Evaluation of The Living Escherichia coli-O78 Deleted aroA Vaccine Against Homologous and Heterologous E. coli Challenge in Broiler Chickens

To determine whether the immunization using commercially available living Escherichia coli-O78 aroA deleted vaccine (Poulvac®E. coli) is protective against APEC challenges or not. Ninety chicks were divided into six groups (15 birds/each); two groups were vaccinated at day 1 by spray and drinking routes then challenged intratracheally with homologous E. coli O78 at day 21, the other two groups were similar to the previously mentioned groups but challenged with heterologous E. coli O1 in parallel with the four challenged-vaccinated groups there were two positive control (challenged-not vaccinated) groups; one challenged with O78 and the other one with O1 at day 21 using intratacheal route. The best obtained results were recorded to the vaccinated-challenged group with the homologous strain and vaccinated by spraying method which exhibited decreases in organ lesion scores in comparison to the other groups (non-vaccinated challenged chickens and groups of chickens either homologous challenged-vaccinated through drinking water or heterologous challenged-vaccinated groups). These findings suggest that vaccine is a suitable for minimizing lesion scores against homologous challenge using spraying method that could lead to minimizing the time for treatment and cases of condemnation in processing plants

Effect of Stretching Versus Aerobic Exercises on Pregnant Diabetic Women

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the effect of stretching versus aerobic exercises on pregnant diabetic women. Subjects: Sixty primigravidae and multigravidae women shared in this study. They were selected from Benha University Hospital in Benha. Their ages were ranged from 25-35 years. Their BMI was ranged from 30-35 kg/m2. Their gestational ages were between 20-24 weeks’ gestation. All pregnant women were complaining of gestational diabetes mellitus. Design: Design of this study was randomized controlled study. They were randomly assigned into two equal groups: Group A (stretching exercises group); It consisted of thirty pregnant diabetic women. They were treated by medical treatment, diet control and stretching exercises for 40 minutes, 3 times per week, after one hour of the main meal and insulin injection, for 12 weeks. Group B (aerobic exercises group); It consisted of thirty pregnant diabetic women. They were treated by medical treatment, diet control and aerobic exercise program in the form of walking on treadmill, at moderate intensity (60% of the maximum heart rate), for 45 minutes, 3 times per week, after one hour of the main meal and insulin injection, for 12 weeks. Methods: Body mass index (BMI) was assessed by weight and height scale. Fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels were assessed by using blood glucose monitoring system; fasting insulin level and HbA1C were assessed by blood analysis for each woman in both groups A and B before and after treatment. Results: Results of this study revealed that there was significant decrease in fasting blood glucose level, post-prandial blood glucose level, fasting insulin level and HbA1C level in both groups A and B after treatment. Pretreatment, there was no significant difference between both groups A and B in fasting blood glucose level, post-prandial blood glucose level, fasting insulin level and HbA1C level. Post treatment, there was significant difference between both groups A and B in fasting blood glucose level, post-prandial blood glucose level, fasting insulin level and HbA1C level (more decrease in group A). Conclusion: It can be concluded that both stretching and aerobic exercises during pregnancy can improve gestational diabetes mellitus by decreasing fasting blood glucose level, post-prandial blood glucose level, fasting insulin level and HbA1C level, but stretching exercises are more effective than aerobic exercises

Pre-harvest fruit drop, bunch weight and fruit quality of ‘Rothana’ and ‘Ghur’ date palm cultivars as affected by some plant growth regulators

Pre-harvest fruit drop is a serious problem of some date palm cultivars. During 2010 and 2011 seasons, the effect of plant growth regulators 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) (50 and 100 ppm), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (100 and 150 ppm), gibberellic acid (GA3) (100 and 150 ppm) and benzyladenine (BA) (100 and 150 ppm) applications, at 40 and 70 days after pollination, on pre-harvest fruit drop and quality of ‘Rothana’ and ‘Ghur’ dates were studied. In both cultivars, the application of growth regulators at both rates significantly decreased fruit drop. In this respect, 2,4-D and GA3 were the most effective treatments followed by BA, while NAA was the least effective. The reduction in fruit drop resulted in a higher bunch weight in the treated fruit than the control. The high rate of BA was more effective than the low rate in decreasing fruit drop of ‘Ghur’ cultivar. In ‘Rothana’ cultivar, bunch weight was higher than the control with both 2,4-D rates; whereas, with GA3 and BA, only the high rate was effective; while in ‘Ghur’ cultivar, bunch weight of all growth regulators treatments was higher than the control. The rutab percentage was lower in NAA treatments than for all the other treatments, except for control in ‘Ghur’ cultivar. Fruit and flesh weight of ‘Rothana’ cultivar were higher at the high rate of 2,4-D, the low rate of GA3 and BA treatments than in the control. There were no consistent effects for growth regulators on the physical and chemical quality characteristics of fruit, possibly due to the large variations of the fruit load among the treatments. It was concluded that under hot arid conditions, the application of growth regulators of especially 2,4-D (50 ppm) and GA3 (150 ppm) at both 40 and 70 days from pollination is recommended to reduce pre-harvest drop, and improve fruit quality of both ‘Rothana’ and ‘Ghur’ date palm cultivars.Keywords: Date palm, plant growth regulators, yield, quality, fruit drop, Phoenix dactylifera

