Influence of Crop Density and Weeding Frequency on Crop Growth and Grain Yield in Wheat

Influence of seed rates at 100, 125, 150 and 175 kg/ha and four weeding frequencies Wo (no weeding), Wi (weeding after 20 days of sowing), W2 (weeding after 20 and 40 days of sowing) and (weeding after 20, 40 and 60 days of sowing) on growth and yield of wheat were studied. The major weeds species were Chenopodium album L., Cynodon dactylon (L) Pers, Dactyloctenium aegyptium L. and Vicia sativa L. The highest grain yield per hectare, panicle length, and filled grains/panicle were obtained with the seeding rate of 125 kg/ha. The lowest grain yield (3.11 t/ha) with minimum effective tillers/plant, panicle length and filled grains/panicle were produced by the highest seed rate (175 kg/ha). The plant population per meter square was significantly influenced by seed rates. Weeding at 20 and 40 days after sowing (W) gave the highest grain and straw yields along with highest effective tillers/plant, panicle length, and filled grains/panicle. On the other hand no weeding treatment gave the lowest grain and straw yields, effective tillers/plant, panicle length and filled grains/panicle. The critical period of weed competition was between 20 and 40 days after sowing. High seed rate with three times weeding (W) decreased weed dry weight/m2 significantly

Magnetic zeolite-natural polymer composite for adsorption of chromium (VI)

Magnetic zeolite-Chitosan (MZC) composite was prepared with sol-gel method by mixing magnetic/zeolite and Chitosan for enhanced removal of hexavalent chromium [Cr (VI)] from aqueous solution. The morphology of the prepared adsorbent was analyzed with FTIR spectroscopy, field-emissions scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effects of pH, contact time, initial concentration and Sorbent dosage on the adsorption capacity were experimentally determined. The concentration of the Cr ions was measured using (GBC)

Semantic metrics for software products

Like all engineering disciplines, software engineering relies on quantitative analysis to support rationalized decision making. Software engineering researchers and practitioners have traditionally relied on software metrics to quantify attributes of software products and processes. Whereas traditional software metrics are typically based on a syntactic analysis of software products, we introduce and discuss metrics that are based on a semantic analysis: our metrics do not reflect the form or structure of software products, but rather the properties of their function. At a time when software systems grow increasingly large and complex, the focus on diagnosing, identifying and removing every fault in the software product ought to relinquish the stage to a more measured, more balanced, and more realistic approach, which emphasizes failure avoidance, in addition to fault avoidance and fault removal. Semantic metrics are a good fit for this purpose, reflecting as they do a system's ability to avoid failure rather than its proneness to being free of faults.Qatar National Research Fund NPRP 04-1109-1-174Scopu

Highlights on the Effect of Somatic Cell Count on Some Milk Constituents

Increasing somatic cell counts (SCC) in milk has a great effect on the chemical characteristics of milk especially fat, protein, lactose, and casein. So, rapid detection of these changes lead to great improvement of milk investments as, it facilitates mastitis control process. For rapid detection of these changes, Bacsomatic™ instrument was used for SCC determination and Milkoscan™ for determination of fat, protein, lactose, and casein percent. There were significance differences between SCC and fat, protein, lactose and casein as p≤0.0001. Also, there were negative correlation (r) between SCC and fat, lactose and casein percent while, there was a positive correlation (r) between SCC and protein. So, control measures for prevention of mastitis, increased SCC (scc/ml) and monitoring were suggested to control changes in chemical constituents of milk

Isolation and Identification of Food Poisoning Bacteria from some Dairy Farms in El-Menoufia Governorate using VITEK 2

Because milk is rich in nutrients, it creates an environment conducive to the growth of bacteria that could be harmful to consumers. Therefore, assessing of its bacteriological quality and the resistance of these pathogens to several antibiotic groups is very important. VITEK 2 compact detected E. coli, Salmonellae spp., S. aureus and B. cereus in the examined samples while it failed to detect Listeria spp. The serological identification of E. coli showed the presence of O44: H18, O127: H6, O159, O15: H2, and O91: H21. Also, Salmonella serotypes as           S. enteritidis (25%), S. infantis (12.5%), S. kentucky (12.5%), S. montevideo (6.25%), S. shangani (12.5%), S. tsevie (12.5%). S. typhimurium (18.75%).  Furthermore, the entero-toxigenic strains of S. aureus were 31.25% of the identified strains; the percentage of entero-toxigenic strains that secrete A, A&C and D enterotoxin were 60%, 20% and (20%); respectively. Ampicillin, amoxicillin / clavulanic acid, cefpodoxime, cefovecin, ceftiofur, and trimethoprim / sulfamethoxazole were all ineffective against the isolated E. coli strains. Intermediate sensitive to cefalothin while they were sensitive to cefalexin, imipenem, amikacin, gentamicin, neomycin, enrofloxacin, marbofloxacin, pradofloxacin, doxycycycline, tetracycline, nitrofurantoin and chloramphenicol. Additionally, the isolated S. aureus exhibited resistance to tetracycline, benzylpenicillin, oxacillin, gentamycin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin also; it showed intermediate resistance to rifampicin. The identified S. aureus strains were also susceptible to linezolid, nitrofurantoin, vancomycin, tigecycline, and trimethoprim / sulfamethoxazole