Basrah Journal of Agricultural Sciences

An experiment was conducted during winter season of 2010/2011 in Lath house belong to Hort. and Landscape Design Dept., Coll. of Agric., Basrah Univ. to evaluate the effect of spraying with seaweed and active dry yeast extracts on the vegetative and flowering growth of Cumin plant (Cuminum cyminum L.( var. Syrian local. The experiment was focussed on the effect of two factors spraying with or without seaweed extract and four methods of spraying with active dry yeast extracts on( leaves, soil, leaves and soil and spraying with distilled water). Randomized Complete Block Design was used with three replicates, L. S. D. Test was used at probability of 5%. Results showed that spraying with seaweed extract gave a significant increases in plant height, leaves number/plant, number inflorescences /plant , floret number/umbel, reducing fresh vegetative weight, days number for inflorescence appearance, days number for its opening and for fruit set and Caratenoids content in leaves. Leave and soil spraying with active dry yeast extracts significantly increased plant height, leaves number/plant, plant height, lateral branches number /plant, floret number/umbel, leave content of chlorophyll and carotenes reducing days number for inflorescences, days number for its opening, while soil spraying significantly increased vegetative dry weight, spraying with distilled water significantly increased fresh vegetative weight and leave spraying significantly reducing days number for fruit set and increasing leave content of carbohydrate. The interaction between the two factors caused significant effect in all studied parameters.

This study was conducted at laboratory of plant tissue culture - department of Horticulture and
land scape design –College of Agriculture- Basra University, during the year of 2011. The aim was to
find out the effect of two different levels of cytokins (BA) and oxins (NAA) on primary callus induction
,and then adventitious shoot initiation and formation of plantlet from leaf segments of pineapple plant
produced through tissue culture protocol. Results revealed that the primary callus formation was
increased with increasing of BA concentration in callus media. However, large quantity of primary
callus was obtained in media supplemented with 7 and 10mg/l BA with constant level (0.5 mg /l) of
NAA in solid media of MS .The subculture of calli was continued in the same media (2,3,5,7,and 10 mg /
l) of BA three times during incubation in dark. Adventitious shoots were also regenerated from primary
callus that was derived from leaf segments cultured in MS media with BA at concentration of 1 mg/l with
NAA at concentration 0.1mg for two months in light. The Adventitious shoots regeneration was
continued for 4, 6 and 8 months from beginning of primary callus culture in the same media for mass
production of Ananas plant. Adventitious shoots were rooted in media contained half strength MS , 1
gm activated charcoal, 0,3 mg /l NAA and 0.1mg/l BA, for three months in light. Results also showed,
that plantlets which were hardened in distilled water produced new white roots and then grown when
they were planted in a medium of soil: Petmos 2; 1 and the survival rate was 100%, whereas, nonhardened plantlets had yellowish colored leaves with 30% surviving rate when they were cultured in the
same media.

An experiment was conducted during autumn season of 2010 at Al-Harta, Basrah. The aim
was to study the effect of foliar spraying of ascorbic acid and chelated iron on some vegetative growth,
flowering and yield of Cucurbita pepo cv. Kanna F1. The experiment included 5 treatments came from (0
, ascorbic acid concentration of 40 , 80 mg/l and chelated iron 6% concentration 300 , 600 mg/l
Randomized Complete Block Design was used in a simple experiment. Results showed that were a
significant effects for foliar spraying of ascorbic acid at 40 mg/l and chelated iron of 600 mg/l on
vegetative growth, flowering and yield and its components foliar Spraying with 40 mg/l ascorbic acid
and 600 mg/l chelated iron gave the highest yield per plant (1.1840 and 2.084)kg respectively and the
highest total yield per unitarea (7.233 and 8.187) ton/dounm. For both parameters, respectively.

The present study was conducted in Basrah / Iraq from September 2003 to September 2004,
The objectives of the study were to determine the host plants that foraged by the bee workers during the
blooming period and the role of plant species on their behavioral, plant species: Jujub, River-red gume,
Red bottl brush, Henna, Mesquite, Acacia, Sesban, Blue chaste tree, Blue sky flower, Sebestan, Morning
Glory, Clerodendrum, Boxthorn and Caper Bush ..It was found that the highest foraging activity of
honey bees on the flowers was at eleven o’clock a.m., decreased at two o’clock p.m and disappeared on
sunset.Among the trees jujube (Ziziphus spina-christi) was the most attractive plant in the time unit
where the frequency was 7.83 bees/5 branches/minute. Sesban (Sesbania sesban) showedt the highest
visiting rate which was 0.37 bees/m2
/minute.

Morphological and anatomical study was carried out on Conocarpus lancifolius to show its
charectars and properties . Leaves were simple , peteoled , primary vein arises up and downward the leaf .
Epidermis covered with non- glandular simple hairs and glandular multicellular hairs . Heads were crowded
, green – yellow coloured .Pollen was small , psilate and tricolporate . Leaf , petiole and stem cells were
highly tanniniferous with numerous druses . Mesophyll was isobilateral having water storage tissue .Peteole
contain one central boat – shaped vascular bundle with tow lateral traces . In stem vascular bundle or
cylindrical was bicollateral . Non – hairy excreting structures exist at the lower surface of the leaf as well as
several nectaries at the distal part of peteole and leaf margins.

