Abstract: The effect of spearmint oil on the storage period, processing and organoleptic qualities was investigated on Diamant and Sinora potato varieties. Different applications of spearmint oil were carried out to inhibit potato sprouting during the storage period, e.g., spraying of spearmint oil in the field, evaporation of spearmint oil in cold store and combination treatments of spraying spearmint oil in the field coupled with evaporation in cold store. Potato tubers were stored at 10±1°C (76-78% RH) for 6 months. The application of spearmint oil in the field exhibited early break of dormancy, fast sprout growth, high fresh weight loss and high sugar accumulation. The combination treatments of spraying spearmint oil in the field coupled with evaporation in cold store controlled the sprouts till the third month of storage. Application of spearmint vapor in cold store suppressed potato sprouting till the end of the storage period. The spearmint oil had no adverse effects on reducing sugars, dry matter and chips yield of potatoes. After storage for six months, both potato varieties were still suitable for making chips and French fries. Chips made from Sinora and Diamant tubers treated with spearmint oil in cold store were chosen by assessors as superior products. Keywords: Different Applications, Spearmint Oil, Storability, Processing Quality, Potato.

Abstract: A field experiment was conducted at the Demonstration Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum, Sudan during the period January 2009 to June 2010 to study the effect of water stress on forage and seed production of alfalfa (Medicago Sative L.) A split-plot design with three irrigation intervals (7, 14 and 21 days) as main plots and three cutting intervals (21, 28 and 35days) as sub-plots was carried out. Parameters measured included: plant height, plant density, number of leave /plant, leaf area index, forage yield, dry matter production, yield components and final seed production. The results revealed that the shorter irrigation intervals (7 and 14 day) were statistically significant over the longer interval (21days). The yield production of the seed at 7 days irrigation interval were 88.05 Kg/ha and at 14 days interval were118.53 Kg/ha as the highest production. The cutting intervals (21, 28 and 35 days) showed a significant difference at all levels of comparisons for all the growth attributes and fresh weight and dry matter production as well as seed production. The 35 days cutting interval was the best cutting schedule as far as growth and yield were concerned. Keywords: Cutting, Irrigation, Medicage stavia, Water Stress.

Abstract: Two field experiments were conducted in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 growing seasons at the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. Twenty bread wheat Egyptian cultivars were evaluated in alpha lattice design with three replications for nine traits. The aims were to determine relationships between yield and its components and examine the efficiency of such components in building yield capacity by using four different statistical methods. Highly significant differences were detected among cultivars for all studied traits. Highly significant and positive correlation estimates were detected between grain yield plant-1 and each of number of number of tillers plant-1, number of spikelet’s spike-1, number of grains spike-1, 1000-grain weight and harvest index. On the other hand, days to 50% heading and plant height showed negative association with grain yield plant-1. Based on simple regression analysis, linear regression of number of tillers plant-1, spike length, number of spikelet’s spike-1, number of grains per spike, thousand grain yield and harvest index it leads to increase the grain yield plant-1 by 0.67, 0.52, 0.32, 0.30, 0.64 and 0.63 units, respectively. Path analysis showed that maximum positive direct effect on grain yield plant-1 was contributed mostly by number of tillers plant-1, followed by number of grains spike-1, harvest index and 1000-grain weight were the major contributors towards grain yield. Also, stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that four traits included number of tillers plant-1, number of grains spike-1, harvest index and 1000-grain weight with R2 = 97.29%, had justified the best prediction model. Results of stepwise regression and path analysis revealed that the two methods are equivalent in determine the dependence relationship between grain yield and yield component characters. Also, results in the study with respect to four statistical methods which have been used in this study showed that that the number of tillers plant-1, harvest index, number of grains spike-1 and 1000-grain weight were the most important characteristics and they were highly effective on grain yield. These characters have to be ranked the first in any breeding program to improve wheat grain yield. Keywords: Wheat, Grain yield, Statistical procedures, Simple correlation, Path analysis, Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis.

Abstract: Several techniques for enumeration of genetic data have been developed for commercially cultivated crops but, no reliable models are evolved to quantify the parental traits transmission in the hybrid progenies of coffee cultivars. In this perspective, an effort was made to quantify the genetic traits contributed by the male and female parents to the offspring using a new mathematical model developed by Kumar and Ganesh (2013). Data on morphological traits were recorded taking 7 plants per progeny and per replication into account. The total parental influence for the inherent traits of dwarf and tall parents was divided into two parts, one paternal and other maternal. The study revealed that ‘Cauvery’ as a female parent had stronger influence (92.16%) on bush spread in the progenies as compared to the tall parents (7.84%). When, ‘Cauvery’ used as a male partner, the effect was reduced from 92.16% to 61.69% while, the tall female partner expressed the improvement in the bush spread from 7.84% to 38.31%. This behavior of the hybrids indicated the complete dominance of mutant Caturra ‘Ct’ genes inherited from the cultivar ‘Cauvery’ over tall cultivars for bush spread character. The ‘Caturra’ gene exhibited almost similar effect on stem girth character when ‘Cauvery ‘was used either as male or female parent. The tall parents showed slightly lower influence on expression of this trait. This trend of parental trait transmission indicated a case of incomplete dominance for stem girth character. Like bush spread, the primary thickness and primary’s internodal length character were also greatly influenced by the ‘Ct’ gene transmitted through ‘Cauvery’ used as a female parent. ‘Cauvery’ had equal contribution for primary’s internodal length when crossed with tall female. The leaf characters showed higher genetic contribution of tall parents except S.881 parent to an extent of almost 70%. Keywords: Genetic analysis, F1 hybrids, quantification of traits, genetic transmission, morphological traits, character inheritance, variability, quantitative traits.

Abstract: The problem of increased resistance of bacteria to antibiotics and the increasing demand for safe foods has enhanced the interest in replacing antibiotics by natural products (biopreservatives). In this study the antagonistic effect of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) producing-bacteriocins on nine target organisms was studied using the agar-well diffusion assay (AWDA). LAB was isolated from Sudanese fresh sausages, intestines of different animals, saliva, cheese and cucumber in MRS broth and on MRS agar media. The target organisms studied were Salmonella sp, S. typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus, B. stearothermophilus, B. pantotheticus, Escherichia coli, and Pediococcus strain BFE 2306. Only 16 LAB isolates of 30 produced clear inhibition zones. These LAB isolates were identified as Enterococcus faecalis (3 isolates), Enterococcus avium, Pediococcus pentosaceus (3 isolates), P. domanosus, Lactobacillus murinus (2 isolates), L. gasseri (2 isolates), L. acidophilus, L. plantarum, L. alimentarius, and L. casi subsp. Rhamanosus. Crude bacteriocins and pellets of Enterococcus faecalis, Pediococcos pentosaceus and Lactobacillus murinus exhibited the strongest antimicrobial activity ranging between 40 and 1280 AU/ml, while most supernatants of bacteriocin-producers did not show antimicrobial activity against all indicator organisms (0.00-640 AU/ml). Sudanese products of animal sources can be a rich source for bacteriocins-producing LAB and can be used as biopreservatives. Keywords: LAB, Bacteriocin, Pathogenic microorganisms, Antagonistic effect, Sudanese products.