In the present study, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the response of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) plants to foliar application of Spirulina platensis at 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, and ...0.4%; soil irrigation with heavy metals (Cd nitrate, Pb acetate, and Cd + Pb, each at 100 ppm), and Spirulina platensis at 0.1% + heavy metals. Spirulina platensis significantly improved growth parameters, oil yield/fed, photosynthetic pigments, and activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) with a maximum promoting effect at 0.2% algal extract. On the other hand, heavy metal stress reduced growth criteria, photosynthetic pigments, and oil yield, while, significantly increased levels of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GR) and corresponding non-enzymatic antioxidants (ascorbic acid, total antioxidant capacity, phenolics and flavonoids). Bioaccumulation factor (BF) and translocation factor (TF) indicated that Cd and Pb accumulated largely in the roots, with little transfer to the shoots. Nevertheless, compared with heavy metal treatments, S. platensis at 0.1% significantly increasing growth parameters, oil content, photosynthetic pigments, and the activity of non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants, while, slightly reduced TF of Cd and Pb, alleviated membrane lipid peroxidation, and significantly lowered the content of malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide, and indole acetic acid oxidase (IAAO) activity in heavy metal (Cd, Pb, and Cd + Pb)-treated rosemary plants.
The use of bio-stimulants in agriculture has emerged as a promising strategy to improve crop growth and yield. One type of bio-stimulant that has gained attention is microalgae extracts, which are ...known for their high metabolic activity, bioactive compounds, and ability to enhance plant growth and development. To investigate their effectiveness, a pot experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm of Helwan University in Egypt during the 2022 season. The experiment aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Chlorella vulgaris, Nannochloropsis salina, and Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina platensis) extracts as bio-stimulants, applied through foliar spray at concentrations ranging from 0.25 to 2.0%, on common bean plants. Analysis of algal extract showed that . N. salina had the highest content of promotive growth hormones gibberellins (GA
) (74.85 ± 2.7mg100 g
d.wt). and auxins (IAA) (34.57 ± 2.7µg 100 g
d.wt.) compared to Chlorella and Arthrospira..The results revealed that the application of C. vulgaris, N. salina, and A. platensis extracts at concentrations up to 1.0% significantly improved various growth parameters, such as root, and shoot length, number of leaves and flowers per plant, leaf area, and total fresh and dry weight per plant. These extracts also positively affected yield attributes, including the number and fresh weight of pods per plant, seed index, seed yield per plant, and per feddan a unit of land area. Furthermore, the application of these extracts increased the chlorophyll content index with the maximum values of CCI (17.95. and 17.81%) was obtained at 0.50% N. salina, followed by 0.50% C.vulgaris. In addition to increase in the capacity of both non-enzymatic antioxidants such as total antioxidant capacity, phenolics, and flavonoids and enzymatic antioxidants including catalase and ascorbic oxidase. The most promising results were observed with the application of N. salina, and C. vulgaris extracts at a concentration of 0.5%. Additionally, the extracts significantly reduced the content of oxidative stress markers, such as malondialdehyde, percentage of electrolyte leakage, and hydrogen peroxide, in common bean plants compared to the control group. Contrarily, the measured parameters were reduced, while the levels of oxidative stress markers and some antioxidants including peroxidase, ascorbic peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione transferase were increased by three algal extracts at a concentration of 2.0%, compared to control plants. Additionally, the application of these microalgae extracts improved the quality parameters, proximate composition, seed energy, and mineral contents of the harvested seeds, with the most significant positive impact was observed at 0.5% concentration of algal extract. These findings demonstrate the successful and safe utilization of extracts from C. vulgaris, N. salina, and A. platensis at concentrations up to 1.0% as bio-stimulants to enhance common bean yields and improve the nutritional quality of dried beans for consumers.
