In order to alleviate the shortage of irrigation water in dry regions, refining water use

efficiency (WUE) is a key issue in sustainable productivity. Furthermore, glycinebetaine (GlyBet) is a

vital osmoprotectant produced in crops for improving drought tolerance; however, little is known

about its role in improving plant WUE under field conditions in non-accumulating plants such

as cucumber. In order to elucidate the effectiveness of GlyBet concentrations (0, 2000, 4000, and

6000 mg/L) in mitigating the deleterious effects of drought (e.g., well-watered (1250 m3/fed), moderate

drought (950 m3/fed), and severe drought (650 m3/fed)), field experiments were conducted at

Elmia village, Dakahlia, Egypt in the 2020 and 2021 seasons on vegetative growth, some physiological

attributes, as well as yield and quality. Drought considerably decreased vegetative growth, yield and

its components, leaf relative water content, and photosynthetic pigment concentrations compared

with well-watered plants while increasing electrolyte leakage. The most harmful causes were severe

drought. However, exogenous spraying with GlyBet substantially boosted the mentioned attributes,

but reduced electrolyte leakage within well-watering. Commonly 6000 mg/L contributed to the maximum

growth and productivity, preserving cucumber plant water status above other concentrations or

untreated plants. Under extreme drought, the application of 6000 mg/L GlyBet had a beneficial effect

on moderating the damage of water deficit on cucumber plant growth and productivity. Overall,

using GlyBet as a cost-effective and eco-friendly biostimulant six times (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 days

from sowing) has the potential to mitigate drought damage while also increasing yield; however,

more research is needed to determine the optimal rate and timing of application.

The potential of three plants extracts, to protect potato plants against bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum was determined under greenhouse and field conditions. All soil drenching treatments of aqueous plant extracts of Hibsicus sabdariffa, Punica granatum and Eucalyptus globulus significantly reduced the disease severity compared with inoculated control. Although the applications of all three plant extracts resulted in similar reductions of disease severity in field up 63.23 to 68.39%, treatment of E. globulus leaf extract was found greater in restricting the symptom development than other the two plant extracts in the greenhouse. More than 94% reduction in the bacterial wilt symptom was observed in potato plants. All tested plant extracts were effective in inhibiting the growth of bacterial pathogen, not only in vitro, but also in stem of potato plants as compared with the inoculated control. Potato plants treated with extract of H. sabdariffia reduced bacterial growth more effectively than treatment with R granatum and E. globulus. Activity of defence-related enzymes, including peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase and phenylalanine ammonia lyase, were significantly increased in plants treated with the plant extracts compared to the control during the experimental period. In general, the higher enzymes activities were determined in both inoculated and non-inoculated treated potato plants after 8 days from plant extracts treatment. These results suggested that these plant extracts may be play an important role in controlling the potato bacterial wilt disease, through they have antimicrobial activity and induction of systemic resistance in potato plants..

Susceptibility of sixteen sugarcane varieties to infection with pokkah boeng
disease and effect of the disease on vegetative growth of sugarcane plants were
tested under open greenhouse conditions and artificial inoculation of Fusarium
subglutinans in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons in Upper Egypt. All tested
sugarcane varieties were susceptible to infection with the pathogen with different
degrees of susceptibility. In the two tested seasons, the G.T.54-9 and G.2004-32
varieties showed high susceptibility followed by G.2003-47, G.2003-3, G.1999-
103 and G.1998-28, then other tested varieties. However, G.2001-79 and
G.2000-176 varieties proved to be moderately susceptible. K2 isolate of F. subglutinans
caused higher disease severity than K5 isolate, on the tested sugarcane
varieties in both tested seasons. The interaction between tested varieties and fungal
isolates was significant in both seasons. The highest disease severity (٧٢.0
and 76.0%) was recorded on G.T.54-9 and G.2004-32 varieties inoculated with
K2 of F. subglutinans in both seasons, while the lowest disease severity (20.0%)
was recorded on G.2001-79 and G.2000-176 varieties infected with K2 and K5
isolates. Infection with of F. subglutinans isolates increased the number of tillers/
plant by two folds in infected plants compared with non-inoculated plants in
both seasons, however, the number of internodes/plant, stalk length and stalk diameter
of the tested sugarcane varieties were significantly decreased by infection.
Keywords: Sugarcane plants, pokkah boeng disease, Fusarium subglutinans,
sugarcane varieties, vegetative growth.

