(2024) .

1. (2024) Journal of Plant Pathology

The current study aims to use the foliar treatment with Spirulina algae extract (SP) at rate 2.5g/L and biochar (BC) at rate 2% as soil amendment to alleviate the negative effects of salinity on basil plants. The irrigation with 5 dS/m saline water reduced the plant height, leaf number, branch number, leaf area, total chlorophyll, fresh, and dry weight by 10, 31,31,40, 55, 46, and 33%, respectively, compared to the fresh water. The combined addition of BC and SP (SP+BC) to the saline irrigated plants significantly increased the last above-mentioned growth parameter by 6, 21, 50, 45, 170, 8, and 31% respectively compared to the saline water without addition. The increase in branch number is not significant. BC and SP significantly (p < 0.05) increased the soil organic matter (SOM). The content of SOM can be arranged in the descending order: BC > SP > C. The irrigation of basil plant with saline water significantly decreased the total N, P and K in basil shoots at rate 31, 61, and 24%, respectively, compared to the fresh water. The addition of BC+SP to the saline irrigated basil caused increases in N, P, and K content by 90, 116, and 60% compared to the saline water without addition. Overall, the results of this study explained that using Spirulina algae extract and biochar is a good solution for improving the growth of basil plant under salinity condition.

The aim of this study was to evaluate gross chemical composition (moisture, protein, fat and ash), mineral content, amino acid profile as well as fatty acid composition of sand smelt (Atherina boyeri) fish. Also, to study the effect of incorporation sand smelt mince with gluten free flour to improve nutritional quality of gluten free noodles for coeliac patients. In addition, to study the quality parameters, microbial content as well as sensory evaluation of the prepared gluten free noodles. Sand smelt fish mince contained 80.29 % crude protein, 10.08% crude fat, 9.44% ash and 0.34% carbohydrate (on dry weight basis). Beside 65.22 and 151.82 mg/kg of iron and zinc respectively. Moreover, sand smelt meat contained 39.23mg /100g protein of essential amino acids. Leucine, lysine and valine were the dominant essential amino acids while, glutamic acid was the major non-essential amino acid. Regarding to fatty acids profile, the total unsaturated fatty acid recorded 60.99% of total fatty acids. However, docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6n3) was the dominant fatty acid followed by oleic acid (C18:1) in sand smelt meat. Beside the poly unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids ratio 1.22in sand smelt fish which was much higher than the recommended value (0.4 - 0.5) by WHO in foods. Incorporation of sand smelt mince during preparation of gluten free noodles increased crude protein, crude fat and ash contents and had no significant effect on over all acceptability of the final product.

Two plums cultivars (Red 'Centerose' and Yellow 'Yabany Zahaby’) were used to produce juice. Several treatments were conducted on plums before juice extraction, including freezing, enzymatic hydrolysis (pectinase), microwave, and steaming (hot water vapor). The obtained plums juices were analyzed for physical and chemical properties. The results showed that addition of 250 mg of pectinase/ 100g plums increased the juice yield to 78.24% and 76.67% for the red and yellow plums, respectively. Also, microwave heating for 20 s and steaming for 60 min enhanced the juice yield for both red and yellow plums. Furthermore, pectinase addition to plums before juice extraction improved nutritional and antioxidant properties of obtained plum juice. Besides, ascorbic acid content in obtained red and yellow plums juices after enzymatic treatment recorded 62.49 and 48.94 mg/ 100 ml, respectively. On the other hand, red and yellow juices obtained after steam treatment had significantly higher values of phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant activity, when compared to all other treatments. The results indicate that combined freezing treatment with pectinase addition facilitate the production of a nutritious clear juice, which promote its usage for food and beverage applications.

The effect of three rootstocks on the responsiveness of “Superior Seedless” grapes to cold storage was investigated in this study during the growing seasons of 2021 and 2022. The “Superior Seedless” bunches were preserved for 90 days at 4 ± 1°C and 98 ± 2 relative humidity%. The “Superior Seedless” bunch response under cold storage was shown to be influenced by the rootstocks. According to the study, bunches picked from “Superior Seedless” that were grown on the “1103 Paulson” rootstocks performed better in antioxidant enzyme activities (AEAs) than bunches obtained from other rootstocks. Furthermore, during cold storage, the rates of H₂O₂ and O₂⁻generation decreased more rapidly. However, combined with a low electrolyte leakage percentage (EL%) and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenger concentration increased during the cold storage period. Furthermore, while berry quality traits were harvested from “Superior Seedless” grafted onto “1103 Paulson” rootstock, they were improved compared to other rootstocks. The molecular docking technique is performed to evaluate the binding affinity of antioxidant enzymes with a group of intracellular ligands, including DPPH, MDA, ascorbic acid, and tartaric acid, which show great results with respect to the DPPH compound. Following these findings, it can be concluded that the influence of rootstocks on “Superior Seedless” bunch responses to low cold storage represents a novel potential natural effect of rootstocks on responding bunches of “Superior Seedless” to low cold storage.

