Vol. 22 Issue 2
Mirza B Baig, Mohammed S Ziaeldin, and Robert L Mahler
Environmental problems due to land degradation in the developing countries have been a matter of great concern for the decades. The rehabilitation of problem lands has been through many chemical means and engineering approaches, that have resulted in enhancing the gravity and the magnitude of the problems. The present studies were undertaken to examine the role of environmental friendly practices to address the salinity issue. The effect of organic manuring (green manure and farmyard manure) on rice (Oryza sativa) was investigated in a field study on a saline-sodic sail of the Saline Agriculture Research Station, Sadhuke, Pakistan. Sesbania was grown as a green manuring crop for two months and then incorporated into the soil. Farmyard manure (FYM) was applied at rates of 0.5, 10 and 20th before the sowing of sesbania. Rice, Cv. Basmati 385, was used as the indicator/test crop. Results revealed that both paddy and straw yields were significantly improved by the application of sesbania and FYM Green manuring with sesbania improved the paddy and straw yield by 15.4% and 14.5% respectively. Productive tillers were also increased by the application of FYM but differences were not significant between 10 and 20tha of FYM application FYM application also improved the paddy and straw yield significantly. The increases in paddy yield due to application of S. 10 and 20tha of FYM were 6.8%, 24.4% and 37.6% over control, respectively. Nitrogen and phosphorus utilization by rice were also significantly improved with the application of green manure. Nitrogen uptake by rice (grain+straw) was increased by 17.8% and that of phosphorus by 21.9% with the green manuring. Nitrogen uptake was significantly increased by the application of different rates of FYM. Also phosphorus uptake was increased significantly with the application of FYM.
Ashraf Ahmed Montasser
Four bacterial species, namely Serratia liquefaciens, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Klebsiella ornithinołyrica and Aeromonas hydrophila were isolated from Hyalomma (hyalomma) dromedarii, and five species, namely: Rahnella aquatilis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Enterobacter cloacae, Chryseomonas luteola and Chryseobacterium meningosepticum from Argas (Persicargas) persicus organs and haemolymph. Isolated bacteria were identified using the Analytical Profile Index 20E. The disk diffusion test was carried out on isolated bacteria to determine their antibiotic sensitivity. All bacteria from H. dromedarii were found to be sensitive to chloramphenicol amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, neomycin, streptomycin, tetracycline and nitrofurantoin, whilst bacteria isolated from A. persicus, were found to be completely sensitive to tetracycline and mostly sensitive to chloramphenicol and triplesulpher. Appropriate antibiotics should be concurrently administered to hosts during tick control procedures.
Marzooq Yousif Al-Gounaim, Ali Diab, and Abdulsatar Abu-Shady
A soil microcosm test was designed to evaluate the influence of mixing polluted desert soil with clay soil (which is used as an amendment material and for immobilization of bacterial cells) on the biodegradation of petroleum polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Residual PAHs in this type of polluted soil were quantified by using GC analysis. At the beginning of the experiment 16 PAHs were resolved, of which the mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds fluoranthene and pyrene were more frequent than the other PAHS (14% and 12.4% respectively). Results of total PAH biodegradation show that mixing this polluted desert soil with clay soil or its water extract stimulated the biodegradation of 85.8%-89.1% of these compounds. This is in contrast to 61.7%-75.5% in the absence of clay soil. Moreover when the mixed bacterial culture was immobilized in this clay soil 94.4% of total PAHs were degraded. On the other hand, the free cells of the mixed culture succeeded to remove only 75.5% of these compounds. In this study the six-ringed PAHs were completely degraded in the presence of clay soil. A particularly notable distinction between the immobilized culture (13) and the other treatments in this biodegradation study is the greater efficiency of the immobilized culture to degrade the individuals of the 16 PAHs, especially the carcinogenic compounds: fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, benzo(a)pyrene and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene. These results lead to the conclusion that mixing the polluted desert soil with clay soil and/or its water extract seems to be a simple cost effective bioremediation method.