Abstract
Sulfur (S) is an essential microelement for plants. Based on the chemical similarity between Se and S, selenium may affects sulphur uptake by plants. This work aimed at investigating the ...effect of foliar spray with sodium selenate, gum arabic coated selenium nanoparticles (GA-SeNPs ≈ 48.22 nm) and sodium sulfate on red kidney bean (
Phaseolus vulgaris
L.) plants. Each treatment was used at 0.0, 1, 5, 10 and 50 µM, alone or combination of sodium sulfate with either Se or nano-Se, each at 0.5, 2.5 and 5 µM concentrations. The effect of foliar spray on vegetative growth, seed quality, and some metabolic constituents of red kidney bean (
Phaseolus vulgaris
L.) plants were investigated. Selenium nanoparticles have been synthesized through the green route using gum arabic (as a stabilizing and coating agent. Foliar application of different concentrations of Se, nano-Se, Na
2
SO
4
up to 10 μM and their interaction were effective in increasing the growth criteria (i.e. shoot and root lengths, plant fresh and dry weights, number of leaves and photosynthetic area (cm
2
plant
−1
).There was also a significant increase in photosynthetic pigment contents, yield (i.e., 100-seed weight), total carbohydrate, crude proteins and mineral contents in both leaf as compared to their untreated control plants. Furthermore, interaction between sodium sulfate with nano-Se or Se, each at 5 µM significantly increased the vegetative growth, 100-seed weight, and pigment contents in leaves and improved the nutritional value and quality of red kidney bean seeds.
The present work aimed to investigate the effect of salinity in natural habitats in Egypt on the main secondary metabolites of Rosmarinus officinalis L. and Artemisia monosperma L. plants compared to ...plants grown at normal conditions. Plants grown under salinity were collected from Egyptian Western Coastal region habitats irrigated with underground water. Results showed that salinity increased the essential oil percentage of R. officinalis L. by 52.7% and A. monosperma L by 0.29% in addition to the total phenolics and flavonoids content in dry leaves compared to control plants. GC/MS analysis of rosemary essential oils revealed that salinity decreased the amount of some major oil monoterpenes component as verbenone, with a slight effect on 1,8 cineole and increased Camphor, endo- Boreneol, and linalool in addition to the appearance of new specific components such as Chrysanthenone monoterpene ketone and Caryophyllene sesquiterpene, while, in the case of Artemisia, the GC/MS showed that Artemisia ketone, Camphor, β -phellandrene monoterpenes andα-Bisabolol sesquiterpenewere the major oil components; salinity decreased Camphor and β -phellandrene content and increased artemisia ketone and α-Bisabolol oil content. About 11 new oil constituents were detected such as ( +)-2-Bornanone and Sesquisabinene hydrate. Mineral ions (N, K
, Ca
, P, and Mg
) uptake by R. officinalis and A. monosperma decreased in plants grown under salinity, while Na content increased compared to corresponding controls. Results demonstrated that both plants could tolerate the high salinity level in natural Western Coastal region soil which promoted more production of valuable secondary metabolites. The antimicrobial effect of R. officinalis L. and A. monosperma L. leaf methanolic extracts, results showed that R. officinalis extracts had an inhibitory response against all tested gram-positive and negative bacteria, in addition to the yeast (Candida albicans), whereas there was no any inhibitory effect concerning A. monosperma L extract on the tested species.
Populus alba is a large woody deciduous plant. The plant has been introduced to shooting, then multiplication of rooting on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. This work was designed to estimate the ...effect of two factors (low levels of 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid NAA and sucrose) on P. alba response resulting in 6 treatments compared to the control, with twelve measured responses. There was a significant difference in some measurements in morphology, like plantlets fresh-weight, shoot-, root-length, and leaf number. In the physiological measurements, there were significant differences in all the measured parameters. The low concentrations of sucrose and media composition/power (MS grams/L) led to starvation in plants; however, these conditions led to enhancement in some morphological and physiological parameters to overcome the starvation effect, compared to the control. The RAPD-PCR molecular marker (four decamers) was used to evaluate the new individuals’ genetic variation (instability), resulting in a total polymorphism percentage of 50.83%. It was formerly known that the plantlets were identical to each other and to the mother plant. In this study, however, the use of distinct media power, hormonal and sucrose levels resulted in molecular variation reflected in P. alba’s morphological and physiological responses.
