Vol. 15 Issue 3
Salah O. Tamimi, Rashad M. Natour and Khaled S. Halabi
Twenty-eight male albino rats were divided into four groups, one group was injected intraperitoneally with T-2 toxin, a second group was injected with Aflatoxin B1, a third group was injected with a mixture of the two mycotoxins and one group was used as control. The weight of each rat was recorded at weekly intervals. At the end of the study, all rats were killed, blood samples were drawn to determine white blood cell count and packed cell volume. The liver, kidneys and other organs, which exhibited abnormalities, were weighed and processed for histopathological study.
Aflatoxin B1, and the mixture of AFB1 and T-2 toxin caused a significant (p<0.005) drop in the average body weight of the rats after eight weeks of treatment. The highest PCV readings were recorded with rats injected with the mixture of AFB1 and T-2 toxin. Moreover, AFB1-treated rats and T-2 toxin-treated rats exhibited a significant (p = 0.02) decrease in the relative liver weight. The AFB1 and T-2 toxin mixture resulted in synergistic effects in most of the parameters of the study.
The histopathological study confirmed the hepatotoxicity of AFB1. One case of immunoblastic lymphoma was observed in this study; this observation is thought to be the first report that suggested a possible relationship between mycotoxicosis and lymphoma.
Khaled A. S. Al-Rasheid
Sediment samples were collected at low tide from six stations around the coastline of the Saudi Arabian Gulf Island of Tarut on five occasions during 1995 for the study of the marine interstitial ciliate fauna of the Island. Temperature, salinity and pH of the sediments were measured at the time of collection. The interstitial water, total organic matter and the granulometric properties of the sediment samples were analyzed. The interstitial ciliates were identified and enumerated and the seasonal fluctuation in their number of species and density throughout the year were discussed. Fifty eight species belonging to 39 genera and 27 families of marine interstitial ciliates were identified, 43 of which represent new records of the fauna of the Arabian Gulf and Saudi Arabia and five of them were present at all collection sites. Loxophyllum pseudo setigerum, Frontonia marina, Protocruzia depressa, Pleuronema coronatum, Diophrys appendiculata and Uronychia setigera were recorded from all sampling stations throughout the year. The ciliate abundance ranged from 170 to 8500 cells/cm3 of sediment. The distribution of each species around the island was recorded and compared to those in similar habitats worldwide.
Hashim Al-Sayed, Abdel Kader Gamal El-Din and Kareema M. Saleh
Shell morphology of the pearl oyster Pinctada radiata (Leach 1814) collected from three different geographical areas on the north, east and west coast of Bahrain was analyzed. Muscle protein profiles and isozymes, using PAGE and SDS-PAGE, characteristics for these oysters were also studied. Substantial variation in shell morphometry was obtained with predominance of large-sized individuals (65-66, 75-80 mm) at both the north and the east coast, respectively, where the salinity levels were 40-42%. Consistently smaller pearl oysters (35-40 mm) prevailed on the west coast of Bahrain where salinity levels ranged from 50 to 60%. Some variations were observed among the phenotypic groups, only when PAGE and isozyme analyses were applied. In general, both approaches gave initially identical results with regard to the phylogenetic relationship of pearl oysters living in areas of differing salinities. SDS-PAGE gave no detectable differences among oysters from different sites.
M.A. Bacha, M.A. Ali and F.A. Farahat
Chemical analysis of pollen grains from 13 cultivars of date palm males grown in the Agricultural Research Station, Deirab, College of Agriculture, King Saud University showed that pollen grains of the date palm males differed among the cultivars. Average concentrations of moisture, ash, lipids and protein were, respectively, 3.63 - 4.78%, 4.67-7.05%, 0.84-1.83% and 15.81-18.02%. Carbohydrate content ranged between 10.47-13.11%. Starch ranged from 8.10-9.24% and represented about 75% of the total carbohydrates. Mineral content of pollen grains also differed from one cultivar to another. Nitrogen content was the highest among macronutrient elements. This was followed by calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and sodium. Iron content was the largest among micronutrient elements and was followed and followed by zinc, manganese and copper.
A.A. Al-Qarawi, A.A. Al-Doss and A.M. Assaeed
Amount and distribution of rainfall are important factors influencing seedling growth and hence survival and establishment or range plants in arid areas. Little work has been done on this respect on Saudi Arabian native range plants. Thus, this study was conducted to simulate the effect of amount of rainfall and the period between two effective rains on growth characteristics of seedlings for three populations of Hammada elegans, collected from Riyadh, Al-Qassim and Al-Jouf. A total amount of irrigation water equivalent to 100, 200 or 400 mm average rainfall was applied over three months (wet period) every seven or fourteen days. Seedlings were then left to grow for another two months (dry period).
Results indicated that short height and root depth increased significantly as the mount of rainfall increased over 100 mm during the wet period. The higher average rainfall was significantly different from the other two averages during the dry period in this aspect. The increase in shoot height and root depth was also positively reflected on shoot and root dry weights. Rate of increase in rooting depth was 4-6 folds of rate of increase in shoot height indicating that seedling were putting more effort on root growth especially under the low rainfall to utilize dep soil moisture when the rainfall season is over. The rate of shoot growth increased by increase of rainfall during the wet period and continued to increase during the dry period while that of roots was not affected by the amount of rainfall. When the period between effective rains was increased from seven to fourteen days, only root depth was increased significantly at the age of 120 days and continued to increase during the dry period. Apart from the low average rainfall, seedling root growth was induced by increase in period between two effective rains. PLant populations differed significantly in some growth parameters in response to varying the amount of rainfall and the period between two effective rains. Generally, plant population from Al-Wassim area was the most effective one in utilizing available soil moisture followed by Riyadh population.