Imidacloprid is a systematic neonicotinoid widely used to combat piercing-sucking insects; however, neonicotinoids, despite having low effects on vertebrates, showed high adverse effects on honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). Glutathione-S-transferases (GST) are an important constituent of the defense system in detoxifying invading chemicals. This work examines the effects of imidacloprid on GST activity in vivo and in vitro conditions. Results revealed that there are two responses of GST activity toward IMI treatment; first, stimulation of enzyme activity to combat and detoxify the insecticide. Second, direct inhibition of GST, which is confirmed by the in vitro inhibition with IC50 887.42 ppm. At a short exposure time to IMI (2 hours) at an IMI concentration of 0.35 ppm, the enzyme was stimulated up to 113% while increasing exposure time or IMI concentration, the inhibition effect dominates.

The study examines factors affecting sprinkler irrigation system distribution uniformity, including sprinkler type, operating pressure and computer software design. The pressures used were 1.5, 2.1, and 2.5 bar for spray nozzles 4A and 17A, and 1.7, 2, 2.5, and 3 bar for rotor nozzles 1 and 3. The results showed a strong correlation, with (R2) values of 0.996 and 0.973, between SIDUL-Program (Sprinkler Irrigation Distribution Uniformity for Landscape–Program) and Excel program with respect to coefficient of uniformity (CU) and distribution uniformity (DU) respectively, suggesting a strong correlation between the two programs. The HEDIA program validated the SIDUL–Program, revealing a 0.42% difference in CU values between the two programs for rotor nozzle 3, indicating also a strong correlation (R2 = 0.953) between the two programs. The results showed that DU for spray 4A at a pressure of 2.1 bar was 7.4%, higher than DU at a pressure of 1.5 bar; the CU for spray 17A was 11.9% higher, as supported by manufacturer specifications. The study concluded that calculating CU and DU using the SIDUL–Program is critical for assessing sprinkler performance in irrigation systems since it considers factors such as soil type, irrigation 1methods and location; in addition to being easy to use and accurate com-pared to other programs.

Using integrated in silico and in vitro experiments, the antiviral capabilities of green tea and licorice extracts were evaluated against the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). It was noted that the number of induced necrotic local lesions of TMV decreased by increasing extract concentrations and thus it is considered concentration dependent on the extracts’ active compounds. Properties of eleven compounds belonging to licorice and green tea were obtained from databases to examine their activities in silico. A molecular docking simulation was performed between these agents and the protein coat of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The highest effective compounds were glycyrrhetic acid, liquiritin and EGCG. ADMET studies revealed good overall properties of nine non-toxic compounds based on their predicted pharmacokinetic, physicochemical, drug-likeness and toxic properties. Based on docking energy and mode of interaction, these compounds showed strong binding with the protein coat of TMV. The antiviral effect may be due to the most effective compounds with the highest affinity namely glycyr-rhetic acid, liquiritin and isoliquiritin. As a conclusion, the promising value of our titled extracts is the anti-TMV activity and pharmacokinetic and physicochemical properties of their active constituents.

Mulberry trees suffer from many pest infestations. To control these pests, some natural compounds such as Techno Oil and Top 9 and some other chemicals such as Mospilan® and Chinook® were used. Mulberry trees, Morus nigra were treated with three different concentrations of each of Chinook, Techno Oil® and Top 9® to reduce infestation with Icerya sp. and Ferrisia virgate. A high reduction rate of more than 90% occurred when using these pesticides. On the other hand, the corrected mortality of mulberry silkworm larvae was 93.3%, 0.0% and 6.7% respectively after 8 days of treatment. When treating mulberry trees Morus alba with two different concentrations of each of pesticides; Mospilan and Techno Oil against whitefly, the average rate of infestation reduction was 100% and 94.94%, respectively. The corrected mortality of mulberry silkworms' larvae was 100% and 0.0% after 8 days of treatment respectively. This study proved that natural compounds could be used safely instead of chemical pesticides to reduce the pest population without affecting the life of silkworm larvae or cocoon properties.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of organic, NPK, and biofertilizers on the yield of two cowpea varieties grown under arid land conditions. Two cultivars of cowpea (Karim-7 and Dokki-331) were evaluated using different fertilizer types. The fertilizers examined were organic (farmyard manure (FYM) and chicken manure (CHM)) and biofertilizers (effective microorganisms (EM1) and technology of smart fertilizer (TS)) in addition to NPK treatments (NPK (50 kg/fed), NPK (100 kg/fed), EM1 (15 m3.fed-1) + NPK (50 kg/fed), TS (15 m3.fed-1) + NPK (50 kg/fed). A randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 16 treatments and three replications was used to set up the experiment. The measured yield parameters were seed number/plant, pod length, seed number/pod, pod number/plant, dry yield/plant, dry yield/m2, bio yield, pod weight, 100-seed weight, and grain yield. The results cleared that the cultivar dokki-331 under EM1 biofertilizer + NPK (50 kg/fed) combination treatment was the superior practice for increasing all studied traits.

