Nanotechnology takes a significant position in controlling pests. Silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2-NPs) is considered one of the best alter-natives to chemical pesticides for plant crop protection from harmful arthro-pods such as phytophagous mites, Tetranychus urticae. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effect of (SiO2-NPs) to control T. urticae. Under green-house conditions, the results revealed, in the larval stage, a high mortality percentage (99.05±0.83%) followed by eggs (98.74±1.22%). Besides, the nymph stage recorded high mortality (94.66±1.81%) at a high concentration of 1500 ppm. While the adult females of T. urticae recorded mortality of 91.92±1.02% after 72h. Eventually, the immature stages of T. urticae were susceptible to (SiO2-NPs). Meanwhile, at laboratory evaluation on immature stages of T. urticae which resulted from live treated females during 96h showed a sharp decrease in average numbers of eggs through 96h, at 1000 and 1500 ppm. No numbers of the larval stage were recorded at 1500 ppm. No number of nymph stage were recorded at all concentrations and periods. Moreover, activity of AChE was significantly inhibited at 1500 ppm, while activity of glutathione-S-transferase was significantly increased after 72 h. Finally, (SiO2-NPs) are effective against immature stages of T. urticae under greenhouse and laboratory conditions.

The foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine is used to control the FMD in cloven-hoofed animals including calves. The most important step in vaccine preparation is the selection of a suitable adjuvant which plays a main role in the vaccine’s potency. The present study is an attempt to use clinoptilolite instead of Montanide oil to enhance the efficiency of the FMD vaccine and reduce its production cost. Twelve calves were split into four groups. Three groups were vaccinated with FMD vaccine with different adjuvants i.e. 100% Montanide (ISA 206), 50% of Montanide with 1.0 μg/dose of clinoptilolite (ISA 206+CLINP), and by replacing the 100% of Montanide to 1μg/dose of clinoptilolite (CLINP). The fourth group was unvaccinated. Results showed that calves vaccinated with (ISA 206+CLINP) FMD vaccine expressed the highest and the longest periods of immune response until 38 weeks. While groups vaccinated with (CLINP) or (ISA 206) vaccine showed only protection up to 26 and 34 weeks respectively. Also, our results showed that clinoptilolite improved organ functions resulting from the stress of vaccines. Finally, this study recommended the use of clinoptilolite with Montanide oil as a potential adjuvant in the FMD vaccine to give high stimulation of the immune response.

The objectives of the current study were to investigate the opportunity of estimating soil salinity from hyperspectral data and identifying the most informative spectral zones for estimation. Electrical conductivity (EC) measurements of ninety topsoil samples (0–30 cm) collected from Toshka, Egypt, were used as data set. Analytical spectral device was employed to collect the reflectance spectral signatures of soil samples. Both linear regression and HSD Tukey’s analyses displayed that the SWIR1 and SWIR2 zones are the most suitable for soil salinity prediction while, blue, green and NIR were the wickedest. Moreover, EC estimation was better in case of lower soil salinity (0-2 dS m-1) than higher levels (8-1). Partial-least-squares-regression (ΡLSR) was employed to establish soil salinity prediction model using the training set of soil samples (n=75). The PLSR model was set up using the most informative wave bands (SWIR1 and SWIR2). The result showed that PLSR linear model gave a precise prediction of soil salinity (R2 = 0.93). The results revealed that employing reflectance values in SWIR in the model variables increases the precision of soil EC prediction.