The study was carried out to investigate the effect of different concentrations of the insecticide
Dichlorovos (C4H7CL2O4P) in the root tips meristematic cells of Allium cepa using different concentrations
0.1,0.2,0.3 and 0.4 ml/l. The chromosomal aberrations types and the mitotic index studied. The increased
concentrations of Dichlorovos caused significant decrease of the number of dividing cells and phases in
comparison with the control group and that leads to drastic effect on the mitotic cells. The insecticide induced
different types of chromosomal aberrations (chromosomal bridges, late chromosomes and broken bridges)
significantly (p˂0.5) using the concentrations 0.1, 0.2 ml/l and the positive control, on the other hand the
concentrations 0.3,0.4 ml/l showed the least aberrations, whereas the positive control induced chromosomal
fragments, lagging chromosomes and granular prophase in comparison with the other insecticide concentrations.

The fungus Pestalotiopsis rosa was recorded for the first time in Iraq and isolated from Rosa
host plant (Rosa hybrida) which infectd with Black stem disease, the fungus stimulated typical symptoms
of this disease on the same host when artificially inoculated. The ability of Pycnidia formation was found
in P. rosa, which were brown colour at immaturity and turned to black at full maturity on PDA.

During the study of the mycobiota associated with Conocarpus lancifolius from 167
samples were taken from different locations at Basrah governorate, 26 species identified , belonging to16
genera and one sterile mycelium. The majority of fungi were signed to Deutromycotina 73.07% followed
by Zygomycotina and Ascomycotina 11.5% for each one,with three species for each one belonginig to 2
and 3 genera respectivily. The most common genus recorded was Aspergillus 100% and the last in
occurrence was sterile mycelium(2.3%). The pathogenicity was tested for three species Alternaria
tenuissima ,Cladosporium herbarum and Ulocladium chartarum on C.lancifolius ,the clear symptoms on
C.lancifolius for all species were conspicuously obserrved. The activity of three fungicides Elsa, Glazer
and Vacomil MZ-72 were laboratorly tested against the three pathogenic fungi .Vacomil MZ-72
recorded a high significant inhibition for the three pathogenic growth in a percent of 70.02% .

Histopathological changes of 2-years old grapevine cv. Abbassi inoculated with Lasiodiplodia
theobromae (syn. Botryodiplodia theobromae) were studied. Samples were taken at 7 and 25 days after artificial
inoculation. At 7 days, cross and longitudinal sections revealed the presence of disorganized cells, degenerated
areas and vascular bundles. The intra and intercellular invasion of the inoculated tissues by the fungus were
evident with dark brown color. At 25 days, the fungus caused necrosis in xylem parenchyma and xylem vessels,
the hyphae colonized the tissues. Dark deposits appeared in vessels and other tissues as well as abundant
production of tyloses. L. theobromae has also been found to produce pycnidia on the shoots and petioles of
grapevine which yielded 2-celled dark pycindiospores. After more than 4-weeks, the inoculated grapevine
seedlings look flaccid, brown in color and wilting symptoms began to appear and finally the seedlings were dead.

Genetic diversity of two isolates of Sinorhizobium meliloti grown in different soil samples
were investigated. The results showed that two isolates of S. meliloti were different in their plasmid
profile .One of these isolates was containing one large megaplasmid with molecular weight (1.6Mb) and
the other isolate was containing two large megaplasmid with molecular weight (1.6Mb and 1.3Mb).
pSymA and pSymB in S. meliloti are involved in the formation and functioning of nitrogen-fixing root
nodules. Genes located on pSymA are necessary for nodulation and nitrogen fixation, while those located
on pSymB are involved in exopolysaccharide synthesis and uptake of various nutrients.

The electrical conductivity (E.C.) changes of a certain concentration (1000ppm) of aqueous
sodium chloride and calcium chloride dihydrate solutions as a function to the solubility with and without
applying a multiple constant magnetic field at different temperature and pH values were studied. A
magnetic funnel with a magnetic field power of 450 gauss was used to prepare the magnetic water by
passing the later 1, 5 and 10 times with flow rate of 41.66 mL/sec, before dissolving the sodium chloride
and calcium chloride dihydrate salts. There was a proportional relationship between the solubility of
sodium chloride and calcium chloride dihydrate and the number of water exposure to the magnetic field.
There was also a proportional relationship between the electrical conductivity records and the increasing
in temperature and pH values. It was found that the increasing in pH value is more effective as compared
with the elevation in temperature degree. In general, the magnetic solutions of sodium chloride and
calcium chloride dihydrate showed highly electrical conductivity values as compared with non-magnetic
solutions. It was clear, that the advantages from using magnetized solutions of these two salts will be
useful in the biological and physiological systems