Root rot and wilt disease complex were detected in several guava, lemon and olive transplant nurseries
and new orchards at El-Kharga, Baris, ballet, El-Dakhla and El-Farafrah districts, the New Valley
Governorate, Egypt. The average percentage of root rot/wilt incidence and severity in surveying
districts were 37.7, 26.5%in guava; 41.7, 34.0%;in lemon and 41.2, 29.5% in olive transplants,
respectively. The most frequently isolated fungi from rotted roots of the guava, lemon and olive
transplants were Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani, Macrophomina phaseolina and Rhizoctonia solani. In
pathogenicity tests, all the tested fungi were pathogenic to guava, lemon and olive transplants. The
effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) individually and/or mixed when used as a soil
drench treatment were varied in reducing root rot/ wilt incidence and severity under greenhouse
conditions compared with control. The mixed of PGPR gave the highest protection against root rot/wilt
diseases compared with the use of PGPR individually. All treatments significantly increased plant
height (cm), number of leaves transplanting-1, leaf area (cm2), fresh and dry weights transplanting-1
(gm) compared with control treatment.

Five fungal isolates were isolated from infected tomato seedlings showing damping-off which collected from several tomato nurseries of Assiut and New Valley Governorates, Egypt. These isolates were Rhizoctonia solani Kühn, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici Schlechtendahl, Fusarium semitectum Berk. & Rav., Setosphaeria rostrata Leonard and Alternaria alternata (Fries) Keisler. Also, six tomato cultivars and hybred, namely Castle Rock, Super marmande, Super Strain B, Enz 10F1, 0240F1 and Dream Hybrid were evaluated for their susceptibility to damping-off disease. All tested tomato cultivars were susceptible to damping-off disease, Castle Rock cv. showed the highest percentage of pre and post emergence damping-off disease severity followed by Super marmande and Super Strain B cvs. then Dream Hybrid and Enz 10F1 Hybrid. 0240 F1 Hybrid gave the lowest ones. Each tested tomato cultivars showed higher amount of total phenolic and total protein content in infected plants with the tested pathogenic fungal isolates than uninfected plants (control). The highest amount of total phenol and total protein was found in infected plant of tomato Enz 10F1. followed by 0240F1. while the lowest amount of total phenol and total protein were found in infected plant of castel Roke. then super marmande.

The biological control agents of endophytic actinomycetes was investigated
to determine whether control of bacterial speck of tomato, caused by Pseudomonas
syringae pv. tomato (Pst). From natural infected tomato leaves showing bacterial
speck disease symptoms, six isolates of Pst (Pst1, Pst2, Pst 3, Pst4, Pst5,
and Pst DC3000) were isolated, it proved to be pathogenic and able to infect tomato
plants under greenhouse condition, causing speck disease symptoms. From
the eighty eight isolates of endophytic actinomycetes recovered from healthy tomato
leaves plants, nine isolates were selected and tested for their potential inhibition
against bacterial tomato speck disease in vitro and in vivo. According
to16SrDNA analysis the isolates TR-24 and TR-26 of isolated actinomyces
proved to be Streptomyces glaucescens. While the isolates TR-20, TR-32 and
TR-34 were identified as Streptomyces graminisoli and isolates TR-25 identified
as Streptomyces flavovirens as well as isolates TR-33 and TR-35 were identified
as Streptomyces scabies. Finally isolate TR-36 was identified as Streptomyces
roseochromogenus. Application of nine isolates of Streptomyces by spraying or
drenching methods, all Streptomyces isolates were able to reduce disease severity
of bacterial speck compared to infected control. Minutely, the spore suspensions
of TR-24 and TR-26 isolates gave the highest reduction of the disease severity.
However, the lowest reduction was achieved by isolate TR-35 compared with
other Streptomyces isolates.