Excessive exposure to lead may damage the liver by increasing oxidative stress, leading to many serious diseases. Dietary antioxidants may protect the liver from damage. Therefore, the effect of ethanolic and aqueous turmeric extracts against lead-induced liver damage was evaluated by estimating liver function and antioxidant/oxidative stress biomarkers. Forty rats were divided into group (A) served as the control and group (B) was treated with 93 mg/kg b.wt. lead nitrate; while group (C) and group (D) were treated as group B in addition to 400 mg/kg b.wt. of turmeric aqueous and ethanolic extracts, respectively. Group B showed a significant increase in the activities of alanine transaminase by 10 folds, aspartate transaminase by 9 folds, alkaline phosphatase by 3 folds and the level of malondialdehyde by 10 folds, while showed a significant decrease in albumin by 60%, total protein by 54.5%, and superoxide dismutase by 80.5%, catalase by 75% and glutathione by 71.6% in comparison with those of the control group. On the other hand, turmeric treatments (groups C and D) led to a readjustment of levels for such biomarkers. Collectively, these results demonstrate the potential of turmeric extracts (particularly the ethanolic extract) to improve the fatal effect of lead in a rat model.

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.

The research aimed to Identify the practices of rural women in preserving and storing food in a village in Beheira Governorate, Identify the level of application of the respondents to good practices in preserving and storing food, Identify the most important sources from which the respondents obtain their nutritional information on food preservation and storage, and Identify the most important factors affecting the application of Respondents practice related to food preservation and storage. The research was based on the social survey method in the sample by selecting a random sample of (164) respondents at a rate of 7% of the total (2333) Families in Al-Naqidi village in Kom Hamada district in Beheira Governorate, data were collected through a personal interview using a questionnaire form during May and June 2020, frequencies, percentages, Pearson's simple correlation coefficient and Step-Wise multiple regression analysis method were used to analyze the research data. The results indicated that about (48.8%) of the total respondents had a high level of negative practices, (43.9%) of the total respondents, their level of application is medium, while about (7.3%) of the total respondents their application of these negative practices is low the majority of respondents depend on traditional sources (television, mother and relatives and neighbors) to obtain their nutritional information for food preservation and storage. The results indicated that the most important variables responsible for the application of the research for preserving and storing food, which affected by (38.7%), are: the age of the respondent, membership of social organizations, exposure to cooking programs through various media, and contact with the agricultural guide.

The study showed that the population, imports of red meat, and retail prices of red meat are the most important factors affecting the amount of red meat consumed during the study period. But the production of white meat, the population and the retail price of white meat are the most important factors affecting the amount of white meat consumed. As for the most important factors affecting the amount of fish consumed, they were represented in fish imports, national income, retail prices of fish and retail prices of white meat. The study also found that the meat group ranks first among the food groups, with a spending rate of about 27.4% and 28.19% of the total spending on food and drink in both rural and urban areas, respectively. While fish ranked sixth with a spending rate of about 6.37% and 6.88% in both rural and urban areas, respectively for the year 2017/2018. It also showed that the annual per capita spending on both meat and fish varies according to the spending categories of the family, and the annual per capita spending on meat in urban areas has increased by 13.65%, 39.64% from its counterpart in rural in each of the second spending category (50 thousand - less than 100 thousand pounds) and the third category (100 thousand pounds or more), respectively, and an increase in the annual per capita spending on fish in urban areas by 6.1%, 23.29% and 84.17% over its counter-part in the rural in the three spending categories, respectively. The spending flexibility in urban areas compared to the countryside on the two groups of meat and fish also increased, as the spending elasticity of the meat group reached about 0.492 and 0.677 in both rural and urban areas, respectively, while the spending elasticity for fish reached about 0.369 and 0.645 in both rural and urban areas, respectively.

