Sustainable agriculture in Egypt

Presented at the fifth international conference on irrigation and drainage, Irrigation and drainage for food, energy and the environment on November 3-6, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah.Includes bibliographical references.Water is characterized such as no alternative source can substitute it and it is not a commercial resource or commodity. The great challenge for the coming decades will be the task of increasing food production with less water particularly in basins with limited water resources. Molden et al. (2003) estimated that, by year 2020, approximately 75% of the world's population will live in areas experiencing physical or economic water scarcity. Most of these areas happen to be where most of the poor and food insecure people live. Meeting their food needs with locally produced food presents enormous challenge. Hence, the need is to increase water productivity of agricultural production systems in water scarce areas where the poor population is dependent on local production. Increasing the productivity in agriculture will play a vital role in easing competition for scarce resources, prevention of environmental degradation, and provision of food security. Crop water productivity depends on several factors including crop genetic material, water management practices, economic and policy incentives, and people's acceptance. In a broad sense, productivity of water refers to the benefits derived from the use of water and is most often given in terms of mass of product, or its monetary value, per unit of water. Therefore, the main goal of the current practical study is to assess water productivity for different crops, assist decision makers in developing sustainable agricultural policies for Egypt and maximize national water resources' productivity in different agricultural activities considering the supply and demand aspects and based on the efficient utilization of the water resource

Sulphatisation and Sulphidisation for hydro-metallurgical extraction of main constituents of a local ilmenite Ore

ILMENITE ores occur in UAR in large quantities, const- ituting two main reserves . The first, estimated to be about 10 million tons, occurs at Abu Ghalaga (AG) in the south-eastern desert, and the second comprises one of the chief constituents of beach placers, called black sands (BS), which are deposited on the shores of the Nile delta, especially at Rosetta and El-Arish. According to previous studies' AG ilmenite occurs in the form of lenticular , vein-like bodies intimately associated with metagabbro. The chief lens is about 300 m long, 150 m wide and 45 to 100 m thick

In vitro Activity of the Aqueous Extract of the Plant Kigelia africana Against Theileria lestoquardi

The objective of this study was to test the activity of the aqueous extract of the plant Kigelia africana against Theileria lestoquardi, the causative agent of malignant ovine theileriosis. Aqueous extract of K. africana fruits was screened for its in vitro activity against T. lestoquardi at different concentrations of 250, 500, 5000 and 10000 ppm. Lymphocytes infected with T. lestoquardi were isolated from heparinized blood with Ficoll-paque, grown in minimum essential medium and continuously sub cultured until passage 8 which was used for the test. The parasite was identified, using indirect fluorescent antibody test. The results revealed in vitro activities of 20%, 58% and 80% at concentrations of 500, 5000 and 10000 ppm, respectively. Lethal dose 50% and 99% (LC50 and LC99) were 2660.28 and 29980.34 ppm, respectively. The extract activity caused significantly (P≤0.05) high death of macroschizonts, decrease in the number of macroschizonts per cell, and increase in the number of extra cellular macroschizonts at concentrations of 5000 and 10000 ppm. The number of dividing cells significantly (P≤0.05) decreased at concentrations of 500, 5000 and 10000 ppm. The number of viable cells, also, significantly (P≤0.05) decreased at concentrations of 5000 and 10000 ppm compared with the control which did not significantly (P>0.05) increase. Besides, the activity of the highest concentration (10000 ppm) revealed some lymphoblast cells with degenerated nuclei. The study showed that K. africana has antitheilerial effect on T. lestoquardi and could be an effective candidate for the treatment of malignant ovine theileriosis after in vivo confirmation. Further studies are recommended for phytochemical analysis and mode of action

Effect of Extractive Solvents on Bio – Oil Production From Microalgae via Hydrothermal Liquefaction

Bio–oil from spirulina sp. is complicated mixture with valued chemicals. The hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) converts directly the spirulina microalgae into liquid oil at reaction temperature 300°C with heating rate 10°C /min,100 bars pressure and 30 min. reaction time eight different organic solvents with different polarities were applied to extract the bio – oil from these chemicals. The order of bio–oil extraction yield of the eight solvents from high to low were as follow tetrahydrofuran (THF) ˃ dichloromethane (DCM) ˃ acetone (ACE) ˃ chloroform (CHL) ˃ methanol (MeOH)˃ ethyl-acetate (EAC) ˃ hexane (HEX) ˃toluene (TOL).The results obtained from single stage extraction process showed that maximum percentage oil yield was (26.55%). with rather high heating value (HHV ≈ 30 MJ/kg). The combination of THF, EAC and n-hexane was selected to extract and separate the bio – oil into three fraction heavy oil (48.9%) mid weight oil (37.8%) and light oil (62.2%). These three oils were characterized using gas chromatography mass spectrum (GC – mass). Keywords:- Bio–oil , extractives, hydrothermal , liquefaction, micro- algae.

