Tamarix nilotica is a perennial halophyte growing naturally at the Mediterranean coastal salt marshes. Vegetative parts were collected in two successive winters and summers to investigate the seasonal effects on the ecomorphological and physiological responses of T. nilotica. The results indicated that either in winter or summer seasons, T. nilotica can reduce the effect of soil salinity by excreting salts outside its body through salt glands. Summer season was characterized by low content of soil moisture (due to rare rainfall), high soil EC, high light intensity and high temperature; there-fore, plant induced certain morphoanatomical changes in leaves and stem to face the previously mentioned adverse conditions. The most remarkable changes to reduce transpiration process was found by decreasing leaf area and increasing cuticle thickness and mesophyll tissue thickness. In addition, the most marked physiological changes in summer were the significant in-crease in total phenols, proline, free amino acids and total soluble sugars. These compounds can work as osmotic regulators and/or antioxidants. These features enhance the defensive mechanism against dehydration and permit T. nilotica to tolerate the stress conditions in salt marsh habitat.

The influence of maltodextrin or inulin added as a prebiotic on the survival of various strains of probiotics in synbiotic fermented milk along cold storage was investigated. Synbiotic fermented milk was prepared using several probiotic strains (Lb. helveticus and Lb. acidophilus) and 2% maltodextrin or inulin and compared with traditional yoghurt starters (Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Str. thermophilus). Synbiotic fermented milk samples were stocked at 4°C then the chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics were estimated. Starter culture strains showed no significant effect on dry matter and ash contents in various synbiotic fermented milk samples during storage. However, starter culture type, fortification by maltodextrin or inulin, and storage period significantly influenced the acidity, total and soluble nitrogen contents (SN\TN), acetaldehyde, diacetyl contents and viscosity in various synbiotic fermented milk samples. In addition, fortification of maltodextrin or inulin significantly influenced the survival of yoghurt starter culture strains, Lb. helveticus and Lb. acidophilus strains. The counts of probiotic strains used in all treatments of synbiotic fermented milk survived well and were above the recommended minimum levels (106CFU/ mL) during a storage period.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of five essential oils (garlic, Allium sativum; camphor, Cinnamomum camphor; menthol, Mentha sp.; cinnamon, Cinnamomum erum; and clove, Dianthus sp.) on wax moth larvae and adult honeybee workers under laboratory conditions. Cinnamon, garlic, menthol, clove, and camphor oils were found to be highly effective against wax moth larvae, with 100 percent mortality achieved after 48 and 96 hours for cinnamon and garlic oils respectively, and after 120 hours for clove and mint oils. Camphor oil provided 96.60% accumulative mortality after 120 hrs. Moreover, all the essential oils were highly safe for adult honeybee workers under laboratory conditions. Accumulative corrected mortality rates after 72 hr were 15.96, 9.02, 13.18, 29.16, and 8.88% for treatments with cinnamon, clove, camphor, mint, and garlic oils respectively.

The present study evaluated the ability of different extracts of cinnamon and black cumin seeds to inhibit the growth of the phytopathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani and its extracellular cell wall degrading enzymes. Concentrations of 300 and 450 ppm of methylene chloride and hexane extracts of cinnamon completely inhibited the growth of R. solani after 72 hours of incubation at 25±1°C in vitro. Methylene chloride or hexane extracts of black cumin seeds at 4000 ppm after 72 hours inhibited the growth of R. solani by 37 and 39% respectively. Moreover, black cumin seed hexane extract at 2000 ppm inhibited 55% and 38% of the activity of pectin lyase (PL) and polygalacturonase (PG) respectively. In addition, the methanolic extract of black cumin seeds at 2000 ppm exhibited a significant reduction of exo-protease activity (74.8%). GC-MS analysis results showed that linoleic acid is the main component of the fixed oil fraction of black cumin seed hexane extract while (E) cinnamaldehyde is the main component in both hexane and methylene chloride extracts of cinnamon. HPLC-MS analysis of black cumin seeds methanolic extract showed that amentoflavone was the main component. Docking was used to identify the major component interaction with pectin lyase A and exo-protease.

The efficiency of three different types of pollen-collection traps namely, Front Drawer Pollen Traps (Type, 1), Bottom Pollen Traps (Type,2) and Plastic Slide Traps (Type,3) were evaluated. The data indicated that in type 2, which had Bottom Pollen Traps, a significantly high amount of bee pollen was collected (383.30g/colony) followed by type 1, (179.37g/colony) while type 3 had the lowest amount of collected bee pollen (123.80 g/colony). The highest amount of bee pollen collected during summer was from type (2) during 20 -29 July, followed by that from the same group during the periods 1-10 July and 9-18 August, and then type (1) during the peri-od 20-29 July. The results also revealed that the lowest amount of bee pollen collected by the traps was during the last week of August and September.