Response of sesame to intercropping with maize under different sowing dates and plant distributions of sesame

Intercropping is one way to reduce the request for more environmental resources for agriculture sustainability. A field trail was implemented at Sids Agricultural Experimental and Research Station, Egypt, during 2019 and 2020 season to study the effect of sesame sowing date [3 weeks before sowing maize (D1), simultaneously with maize (D2) and 3 weeks after sowing maize (D3)] and plant distribution of sesame [1 row (S1), 2 rows (S2) and 3 rows (S3)] on yields of both crops, land use and financial benefit. Split-plot design with three replications was used. Results showed that the highest values of maize agronomic traits were observed when late intercropping of sesame at D3 with one row of sesame. In contrast, sowing 3 rows of sesame significantly reduced the productivity of maize, while introducing sesame at D1 resulted in the highest values for sesame agronomic traits. The values of LER, RCC and AYL of D2 x S1 surpassed the other intercropping treatments. Aggressivity was (+) for sesame at D1 and D2 but it was (-) at D3. Furthermore, D2 x S1 surpassed the other intercropping treatments in total return (2297 US$), MAI 633 and increased return by 61.5 % over solid maize. It can be concluded that sesame simultaneously with maize by inter seeding one row of sesame spaced into maize maximize land use, income and food sustainability. Keywords: Land Equivalent Ratio (LER), Relative crowding coefficient (RCC) Actual yield loss (AYL), total return

The efficacy of plant based diets on growth potential, energy utilization, nutrient digestibility, leg bone development and litter quality of meat chickens

Both plant and animal ingredients are used commonly to formulate balanced diets for poultry. Although many changes have been occurred in the genetics, nutrition and feeding of modern meat chickens, free selection and indiscriminate uses of feedstuffs for the non-ruminant animal diets can be hazardous due to the emerging threat of diseases outbreak via animal by-products. Besides this, many other concerns of including animal ingredients in poultry diets such as high price, zoonotic effects, ban on uses, food safety and product quality etc., encourage the poultry integrators to use merely vegetable feedstuffs for diet formulation excluding animal by-products. Exclusive use of plant ingredients into poultry diets might offer potential beneficial effects for optimizing poultry products. Poultry industry may be benefitted by using these cheap sources of vegetable ingredients for quality, safe and organic meat production. After all, most poultry integrators are looking for alternative ways to streamline production. This is why, currently the search for and the appropriate use of vegetable ingredients demand more research to explore their potential uses in poultry diets including other farm animals. However, despite the advantages of using vegetable feedstuffs in poultry diets, there are some associated problems that can affect the performance of meat chickens. So our current study is focused on to review these limitations of meat chickens fed vegetable-based diet, which include productivity, feed utilization and nutrient digestibility, leg bone health and litter quality of meat chickens

Urban Health Related Air Quality Indicators over the Middle East and North Africa Countries Using Multiple Satellites and AERONET Data

Air pollution is reported as one of the most severe environmental problems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Remotely sensed data from newly available TROPOMI - TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument on board Sentinel-5 Precursor, shows an annual mean of high-resolution maps of selected air quality indicators (NO2, CO, O3, and UVAI) of the MENA countries for the first time. The correlation analysis among the aforementioned indicators show the coherency of the air pollutants in urban areas. Multi-year data from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) stations from nine MENA countries are utilized here to study the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent (AE) with other available observations. Additionally, a total of 65 different machine learning models of four categories, namely: linear regression, ensemble, decision tree, and deep neural network (DNN), were built from multiple data sources (MODIS, MISR, OMI, and MERRA-2) to predict the best usable AOD product as compared to AERONET data. DNN validates well against AERONET data and proves to be the best model to generate optimized aerosol products when the ground observations are insufficient. This approach can improve the knowledge of air pollutant variability and intensity in the MENA region for decision makers to operate proper mitigation strategies

Effect of pollination time, the hour of daytime, pollen storage temperature and duration on pollen viability, germinability, and fruit set of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cv "Deglet Nour"

Success artificial pollination with viable pollen is crucial process in the production chain of date palms. This study evaluated the impact of pollen storage temperature and duration, pollination time following spathe cracking, and the hour of daytime on pollen viability, germinability, fruit set and yield of 'Deglet Nour' date palm cultivar. In in vitro tests, fresh pollen showed the maximum viability (96.3%) and germination (85%) but it decreased thereafter upon the storage temperature (28, 4 and-30 degrees C) and duration (3, 6, 9 and 12 months). In this respect, pollen stored at-30 degrees C retained highest viability and germinability followed by those stored at 4 and then at 28 degrees C. In filed experiments, fruit set was 85, 75, 65, and 45% with pollination using fresh pollen, or pollen stored at-30, 4 and 28 degrees C, respectively. Fruit set was 95%, 75%, and less than 50%, for pollination performed on the same day of spathe cracking, 6 and 12 days later, respectively. The highest fruit set percentage and yield/bunch were obtained with pollination performed between 12.0 pm and 15.0 pm in contrast to 8.0-11.0 am or 16.0-17.0. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)