Twenty one mite species belonging to 3 suborders and 11 families were found in grain residues and mixed flour samples collected from warehouses and mills at Great Cairo. They were 12 pest species, 7 predatory and 2 parasitic species. Species commonly found in all inspected materials at all locations were Dermatophagoides farinae Hughes, Tyrophagous putrescentiae (Sch.) and Cheyletus malaccensis Oud. However Acrus siro (Lin), Acarophenax tribolii (New.) and Pyemotes herfsi (Oud.) were often abundant. The remaining species occurred sporadically in the collected materials. Actinedid and acaridid mites were “dominant” and “constant” in mixed flour and grain residues samples, the second group was the most abundant. Whereas gamasid mites was “recedent” and “accidental”. Mixed flour taken from Qaliobia Governorate harboured the highest number of mite species (15 species) followed by grain residues from Giza Governorate (13 species). While grain residues taken from Cairo Governorate harboured the lowest number (5 species).The highest infestation level with mites (2677.3 individuals) was recorded in mixed flour at Qaliobia Governorate, while the lowest one (1067 individuals) was found in grain residues at Cairo Governorate. Generally, mixed flour harboured more mite species than grain residues. Most of the collected mite species occurred during autumn and winter except P. herfsi and A. tribolii which were recorded during spring and summer, respectively. Dominance and frequency of occurrence, population fluctuations, effect of temperature and relative humidity on the population dynamics, also the relation between the predators and pests of mites were discussed in details.

Larval parasitoids of the potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella Zell. were surveyed in potato and tomato fields in Menofyia Governorate in 2003. Three species were found to attack P. operculella larvae infesting potato plants; the endoparasitoids, Apanteles litae var. operculellae Nixon and Diadegma molliplum Hlmgrn. and the ectoparasitoid, Bracon instabilis Marshal. Meanwhile, only B.instabilis was found to attack the larvae infesting tomato leaves. Percentages of parasitism in potato fields averaged 10.8, 5.6 and2.6 % by B.instabilis, A.litae and D.molliplum, respectively. The total percentages of parasitism by the three species ranged from 11.0 to 28.6 % with an average of 19.1 % in potato field, while it ranged in tomato fields from 0.0 to 21.4 % with an average of 11.1 % by B. instabilis

Several nurseries of olives in Fayoum and Giza were surveyed for root rot incidence during early summer of 2003. In Fayoum, root rot incidence reached 53% while in Giza, disease incidence was 44%. Disease symptoms consist of partial wilting, leaves browning and twig dieback, which was associated with severe root rot and basal stem cankers and followed, in most cases, by plant decline and death. The most frequently isolated fungi from rotted roots were Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani, F. moniliforme, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Cylindrocarpon sp.  and Alternaria alternata. Isolation frequency of different fungi varied among olive cultivars. Generally, Fusarium spp. were the most frequently isolated  pathogens and Fusarium oxysporum was the most frequent (35.5%) on all cultivars followed by F. solani (19.3%) R. solani (16.1%). Meanwhile, S. rolfsii, F. moniliforme, Cylindrocarpon sp. and A. alternata occurred at lowfrequencies. Pathogenicity tests showed that all tested isolates caused varied degrees of root rot symptoms on olive transplants, cvs. Manzanillo and Picual. Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani and R. solani caused the highest root rot incidence and severity on both cultivars. There was a positive correlation between disease severity on roots and severity of foliar symptoms. All evaluated olive cultivars were susceptible or extremely susceptible to fungal pathogens. All cultivars showed high disease severity with root rots, especially in response to infection by F. solani, F. oxysporum and S.  rolfsii. However, the least foliar symptoms were recorded on cultivar Coratina. Application of two commercial biological control products (Rhizo-Plus and Trichoderma 2000) to soil, 24h before planting olive cuttings in the nursery, significantly reduced incidence of root rot on transplants of cultivars Manzanillo and Picual, up to 28 weeks after planting

Proline’s content was estimated in different organs of durum wheat; dry wheat seeds (caryopsis), seeds during germination, second and third leave’s level in different degrees of water alimentation: 75%, 50.0, 42.5, 35.0, 25.0 and 12.5% of the field capacity. Four genotypes of durum wheat Triticum durum DESF were studied from three different origins; Algeria, France and Mexico. Results showed that proline’s content was low in dry wheat and in seeds during germination, and increased by decrease of water supplies. This amino acid estimation during experimentation, allowed us to classify the studied genotypes into 3 main groups: - Genotypes with high proline accumulation (Mexicali). - Genotypes with low proline accumulation (Clairdoc). - Two intermediate genotypes MBB and OZ. These differences among genotypes can be exploited in parietal selection with relation towater deficit.

