Variation of bioenergy efficiency of Arundo donax L. growing in northern and middle Egypt

The Stone Source of Predynastic Basalt Vessels: Mineralogical Evidence for Quarries in Northern Egypt

Distribution and identification of phytonematodes associated with wheat grown in twelve provinces of Northern and Middle Egypt were investigated during two growing seasons (2016-2017 and 2017-2018). A total of 929 soil and root samples were collected from 119 localities (villages/farms) belonging to 37 districts. Samples contained fourteen nematode genera and species viz., Aphelenchoides, Criconemella, Ditylenchus, Helicotylenchus, Heterodera, Hirschmanniella oryzae, Hoplolaimus, Longidorus,Meloidogyne, Pratylenchus, Rotylenchulus reniformis, Tylenchorhynchus, Ttylenchus and Xiphinema. The stunt nematodes (Tylenchorhynchus spp.), the root-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.), the spiral nematodes (Helicotylenchus spp.) and the cyst nematodes (Heterodera spp.) were the most frequent nematodes in all samples. The stunt nematodes had the highest occurrence with 47.4%, population density with 48.2 and prominence value with 33.2. The root-lesion nematodes ranked the second after Tylenchorhynchus spp., in terms of frequency of occurrence (13.77%), while the cyst nematodes had the second order after the stunt nematodes, in terms of population density (24.8) and prominence value (5.4). The spiral nematodes occupied the third rank, in terms of frequency of occurrence (5.5%), and the last rank in terms of both of population density and prominence value (9 and 2.1, respectively).

Microchemical analysis of minerals present in pottery and stone artefacts may help determine their provenance. Electron microprobe major element analyses of augite suggest that minor elements (Ti02,MnO, Aa2O) are important in fingerprinting basalts. This points to the potential usefulness of trace elements. Augite present in six basalt samples (representing all known/suspected Pharaonic basalt quarries in northern and middle Egypt) and basaltic temper fragments in two New Kingdom pottery sherds was analysed for 28 trace elements (Sr, Ba, Th, U, Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu. Sc, V, Cr, Ni, Ga) by laser ablation microprobe‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (LAM‐ICP‐MS, laserprobe). Cluster and discriminant analysis indicate that (1) laserprobe trace element data are more effective at fingerprinting basalts than conventional electron‐microprobe data and (2) basaltic temper in the two sherds does not match any of the quarries. Microbeam techniques providing trace element data may represent the future for mineral‐based provenance studies.

Isolates of Botrytis spp.collected from faba bean growing governorates of Northern and Middle Egypt were compared for their morphological and physiological characters.Botrytis spp.isolates showed differences in growth rate and spore production as well as number and size of sclerotia while, growth of Botrytis cinerea isolates was faster than those of Botrytis fabae onto all tested media and most of the fabae type isolates produced number of spores less than that produced the cinerea type.Also, B. fabae isolates were the highest number of small sclerotia.Eight faba bean varieties varied in their reaction to chocolate leaf sport disease caused by B. fabae Sard.Giza 402 is highly susceptible cv.(74.2%) while, Giza-Blanka was 402 the highly resistant (40.0%) whereas, Giza-3 was moderately resistant.Also, isolate obtained from Nubaria was more virulent than those obtained from other governorates.

The analysis and interpretation of changes in mineral magnetic signatures from a long (ca. 8.2 m) sedimentary sequence recovered from Lake Qarun, Middle Egypt in 2003 spanning a timescale of approximately the last 2,000 years is reported. A suite of mass specific susceptibility and magnetic remanence measurements were made at irregular intervals downcore on 39 samples. These samples were selected on the basis of trends and abrupt changes in whole-core magnetic susceptibility measured using a Bartington® MS2E sensor and were analysed for low and high temperature loss on ignition and their particle size distribution. Trends in all mineral magnetic concentration parameters are remarkably similar and were initially used to divide the core into three magnetically distinct zones. The upper and lower sections of the core (0–119 cm and 445–822 cm depth) are characterised by low values for all magnetic concentration parameters. Between 153 and 380 cm depth, concentration parameters are considerably higher, although somewhat variable. The S ratio and percentage loss of remanence after 24 h (IRMloss) follow a different trend and are inversely related to each other. A low S ratio ( 4%. On the basis of these parameters, the core can be divided into four zones, and differences in magnetic mineralogy between these four zones were confirmed by measurement of IRM acquisition curves. The major difference between concentration parameters and ratios or percentage loss of IRM lies in the identification of an additional zone below 619 cm depth where the S ratio is high and IRMloss is low. There is little evidence to suggest that the magnetic signatures are controlled by particle size or by trends in organic matter and/or carbonate content. The signatures appear to be predominantly detrital and show little evidence of post-depositional alteration through dissolution or authigenic addition of bacterial magnetite or greigite. Analysis of Saharan dust deposition rates in Northern Egypt suggests that atmospheric fallout is likely to make only a very minor contribution (<1%) to sedimentation rates in Lake Qarun. The downcore trends therefore appear to reflect major changes in fluvial sediment sources over the ca. 2,000 year time period spanned by this ∼8 m core. Preliminary mineral magnetic characterisations of potential local sources suggest that these cannot account for the range of signatures recorded in the Qarun sediments and it is hypothesised that these sediments are derived from Nile river floods.

Spatiotemporal variations of global solar radiation: Case Study Egypt

The present study was conducted to elucidate the prevalence of Cryptosporidium bovis in suckling and weaned cattle calves (Bubalus bubalis) from different governorates in northern, middle, and southern Egypt, such as Behera, Menofia, Qaliubiya, Assiut, and Sohag; result revealed that from the overall examined fecal samples (n = 825), the overall prevalence was 7.27%, the highest significant infection rate was in young suckling calves less than one month (8.2%), and seasonally, winter season has the highest significant level (11.24%), but sex and locality were of no significant effect on the prevalence of infection in this study. Gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the 18SSU-rRNA gene of the local bovine isolate were performed, and it was found that C. bovis genotype was highly similar to human isolate, which provoke the zoonotic transmission of bovine isolate to humans and identified as a potential source for human cryptosporidiosis infection in Egypt.