One of the most fatal diseases that harm Allium species is purple blotch, which is brought on by Alternaria porri. As the disease's severity rises, crop production may decrease. In this study, 12 isolates of A.porri exhibiting purple blotch symptoms have been isolated from diseased onion plants. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) allowed for the identification of the isolate that was the most virulent and caused a disease severity of 85.93%. Under greenhouse and field growing conditions, the efficiency of two bio-agents, Trichoderma asperellum T34 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae AUMC 10203, as well as three doses (50, 25, and 12.5 ppm) of their green-synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) against purple blotch disease was assessed. For avoiding or treating purple blotch disease in onion plants, it has been demonstrated that the T.asperellum T34 spore suspension was the most effective resulting in a 76% reduction in disease severity. The spore suspension of S. cerevisiae and a 50-ppm dosage of AgNPs were the top contenders for T. asperellum. When compared to the control plants, the plants treated with bio-agents and AgNPs showed a significant decline in disease incidence and disease severity. Additionally, improvements were made to the broadness of inflorescences, the number of flowers and seeds, the weight of seeds per inflorescence, and the seed productivity.Therefore, it is recommended in this study to use T. asperellum T34 spore suspension as a potent bio-agent to manage the symptoms of purple blotch on onions.

This study aimed to evaluate the bio-agent formulations of Trichoderma harzianum, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa for the protection of lupine plants against wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lupini. T. harzianum isolate (T1), P. aeruginosa isolate (P1) and B. subtilis isolate (B3) were the most effective ones in reducing the growth of F. oxysporum f. sp. lupini in vitro. Consequently, these isolates were used as bio-agent to control wilt on lupine plants in greenhouse experiments. The bio-agent isolates administered in the form of cells in broth media, powdered cells, and immobilized cells on sawdust as formulations were tested for their abilities to control lupine wilt in a greenhouse compared to Captan fungicide. Soil treatments with the three bio-agent formulations (broth medium or cells powder and sawdust) showed a markedly great reduction in wilt disease severity. Although all the formulations reduced the wilt disease severity compared to the water treatment, using the cells powder formulation of bio-agent reduced the wilt severity more than broth medium and sawdust formulations. In all formulations, T. harzianum (T1) exhibited the highest effect in the control of wilt compared with other bio-agent treatments. The sawdust and powder bio-agent formulations significantly reduced the disease severity of wilt on Lupine, as well as improved growth parameters (shoot, root, and plant length and seed yield/plant) of lupine plants compared with control treatment.

A Field experiment was performed using artificial infection with a highly pathogenic isolate of Fusarium subglutinans the causal agent of sugarcane pokkah boeng (PB) disease. The effects of foliar spray of plants by certain microelements on PB disease severity (DS), cane yield and juice quality of sugarcane at two consecutive seasons were studied. The foliar spray sugarcane variety G.T. 54-9 with each of zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) individually or in mixture (Zn + Mn + Fe) significantly reduced the DS compared to the control plants. Applying each microelement individually was less effective in the reduction of the DS compared to microelements mixture application. The incidence of the disease decreased with increasing the spray frequency. Three foliar sprays gave the highest reduction of DS compared to one or two sprays. Spraying with the tested microelements either individually or in mixture significantly increased the net cane yield, the sugar yield and recovery percentage in sugarcane juice, as well as raised the values of reducing sugar percentage. The greatest increase of reducing sugar percentage was obtained by mixture applications followed by single application in both seasons. According to our results, microelements spray holds a great promise to enhance resistance in sugarcane plants against PB disease and to increase both cane yield and quality of sugarcane juice.

Global population growth poses a threat to sustainable development. Meanwhile, the use of plant proteins as healthy and sustainable alternatives to animal proteins needs further research. Therefore, this investigation was designed to study the nutritive, structural, and thermal properties of isolated protein fractions from different legumes, i.e., faba bean (FPI), soybean (SPI), and lupine (LPI). As a prospective plant-based protein powder, an equal mixture (MPI) of the three prior legume samples was formulated to study its properties compared to each sole sample. The alkaline extraction and isoelectric precipitation (AE-IP) technique was used for protein isolation. Results showed that all protein isolates had reasonable levels of protein with maximum protein content in SPI (96.15%). The MPI sample, however, came out on top in terms of amino acid profile followed by FBI. Compared to SPI and LPI, it had the highest isoleucine content and higher methionine, valine, leucine, phenylalanine, and lysine. Moreover, MPI showed a median particle charge (−37.1 mV) compared to FPI, SPI, and LPI samples. MPI sample peak showed resistance to heat denaturation at a temperature greater than 200 °C when the DSC test
was conducted. With respect to its rheological characteristics, it outperformed the other three protein isolates and exhibited the highest values of storage modulus G’ and loss modulus G”. Consequently, our study suggests that pulse-derived protein isolate mixture can be used as a unique type of nutritious dietary protein supplement. It could be a good nutritional alternative to proteins derived from animals.