Four different date palm male types were chosen to evaluate which male could be recommended to use as a pollinator for Barhi date palm cv. grown in Egypt. Three male types namely Ghanamy, Fard and Boyr were grown in the Fruit Trees Experimental Station at Dibba, Fojaira, UAE, and the fourth male was an individual Sewy satellite seedling grown in Egypt. Number of spathe/palm; spathe weight, length, & width ; pollen grains weight / spathe ; average of strand length as well as pollen grains germination % were determined for each male date palm tree from each male type . Moreover, pollen grains from each male type were used as a pollinator to evaluate their effect on fruit set and fruit quality of Barhi date palm cv. This study was carried out during both 2004&2005 seasons. Data showed that both Ghanamy and Fard male type were superior in their morphological characters as compared with Boyr or Sewy satellite seedling male type. Boyr male type showed the lowest values of morphological characters. On the other hand, there were no great differences in pollen grains germination percentage. Moreover, the results clearly indicated that Ghanamy pollen recorded the highest significant fruit set percentage and bunch weight (Kg) in both seasons of study. While, Fard pollen produced the highest fruit weight (g), length, diameter, flesh weight& thickness and flesh %. Boyr and Sewy pollen showed the highest ratio of fruit length / diameter in both seasons. Data also revealed that dates that were picked from bunches pollinated with Fard pollen had the highest total soluble salts (T.S.S) value and the lowest tannins content.

The effect of both beekeeping processes (compressed bees Cb and traditional beekeeping Tb) and food diets (vitamins mixed with pollen grains, pollen grains only and plain sugar syrup) on the colony build up were studied during February – April, 2004, at the apiary belonging to Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University. Feeding colonies with supplementary vitamins plus pollen grains resulted after four brood cycles significantly high daily rates of rearing brood (523 and 434 brood cells for Cb and Tb, respectively) and drawing combs (4.31 and 1.61 combs for Cb and Tb, respectively) compared to either unique pollen grains (432 and 338 brood cells and 3.2 and 1.19 combs for Cb and Tb, respectively) or plain sugar syrup (313 and 219 brood cells and 2.1 and 0.79 combs for Cb and Tb, respectively). On the other hand, the worker’s longevity recorded vice versa which were 21.2  26.2, 23.8 days for colonies fed on vitamins plus pollen grains, pollen grains and sugar syrup, respectively. The colonies which fed on vitamins plus pollen grains, pollen grains and plain sugar syrup, their workers were hoarded 236, 220 and 191 mg of sugar syrup / 3 days, respectively.

Lake Manzala in Egypt have shown great changes in water properties including pH (7.4 to 8.4), total suspended solids (19 to 350 mg/l), total dissolved salts (1578 to 33480 mg/l), dissolved oxygen (2.25 to 8.45 mg/l), ammonia (0.00 to 44.8 mg/l) and nitrate (0.00 to 8.96 mg/l). In addition there has been quite high bacterial density in water and fish of the lake, including total viable bacterial counts and indicator organisms such as total coliforms, faecal coliforms and some other organisms such as Aeromonas spp., Vibrio spp. and Staphylococcus spp. However, the magnitude number of bacteria in water and fish was found to vary sometimes considerably and sometimes slightly depending on the site of sampling. Our results herein showed that LakeManzala is highly contaminated.

A total of 174 actinomycete cultures were isolated from a constructed biological water treatment system (BIOWATSYST)established at Abu Attwa station in Ismailia city, Egypt and funded by the European Commission Grant No.IC18-CT97-0163. The isolates were identified to belong to eight genera; Nocardia, Streptomyces, Intrasporangium, Micromonospora, Nocardioides, Actinomadura, Nocardiopsis, and Thermomonospora.  They were screened for their antibacterial, antifungal and cytotoxic activities against certain human and plant pathogens. Antimicrobial activities were determined by measuring bacterial and fungal growth inhibitions while cytotoxic activity was studied by using the Artemia salina bioassay. Thirty two percent of isolated cultures displayed antibacterial activity, 15% displayed antifungal activity and 9% displayed cytotoxic activity. Members of genus Streptomyces has recorded as the most frequent active isolates against tested bacteria (42%) and fungi (49%). However, the most cytotoxic activity was found with members of genus Nocardia (46%).  Results evaluated the fact that actinomycetes isolated from such systems could be considered as promising source for antimicrobial and cytotoxic bioactive agents.

