The aim of present work was to study the toxicity of (mancozeb )Dithane fungicide on fish Claras lazera (catfish) and consequently to human beings.The fishes were exposed to Dithane in dose of 0.5 ppm /L (equivalent of 1/10 of LD50)for 30 days. Different Haematological, Biochemical, Bacteriological, and Immunological parameters were assessed. The results showed significant increase in Blood level of Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Cortisol, Urea, Creatinine, Glucose, Insulin as well as Aspartate Amino Transferase (AST) and Alanine Amino Transferease (ALT)in blood. However there was a decrease in blood level of Iron and IgM, accompanied by decrease in Haemoglobin (HB), Macrocytic hypochromic anemia (R.B.Cs) count, Packed cell volume (PCV) which was observed in fish in 7, 15, 30, days after exposure to Dithane. The Haemogram shows reticulocytosis and increase in mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Dithane produces metabolic stress and cell damage with malfunction of haemopoetic system. Microbiological examination revealed a presence of pathogenic bacteria mainly E. coli, Flavabacterium, and Staphylococcus aureus. It was concluded that in catfish reared on low dietary carbohydrate (CHO) diet there was hyperglycemia due to increase in cortisol hormone. However immunological results revealed decrease in the level of IgM in blood; a loss of scales and petichial haemorrhage in parts of skin was observed. Ascitic and erosion due to complication of bacterial infection, was also accorded.

10%) with adding 1% activated commercial starter cultures of YC-X11 (Str. thermophilus and Lb. delbruekii ss. bulgaricus, T1), Bio Profit (Lb rhamnosus and Propio. freudenreichii ss. shermanii, T2) and LC 705 (Lb. casei, T3). Resulting cheeses were pickled into its own whey. The low-salted cheese was pickled for 6 months and the high-salted cheese after 9 months. Moisture, salt and yield of low and high-salt cheeses decreased with adding starter culture, while an increase was noticed in the acidity, soluble nitrogen (SN) and total volatile fatty acids (TVFA). High salt cheeses had significantly higher values for moisture, salt and yield with significantly lower acidity, SN and TVFA than low salt cheeses. The values of moisture, salt and yield gradually decreased during pickling while acidity, SN and TVFA significantly increased. Domiati cheese with starter culture had higher total bacterial count (TBC) than that of control being highest in T3. Increasing the salt in cheese milk resulted in lower TBC. Values of TBC increased in all samples during early pickling and then sharply decreased till the end. There was a remarkable inhibition in the growth of sporeforming bacteria and yeasts & moulds with adding starter culture. Sensory quality attributes of cheese improved with adding starter culture. Pickling of cheese up to different periods led to better flavour as well as body & texture but extending the period beyond caused lower quality. The rate of improvement was faster in cheese of low salt than that from 10% salted milk. Starter culture of Bio Profit (T2) produced cheese with typical ripened cheese flavour and texture and can be recommended for low or high-salt cheeses.

Bacterial canker caused by Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Smith) and bacterial spot caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Doidge) Dye have become important diseases of tomato in Egypt. The present work was planned to evaluate the reaction of different tomato cultivars and the role of seeds to transmit both pathogens. Cultivars of Dora, Flora-Dade, KTM141, Money Maker, Niagra, Super strain B hybrid and GS12 were moderately resistant to both diseases, but Castle rock, Peto 86 and Super strain B cultivars were susceptible. However, Castle rock, Peto 86, Super strain B and Niagra cultivars were highly susceptible for bacterial canker than spot disease. Using the Liquid assay method, C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis bacterium could be detected in seeds of cultivars Dora, KTM141, Niagra and Super strain B hybrid, but X. campestris pv. vesicatoria was detected on seeds of cultivars GS12, Peto 86 and Super Marmand. However, both bacterial pathogens were not detected in seeds of all cultivars, except GS12, when direct planting method on selective media was used. In an in vivo assay, bacterial canker has developed more than bacterial spot disease on tomato seedlings produced from non-treated seeds. Bacterial canker has developed on all tested cultivars at different frequencies. Transmission of both pathogens occurred at high frequency by seeds of cultivars Niagra and Dora, however bacterial spot was not borne on samples of other tomato cultivars

In Libya the plants Myrtus communis and Plantago albicans are commonly used in folk medicine to treat various diseases. However, there are a large number of plant compounds which can cause many aberrations in genetic material. This study was carried out to investigate any possible cytotoxic and mutagenic effects for M. communis and P. albicans on mitotic criteria of cell cycle and chromosomes. Two infusion concentrations were prepared for each plant, one of them was used as folk medicine (o.25 mg/ml) and other as to 10 times of this value (2.5 mg/mL). Bean (Vicia faba, L.) root-tip cells (RTC) and Balb / C mice (Mus musculus) bone-marrow cells (BMC) were used as test systems. The M. communis infusions at both concentrations and the P. albicans infusion at the lower concentration had no statistically significant depressive effect on mitotic criteria of RTC. Where as significant depressive effect on these criteria of RTC was found for the high concentration of P. albicans as compared with a negative control. No significant effect on the induction of chromosome aberrations and the rate of mitotic index of BMC was found by using infusions of P. albicans and M. communis as compared with control.