Background: The use of algae as biofertilizers is fast-spreading in order to meet the excessive demands for agricultural products. To achieve this, enough algal biomass needs to be supplied ...year-round. Hence, algal nutritional components must be optimized through mixotrophic conditions. Materials and methods: Two algal isolates, namely, Phormidium sp. and Synechocystis sp. were tested for their ability to produce mixotrophic growth using different supplementations including molasses, aqueous Lepidium sativum, Trigonella foenum graecum seed extract and liquorice root extract, as well as acetate salt solution. The algae that showed highest growth under optimized mixotrophic conditions was further used in cantaloupe seed growth experiments. GC-MS was also carried out on the biomass of Phormidium on one of the fractions of extract using solvent system to reveal some dominant novel bioactive compounds in algal biomass. Results: The sugarcane molasses significantly enhanced the growth of the two algal strains, followed by Lepidium sativum extract only in case of Phormidium sp. Therefore, it was used in subsequent experiments. All growth parameters for that algae were significantly enhanced by the addition of these nutritional sources with molasses being the best supplement. The Phormidium sp. was rich in its content of chlorophyll, proteins, sugars as well as some novel bioactive compounds as revealed by GC–MS. The germination percentage of seeds treated with Phormidium sp. showed a significant increase over that of control. The different growth-related metabolites of total soluble proteins, total soluble sugars and all photosynthetic pigment contents of the seedlings were all significantly increased using this algal treatment. Discussion: The sugarcane molasses was superior in enhancing the algal growth due to its rich content not only of sugars but also of minerals and nitrogenous compounds. The use of aqueous extracts of seeds of Lepidium sativum enhanced growth significantly more than that of the control set as seeds are rich in proteins, omega-3 fatty acids, phytochemicals and other essential nutrients. In growth experiments carried out on cantaloupe seeds, there was a significant increase in germination percentage as well as all growth parameters due to the rich nutritional content of Phormidium sp. Conclusion: Mixotrophic growth achieved better algal biomass production than autotrophy in the case of Phormidium sp. The use of cheap resources such as sugarcane molasses, which is the waste from the sugar industry, as well as the common herb extract of Lepidium sativum, is a cost-effective approach. The use of this mixotrophically grown blue-green alga as a biofertilizer significantly enhanced plant growth and seed germination, indicating the usefulness of this eco-friendly agricultural strategy for achieving both food security and environmental sustainability.
The potential of plant-based natural compounds in the creation of new molluscicidal and antimicrobial medications has gained attention in recent years. The current study compared the metabolic ...profiles, antibacterial, and molluscicidal properties of the medicinal plants
(
) and
(
). In both plants, 118 metabolites were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Palmitic acid, stigmasterol, and campesterol were the most prevalent constituents.
extract showed stronger antibacterial activity than
.
against
and
. Both extracts exhibited molluscicidal activity against
with LC
values of
(135 mg/L) and
(223.8 mg/L). Survival rates of snails exposed to sub-lethal concentrations (LC
) of
and
extracts were 5% and 20%, respectively. The hatchability of snail eggs exposed to both extracts has been dramatically reduced. Both extracts significantly decreased the levels of alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, total protein, and albumin in snails, as well as causing DNA damage and resulting in numerous hermaphrodite and digestive gland damages and distortions. Molecular docking showed palmitic acid binding with acid, alkaline, and alanine aminotransferases in treated digestive gland snails. In conclusion,
and
have antibacterial and molluscicidal properties.