Wheat is a major source of dietary energy for the growing world population. Developing cultivars with enriched zinc and iron can potentially alleviate human micronutrient deficiency. In this study, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population with 245 lines derived from cross Zhou 8425B/Chinese Spring was used to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for grain zinc concentration (GZnC) and grain iron concentration (GFeC) across four environments. Three stable QTL for GZnC with all favorable alleles from Chinese Spring were identified on chromosomes 3BL, 5AL, and 5BL. These QTL explaining maxima of 8.7%, 5.8%, and 7.1% of phenotypic variances were validated in 125 resequenced wheat accessions encompassing both landraces and modern cultivars using six kompetitive allele specific PCR (KASP) assays. The frequencies of favorable alleles for QGZnCzc.caas-3BL, QGZnCzc.caas-5AL and QGZnCzc.caas-5BL were higher in landraces (90.4%, 68.0%, and 100.0%, respectively) compared to modern cultivars (45.9%, 35.4%, and 40.9%), suggesting they were not selected in breeding programs. Candidate gene association studies on GZnC in the cultivar panel further delimited the QTL into 8.5 Mb, 4.1 Mb, and 47.8 Mb regions containing 46, 4, and 199 candidate genes, respectively. The 5BL QTL located in a region where recombination was suppressed. Two stable and three less stable QTL for GFeC with favorable alleles also from Chinese Spring were identified on chromosomes 4BS (Rht-B1a), 4DS (Rht-D1a), 1DS, 3AS, and 6DS. This study sheds light on the genetic basis of GZnC and GFeC in Chinese Spring and provides useful molecular markers for wheat biofortification.

Native bacterial bioagents for management of potato soft rot disease caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum

The use of bio-stimulants (BSs) has become an important policy in managing many
stressed crop plants through the regulation of the balance of phytohormones, osmo-protectors
(OPs), antioxidant systems, and gene expression, all of which reflect plant growth and productivity.
Garlic + onion extract (GOE) at a concentration of 2.0–3.0% and diluted bee honey solution (BHs) at a
concentration of 1.0–1.5% were applied exogenously to squash (Cucurbita pepo) plants subjected to
cadmium (Cd) + lead (Pb) stress (0.3 mM CdCl2 + 0.3 mM PbCl2). The objective was to determine the
effects of these treatments on growth characteristics, organic metabolites/biomolecules, and mineral
nutrients. Cd + Pb stress significantly increased electrolyte leakage (EL, 103%) and malondialdehyde
(MDA, 90%) because of an increase in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 145%) and superoxide (O2
?, 152%)
levels, and contents of abscisic acid (ABA, 164%), Cd (674–711%), and Pb (754–805%). Consequently,
marked increases in the contents of OPs and non-enzymatic antioxidants (28–133%), activities of
antioxidant enzymes (48–80%), and expressions of enzyme genes (60–84%) were observed. The administration
of Cd + Pb treatment reduced plant growth and development parameters (25–59%), yield
components (61–86%), photosynthetic components (27–67%), leaf proportional water content (26%),
indole-3-acetic acid (IAA, 44%), gibberellic acid (GA3, 56%), and cyto-kinin (CKs, 49%) contents.
Nonetheless, the administration of GOE, BHs, and GOE + BHs attenuated the adverse impacts of
Cd + Pb stress. The best treatment was GOE + BHs which significantly decreased EL (52%) and MDA
(49%) because of a reduction of O2
– (61%), H2O2 (60%), ABA (63%), Cd (89–91%), and Pb (89–91%)
levels. This positive outcome was linked to an increase in the OPs’ (22–46%) and non-enzymatic
antioxidant (27–46%) levels, activities of enzymes (26–44%), and enzyme gene expressions (35–40%),
all of which contributed to the promoted relative water content (RWC, 37%), pigment contents
(47–194%), hormonal levels (82–132%), growth traits (31–149%), yield components (154–626%), and
fruit quality traits (31–92%). From these results, it can be concluded that treatment of GOE + BHs
is recommended as a foliar application to reduce the adverse effects of Cd + Pb stress treatment
in squash.