Various fungal genotypes (Aspergillus niger NRRL 3135 (AN1), Aspergillus niger NRRL 326 (AN26), Aspergillus terrus F2-Kh (AT) and Mucor racemosus NRRL 3639 (MI)) were studied for their ability to produce phytase and improve the produced enzyme by ethyl-methane sulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis. AN1 showed the highest phytase activity on phytase screening medium supplemented with glucose (PSMG) after 8 days of incubation (reached 1875.40 IU/mL). The phytase activity of AN1 increased with increasing incubation time and the highest value was achieved at 12 days of incubation (2859.33 IU/mL). The exposure of AN1 spore suspension to 200 mM of EMS for different times enhanced the phytase activity and that mutant 20 Mn exhibited the highest phytase activity (reached 4520.5 IU/mL) therefore it was chosen for the next experiment. An in-vitro gas production procedure was carried out to evaluate the impact of using various amounts of laboratory produced phytase (PE) compared with commercial phytase (Axtra® PHY) on nutrients availability of ruminant's ration. Six levels (0, 400, 800, 1200, 1600 and 2000 IU phytase-1Kg dry matter) of phytase enzyme were evaluated with tested ration consisted of 40% berseem hay (BH) and 60% concentrate feed mixture (CFM). In-vitro dry and organic matter degradability (IVDMD and IVOMD), total gas production (GP), short chain fatty acids (SCFA’s) and inorganic phosphorus (Pi) concentration were improved significantly (P<0.05) by phytase addition from the two sources of phytase and the highest significant (P<0.05) values achieved at the level of 1200 IU. Results suggest that phytase activity was influenced by exposure to EMS mutagen compared to the wild type. Also, the produced enzyme source has the ability to improve the utilization efficiency of phytate diets as evidenced by the significant (P<0.05) increase in all tested parameters compared to the commercial source.

Among 46 local bacterial isolates capable synthetized pigments, 26% produced extracellular of blue green and fluorescent whereas 74% produced intra-cellular pigments of red, brown, yellow, orange, and rose. Seven isolates were selected as a potential candidate for the synthesis of pigments. They were Pseudomonas fluoresces, P. aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens, Azotobacter chroococcum, Micrococcus kristinae, M. luteus, and M. roseus after their morphological and biochemical studies. They capable to produce fluorescent, blue green, red, brown, orange, yellow, and rose with maximum absorbance at 400, 520, 530, 320, 440, 460, and 470 nm, with an optical density of 0.62, 1.42,1.35, 1.11, 0.45, 0.98, and 0.40, respectively. Antibacterial activity of pigments was studied against 7 bacterial pathogenic strains namely P. aeruginosa ATCC27853, Escherichia coli 0157h7 ATCC25922, Klebsiella pneumonia ATCC00607, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC25566, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19115, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC29737, and Bacillus cereus ATCC33018. The last tested strain behaved high significant (p≤ 0.05) sensitivity for blue green, fluorescent, brown, and rose pigments while, L. monocytogenes ATCC19115 was more susceptible for red, and yellow pigments and S. aureus ATCC29737 had more inhibited by orange pigment. These bacterial pigments seemed to have antioxidant activity which inhibited the formation of diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radicals with percentage ranged from 40 % to 80 %. It could therefore be stated that the bacterial pigments tested had a broad impact on foodborne pathogens and had an antioxidant effect

The main objective of this research is to promote the reuse of wastes resulting from different manufacturing processes such as fruit peels (e.g. banana and orange peels) as substitutes (at least partially) of mineral fertilizers. This might have positive effects in maintaining human health and reducing environmental pollution. Moreover, to compare the use of these wastes with commercial organic fertilizer i.e., compost made by Nile Company to meet the needs of tomato plants from nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) elements. To achieve the goal, two experiments were conducted. The first was an incubation experiment, which was designed to compare the organic fertilizer compost of Nile Company and the powdered banana and orange peels. The second was a field experiment achieved at the Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University. Obtained results of the incubation experiment showed increases in nitrogen content by 16 to 31% and potassium by 12 to 24% due to using grinded banana and orange peels as compared to the compost treatment. Moreover, in the field experiment the concentration of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) at different plant growth stages whether in soil or plant did not differ significantly between soil plots fertilized with mineral fertilization and those fertilized with banana and orange ones. On contrary, potassium concentration was found higher in the soil fertilized with organic fertilization than that fertilized with mineral fertilization. It has also been found to us that there are no clear significant differences between tomato fruits resulting from mineral fertilization of the ground and those that were fertilized by the mixture of banana and orange peels in terms of the ratio of nitrogen and potassium, weight, size and density of the fruit and other characteristics except for the total salts percentage, which was less Fruits fertilized with a mixture of banana and orange peels