In this study, a designed variable frequency drive (VFD) was used to control a single-phase induction motor’s speed to pump guava juice at two solid concentrations (9°Bx and 11°Bx). Next, the pressure drop was measured in stainless-steel pipes of three diameters. The pressure drop percentage difference before and after using the VFD at varied flow rates with 10 repetitions at 5-minute intervals was evaluated. The pressure drop reduction range was 19.7%– 30.8% and 19.2 %–32.4% for the 9% and 11% solid concentrations respectively after using the VFD, which resulted in an average of 25.73% reductions in pressure drop and the pump’s total head and driving power. The rheological properties of guava juice were investigated at various temperatures (5, 15, 25, 35, 55 and 75°C). From the results, all materials exhibited non-Newtonian pseudoplastic behavior at all temperatures and concentrations, and correlated well with the power law model, with flow behavior index (n) values less than unity for the 9% and 11% solid concentrations. The findings offer helpful information for predicting how heat variations during processing influence the behavior of guava juice concentrates.

Two field experiments were conducted during in 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons to study the impact of integration among mineral and nanoparticle nitrogen (N) fertilizer levels on yield traits and chemical characters of some canola genotypes grown under salt stress conditions. Four treatments of N fertilization (190 kg N/ha as recommended dose; 50% of the recommended, 95 kg N/ha+nano nitrogen (5 L/ha); 25 % of the recommended, 47.5 kg N/ha+nano-nitrogen (5 L/ha), and nano-nitrogen (rate of 5 L/ha). canola genotypes (Trabber, Agamax, and Serw4) performance were assessed under three levels of saline irrigation water (control, 2000, and 4000 mg L-1). Results showed that increasing salinity levels up to 4000 mg L-1 led to decreasing in all studied yield parameters compared with those of control (tap water). Trabber genotype excelled significantly in most of the yield characteristics. Integration between nanoscale and mineral nitrogen fertilizer, i.e. 95 kg N/ha+5 nano N L/ha) showed superiority over all applied N treatments, recording the highest values. It could be concluded that since application of 95 kg N/ha+5 nano N L/ha exploiting the nano form of N saves about 50% of applied nitrogen in canola under saline conditions. Accordingly, nanoparticles help the environmental pollution to be reduced.

The scarcity of fresh water is a primary problem in remote regions. Thus, an economical and related water distillation solar still coupled with a solar collector was designed and studied experimentally. This study aims to investigate and evaluate the performance of an active single-slope solar still (ASSSS) coupled with a solar evacuated tube collector (ETC) as the water heater. The results showed that the average distillate productivity of ASSSS combined with U pipe solar (ETC) was 1.085 l/m2 in December 2020, but 3.12 l/m2 in August 2021. These quantities of the water distiller were higher than those of a passive solar distiller with a single slope (PSSSS). The average value of the water temperature increased using the ASSSS coupled with ETC in August 2021 at 79.1°C, whereas it was 71°C in August 2021 for PSSSS. These results indicate that the ASSSS is more effective than the PSSSS.

The importance of water footprint (WFP) is providing information related to water resource management, especially for countries that have water scarcity and rely on irrigation to enhance food security. A field experiment was conducted during two winter seasons in 2018, and 2019. The current study sought to evaluate the impacts of various nitrogen levels (1.N1: 120, 2.N2: 150, and 3.N3: 180 kg /fed) on potato production as well as the water footprint and water requirement. Vegetative characteristics, yield parameters, N contents, and climate data were measured. The obtained results are clarified that increasing the nitrogen rate up to 180 kg/fed led to increase the vegetative growth characteristics, yield parameters, and water footprint of potato crop. The most significant vegetative growth values were obtained using a 180 kg/fed nitrogen level followed by 150 kg/fed. The greater marketable tuber yield was recorded at 180 kg/fed with 18117 & 17753 Kg/fed values, followed by 150 kg/fed with 16864 and 16545 Kg/fed values for the first and second seasons respectively. The water footprint of potato in Egypt ranges from 237 to 267.8 for nitrogen levels of 120 kg /fed and 180 kg /fed.

In total, 50 Rhizobium isolates were isolated from the mature root nodules of common beans plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) grown in different nine governorates of Egypt. PHB was optimized by the identified strain using response surface methodology. A total of 11 parameters (pH, incubation period, inoculum size, temperature, agitation speed, mannitol, sucrose, yeast extract, glycine, K2HPO4, and MgSO4) were analyzed for their significant effects on PHB production by the Plackett–Burman design (PBD). Sucrose, yeast extract, glycine, and MgSO4 were the main significant factors affecting PHB accumulation. Central composite design (CCD) of the response surface methodology was used to determine the optimum levels of the selected factors. Rhizobium phaseoli reached the maximum production (4.997 g/L) at run 36 in the presence of 25 g/L of sucrose, 0.0 g/L of yeast extract, 0.87 g/L of glycine, 0.3 g/L of MgSO4, and 5% of inoculation size. In vitro experiments were carried out to test the effect of different stress conditions (pH: 6–11, temperature: 5°C–50°C, salinity: 0.01%–7%, and drought: 0%–5% w/v) on the growth of Rhizobium phaseoli. The results showed that Rhizobium phaseoli can withstand 3% –5% NaCl, high temperature of 30°C– 45°C, alkalinity at pH value of 8 – 10, and drought stress at 3% – 5% w/v polyethylene glycol with growth loss of 50% when grown on modified medium and 75% when grown on the basal one. In vivo experiments were done to study the effect of drought stress levels on the growth parameters of common bean plants. In general, all the treatments with Rhizobium phaseoli grown on the modified medium were superior to Rhizobium phaseoli grown on the basal medium. Also, they showed high tolerance of drought conditions.