Aging changes of the testis in albino rat: light, electron microscopic, morphometric, immunohistochemical and biochemical study

Background: Aging has a deleterious effect on the morphology of the male reproductive system which might, in turn, lead to changes in spermatogenesis and consequently, decrease in both quality and quantity of spermatozoa. Materials and methods: The present study elucidated the histological and ultrastructural changes of testes of adult albino rats during aging and applied morphometric measures to obtain quantitative data for these changes. The oxidative and antioxidative markers of aged testes were also assessed. Results: The results documented the presence of age-related regressive structural changes of the testis accompanied with an increase in the apoptosis and a decrease in the proliferative capacity. Conclusions: The biochemical results gave evidence of an imbalance between the oxidative damage and the antioxidant defence indicating increased oxidative stress of aged testis

FISH- MAPPING AND STANDARD GTG-BANDING KARYOTYPE OF THREE EGYPTIAN SHEEP BREEDS.

Standardized karyotyping by GTG- banding technique and physical chromosome mapping by Fluorescent in Situ Hybridization (FISH) were utilized to characterize the three Egyptian breeds of sheep (Barki, Rahmani and Ossimi). Blood samples were collected from 15 individuals from each breed of sheep. G-banded chromosomes revealed that the karyotype macrostructure was highly conserved and in considerable accordance to the standard karyotype of the Ovis aries. The chromosome diploid number was 54 (2n=54, XX / XY). The karyotype formula was 2n, 54 = Lm6 + Ma22 + Sa24+ sex chromosomes. Physical chromosome mapping of the three breeds (Barki, Rahmani and Ossimi) was carried out by localization of two subtelomeric SSR and two (SPRN) related specific sequences. The two subtelomeric SSR sequences revealed six different loci in five chromosomes (1p37, 1p36 and 17q26 with the EPCDV008 probe) and (2q45, 4q22 and 24q24 with the EPCDV016 probe), respectively. In addition the two (SPRN) related specific sequences were successful in differentiating among the three breeds. The probe OriaBAC273H7 hybridized to a similar locus (20q13) in breeds Rahmani and Ossimi, while, in Barki, it hybridized to a different locus (22q24). However, probe OriaBAC265G4 hybridized to three different loci (17q25, 22q24 and 20q13) in Barki, Rahmani and Ossimi, respectively

"MELUHA" sózott hal kémiai és mikrobiológiai vizsgálata

Die chemische Zusammensetzung und der mikrobiologische Zustand des gesalzten Fisches „Meluha“, ferner die Zusammensetzung der essentiellen und freien Aminosäuren der Fischfleischproteine wurden studiert. Die Ergebnisse bestätigten, dass die Proteine des Fisches ,,Meluha“ vom Gesichtspunkt der Ernährungskunde erstklassig sind. Infolge des während des Salzens eindiffundierenden Natriumchlorids ist jedoch der Aschengehalt verhältnismässig hoch. In dem Hydrolysat der Meluhaproteine sind alle essentiellen Aminosäuren gegenwärtig. Leucin und Isoleucin kommen in der grössten Menge vor, während die Konzentrationen an Threonin une Lysin die niedrigsten sind. Eine ähnliche Tendenz gelangt zur Geltung auch in der Menge der freien Aminosäuren. Threonin und Tryptophan sind jedoch im Extrakt des Fischfleisches nicht nachweisbar. Die Abwesenheit der Schimmelpilze ist kennzeichnend auf die Mikroflora des Meluha Fischfleisches. Die vorherrschenden Mikroorganismen sind die Bacillen, Mikrokokken und Hefen. The chemical composition and microbiological state of the salted fish „Meluha”, furthermore the composition of the essential and free aminoacids of fish proteins were studied. The results proved that the proteins of the fish „Meluha“ are of first-class quality from the aspect of dietetics. Owing to the sodium chloride introduced during the salting process is however the ash content relatively high. All essential aminoacids are present in the hydrolysate of the Meluha protein. Leucine and isoleucine are present in the greatest amount whereas the concentrations of threonine and lysine are the lowest. A similar tendency appears also in the amounts of free aminoacids. However, threonine and tryptophane cannot be detected in the extract of fish. The microflora of the fish Meluha is characterized by the absence of moulds, the prevailing microorganisms being present are bacuili, micrococci and yeasts

Occurrence of Equine West Nile VirusAmongHorses in Qatar :A Preliminary Investigation

West Nile Virus (WNV) is an emerging threat to public health authorities around the globe. WNV is maintained in ecosystems primarily in enzootic cycles involving mosquito vector and avian hosts, with epizootic spread to mammals including horses and humans. Outbreaks of WNV disease in mammals have been associated with significant losses. The factors that play roles in the evaluation of these outbreaks are not fully known and the disease has not been reported in Qatar. We carried out a study to determine the prevalence of exposure to WNV in the State of Qatar and identify the factors that are likely to associate with seroconverion