The current study was carried out at the Agricultural and Veterinary Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the two seasons 2003/2004 and 2003/2004. The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of irrigation scheduling methods with different amounts of applied water on date palme offshoot growth, Determination offshoot consumptive use, crop coefficient, actual water requirements and the suitable soil moisture tension in the root zone before irrigation. The irrigation was scheduling by three methods, evapotranspiration calculation method, soil moisture depletion  method and farmer method (control). The evapotranspiration  calculation method (ETo) included ten treatments as a percentage of evapotranspiration (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0 ETo). The soil moisture depletion method included five treatments of soil moisture depletion as a percentage of field capacity (50%Fc, 60%Fc, 70% Fc, 80% Fc and 90% Fc). The results showed that scheduling irrigation of the offshoot by evapotranspiration calculation method (ETo) or by soil moisture depletion  method, the amount of applied water decreased and the offshoot growth and the water use efficiency increased; compared with the farmer scheduling method. The daily and seasonal gross irrigation requirements for date palm offshoots were 51.3 l/day and 2191 m3/hec.year, while the farmer applied 19960 m3/h.year. So, the farmer added seven times as much as the actual gross irrigation requirements. The maximum water use efficiency were 2.5 kg/m3 and 1.44 kg/m3 for the treatments 0.1 ETo and 50% Fc, respectively. The suitable soil  moisture tension in the root zone before irrigation were 21.5  to 22 C-bar and 22.5 to 23 C-bar for 60 cm and 90 cm depths, respectively.

Sage leaves were successively extracted with water, chloroform: methanol (2:1, v/v), n- hexane, benzene, diethyl ether, chloroform, chloroform:  methanol (8:2, v/v) and dichloromethan. Antioxidant activities were detected using two methods :1. The carotene spray method and 2.Measuring the coupled oxidation of β–carotene and linoleic acid. Generally, all extracts had antioxidant activities when tested by the first method. By means of the second method, the extracts of water, diethyl ether and chloroform : methanol( 8:2, v/v ) showed the greatest antixidant activities , followed by the extracts of organic and aqueous phases ( which were extracted with chloroform: methanol, 2:1, v/v), dichloromethan and chloroform, while the n- hexane and benzene extracts showed low activities.

The effect of infection of Biomphalaria alexandrina snails with Bacillus thurin-giensis kurstaki on various stages of Schistosoma mansoni life cycle was studied for three successive generations. Thus, two groups of snails were exposed to a sublethal concentration of the bacteria (0.08 gm/L water) containing 32000 IU/mg, for one week and to schistosome miracidia. One group was exposed to the miracidia before bacterial infection, while the other group to the miracidia after the bacterial infec-tion. Cercariae produced from each group of snails were used to infect albino mice. The infection of snails and mice with the parasite was repeated for three generations of the parasite. In the first case, data obtained show that the schistosome infection rate of snails was considerably reduced being 60%, 18%, and 66.6% versus 90 % , 92% and 90% in untreated control snails in the three generations of the parasite, re-spectively. Meanwhile, the mean prepatent period was extended being 29.1  4.3 days, 33  1 days and 38.5  2.5 days versus 27 days in the control group. The num-ber of worms recovered from infected mice showed reduction of 52 %, 78.4% and 58.6%, respectively. In the second case, the infection rate of snails was 40%, 16% and 73.7% for the three successive parasite generations and the prepatent period was 32  1 days, 32  2.3 days and 35  2.8 days, respectively. The reduction percentage of the recovered worms was 34.8, 73.6 and 72.9 in the sccessive generations, respec-tively. The present results prove that infecting B.alexandrina snails with a sublethal concentration of B. thuringiensis kurstaki bacteria exhibits clear negative effect on the transmission of S. mansoni in three successive generations. So, it could be rec-ommended to use B. thuringiensis kurstaki as a potential biocontrol agent against S. mansoni.