This study was conducted for comparing three slow release N fertilizers namely, sulphur-coated urea (SCU), phosphorus – coated urea (PCU) and Enciabene with the conventional fast release N fertilizer namely ammonium nitrate each at the recommended rate of N i.e., 1000 g N/tree/year for growth characters on the three growth flushes, percentages of leaf N, P and K in the Spring growth cycle, date of first bloom, number of panicles/tree, fruit retention %, yield as well as physical and chemical characters of fruits in two mango cvs Figri Kelan and Keitt during 2004 and 2005 seasons. Results showed that suppling the trees of both mango cvs with the three slow release N fertilizers were superior to the application of the fast one in improving shoot length, number of leaves / shoot and leaf area in the three growth cycles, percentages of leaf N, number of panicles / tree as well as physical and chemical properies of the fruits. The slow release N fertilizers slightly advanced first bloom date. Application of sulphur-coated urea (SCU), phosphorus-coated urea (PCU) and Enciabene (ENC) in a descending order, was very favorable in this connection. These results were true for both mango cvs. It is suggested to fertilize the trees of both mango cvs Figri Kelan and Keitt with N at 1000g/tree/year as sulphur-coated urea fertilizer (2.4 Kg/tree/year) for obtaining an economical yield with fairly good fruit quality

The nine most frequent bacterial strains out of 127 were isolated form ten drinking water samples collected from tap water and bottled water in sharqia governorate. The nine isolates were purified and examined for their resistance to increasing concentrations of two heavy metal ions, lead (Pb+2) and iron (Fe+3). Four stains out of the nine isolates encoded I, II, IV, and VIII showed the highest efficiency of both Pb+2 and Fe +3 uptake from nutrient broth media containing 100 ppm of the heavy metal ions. The four bacteria were preliminary identified and then confirmed by the Biolog examination as Corynebacterium jeikeium, Pseudomonas putida biotype A, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Acidovorax delafieldii. The increased concentrations of Pb+2 ions (from 100 to 500 ppm) in nutrient broth media had deleterious effect on the process of heavy metal uptake (biosorption) by all the four selected isolates. Whereas percentage of Pb+2 uptake decreased from 42.9 to 24%; from 72.6 to 42%, from 78.9 to 37% and from 68.8 to 45%, for the four selected isolates, respectively. Meanwhile there was slight decrease change in Fe+3 uptakes percentage accompanying the increase in heavy metal ion concentration. Optimization of the cultural conditions releaved maximum uptake op pb+2 and Fe+3 by the four tested strains in presence of 100 ppm heavy metal concentration when incubated at 25oC except for Acinetobacter calcoaceticus at 35oC in case of Pb+2 uptake, when pH, was adjusted at 5 under static conditions. Upon addition of 50 ppm Cu+2 ions to broth media supplemented with 100 ppm Pb+2 ions, the percentage of metal biosorption by the four tested isolated decreased between 41.11% and 48.45% according to type of strain. Similarly presence of Cu+2 ions caused decrease in Fe+2 uptake by the four isolates ranging between 29.14-45.1%. Percentage of Pb+2 ions uptake by the tested bacteria sharply decreased when a sterile tap water sample was used as natural medium for cell-metal contact. The percentage of uptake inhibition of Pb+2 ranged between 57-65.23% and between 75.1-84.27% for Fe+3 ions. Cell hydrolysate of three tested bacteria appeared to be free from plasmid DNA proving that the genetic character of heavy metal resistance is plasmidless and related to chromosmal DNA in case of Cory. jeikeium, P. putida and A. delafieldii. On the other hand, Acinet. Calcoaceticus contained plasmid of size 23.130 kb. Examining Acientobacter calcoaceticus using transmission electron microscope revealed the accumulation of Pb+2 ions on bacterial cell surface and the intracellular absorption of Fe+3 ions.