Imidacloprid is a systematic neonicotinoid widely used to combat piercing-sucking insects; however, neonicotinoids, despite having low effects on vertebrates, showed high adverse effects on honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). Glutathione-S-transferases (GST) are an important constituent of the defense system in detoxifying invading chemicals. This work examines the effects of imidacloprid on GST activity in vivo and in vitro conditions. Results revealed that there are two responses of GST activity toward IMI treatment; first, stimulation of enzyme activity to combat and detoxify the insecticide. Second, direct inhibition of GST, which is confirmed by the in vitro inhibition with IC50 887.42 ppm. At a short exposure time to IMI (2 hours) at an IMI concentration of 0.35 ppm, the enzyme was stimulated up to 113% while increasing exposure time or IMI concentration, the inhibition effect dominates.

Heat stress is an environmental problem that can negatively impact tomato productivity by reducing fruit setting and disrupting pollen development. The present study aims to understand the molecular mechanism of heat tolerance induced by L-ascorbic acid. Plants were grown in the summer of 2022 (day and night temperatures were 34.4°C and 25.2°C respectively). The plants were divided into two groups: one was sprayed with L-ascorbic acid (0.5 mM) and the other served as a control. Growth parameters, antioxidant enzymes, proline, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde levels in the leaves were determined. Additionally, a molecular docking allowed understanding the interaction between the antioxidant enzymes and L-ascorbic acid. Results indicated that L-ascorbic acid increased antioxidant enzyme activities (catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase), proline content, fruit setting and growth indicators (shoot and root fresh and dry weight). It also reduced hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde levels in tomato leaves. Furthermore, the in-silico analysis revealed that L-ascorbic acid binding energies toward antioxidant enzymes were similar to those of known activators. In conclusion, foliar application of L-ascorbic acid (0.5 mM) effectively mitigated heat stress effects, activating antioxidant enzymes and eliminating reactive oxygen species, ultimately resulting in increased fruit setting.

This investigation was performed during the 2018 and 2019 seasons in a private vineyard to study the effect of calcium, magnesium fertigation and molybdenum foliar sprays on the yield and fruit quality of Flame seedless table grape cultivar. The experimental layout was arranged in a split-plot design. All treatments were applied on three dates: after the bud burst stage, at the fruit set stage and veraison stage. The results showed that the combined application of 30 Kg calcium with 20 Kg magnesium fertigation and foliar spraying of 30 ppm molybdenum was the most effective among all treatments in terms of enhancing vegetative growth characteristics, increasing leaf content of total chlorophylls and mineral elements as well as improving yield and fruit quality attributes.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of organic, NPK, and biofertilizers on the yield of two cowpea varieties grown under arid land conditions. Two cultivars of cowpea (Karim-7 and Dokki-331) were evaluated using different fertilizer types. The fertilizers examined were organic (farmyard manure (FYM) and chicken manure (CHM)) and biofertilizers (effective microorganisms (EM1) and technology of smart fertilizer (TS)) in addition to NPK treatments (NPK (50 kg/fed), NPK (100 kg/fed), EM1 (15 m3.fed-1) + NPK (50 kg/fed), TS (15 m3.fed-1) + NPK (50 kg/fed). A randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 16 treatments and three replications was used to set up the experiment. The measured yield parameters were seed number/plant, pod length, seed number/pod, pod number/plant, dry yield/plant, dry yield/m2, bio yield, pod weight, 100-seed weight, and grain yield. The results cleared that the cultivar dokki-331 under EM1 biofertilizer + NPK (50 kg/fed) combination treatment was the superior practice for increasing all studied traits.

Using integrated in silico and in vitro experiments, the antiviral capabilities of green tea and licorice extracts were evaluated against the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). It was noted that the number of induced necrotic local lesions of TMV decreased by increasing extract concentrations and thus it is considered concentration dependent on the extracts’ active compounds. Properties of eleven compounds belonging to licorice and green tea were obtained from databases to examine their activities in silico. A molecular docking simulation was performed between these agents and the protein coat of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The highest effective compounds were glycyrrhetic acid, liquiritin and EGCG. ADMET studies revealed good overall properties of nine non-toxic compounds based on their predicted pharmacokinetic, physicochemical, drug-likeness and toxic properties. Based on docking energy and mode of interaction, these compounds showed strong binding with the protein coat of TMV. The antiviral effect may be due to the most effective compounds with the highest affinity namely glycyr-rhetic acid, liquiritin and isoliquiritin. As a conclusion, the promising value of our titled extracts is the anti-TMV activity and pharmacokinetic and physicochemical properties of their active constituents.