Pasl A Jalil, and Abdulaziz A Al-Suwaiyan
Burner configuration in a double burner system affects its performance. Generally, interference between burners degrades their performance and hence increases air pollution from incinerators or industrial burners. However, it has been found that there is a preferred interference that improves the performance of the burners. The selection of a burner configuration that gives the best performance has been found to depend on the equivalent ratio of the feed (©). A configuration of parallel burners is preferred in a premixed fuel lean case (@
Hegazy S Hegazy and Abdulmonim Abdulhafez
Tomato plants and shoot tips from Lycopersicon esculentum (C. V. Carpy), which is a moderately salt-tolerant plant, were grown on Hoagland's solution and MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) media respectively. containing various concentrations of NaCl. It was found that the shoot tips behaved in a similar fashion to the whole plant under salinity. A moderate level of salinity did not affect the growth of tomato plants and shoot tips. However, a high level of NaCl in the culture medium had a damaging effect. Plants and shoot tips accumulated Na and Cl and less K.
Iman Mostafa Al-Bakri and Esam Salem Break
This study illustrates that the average daily water consumption of citizens did not exceed 115 liter/day. A 17% decrease in water consumption in comparison to 1415h. A periodic chemical analysis was also undertaken (over the last three years) in the MOMRAI* Tahliyah and ICE laboratories to determine the purity of the water in their tanks. No biological or organic impurities were found. However in comparison, the public water networks and tanks that were tested contained chronic organic biologic impurities. This was considered due to the use of the impure clay and heavy materials used to line the tanks. These materials caused sediment and sludge to build up and as a consequence block and close the network tubes from working effectively and efficiently, causing an economical and health problem for the citizens and the municipality The study illustrates that 92% weight of sediment and sludge has a united reaction susceptibility with HCL (3M) acid. This in turn means a build-up of CaCo3, far exceeding the 2 micron molecule diameter normally encountered, This created a bigger qualitative surface on the inside of the tanks and pipelines. The chemical structures were also analysed using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry for non-organic complex molecules formed in the large vacuum voids. These structures may cause the growth of foci of a micro-biological nature and thus diminish the effects of the chlorine in the water and could cause a health problem. In conclusion, our study reaffirms the need to provide proper and adequate water treatment facilities in the Jizan area to provide the people with cleaner and safer.
Fatma Elzahra El-Baih, Layla Breek Abu-El-Ela, and Abdulah Abdulah Hijazi
The fusion reaction between 1-Trimethylsilylnaphth[1,2-d]imidazole 9 and 2,3.5-Tri-O-benzoyl-1-bromo-D- ribofuranose 11 lead to an anomeric mixture of 2', 3', 5' -Tri-O benzoyl-1-alpha-D-ribofuranosylnaphth[1.2-d]imidazole 12 and 2',3', 5' -Tri-O-benzoyl-1-beta-D-ribofuranosylnaphth[1.2-d]imidazole 14.
The previous anomeric mixture was also prepared with another method i.e., by treating 1 Trimethylsilylnaphth[1,2-d]imidazole 9 with 1-O-acetyl 2,3,5-Tri-O-benzoyl-beta-D-ribofuranose 10 in the presence of Triflate. Separation of the anomers was achieved by chromatographical means and debenzoylation yielded the corresponding nucleosides 13 and 15. Structural proofs are based on elemental analysis, UV, 1H and 13 CNMR
Mufareh Al-Rowali, Mohamed Ait Belaid, and Nadir Musa
Urbanization is considered as an important problem due to its impact on the land use categories surrounding urban areas. Urbanization causes the loss of the green zone and accelerates the desertification process particularly in the desert and arid zones such as the study site under investigation. This study focuses on the use of remotely sensed (RS) data and geographic information systems (GIS) techniques in investigating the effects of urbanization on land use categories in Al-Ahsa oasis. The study is based on two satellite images taken of Al-Ahsa oasis in 1987 and 2001 from the Thematic Mapper sensor of Landsat satellite, topographical maps and current field observations. The adopted methodology consisted of three phases: 1) intensive geographical study; 2) visual interpretation and analysis of the satellite images, and 3) spatial analysis of the remote sensing results using GIS tools. The geographical study revealed that Al-Ahsa oasis is suffering from urbanization phenomenon and population growth. The visual interpretation based on computer and remote sensing software (ERDAS Imagine) enabled us to produce two maps of land uses and to identify the area of the land use categories (agriculture, urbanization, hills, water, sabkha, planned areas, and sand). The changes occurring in the period between 1987 and 2001 were studied using geographic information system software (Arc Info). This proved that urbanization has particularly impacted the agricultural lands, because they are not cost effective and also due to the small size of parcels. Also, urbanization has occurred due to other land use categories (planned areas, sabkha). In conclusion, the study proved that RS and GIS techniques along with ancillary data could be used to assist decision makers to prepare future plans, in order to find appropriate solutions to urbanization encroachment.