Basic Science Sector

The Pliocene aquifer receives inflow of Miocene and Pleistocene aquifers waters in Wadi El Natrun depression.

In the present study, seeds from local cultivar of fennel were germinated on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) without plant growth regulators. Different types of explants from the growing seedling such as cotyledonal leaves, hypocotyls, epicotyls and roots were cultured on MS medium, contained different concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) either alone or with kinetin. Differential responses in the essential oil constituents were observed in the induction and development of callus. The major components of essential oils includes estragole, trans-anethole, limonene and fenchone were studied under different conditions to find out the best methods which could be used to reduce the amount of estragole (not favorite for human consumption) and increase the amount of trans-anethole.

Soleaaegyptiaca was successfully transplanted into Lake Qaroun from the Mediterraneansea to improve the yield of its original strain in the lake and this process continued at different timeintervals. Salinity of the lake increases during summer season due to high evaporation rates andchanges in the inflow regime. The deterioration of water resources in the lake during the summerseason is considered as a serious threat to the aquatic life. Therefore, this study was carried out duringsummer and beginning of autumn seasons where fish are exposed to severe alterations in the aquaticenvironment. Water quality indices of Lake Qaroun showed significant differences and the studiedwater heavy metals (Cu+2, Zn+2, Mn+2 and Pb+2) were in accordance with values of residual heavymetals in tissues, the bioaccumulation process showed also specificity to fish tissues. Histologicalsections in gills, liver and kidneys of S. aegyptiaca collected during June showed much moreimprovement than samples collected during other months. Histopathological alterations and cleardamages were obvious in samples collected during late summer and beginning of autumn (July,August and September) generally in accordance with the results of residual heavy metals in water andtissues. Moreover, the results revealed significant differences in values of growth indices, meat quality,blood parameters and plasma constituents of S. aegyptiaca collected from Lake Qaroun. Generally,the values were deteriorating during late summer and showed much more improvement during Juneand September.

This work was aimed to evaluate a simplified semi-synthetic diet based on combination of starch/agarfor mass rearing of Spodopteralittoralis. Two modified semi-synthetic diets (A & B) proved successful inmaintaining the culture of S. littoralis for five successive generations without apparent adverse effectsthroughout the insect stages. The mean values of tested biological parameters were determined on the rearedinsects fed on either of the modified diets. The results showed a higher larval weight, pupal weight, adultemergence, fertility and development index as compared to the agar-based standard diet of Shorey and Hale(1965). Whereas, percentage pupation, survival, fecundity and sex ratio were non-significantly different in thetested treatments. Moreover, the cost of ingredient reduced by 45.6% and 33.3% per one liter of diets A andB, respectively as compared to the agar-based standard diet. The obtained results provide an economicallyviable diet for mass rearing, thus promising for large-scale production of S. littoralis laboratory culture.

The impact of rearing silver carp, Hypophthalmichthysmolitrix to the fingerling stage under threedifferent stocking densities was investigated depending on the hematological and biochemical parameters asindicators of general health state of fish. The present study was carried out for 12 weeks to determine the mostoptimum stocking density for rearing silver carp. Fish were cultured in duplicates of cement ponds under stockingdensities of 3, 6 and 9 fish/m3 as T1, T2 and T3 respectively. The ponds were fertilized weekly with organic fertilizerat rate of 50 g/m3. Results of hematological analyses showed significant increase in T1 for values of RBCs count,hemoglobin, hematocrit and mean corpuscle volume (MCV) while the lowest values were recorded in T3 for allthese parameters. Changing the stocking density had non-significant effect on values of WBCs count, meancorpuscle hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscle hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). Plasma biochemicalanalyses showed that increasing the stocking density caused significant increase in values of plasma glucose, totalprotein, albumin (A) and globulin (G) associated with significant decrease in values of cholesterol and triglycerides.The highest values of A/G ratio were recorded non-significantly in T1 and T3 while the lowest values were recordedsignificantly in T2. Meanwhile T1 showed a significant decrease in values of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartateaminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and uric acid. Values of creatinine showed non-significantincrease among treatments. The findings suggest that the most optimum condition was detected in T1 (3 fish/m3) wheremost of the studied hematological and biochemical parameters were essentially normal and within the range consistentwith good fish health.

Widespread acceptance of urea was delayed in part due to its greater potential for nitrogen (N) loss via ammonia volatilization.

Field experiments were performed at the Agricultural Experiments and Researches Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt during the two summer growing seasons of 2009 and 2010 to study the effect of foliar application with active yeast extract (AYE) at various concentrations of 25, 50, 100 and 150 ml/L on morphological, anatomical and yield characters as well as on seed quality of Kidney bean 'Giza 6'.