A total of 38 lactic acid bacteria, belonging to Lactobacillus, isolated from 24 samples of traditional Egyptian dairy products, were screened for antimicrobial activity against different ...Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. A strain of Lactobacillus brevis showed the best inhibitory activity when tested by well diffusion assay. The antibacterial activity was pronounced between early logarithmic and early stationary phases. The strain produced a heat-stable antimicrobial compound showing no reduction in activity after heat treatment from 60 to 100°C for 15 and 30 min. Since it was inactivated by proteolytic enzymes, it is considered to be proteinaceous in nature and, therefore, referred to as a bacteriocin-like substance. This compound was also active over a wide pH range (pH 2–6). The antimicrobial compound was partially purified by 40% ammonium sulfate precipitation. Lactobacillus brevis was tested for its in vitro antibiotics susceptibility, tolerance to bile salts, resistance to low pH values, acidifying activity, proteolytic activity, and haemolytic activity. The results showed the potential of L. brevis strain as a probiotic culture, and hence it can be utilized in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements.
Populus alba is a large essential woody deciduous tree producing the finest wood types. This work’s design depends on in vitro work on Murashige and Skoog basal medium (MS medium) for shooting then ...rooting multiplication; with change in two factors concentrations (solutes’ concentration “media power” and sucrose concentrations) resulted in 12 treatments. The results showed that there were six responses measured in the new generated individuals: plantlet fresh weight, shoot length, root length, leaf length, leaf number, and roots number. The outcomes illustrated some morphological parameters had a significant difference, like shoot length, root and leaf numbers. While all the physiological measurements had significant differences. The molecular marker random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR) was used to estimate the variation in the new individuals from treatments with the two factors. Four RAPD primers were applied and gave reproducible bands with a total polymorphism percentage of 38.33%. This work’s main issue was to prove that any change in the in vitro growth medium (ex., different solute concentration “media power” and sucrose concentrations) leads to differences in morphology, physiology, and molecular responses. Previously, it was known that new individuals resulted from the tissue culture technique were identical to the mother plant and each other. So, this study clarified the conflict of this issue.
Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) represented the most feared diabetic complication that caused the hospitalization of the diabetic patient. DFU was usually characterized with delayed healing as the diabetic ...neuropathy, angiopathy, and ulcer concomitant infections, among them, are multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria that emphasized the clinical importance for developing new therapeutic strategy with safe and effective alternatives for the antibiotics to overcome DFU-MDR bacterial infection. Bacteriophage therapy was considered a novel approach to eradicate the MDR, but its role in the polymicrobial infection of the DFU remains elusive. Thus, the current work was designed to investigate the effect of the topical application of the phage cocktail on the healing of the diabetic wound infected with clinical isolates of
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
,
Klebsiella variicola
,
Escherichia coli
, and
Proteus mirabilis
. Bacterial isolation was performed from clinical hospitalized and non-hospitalized cases of DFU, identified morphologically, biochemically, molecularly via
16 s rRNA
sequencing, and typed for the antibiotic resistance pattern. Moreover, phages were isolated from the aforementioned clinical isolates and identified with electron microscope. Forty-five adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were assigned in 3 groups (15 rats each), namely, the diabetic infected wound group, diabetic infected wound ceftriaxone-treated group, and the diabetic infected wound phage cocktail-treated group. The results revealed that phage cocktail had a superior effect over the ceftriaxone in wound healing parameters (wound size, wound index, wound bacterial load, and mRNA expression); wound healing markers (
Cola1a
,
Fn1
,
MMP9
,
PCNA
, and
TGF-β
); inflammatory markers (
TNF-α
,
NF-κβ
,
IL-1β
,
IL-8
, and
MCP-1
); anti-inflammatory markers (
IL-10
and
IL-4
); and diabetic wound collagen deposition; and also the histomorphic picture of the diabetic infected wound. Based on the current findings, it could be speculated that phage therapy could be considered a novel antibiotic substitute in the DFU with MDR-polymicrobial infection therapeutic strategies.
