Middle East Journal of Agriculture Research

Effect of some Environmental Factors on Potato Bacterial Soft Rot

2025-11-08T16:25:38+00:00

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the third most important food crop of the world after wheat and rice. The aim of study to evaluate effect of some environmental (pH values, temperatures and relative humidity) on the growth and severity of bacterial soft rot. In vitro, the growth of three isolates of Pectobacterium carotovorum p.v. carotovorum were affected with different pH values and rate the growth tested isolates were the most increasing with 7.0 and 7.5 pH values. While rate the growth tested bacterial isolates increased with increasing temperatures and the best rate the growth was recorded on 30, 26 and 34°????. Under artificial inoculation conditions, severity of potato bacterial soft rot disease increased with increasing temperatures and was the most severed with 34, 30 and 26°???? temperatures. Also, severity of potato bacterial soft rot disease increased with increasing relative humidity (RH) at 90 and 100% RH potato tubers were totally rotted.

Effect of Herbal Mixture with or without Probiotic on Digestion, Blood Metabolites, Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Barki Lambs

2025-12-08T01:58:49+00:00

This study aimed to investigate the effect of herbal mixture with or without probiotic yeast on digestion, blood metabolites, immunity and antioxidant status, growth performance and carcass characteristics. Fifteen early weaned male Barki lambs (13.5 ± 0.82kg) were divided randomly into three groups (n=5/group) as follows: Group one (G1) was fed on basal diet that was consisted of concentrate feed mixture (CFM) and berseem hay as control; group two (G2) was fed on basal diet with herbal mixture (garlic, ginger, cumin and turmeric) at 1% of dry matter intake (DMI) and group three (G3) was the fed like G2 plus five gram per head of probiotic yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Animals were fed for seven months and twenty days. The combination of herbal mixture and yeast (G3) increased nutrients digestibility, nutritive value, growth rate, serum thyroid hormone, immunoglobulins and total antioxidant (P< 0.05). Meanwhile, the same group (G3) decreased predicted methane intensity, and carcass chilling loss (P< 0.05). Herbal mixture (G2) increased brightness and yellowness of meat color (P< 0.05). It could be concluded that the combination of herbal mixture with yeast made a positive synergistic effect on the performance of Barki lambs.

FSHβ and FSHR Genes Polymorphisms and their Effect on Productive Performance in Barki Sheep

2026-01-02T10:40:27+00:00

This study investigated the association among polymorphisms in the follicle-stimulating hormone beta subunit (FSHβ) and follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) genes and their relationship with lamb growth traits. The studied traits including birth weight (BW), weaning weight at three months of age (WW), and body weights at 6, 9, and 12 months (yearling) and productive performance (mature body weight of each ewe at first mating (MW), the total lamb birth weight per ewe (TLBW) and total lamb weaning weight per ewe (TLWW) across four breeding seasons) of Egyptian Barki sheep. A total number of 67 ewes and 89 lambs (44 males and 45 females) were evaluated across four consecutive breeding seasons (2020–2023). The PCR-RFLP technique was employed to detect the genotypic variations in the FSHβ and FSHR genes using ACCI (HinfI) and MSCI restriction enzymes, respectively. No polymorphism was observed in the FSHβ gene, indicating that this locus is monomorphic. In contrast, three distinct genotypic variants (AA, AB, and BB) were identified in the FSHR gene. Association analysis revealed no significant effect of FSHR polymorphism on ewes reproductive traits,
although ewes carrying the AA genotype showed slightly higher mature weight (MW) and total lamb birth weight (TLBW) than those with AB and BB genotypes. Conversely, the BB genotype was associated with increased total lamb weaning weight (TLWW). Moreover, the FSHR polymorphism exhibited a highly significant effect (P < 0.01) on lamb weaning weight at three months of age (WW), with BB genotype lambs averaging 16.90 kg, compared to 13.39 kg for the AA genotype. These results indicate that genetic variation in the FSHR genes may influence growth performance. Further investigations with larger sample size and additional molecular markers are warranted to elucidate the genetic mechanisms governing productive and growth traits in Barki sheep.

Evaluation of Chickpea, Cicer arietinum (L.) Varieties for Resistance to Pod Borer, Helicoverpa armigers (Hub.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Gezira State, Sudan

2026-01-02T10:43:19+00:00

Pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera- Hubner) is considered as one of the major chickpea pests causing damage from seedling to maturity. Two experiments were conducted at Elmadina Arab, Gezira State during two seasons 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 to investigate the infestation level of seven chickpea varieties (Burgeg, Hawatta, Atmour, Baladi, Shandi, Gabel Marra and Wad Hamid) by the pod borer. The experiments were laid out in Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD) with four replicates. The blocks were divided into seven subplots (2 mustabs 5m x 2m) (mustabs is a wide , flat topped ridge created by pilling soil) and each variety was sown two seeds per hole having 10 cm spacing between holes. Cultural practices were carried out as recommended by the Agriculture Research Corporation. Tested varieties showed a considerable difference in infestation levels in the two seasons witha significance difference in infestation between varieties on 75 days after planting. Jabel Marra variety showed the lowest infestation by pod borer on leaves and pod in both seasons followed by Shandi whereas, Hawata and Atmore recorded high seed yield despite the high infestation of pod borer. Therefore they may be considered as tolerant varieties and could be used in breeding programs for the development of pod borer-resistant chickpea varieties.