growing seasons of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, in a private farm at El-Salheya El-Gedida City, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, to investigate the effect of rice straw (RS) as alternative to sandy soil (SS) and drenching applications of potassium humate (K2-HA) at 2 g/l, potassium silicate (K2SiO3) at 5 g/l, and seaweed extract (SWE) at 0.5 g/l on improving growth of sweet pepper (capsicum annuum L.) plants under deficit irrigation every 2 (I2), 3 (I3) and 4 (I4) days in addition to daily irrigation (I1) as control. Plant samples were taken at 90 days after transplanting to record leaf area, shoot fresh and dry weights, in addition to, determination of leaf relative water content (LRWC), concentrations of  N, P, K and Ca. Mean values of drenching applications showed significant increase in the growth parameters ;shoot fresh and dry weights, leaf area, LRWC, as well as, concentrations of  N, P and Ca in the two seasons comparing to untreated control and the best results were due to K2-HA followed by SWE then K2SiO3. The highest concentration of  K was obtained by K2SiO3 followed by K2-HA then SWE. Plants were grown on RS showed significant increase in LRWC comparing to plants were grown on SS. Plants were applied with I2+ K2-HA+ SS showed the highest significant value of shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, leaf area, N, P and Ca concentrations followed by I2+SWE+SScomparing to control plants applied with I1+ SS without drenching applications. Plants were grown on RS showed significant increase in growth parameters comparing with control plants but less than those were grown on SS. The best results were achieved by I3 + K2-HA+ RS, I3 + SWE+ RS, I4 + K2-HA+ RS. Plants were grown on rice strawunderI3 irrigation and applied with K2-HA or SWE showed significant increase in N, P and Ca concentrations, while, under I4  irrigation an increase in N and P concentrations was obtained by K2-HA.The highest concentrations of k were observed with plants grown on SS under the highest level of irrigation deficit I4 by K2SiO3.It could be concluded from the present study that rice straw could alleviate the negative effect of low water supply and applications of K2-HA and SWE are recommended for enhancing sweet pepper growth and nutrient elements uptake under water deficit conditions.

This investigation was carried out to study the effect of calcium chloride and storage period on fruit quality of Golden delicious apple cv. Collected at mature stage from private farm at Elbeida region. The fruits were stored at refrigerators of Horticultural Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Omar Al-Mukhtar University. Through the growing season of 2014/2015. The University, through 0.5 and 1% treatments contained three CaCl2 concentrations vis. 0, at five storage periods (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) weeks. Obtained results revealed that using CaCl2 at both concentrations improved most fruit quality parameters throughout storage periods.

The present Avian Influenza epidemic in Egypt is consider one of the major problems facing the poultry field and caused by circulation of genetically and antigenetically diverse influenza H5N1 viruses. This problem is controlled by applying vaccination. The objective was to determine the AI H5 recombinant vaccines efficacy (rHVT-H5, rFP-AI-H5 (Scotland and Ireland), k rND-AI and k rBuc-AI+ND) against classical and variant field HPAI H5N1 viruses in comparison to the traditionally inactivated whole AI virus vaccines as K R H5N1 / Egy, k H5N2 and k combined AI+ND vaccines. A single dose of the different types of vaccines either recombinant or inactivated whole virus vaccines was administered at different ages of chicken. Eight chicken groups were vaccinated with 8 vaccines and challenged after 4 weeks post vaccination to measure the protection %. Fecal and tracheal swabs were taken after 2 day post challenge to detect viral shedding. It was found that, live rFP-AI-H5 of both Scotland and Ireland strains induced poor clinical protection with high level of virus shedding. While, inactivated rND-AI, live rHVT-H5 and inactivated rBuc-AI+ND vaccines induced high protection rates ranged from 86.7% to 93.3% against both classical and variant HPAI viruses with a decrease or suppression of viruses shedding. In a parallel way, the inactivated whole virus AI vaccines either K R H5N1 / Egy, k H5N2 or k AI+ND induced a protection rates ranged from 85.7% to 100% with a high decrease in virus shedding levels. The data clearly indicate that inactivated whole AI virus and inactivated recombinant vaccines confers high levels of clinical protection with suppression in viral shedding compared to that of live recombinant vaccines except rHVT-H5 vaccine which induce a great level of protection and decrease in viral shedding in SPF chicken.

The response of different concentrations of α-amylase and ascorbic acid on rheological characteristics of weak wheat flour was studied by the three dimension polynomial quaternary model. Flour physicochemical characteristics, dough extensogram, bread texture profile analysis and sensory properties of pan bread were determined. All-purpose flour was treated by fungal α-amylase and ascorbic acid compared with strong flour which using for pan bread production, and then investigates differences of dough extensograms and pan bread quality characteristics. Predicting individual extensograph parameters (Y) was assumed by quadratic polynomial regression model for the independent variables (fungal α-amylase concentrations or ascorbic acid concentrations (X)) to optimize the extensograph parameters (Y) used regression analysis. Three-dimension contour plot was used as a method to study the response surface of different extensograph parameters (Y) as dependent variables with fungal α-amylase concentration and ascorbic acid concentration (X and Z) as independent variables. The obtained optimum predicting concentrations were verified, by using applied extensograph trials and then manufacturing pan bread. Using optimal predictive fungal α-amylase and ascorbic acid concentration levels give accepted extensogram parameters relationship r2 values and good pan bread quality, fit to the strong flour characteristics.

