicine for its diverse medicinal properties such as antiemetic, stomachic, expectorant, antiinflammatory, and aphrodisiac. It can be used to treat a variety of gastrointestinal, pulmonary, cardiovascular, and sexual disorders (Imtiyaz et al., 2013). Mentha longifolia and Punica granatum are used as anti-Helicobacter pylori medicinal plants (Hafez et al., 2020). Various bioactive components are capable of extraction from anti-parasitic medicinal plants; Vitis vinifera (Grape seed) eases the coccidiosis by lowering the regulation of oxidative stress, Olea europoea (Olive tree) enhances the anti-coccidial index. Aloe vera (Aloe leave|) exhibits considerably intestinal lesions, while Moringa oleifera (Drumstick tree) lessens oocyst number (Jamil et al., 2022).
For ecological benefits; as a result, in cultivated fields, nitrogenous compound-rich fertilisers are frequently required. Because the bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, plants with nodulating bacteria have overcome the problem of obtaining usable nitrogen (Simpson and Ogorzaly, 1995). Soybean (Glycine max L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.), improve soil quality as green manure when cycled or utilised as intercrops between cereals, depending on the region (Williams et al., 2014) and (Denton et al., 2017) and (Ma et al., 2022). Short high-temperature stress events that reduce photosynthesis and increase oxidative stress in Glycine max (soybean) resulted in non-significant losses to soybean production in the Midwest (Siebers et al., 2015).
Ten crop plant species were tested for insect and pest resistance in this study. Brassicaceae food crops, such as mustard and canola oil, share a pungent flavour that is imparted by a class of compounds known as mustard oil glycosides, or glucosinolates. While not toxic to humans in the amounts consumed, mustard oils have been shown to be toxic to insects (Simpson and Ogorzaly, 1995). Sand controllers, such as sand accumulation and windbreaks, have been observed to effectively deal with drift sand (Simpson, 1932). Ricinus communis and Phoenix dactylifera are two sand controllers that make effective wind breaks (Shaltout and Ahmed, 2012;El-Beheiry et al., 2015;Ammar, 2015;Ammar, 2021).

Global phyto-geographic regions, continental distribution and biomes
For the world endemism and global phyto-geographic regions of the recorded plants; Mediterranean and Saharan-Arabian regions were the most represented (42.9 %), then Sudano-Zambezian region (28.8 %). About the continental distribution, 63.5 % of Egyptian crops were originated from Africa and 39.7 % from Asia. Egypt's ecosystem is associated with distinct biotic regions of these continents due to its location at the crossroads of three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe). The biotic regions of the country's north (Nile Delta and Mediterranean coasts) are associated with those of the Mediterranean Basin, while the eastern part is associated with the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, and the southern (Nile Valley) is associated with the Sudanese and tropical Africa, implying that the majority of its natural flora originated in regions 6 and 7 (Ammar, 2021).
Regarding to biomes, 75.3 % species are originated in temperate deciduous forest and subtropical evergreen forest biomes, 70.0 % species in temperate grasslands, 62.9 % in desert and semidesert. As Egypt is located in temperate grassland, desert and semi-desert biomes (Lomolino et al., 2017). Thus, it is suitable for the growth of a wide range of plants, especially drought and heat tolerant plants (e.g., Carica papaya, Helianthus annuus and Phoenix dactylifera) (El-Beheiry et al., 2015;Ammar, 2021).

Conclusion
According to this assessment, the majority of the Egyptian crop basket were originated in Asia, in addition the huge introduction of them back to the Pharaonic era. All these findings indicate to the relative stability of the Egyptian climate over time. As this result, eradicating poverty and hunger in Egypt is not as difficult as it is in countries where environmental and behavioural conditions are changing, so the ability of support the sustainable development goals of the United Nations is possible obviously e.g., the first goal (no hunger) and the second goal (zero hunger) (https://aer.eu/sustainable-development-goals-engaging-regions/).

Future prospective
The future prospective is how to join distribution and cultivated areas of crop species with climate features and population percentage in each area. This will be associated with the 13th goal of sustainable development (climate action) and the life on land (the 14th goal), and this studies exactly will support the food insurance. All these findings will indirectly enhance of crop productivity the educational level, the 4th goal (good education). As the study of diversity in one side, in addition to the nature and diversity of soil in Egypt will help determining the appropriate types of crops for each kind of soil in each region. This already will promote the cultivation of the appropriate crop in the appropriate area to obtain the highest crop productivity naturally, and then provide new job opportunities and raise the standard of living, which indirectly enhances gender equality, especially in education and work (the goal 5th) (https://aer.eu/sustainable-development-goals-engaging-regions/). Current and future scientific research will support more using of the contemporary biotechnological techniques to increase the productivity of strategic crops, which increases their resilience to climatic change and emergency environments and enhances their plant and nutritional qualities, all of which will contribute to achieving the desired level of food security . In addition to the use of bio-degradable fertilizers extracted from algae and harvested plant residues, it will help increase soil fertility and reduce its desertification, which supports healthy and safe plant growth for crops with high efficiency in the face of any emergency environmental and climatic changes, so this will support the introduction of new crops to the study area and elevation of its crop diversity . Additionally, the majority of the world is now turning to the use of biodegradable materials in the cultivation of its strategic crops, such as bio herbicides, bio insecticides, and bio pesticides, which reduce soil stress and prevent the accumulation of toxic substances in the tissues of agricultural crops, particularly food, in order to achieve food security for humans and good health together within the framework of the United Nations' sustainable development goals (Aioub et al.2022) (https://aer.eu/sustainable-development-goals-engaging-regions/).

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.