This study was designed to investigate the influence of in ovo injection of peppermint (Mentha piperita) essential oil (PO) on hatchability (%), antioxidant states, and some biochemical parameters of broilers at hatch. Fertilized eggs (120) were divided into six groups, the control group and other groups injected with 10, 50, 100 and 150 μL/ml of PO in saline solution on the 18th day of incubation in an air sac. GC-MS indicated that PO contains L-menthone (32.7%), menthol (29.34%) and pulegone (9.63 %) as major components. The results revealed that injection of 10 µL/mL of PO increased the hatchability compared to other groups while the body weight of the chicks was not significantly different. Antioxidant activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) significantly increased in injected groups compared to the control group. In addition, plasma total protein and globulin levels increased while the albumin/globulin (A/G) ratio was reduced. Lipid profile indicated that plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels were significantly decreased in all PO-treated groups. In conclusion, in ovo injection with 10 µL/mL of PO showed positive effects on hatchability (%) and the viability of post-hatch chicks, without indicated harm to the blood constituents.

The purpose of the research was to improve the morpho-anatomical and physiological features of somatic embryos (SEs) of date palms in tissue culture media that have the potential to produce green and healthy plantlets. Copper sulfate (CuSO4) and cobalt chloride (CoCl2) were supplemented to date palm maturation medium at various concentrations, separately or combined. Adding CoCl2 to the media of maturation produced the greatest relative growth and differentiation percentages of date palm embryogenic calli, particularly at 0.52 mgL-1. In comparison to the control, when combined treatments were administered alone, the quantity of the produced somatic embryos rose dramatically (17/jar). Total sugars and free amino acids were the highest in SEs grown on a maturation medium with CoCl2 at 0.26 mgL-1. Moreover, total phenols and indoles were picked significantly at their higher levels in the generated SEs that were cultured on a medium enhanced with 0.52 mgL-1. When the maturation medium was administered along with both as a treatment, the antioxidant enzyme, ascorbate peroxidase, reached its maximum activity. Whereas, adding 0.52 mgL-1 of CoCl2 to the culture medium enhanced the activities up to of highest levels of ascorbate peroxidase,  polyphenol oxidase and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase.

Atriplex halimus is a widely distributed species in the Mediterranean coastal areas and can grow under saline and non-saline habitats. Plant leaves were collected from two habitats; non-saline (1.14 dSm-1) and saline (30.63 dSm-1) at Borg Alarab area along the Northwestern coast of Egypt to investigate the ecomorphological and physiological behavior variations of A. halimus in relation to different habitat. leaf area, specific leaf area (SLA), water content, chl a, chl b, total chl, carotenoids, Na+, K+, Ca++ and Cl- contents were measured. A. halimus leaves generate adaptive changes as plastic responses to salinity by the decrease in leaf area, SLA, chl a, chl b, totat chl and Cl and increase in Na+ , phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) specific activity and total phenols content.

This study analyzed data from 5,518 lactations involving 1,749 Friesian cows raised in two experimental herds between 1992 and 2022.  The study aim was to estimate the genetic parameters for longevity traits using a multiple-trait animal model, including age at first calving (AFC), lifetime (LT), lifetime days in milk (LTDIM), total lactations (TL) and lifetime milk yield (LTMY). On average, cows lived for 80.4 months, with 41% of their lifetime spent in milk production. They averaged 3.2 lactations, starting at 32.7 months. Heritability estimates for longevity traits were 0.09 to 0.12 suggesting limited direct selection potential. Strong genetic and phenotypic correlations (0.88–0.96) were observed between lifespan traits and total milk production. Similar correlations were found between partial lifetime milk yield traits for the first three lactations and total lifetime milk yield (0.44 to 0.97). Genetic correlations between lifetime traits were consistently high (0.88 to 0.99), mirroring phenotypic correlations. Notably, heritability estimates for partial performance traits increased with more lactations considered, and correlations between partial and lifetime traits were improved with additional data. These findings suggest the feasibility of early indirect selection for longevity through correlated responses in early performance traits, particularly early lactation milk production, to enhance overall lifetime productivity.

Genetic diversity (GD) helps in the selection of valuable parents which is the key to improving heterosis breeding and thus GD within the collected or derived germplasm should be explored. The present study aims to quantify the GD of restorer lines of rapeseeds based on seed yield components. An experiment was conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The first four principal components explained 35%, 24%, 16% and 10% of total variance, respectively. PC1 exhibited a positive relationship with branches/plant, pods/plant, thousand-seed weight, and seed yield/plant. The PC1 and PC2, projected branches/plant and pods/plant, showed a positive correlation with seed yield/plant. There were also positive correlations among plant height and days with first blooming and 100% flowering and maturity. Cluster study revealed that the restorer lines were clustered into 4 clusters where Tori was the only one (cluster 4) that did not coalesce with the rest of the R lines. Clusters 1-3 consist of 10, 13 and 11 R lines. Based on the above findings, diverse genotypes can be selected for the development of high-yielding variety through hybridization.