Morphological effect of dichloromethane on alfalfa (Medicago sativa) cultivated in soil amended with fertilizer manures

In this work, we investigated the morphological effect of dichloromethane (DCM) on alfalfa (Medicago sativa) plant. We studied in vitro the influence of its concentration on alfalfa germination. The plants were placed in pots for 15 weeks, and exposed to increasing concentrations of DCM (50 µg L−1 and 84 mg L−1). In addition, we examined the effect of two manures (cow and sheep), which were applied to a contaminated soil, on alfalfa plant growth. The effect of the presence of dichloromethane is obvious even in plant–soil manure system. In fact, in the event of contamination, the soil–cow manure mixture represents the best setting medium for the Alfalfa plant compared to other environments, regardless of the contamination level. Indeed, the presence of two types of manure does not allow the suppression of the inhibitory effect of dichloromethane on the mass of the dry matter of the aerial part which is 18.38% for the cow manure-amended soil and 13.96% for the sheep manure-amended soil

Adsorption of dye on a Tunisian unsaturated layered soil: physical and numerical modeling

The main objectives of this study is to model the transport of methylene blue (MB) in homogenous and layered soils which has been studied experimentally by fixed bed column. The effect of soil stratification has been studied through numerical investigation based on the coupled solute transport model in three-layered soil. The effect of some significant parameters such as flow rate, initial concentration of MB, thickness of each layer and the numbers of layers on the breakthrough curves have been undertaken. A finite element analysis model was employed to predict the transport of MB in soils. A two dimensional model based on Richards equation and advection-dispersion equation coupled with adsorption model has been developed and an analytical model has been used to predict the dispersivity. The results shows that the soil heterogeneity has a significant effect on methylene blue (MB) adsorption through unsaturated layered media and the effect of the parameters of the upper layer of the soil is more significant than those of the lower layer but this effect can be controlled with the choice of the thicknesses of each layer

Adventitious organogenesis induced in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L.) var. "half-blood" maltese: morphogenetic and histological study

peer reviewedTunisian citrus crops are faced to several abiotic and biotic constraints among which virus and virus-like diseases are incurable. The production of virus-free plants systematically needs the use of in vitro techniques. In this context, somatic embryogenesis and further plantlet regeneration of the Tunisian “half-blood” Maltese orange were obtained using explants consisting in style/stigma collected from unopened flowers. Somatic embryos were induced on Murashige and Skoog medium containing 13.3 µM 6-benzylaminopurine and 500 mg.l-1 malt extract, but their germination was obtained on hormone free-medium. Somatic embryogenesis was induced indirectly from intermediate friable callus initiated at the basal part of the style. Somatic embryos exhibited central procambial cells and were surrounded by a protoderm isolating them from the callus. These embryos had bipolar structure confirmed by the presence of shoot and root apices at cotyledonary stage. The use of cotyledon excised from those embryos failed to regenerate somatic embryos, but gave rise to direct organogenesis in two forms, true buds and protuberances both evolved in shoots after transfer in hormone-free medium. According to histological observations, protuberances are induced from epidermal and subepidermal cells of the cotyledon explant and remain closely attached to their mother tissue even at the shoot stage

Case of Massive Hydatid Pulmonary Embolism Incidentally Discovered in a 56-Year-Old Woman with Posttraumatic Abdominal Pain

Hydatid pulmonary embolism rarely occurs. It arises from the rupture of a hydatid heart cyst or the opening of a visceral hydatid cyst into the venous circulation. We report a case with pulmonary hydatidosis resulting in a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism in a 56-year-old woman with history of hepatic echinococcosis. A brief overview of clinical features and radiologic findings is presented