A test survey was conducted to determine the nutritional status of apple trees grown at four highly productive orchards in south of Jordan. Leaf and soil samples were taken from each orchard, and analyzed for the concentrations of macro- and micronutrients. Soils of Al-Shoubak tend to have high pH, low organic matter and high CaCO3 contents. The results showed that soil concentrations of N, K, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu varied widely among the orchards. No deficiency or hunger signs of N, P, K, Mn and Zn nutrients were observed at any of the localities since concentrations of leaf nutrients were generally within the sufficient range, indicating adequate lev-els of fertilization applied to the trees. The leaf analysis has shown that Cu deficien-cy is found in some apple orchards. Soils and leaf nutrient levels were generally not well correlated with one another. The only highly significant correlation was be-tween soil P and leaf N. However, positive relations were observed among leaf P and Mn, Fe and Mn, Fe and Zn, and Mn and Zn contents.

Stem node explants of three almond (Prunus dulcis Mill) cultivars (Om – Elfahm, M-Dalt and Ne Plus Ultra) and the hybrid rootstock “Hansen” cv. were suc-cessfully established and proliferated on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) sup-plemented with benzyl adenine (BA) at 0.0 - 2.0 mgl -1 and indol butyric acid (IBA) at 0.0 - 0.1 mgl-1 .The highest bud development percentage of stem node explant was obtained with medium contained BA at 2 mgl-1 with or without IBA at 0.1 mgl-1 for M – Dalet and Ne Plus Ultra almond cultivars compared with other treatments. The longest shoot during establishment stage was recorded by “Hansen” rootstock cultured in MS with BA at 2.0 mgl-1 plus IBA at 0.01 mgl-1.Using BA at 1.0 mgl-1 plus IBA at 0.1 mgl-1 and BA at 2.0 mgl -1 plus 0.05 or 0.1 mgl -1gave the highest number of proliferated shoots for Om – Elfahm, M-Dalt and Ne Puls Ultra cvs. and “Hansen”, respectively in the 3rd subculture. The best average proliferated shoot length was achieved with medium supplemented with BA at 1.0 mgl-1 plus IBA at 0.05 mgl-1 or 0.1 mgl-1 for M-Dalt, Ne Puls Ultra and “Hansen” respectively, where-as, using BA at 2.0 mgl -1 plus IBA at 0.1 mgl -1 recorded the longest average prolif-erated shoot for Om- Elfahm cultivar. Microshoots were rooted in modified Bourgin and Nitsch medium supplemented with IBA or NAA at 1.0 mgl-1 only or combination (0.2 IBA mgl-1 + NAA 0.4 mgl-1, IBA 0.4 mgl-1 + NAA 0.8 mgl-1 and IBA 0.5 mgl-1 + NAA 1.0 mgl-1). The large callus (more than 10 mm diameter) was recorded with “Hansen” rootstock and Om – Elfahm treated by IBA at 0.4 mgl -1 plus NAA at 0.8 mgl -1. The greatest rooting percentage (66.67%) was obtained with medium contained IBA at 0.2 or 0.4 mgl-1 plus NAA at 0.4 or 0.8 mgl-1 for “Hansen” rootstock and Ne Plus Ultra shoots.

Fractionation and acylation by ethyl alcohol and acetic anhydride were carried out to produce a modified corn germ and sunflower lecithins from their crude leci-thins. Emulsification activity and emulsion stability indices (EAI & ESI) were de-termined at different pH values (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) for commercial and studied leci-thins. EAI was significantly improved in modified lecithins in comparison to crude lecithins with increasing rate of 52.9 and 58.6 % for corn germ and sunflower etha-nol soluble fraction lecithins and 15.6 and 20.5 % for acylated corn germ and sun-flower lecithins, respectively. The changes in ESI after times of 20, 40 and 60 min. showed a higher stability of emulsions prepared using modified lecithins which were closed to that prepared using commercial soy lecithin. Caramel was prepared using commercial soy, corn germ, sunflower lecithins and their modified forms. Hardness of tested samples was determined in the start of storage time while, acid value, per-oxide value, fatty acid pattern and sensory attributes were determined during storage period at room temperature for six months. Data revealed insignificant difference in caramels hardness. Samples contained crude sunflower; acylated corn germ and sun-flower lecithins were more sensitive to oxidation while, those prepared using com-mercial soy, crude corn germ, ethanol soluble fraction of corn germ and sunflower lecithins showed higher oxidative stability with significant differences (P<0.05). Concerning sensory evaluation, both ethanol soluble fractions and acylated lecithins produced high quality caramels not differed (P>0.05) to control one that contained commercial soy lecithin. The quality and quantity of lecithin that used in prepared of caramel samples played a major role in their characteristics. The modified corn germ and sunflower lecithin forms were preferred than the raw lecithins owing to their higher emulsifying activity and lesser quantity used. The ethanol soluble lecithins fraction, especially of corn germ can be competitive to the commercial soy lecithin in all emulsified food products.