BACKGROUND: Biological control of parasites by using entomopathogen fungi is the one of the recommended ways to control them instead of using the chemical agents. Entomopathogen fungi are not pathogenic for animals and plants, while ticks are one of the most important parasites of animals that can transmit very important microbial pathogens. Ixodes ricinus is a hard tick that infests animals and human. OBJECTIVES: This study demonstrated enzyme assay of entomopathogen fungi hosted on Ixodes ricinus.  METHODS: Enzymatic activities of chitinase, lipase and protease of fungal structures on the killed tick bodies have been assayed by standard sphectrophotometric methods.  RESULTS: Chitinase, lipase and protease activities showed significant differences among different fungal strains (p<0.05). This research, which was done for first time in Iran demonstrated the effect of some enzymes which affect on acaricidal  properties of native strain of entomopathogenic fungi  in Iran. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals the relationship between enzyme level of fungal strains and  the possibility of selecting more effective strains of entomopathogenic fungi

The objective of this study was to determine the potential of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus 109J as an alternative non-chemotherapeutic treatment of infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK). To accomplish this, various parameters of B. bacteriovorus predation of Moraxella bovis were determined in vitro. Initial passage of B. bacteriovorus using M. bovis as prey required 10 d for active cultures to develop compared with 2 d for culture on normal Escherichia coli prey; however by the 5th passage, time to active predatory morphology was reduced to 2 d. This high passage B. bacteriovorus culture [1 × 10(10) plaque forming units (PFU)/mL] killed 76% of M. bovis [1 × 10(7) colony forming units (CFU)/mL] present in suspension broth in a 4 h assay. The minimal level of M. bovis supporting B. bacteriovorus predation was 1 × 10(4) CFU/mL. To assess the ability of B. bacteriovorus to kill M. bovis on an epithelial surface mimicking IBK, an in vitro assay with Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells inoculated with 4 × 10(7) CFU/mL M. bovis was used. Treatment with a B. bacteriovorus suspension (1.6 × 10(11) PFU/mL) decreased adherence of M. bovis to MDBK cells by 6-fold at 12 h of treatment, as well as decreased the number of unattached M. bovis cells by 1.4-fold. This study demonstrates that B. bacteriovorus has potential as an effective biological control of M. bovis at levels likely present in IBK-infected corneal epithelia and ocular secretions.

In the first time has been lead the ecological monitoring of sources of water supply of a pig-breeding complex and adjoining human settlements on seasons of year and to develop a method of improvement of water quality for giving to drink pigs. Scientific novelty consists that for the first time in Belarus ecological monitoring of sources of water supply in the conditions of a pig-breeding complex and human settlements adjoining to it is made. Influence of large pig-breeding object on quality of water of the occluded water sources is studied. It is positioned microbial contamination waters depending on remoteness from cattle-breeding object and a season of year