The Red and White pakestanian mulberry cultivars and Baladi mulberry trees were propagated by using medium hardwood cuttings pre-pared in November, December and January, and treated with the growth regulators IBA and NAA (0, 2000, 4000 and 6000 ppm) during 2020 and 2021 seasons. The hardwood cuttings treatment was planted in wooden frames inside the greenhouse in a cultivation medium consisting of peat moss and sand (1:3 v/v respectively). Data showed that Baladi mulberry cultivar gave the highest values of rooting percentage while the White Pakestanian gave the highest values for the number of roots per cutting. Concerning growth regulator treatments, IBA at 6000 gave the highest significant number of roots per cutting followed by NAA at 6000 ppm. In the interaction between the two studied factors, the highest rooting percentage was found by NAA at 6000 ppm for Baladi and White cultivars. While the highest values of root number and root length were resulted by IBA at 6000 ppm followed by NAA at 6000 ppm for Baladi and White mulberry cultivars. The C/N ratio in Baladi and White cultivars cuttings was highest in hardwood cuttings prepared in November. While the values of C/N ratio in Red mulberry cultivar cuttings were highest in hardwood cuttings prepared in January.

The research was conducted to assess the impact of various organic and inorganic fertilizers on the growth and yield of Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) var. Calcuttia Single using a randomized complete block design with eight treatments including vermicompost, farmyard manure, poultry manure, charcoal, NPK fertilizer, and their combinations in triplicates. Measurements of vegetative and reproductive parameters were recorded at 35, 55 and 85 DAT. Results revealed that compared to the control, poultry manure and vermicompost, singly or combined with NPK, significantly enhanced both vegetative and reproductive traits. Poultry manure resulted in the tallest plants (126.21 cm), the highest number of branches (29.93), and the largest flowers (14.11 cm diameter), with the earliest flowering (51.33 days). Vermicompost showed effectiveness in plant height (117.37 cm), number of branches (28.80), plant spread (81.43 cm) and flower number (40.47) The control plot exhibited the least effectiveness in all parameters. These findings highlight the significant role of organic fertilizers in enhancing the growth and yield of Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) var. Calcuttia Single.

Tillage as one of the agricultural practices consumes the largest amount of energy, which reflects on the total production cost. The artificial neural network (ANN) technique was utilized in the current study to opti-mize the performance of the tillage process. The ANN-modeled multilayer perceptron network with a backpropagation learning algorithm and momen-tum term was used by the PYTHON program. The ANN inputs were: the implement type, soil texture, moisture, bulk density, width, speed, and depth. The draught was the output (kN). Five layers composed the ANN model's optimal configuration (13-64-16-4-1). The linear and rectified linear units (ReLU) functions were utilized with hidden layers and the output layer, re-spectively. Momentum term and learning rate were 0.00003 and 0.9 respec-tively. The iteration number was 1000 epochs and stopped at 290 epochs. The coefficient of determination in the test datasets was high (0.92) while the difference between actual and predicted output was low (2.08). Bulk den-sity and depth were the main determinants of the draft. The evaluation of the developed model for chisel, moldboard, and disk plow gave satisfactory re-sults of 0.985, 0.924, and 0.917. In comparison to the ANNs, the regression model's correlation coefficient for predicting draught force was the lowest (0.373).

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is the second sugar crop for sugar production after sugar cane worldwide. This plant is subjected to the infestation of several insect pests that cause considerable damage, especially leafhoppers, that can transmit phytopathogens (e.g., phytoplasma). In this work, we identified and described the leafhopper, Hebata (Alboneurasca) decipiens, in addition to the detection and molecular identification of Candidatus Phytoplasma that was transmitted by this leafhopper on sugar beet plants from naturally infected sugar beet plants to an uninfected one. The 16S rDNA gene from phytoplasma was amplified by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and directly sequenced using specific primer pairs DNA fragments. The resulting sequences were analyzed and compared with another phytoplasma sequence available at GenBank sequences performing BLAST using DNAMAN.

This work aims to examine the quality features of functional cam-el ice cream (8% fat) prepared by replacing the cream with a solid milk fat fraction (SMF), a liquid milk fat fraction (LMF) and LMF: SMF (2:1 v/v) in the ice cream mixtures. All samples were assessed for their physiochemical and rheological characteristics and the sensory quality of the ice cream mixtures and resulting ice cream. The results clarified that the type of milk fat fraction affected the viscosity of the ice cream mixtures. Also, the whipping ability decreased gradually with the increasing slip melting point of the fraction used. The use of SMF in the ice cream mix decreased the adsorption of protein and fat destabilization, characterized by the slowest melting compared to ice cream with other milk fat sources. The highest and lowest hardness values were found in ice cream mixtures made with SMF and LMF, respectively. In conclusion, ice cream was successfully made by replacing the milk cream fat fractions. Cream substitution with SMF followed by LMF: SMF (2:1 v/v) is recommended in arid and semi-arid regions and improved the whipping ability, overrun, and flavor scores, which were lower when using SMF.