In this study, chemical and bio-control agents were  evaluated for their efficiency to control of  citrus fruit-rot disease  caused Alternaria citri  (K2) both, in vitro and in vivo trials. The most effective fungicides were score, montro and Iprodione compared with other fungicides depend on Ec50 and Ec90. While, the fungicide Pyraclostrobine had moderate effect on linear growth of A.  citri. Meanwhile, the Coprax, Coprareekh and Azoxystrobine were the least effective fungicide at Ec90.  Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtilis tested showed antagonistic action effect to a highly pathogenic isolate of Alternaria citri, with different degrees of inhibition. T. harzianum was the most effective compared with B. subtilis, in vitro trials. Also, all fungicides were evaluated on incidence of citrus fruit rot disease in vivo trials.  The disease incidence was reduced, but with different degrees. In addition, using T. harzianum, B. subtilis, B. megaterium (Bio-ARC) and Trichoderma   album (Bio-Zeid) decreased    incidence of citrus fruit rot disease. On the other side, T. harzianum showed the highest suppressive effect against citrus fruit rot pathogen. Generally, all tested fungicides and bio-agents were effective against the causal fungus in vitro and in vivo trials, but with different degrees.

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth of tomato transplants irrigated with saline water in a commercial soilless potting media amended with fermented clover produced by anaerobic fermentation of a mixture of clover and water for different periods (1, 2 and 3 weeks). Treatments were distributed in completely randomized factorial design included three salinity levels in irrigation water (260, 1000 and 2000 mg l-1) without and with fermented clover corresponding to 0, 10, 20 and 30% of the substrate (1peat: 1perlite: 1vermiculite) by volume. Plant height (cm), number of leaves, vegetative fresh and dry weights (g) per plant were recorded 35 days after sowing. The obtained results showed that the mean values of the aforementioned parameters were increased due to the incorporation of clover-based amendment with higher pronounced effect recorded for fermented clover as compared to non-fermented clover. The highest values were obtained due to the incorporation of three weeks fermented clover at 20% mixing percentage followed by 30%. There were significant differences among water salinity treatments; fresh water (260 mg l-1) recorded the highest vegetative growth of tomato transplants. Furthermore, fermented clover alleviated the salt stress on transplants and increased the growth parameters under saline water irrigation. These results suggested that clover can be used for producing organic tomato transplants, instead of imported media, supporting by fermentation to enhance the ability of clover to supplement the transplants with the nutrient needs and cope the salinity condition.

Wady El Natroun high way (Beer Hooker Area) in a private orchard in a sandy soil under drip irrigation system with saline water.  in 2015 and 2016 seasons. Chinese tangerine (Citrus tangerine) transplant were budded on three rootstocks namely sour orange (Citrus aurantum, mion), volkamer lemon (Citrus volkameriana, Tem) and X639 hybrid between (Cleopatra mandarin × Ponicurus trifoliata) grown under saline conditions to study the effect of foliar  application of antioxidants namely ascorbic and salicylic acid on vegetative growth and leaf mineral contents. Results showed that, Volkamer lemon rootstock surpassed sour orange and x639 rootstocks under saline conditions, the highest incremental percentage young tree height, stem diameter, number of leaves per shoot and leaf area were registered by Chinese tangarine scion budded on Volkamer lemon rootstock. Among selected antioxidants ascorbic acid at the concentrations of 800 ppm recorded the highest significant values for vegetative growth parameters and surpassed salicylic acid. Also Chinese mandarin scion budded on volkamer lemon accumulated the highest concentrations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus(P), magnesium(Mg), and chloride (Cl-) and the lowest concentration of sodium (Na+). Chinese mandarin scion budded on sour orange rootstock accumulated the highest concentrations of potassium (K) while Chinese tangerine scion budded on x639 accumulated the highest concentrations of sodium (Na).