. In this study, the antioxidant activity of tomato lycopene (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) was
investigated. The antioxidant properties were evaluated by using different antioxidant tests, including
ferric thiocyanate method, reducing power, metal chelating ability and hydrogen peroxide scavenging.
The yield of lycopene from puree was 11.8 mg/100g compared with those in peels and seeds 11.3 and 6.3
mg/100g respectively. Lycopene is a powerful natural antioxidant, 5mg/ml of lycopene exhibited 83.24%
inhibition in linoleic acid peroxidation, which was greater at same concentration than the of butylated
hydroxy toluene (BHT) 75.68% and α-tocopherol 69.73% after 1 day, whereas, at same concentration the
antioxidant activities after 90 days of lycopene, BHT and α-tocopherol were 78.65, 80.09 and 71.91%
respectively. By using the reducing power activity assay, it was found that ascorbic acid had the highest
reducing power activity (275.49%) followed by lycopene extract (270.83%). The chelating ability on
ferrous ions was 84.66% by using at 5mg/ml, and the scavenging effects on H2O2 were 50.20–73.74%
with 3.5–5mg/ml lycopene extract.

This study was conducted to investigate the acute toxicity of 3organophosphorus insecticides
[Diazinon, Dichlorvos, and Tri-ortho- cresyl phosphate (TOCP)] on the nervous system of adult laying
hens.The clinical signs, gross lesions and histopathological changes of the nervous system have been
discussed. Twenty four layer hens of Lohmen breed, 54 weeks old and 1.5kg average body weight were
used for this purpose. The birds were equally divided into 4 groups. Three groups were administered 0.8,
320 and 750 mg/kg body weight of Diazinon, Dichlorvos, and TOCP respectively and fourth one was
acted as control. Administration has been performed via oral gavage. Administration of these compounds
resulted in muscarinic signs of toxicity which included, ruffled feathers, salivation, gasping and diarrhea,
and nicotinic signs which represented by tremor, droppy wings, ataxia, resting on the sternum, leg
paralysis, and recumbency. These signs were differed in their duration of appearance, severity and
disappearance according to the type of OP compound. Diazinon treated group exhibited more severe
signs than Dichlorvos, whereas TOCP did not produce these signs. Post-mortem examination did not
reveal any gross lesion in the brain, spinal cord and sciatic nerve.Histopathological changes showed
vaccualation of nerve axons in the spinal cord and the distal part of sciatic nerve due to the axonal
degeneration. These changes were more severe in Diazinon followed by Dichlorvos and TOCP
respectively. Acute neuronal toxicity of these compounds exhibited severe histopathological ulterations
in the sciatic nerve than those noted in the spinal cord. The brain did not show any obvious changes at
these levels of doses.

The research was conducted to study the effect of soil compaction on the moisture content of
silty clay soil at two levels of moisture contents namely 16.1% and 24.5%. The soil was plowed by
moldboard plow at depths of 10, 15 and 25cm. The soil compacted by passing the tractor-moldboard
plow combination on the soil surface of plowed soil once, twice, three, four and five times on the same
lane. The moisture content was measured for plowed, plowed and compacted soils and for depths of 0-5,
5-10, 10-15, 15-20 and 20-25cm. The total weight of the tractor and the moldboard plow is 31.78kN. The
inflation pressure of the rear and front wheels is 2.5bar and 1.0bar respectively. The results showed that
the MC increased from 14.70% to 19.29% (31%) and from 23.1 to 26.78% (16%) when the soil depth
increased from 0-5 to 20-25cm for the unplowed soils of MC of 16.1% and 24.5% respectively. When
the soil was plowed MC for both levels decreased but the reduction was higher in the surface layer
compacted with deep layer. For MC level of 16.1% it became 13.71% and 19.05% while for Mc level of
24.5% it became 22.56% and 25.49% for same depths respectively. When the plowed soil was
compacted by passing the tractor on the soil surface the moisture content decreased but the reduction
depended on the number of the passes and on the moisture content level of the soil. For the soil of MC of
16.1%, the moisture content decreased from 15.61% to 12.90 (17.40%) and to 10.29% (34%), while for
the soil of MC of 24.5% it decreased from 24.43% to 23.34% (4.70%) and to 20.81% (15.80%) when the
soils were compacted once and five times respectively. Soil compaction decreased the moisture content
most at depth of 5-10cm while the surface depth 0-5cm became second for both MC levels. For the
remaining depths the reduction in MC decreased as the depth increased in soil of MC of 16.1% for all the
number of passing. But for wetter soil (24.5%) MC increased for the lower depths for one and two passes
but decreased for three, four and five passes. The reduction in the moisture content of the soil due to
compaction was slightly higher for the shallow plowing depth compared with the deeper plowing depth
but it was higher for soil of lower MC (16.1%) compared with the soil of higher MC (24.5%). It
decreased from 15.51 to 10.11% (35%) and from 16.87% to 11.43% (32%) for plowing depths of 10 to
25cm in soil of MC of 16.1% respectively. But it decreased from 23.91% to 20.29% (15%) and from
25.04% to 22.31% (11%) for same plowing depth respectively. The lowest moisture content recorded for
five passes and shallow plowing depths for both MC levels. The moisture contents are 8.98% and
18.36% for MC levels 16.1% and 24.5% respectively. The soil of lower MC lost greater amount of
moisture content than the soil of higher MC due to compaction for all the number of passes and plowing
depths.