The detection of fungi contaminating maize grain and the effect of four plant extracts Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus globulus Glycyrrhiza glabra and Zingiber officinale on the growth of A. flavus and its ability to produce AflatoxinB1. The results showed that the incidence of Aspergillus spp., was 52.75% of the isolated fungi, of which 29.50% was due to Aspergillus flavus, followed by Penicillium spp., with an incidence of 21.06%, and then Fusarium spp., with a rate of 18.13%. The percentage of toxin-producing A. flavus isolates reached 70.8% out of 24 isolates. The results showed the effect of alcoholic plant extracts at a concentration of 10 mg/ml on the fungal growth activity of A. flavus, the alcoholic extract of neem leaves was superior to the alcoholic extract with an inhibition rate of 92.79% than that of the control treatment, followed by ginger extract with an inhibition of 60.14%, then eucalyptus extract with a medium inhibition rate of 53.88%. While the licorice extract showed a weak inhibition rate of 17.77 %. The lowest inhibitory concentration for the growth of the fungus for neem extract was 24 mg/ml. While the lowest inhibitory concentration of ginger extract was 48 mg/ml, while eucalyptus and licorice extract did not achieve complete inhibition of fungal growth despite using a concentration higher than 48 mg/ml for both types. The results indicated that the neem plant extract inhibited the production of AFB1 toxin in YES media by 100% at a concentration of 12 mg/ml, followed by ginger extract at a concentration of 24 mg/ml, while the eucalyptus extract achieved a complete inhibition of AFB1 production at the last concentration (48 mg/ml). The extract of licorice plant did not show a complete inhibition of toxin production, as the highest percentage of inhibition was 39.98% at a concentration of 48 mg/ml.
A hydraulic platform was manufactured to serve palm trees and to enhance palm tree services, with a height of 12 meters, by the General Company for Hydraulic Industries, one of the Ministry of Industry's formations. This platform was tested in the field after being manufactured according to a randomized complete block design using split-split plots with three factors. The first factor represented the shape of the orchard land, with two levels (flat land and uneven land), serving as the main plots. The second factor had three levels representing palm tree heights (4, 8, and 12 meters), which served as the sub-plots. The third factor was the palm tree services, represented at three levels (pruning, pollination, and harvesting), with each trea
... Show MoreThe process for preparing activated carbon (AC) made from tea residue was described in this paper. Investigated were the physicochemical characteristics and adsorption efficiency of the produced AC. Activation with potassium hydroxide (KOH) and carbonization at 350 °C are the two key steps in the manufacturing of AC. The activated carbon was used to adsorb Tetracycline (TC). Different parameters were studied at room temperature to show their effects on the adsorption efficiency of TC. These parameters are the initial concentration of adsorbate TC, solution acidity pH, time of adsorption, and adsorbent dosage. The prepared active carbon was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (
... Show MoreChloroviruses are large viruses that replicate in chlorella-like green algae and normally exist as mutualistic endosymbionts (referred to as zoochlorellae) in protists such as Paramecium bursaria. Chlorovirus populations rise and fall in indigenous waters through time; however, the factors involved in these virus fluctuations are still under investigation. Chloroviruses attach to the surface of P. bursaria but cannot infect their zoochlorellae hosts because the viruses cannot reach the zoochlorellae as long as they are in the symbiotic phase. Predators of P. bursaria, such as copepods and didinia, can bring chloroviruses into contact with zoochlorellae by disrupting the paramecia, which results in an increase in virus titers in micr
... Show MoreThe effects of nutrients and physical conditions on phytase production were investigated with a recently isolated strain of Aspergillus tubingensis SKA under solid state fermentation on wheat bran. The nutrient factors investigated included carbon source, nitrogen source, phosphate source and concentration, metal ions (salts) and the physical parameters investigated included inoculum size, pH, temperature and fermentation duration. Our investigations revealed that optimal productivity of phytase was achieved using wheat bran supplemented with: 1.5% glucose. 0.5% (NH4)2SO4, 0.1% sodium phytate. Additionally, optimal physical conditions were 1 × 105 spore/g substrate, initial pH of 5.0, temperature of fermentation 30˚C and fermentation dura
... Show MoreThe research aims to analysis the future profits of companies listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange through analyzing the relationship between Actual Growth and Sustainable Growth, The study was applied to the sample of companies included in the Iraq Stock Exchange for the period (2010- 2014), The Internal Growth Rate has been used as a measure for the Actual Return Rate but the Sustainable Growth Rate has been measured under the Rose model, The research showed group of conclusions, the most important are:1. From the analysis of sustainable growth for the banks sample and the variables involved in its measure shows that investment in the investors amounts have achieved a significant return, which demonstrates the company's efficiency at gene
... Show MoreAl-Rustamiya sewage treatment plant (WWTP) serves the east side of Baghdad city (Rusafa) and is considered one of the largest projects.It consists of three parts (old project F0, first extension F1, and second extension F2) that treat wastewater and the
effluent is discharged into Diyala river and thus into the Tigris River. These plants are designed and constructed with an aim to manage wastewater to reachIraqi effluent standard for BOD5, COD, TSS and chloride concentrations of 40, 100, 60 and 600
mg/L respectively. The data recordedfrom March till December 2011 provided from Al-RustamiyaWWTP, were considered in this study to evaluate the performance of the plant. The results indicated that the strength of the wastewater enterin
The plant Abrus precatorius, which belong to Leguminosae (Fabaceae) family and known as Crab’s eyes, Rosary pea with characteristic red and black seeds. It was used in folk medicine in India, China and East Asian countries for treatment of various diseases. The plant was extracted by '' general method of extraction'' (Harborne, 1973) using 80% aqueous ethanol as a solvent of extraction by soxhlet apparatus. Preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening were performed on the crude ethanolic extract and revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids ,terpenoids and phytosterols in Iraqi Abrus precatorius plant. Three different fractions were obtained from crude extract which are fraction one (chloroform fractio
... Show MoreWarm mix asphalt (WMA) is relatively a new technology which enables the production and compaction of asphalt concrete mixtures at temperatures 15-40 °C lower than that of traditional hot mix asphalt HMA. In the present work, six asphalt concrete mixtures were produced in the mix plant (1 ton each) in six different batches. Half of these mixes were WMA and the other half were HMA. Three types of fillers (limestone dust, Portland cement and hydrated lime) were used for each type of mix. Samples were then taken from these patches and transferred to lab for performance testing which includes: Marshall characteristics, moisture susceptibility (indirect tension test), resilient modulus, permanent deformation (axial repe
... Show MoreWarm mix asphalt (WMA) is relatively a new technology which enables the production and compaction of asphalt concrete mixtures at temperatures 15-40 °C lower than that of traditional hot mix asphalt HMA. In the present work, six asphalt concrete mixtures were produced in the mix plant (1 ton each) in six different batches. Half of these mixes were WMA and the other half were HMA. Three types of fillers (limestone dust, Portland cement and hydrated lime) were used for each type of mix. Samples were then taken from these patches and transferred to lab for performance testing which includes: Marshall characteristics, moisture susceptibility (indirect tension test), resilient modulus, permanent deformation (axial repeated load test)
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