Members of the genus Salmonella are among the microbial pathogens associated with dangerous infection. The increased of Salmonella spp. antibiotic resistance has propelled the need of alternate therapeutic methods or strategies. Bacteriophage forms one of these alternate strategies. Six lytic bacteriophages infecting Salmonella Typhimurium were isolated from sewage drain water. Phages were purified biologically by single plaque assay and concentrated using the ultracentrifugation. The phage isolates were named Ø SM, Ø SF, Ø SG, Ø SP, Ø SA and Ø SD. Morphological characters of Salmonella phages showed that all the phage isolates belong to family Myoviridae. All phage isolates were highly stable at room temperature, storage at refrigerator temperature and had thermal inactivation point ranged from 90 to 98 °C. Phages were stable at pH conditions ranging from pH 4 to 12. Phages did not lose their infectivity after exposure to UV for 90 min. at 35 cm and 53 cm distance. The host range of the isolated phages was found that the phages had narrow host range. Phage cocktail with different MOI was used to control Salmonella Typhimurium in vitro. Data revealed that addition of phage cocktail at MOI 10 reduced the Salmonella cells with rate 98.2 % after 4 hrs. from addition.   introduction   Salmonella spp. belong to family Enterobacteriaceae and widely distributed in nature and often found in the intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals and humans,where they asymptomatically colonize and multiply (Newell & Fearnley, 2003 and Doyle & Erickson, 2006). More than 2,500 serotypes of Salmonella exist and the most prevalent and important Salmonella enterica serotypes reported worldwide are Enteritidis and Typhimurium. These are responsible for 99 % of Salmonellosis in humans and warm-blooded animals. The most common symptoms of Salmonella infection is non-bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps (Bell and Kyriakides, 2002). Due to foodborne infections by Salmonella are obtained through ingesting contaminated food or water, (Abd El-Aziz, 2013 ) detected high incidence of Salmonella Typhimurium , one of the most frequently isolated serovars from food borne outbreaks throughout the world, in retail raw chicken meat and giblets in Egypt. Bacteriophages are considered an effective weapon against pathogenic bacteria. As a result of development resistant bacteria against antibiotics because of their repeated usage,  bacteriophages are used as a safe alternative to control pathogenic bacteria (Abramia et al 2016). In addition, offer a great advantage over antibiotics. First, bacteriophages are specific and target only the pathogens of interest, so the normal gut microflora are not affected. Second, bacteriophages are self-replicating in the bacterial host and lyse bacteria. (Connerton and Connerton, 2005). This paper aims to investigate the incidence of lytic bacteriophages specific for Salmonella in sewage water and study the posibility of their application for controling the Salmonella in vitro.

Red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Oliver, 1790), Order; Coleoptera, Family; Curculionidae, is considered as the biggest threat facing date palm cultivators. The larva feed on trunk tender tissue and can cause palm death within 6-8 months after infection. Insect gut harbors a community of bacteria that lives in an endosymbiotic relationship with the insect and it is strongly evident that it plays a key role in insect life. Deciphering and identification of insect microbiota could lead to the development of new symbiotiont-based control approaches. In this work we studied the diversity of the endosymbiont bacterial community of red palm weevil larval midgut in Egypt, by using Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE), based on 16S rRNA genes PCR amplification. We used three groups of field caught larva sampled from two different places; El-Badrashin and Agricultural Research Center (ARC) in Giza governorate, Egypt. DGGE profiling patterns has shown the relative prevalence of bacterial phylotypes  affiliated to family Firmicute; Leuconostoc lactis, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus nagelli and bacterial phylotypes affiliated to family Actinobaceria; Cellulomonas cellasea, Bifidobacterium minimum, which suggest that they have a potential role in nutrition, physiology and immunomodulation of the insect.

This study aimed to evaluate hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities of Spirulina Platensis and its bioactive components (phycocyanin (PC), phycocyanopeptide (PCP) and phycocyanobilin (PCB)) on male diabetic Rats compared to controls and glibenclamide drug. For this reason, male Albino rats were equally divided into seven groups designated as normal control, diabetic control, diabetic + glibenclamide (Glyburide) drug (600 µg kg−1 body weight), diabetic + Spirulina biomass suspension (50 mg/ml/ kg−1 body weight), diabetic + phycocyanin (50 mg kg−1 body weight), diabetic + phycocyanopeptide (49 mg kg−1 body weight) and diabetic + phycocyanobilin (982 µg kg−1 body weight). The results show a statistically significant reduction (P < 0.05) level of fasting blood glucose, insulin resistance and lipids levels in diabetic animals administration with Spirulina Platensis, phycocyanin, phycocyanopeptide and phycocyanobilin compared with diabetic control.  Also, there were an increase in HDL–cholesterol levels and β-cell function in these treatments. Histopathologically, diabetic rats treated with spirulina, PC, PCP induced a slight improve of pancreatic cells and an obvious recovery of pancreatic cells.  The expression of insulin secretion from cells (β-cells) of diabetic rats was improved in the groups treated with Spirulina, phycocyanin, phycocyanopeptide. While, diabetic rats treated with phycocyanobilin recorded insulin levels lower than them.  From this study it can be concluded that Spirulina Platensis, phycocyanin, phycocyanopeptide and phycocyanobilin possessed hypoglycemic, insulin sensitivity and hypolipidemic effects. Hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of Spirulina Platensis may be attributed to phenolic compounds and phycocyanin. The antidiabetic effect of PC is most likely due to its ability to reduction of insulin resistance, enhance β-cell function and recovery of β-cells. The effect of PC may be attributed to selenium-binding phycocyanopeptide or/ and phycocyanobilin responsible for the antioxidant activity and chromium-binding phycocyanopeptide which activates insulin receptors.