It was aimed to investigate the effect of standardized ginseng extract on fertility pa-rameters in diabetic rats. Methods: Thirty male rats were randomly allocated into three groups of 10 rats each: 1. controls, 2. diabetes (D) and 3. diabetes + ginseng (DG). The latter two groups were rendered diabetic by i.p. injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 50 mg/kg). Standardized ginseng extract (Dansk Droge A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark) was administered per os (100 mg/kg BW) by stomach tube daily for 90 days starting one week after STZ. Ninety days post STZ the rats were sacrificed, and testis, epididymis, prostate, and seminal vesicles were weighed and subjected to histological examination. In addition, spermiogram, testicular enzyme markers, intratesticular steroid hormonal profile and testicular antioxidant status were estimated.

Two groups of 4-(4'-substituted phenylazo)-2-phenyl-4''-alkoxy benzoates were prepared and their mesophase formation and stability investigated. Each group (Ina-e and IIna-e) constituted five homologous series differing in their terminal substituent, CH3O, CH3, H, Cl or NO2. Within each series the number of carbons in the terminal alkoxy chain was 8, 10, 12, 14 or 16. The two main groups of compounds (I and II) differed in the polarity of the lateral substitutent attached to the central benzene ring. Group I had a chlorine atom adjacent to the ester group, replaced in Group II by the weakly electron-donating methyl group.

The natural infection with OYDV in onion and garlic fields resulted in a substantial reduction in pseudo-stem length, number of leaves, plant weight and weight of bulb as well as number and weight of cloves. The reduction% in Chinese garlic crop due to virus infection was higher than that in local (Baladi) garlic.

Effect of phosphoric acid on the performance of Pb-1.7%Sb grid of lead-acid cell is studied in 5 M H2SO4 by cyclic galvanostatic polarization and impedance spectroscopy. An increase in capacitance to a maximum is recorded during the initial stages of the electro-reduction of PbO2 into Pb(II) compounds and attributed to concurrent compositional and dimensional changes. These changes include removal of O2 bubbles, insertion of large amounts of H2SO4 and H2O. Efficiency of PbO2 formation decreases, while its rate of self-discharge increases with increasing the charging current and in the presence of H3PO4. The charge capacity increases with increasing the discharging current due to the decrease in the self-discharge. The charge capacity is lower in the presence of H3PO4. On increasing the cycle number, the corrodibility of the grid increases, because more layers of the surface Pb are involved in the self-discharge. H3PO4 significantly retards the effect of cycle number.

Cationic polymers have been used to condense DNA by electrostatic interaction into small particles (polyplexes), for protecting the DNA from degradation and enhancing its uptake via endocytosis. Polyethylenimine (PEI) is one of the most advanced delivery systems that can condense DNA efficiently forming PEI/DNA complexes. The effect of PEI molecular weight (2k, 5k and 25k) on the physicochemical and biological properties of the polyplexes was investigated. As the molecular weight of PEI increased, the condensation ability, surface charge increased while complexes size decreased. PEI 25k has the lowest buffer capacity compared to 2k and 5k PEI. Transfection efficiency of examined polyplexes was higher in MCF7 cells than in HeLa cells. 25k PEI formed smaller polyplexes and achieved higher transfection efficiencies (into two cell lines HeLaand MCF7) than 2k PEI and 5k PEI. Attachment of different hydrophobic amino acid residues and suitable targeting ligands onto the surface of 25k PEI will increase its transfection efficiency.

The present investigation was carried out during two successive seasons 2009 and 2010 to study the effective concentration and application time of potassium nitrate (KNO3) on vegetative growth, nutritional status, yield and fruit quality of Picual olive trees under sandy soil conditions. The obtained results showed that, foliar application of potassium nitrate at 4 % after final fruit set or pit hardening improve the vegetative growth, nutritional status especially in the second season and the productivity in both seasons. While sprays potassium nitrate at 4 % after pit hardening gave the best values of fruit quality and flesh oil content of Picual olive fruit in both seasons of the study.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical, physical and sensory characteristics of lowfatbeef patties formulated by replacing different levels (25, 50, 75 and 100%) of fat with hydrated potatoflakes. Uncooked and cooked beef patties formulated with potato flakes had higher (p?0.05) moisture,carbohydrate and ash content and lower (p?0.05) fat contents than that of the control. Caloric values of beefpatties was lower (p?0.05) than control by between 7 and 57%, cholesterol content of patties decreased as levelof potato flakes increased. Cooking yield, Water Holding Capacity (WHC) as well as moisture and fatretention were increased significantly (p?0.05) with increasing the levels of potato flakes. Overall acceptabilityvalues for beef patties formulated with potato flakes were higher (p?0.05) than the control samples. Beef pattiesformulated with 75% potato flakes as fat replacer had significantly (p?0.05) the highest score of overallacceptability. Hydrated potato flack could be an excellent replacement for fat in beef patties maintainingacceptable and desirable sensory properties.