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Drought stress has a negative impact on crop growth and productivity worldwide. Plant symbionts such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can enhance plant growth and improve plant resistance to drought stress. AMF mixture inocula and plant responses to drought still require further study. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of non-inoculation (NM) or inoculation with three commercial AMF inocula containing a single or mixtures comprising different numbers of AMF species: M1 (Rhizophagus intraradices), M2 (Rhizophagus clarus, R. intraradices, Septoglomus deserticola, Funneliformis mosseae), and M3 (Rhizophagus intraradices, R. aggregatum, Funneliformis mosseae, Olaroideoglomus etunicatum) on growth, nutritional, and physiological responses of soybean (Glycine max L. cv. Hutcheson) grown in a greenhouse under different water stress levels [WW = well watered (90% FC), MS = medium (60% FC) and SS = severe stressed (30% FC)]. The AMF-inoculated plants had significantly higher plant biomass, chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, leaf water relations, and mineral contents in comparison to NM plants. Applied mycorrhizal inocula differed in their response to water-deficit conditions. M2 inoculant generally supported greater plant biomass, stomatal conductance, leaf water content, and leaf N, P, K, S, Mn, and Cu contents than M1 and M3 inocula, especially under MS and SS treatments. These results indicated that all mycorrhizal inocula supported plant growth both generally and with soil water deficit; however, M2-inoculated plants performed better than M1 and M3 under drought stress. Therefore, mycorrhizal inocula are effective for supporting soybean growth and offsetting the effects of drought and AMF technology that can support sustainable crop cultivation under soil water-deficit conditions. Different types of inocula have different effects, however, and thus require testing for individual crops.

This study of selected fruits of the Oleaceae and Solanaceae families quantified the contents of free and bound phenolics (FP and BP) and their in vitro antioxidant activity and inhibitory potential towards enzymes relevant for hypertension and hyperglycemia management. For all the fruits considered, FP extracted at 30 °C (FP-30 °C) were the predominant fraction of the total phenolics and had higher antioxidant activities. The highest inhibition (100%) towards angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE), α-amylase and α-glucosidase was obtained respectively with extracts from tomato (FP-30 °C extract) and red pickled olive (BP-acid extract), red hot pepper (BP-base extract), and green and red pickled olives and yellow sweet pepper (BP-base extracts). Significant positive correlations existed between ACE inhibitory activity and total phenolics for Solanaceae fruits, and between the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of phenolics from olives, tomato and yellow sweet pepper. Distinct phenolic profiles were evidenced for each fruit, with p-coumaric acid detected in appreciable amounts in BP extracts from all fruits.

This study quantified the free and conjugated phenolic content of extracts from selected Liliaceae (white and red onion), Punicaceae (red and pink pomegranate), Vitaceae (zini, red globe, and baladi grape), and Rosaceae (yellow and red apple) cultivated family plants and evaluated their antioxidant activities and beneficial properties toward diabetes and hypertension. Free and bound phenolics were extracted from plants, and total phenolic contents were evaluated. Antioxidant activities were assessed, as well as the inhibitory effects of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) and α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) measured the individual phenolic content in both free and bound extracts. The free phenolic contents in the selected plants were higher than bound phenolic contents, except for in zini and red globe grapes. In onion, the highest antioxidant activity was observed in the bound phenolic extract (49.6–56.9%). In pomegran...

This study of selected plants of the Rutaceae family was carried out to investigate their phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and the in vitro inhibitory potential of extracted phenolics towards enzymes relevant for hyperglycemia and hypertension. The phenolic content, antioxidant activity and phenolic extract-mediated inhibitory activities for α-glucosidase and α-amylase were evaluated by spectrophotometry. The content of individual phenolics and the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of the phenolic extracts were evaluated by LC/MS-MS and RP-HPLC methods, respectively. A higher percentage of free phenolic content was seen for all the selected plants of the Rutaceae family (85.43-92.82% of the total phenolic content) than of the bound form (7.18-14.57% of total phenolic content). The major predominant bound phenolic in lemon and red blood orange was hesperidin. The major predominant bound phenolic in pummelo, shamouti and clementine was ferulic acid. The highest ACE and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the extracted phenolics from lemon was associated with free phenolic extracts obtained at 30 °C with values of 100% inhibition. Red blood orange free phenolic extract (30 °C) elicited the highest α-amylase inhibition activity (32.3%). In contrast, extracted bound phenolics after acid and base hydrolysis from all selected plants from the Citrus species were shown to induce activation of the ACE and α-amylase enzymes.

Besides titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) are commonly used in sunscreen formulations as protective agents against exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Although the majority of prior studies have concluded that NPs do not penetrate healthy skin, compromised skin slightly enhanced metal oxide NP penetration. However, a question arises regarding the possible toxic consequences if consumers who had applied sunscreens containing ZnO-NPs were exposed to environmentally relevant doses of UVB. Considering this, we planned a study where SKH-1 hairless mice were topically exposed to a 5% and/or 10% dose of ZnO-NPs (

Turf grasses are considered an integral part of landscape ecological systems worldwide which provide functional, recreational and aesthetic benefits to society and the environment. In arid and semiarid regions (e.g., Mediterranean region), turf grass is usually grown under harsh and unfavorable growing conditions with low rainfall and high rates of evapotranspiration as well as in soils with nutrient deficiencies. Hence, growing turf grass in these regions becomes dependent on application of high levels of fertilizers as well as on excessive use of irrigation water, resulting in an environmental pollution. Therefore, it is important that turf grass plantations are managed in a sustainable way to reduce the impact of turf grass cultivation on ecosystems while maintaining healthy and productive turf through using such practices as mycorrhizal fungi technology. The application of mycorrhizal fungi technology is an option that can benefit both agronomic plant health and ecosystems. Mycorrhizae confer numerous benefits to host plants including improved plant growth, mineral nutrition, water uptake, tolerance to diseases and stresses such as drought and salinity. The aims of this paper were to review how mycorrhizal fungi might play a role in enhancing landscape turf establishment and productivity in arid and semiarid regions and to evaluate the effectiveness of application of commercial mycorrhizal inoculum to enhance plant growth and survival under field conditions. Field experiment was conducted to study the effects of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi inoculation on water use efficiency and establishment of a landscape turf. The results showed that turf grass inoculated with AM fungi used water more efficiently, established lawn more quickly and had more biomass than uninoculated turf grass. The conclusions of this paper indicated the potential of mycorrhiza inoculation in improving the fast establishment of turf landscape plants under arid and semiarid environments.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate five forage crops (alfalfa (Medicago sativa), barley (Hordeum vulgare), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and wheat (Triticum aestivum)) for green fodder production and water use efficiency under hydroponic conditions. The experiment has been conducted under temperature-controlled conditions (24 ± 1°C) and natural window illumination at growth room of Soilless Culture Laboratory, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain. The results showed that green forage can be produced in 8 days from planting to harvest using hydroponic technique. Highest values for green fresh yields were recorded for the crops cowpea, barley, and alfalfa which gave 217, 200, and 194 tons/ha, respectively. However, only cowpea and barley crops gave the highest green dry yield, but not alfalfa. Barely crop used water more efficiently than the other four tested crops when produced about 654 kg fresh matter/m3 water in comparison to 633, 585, 552, and 521 kg fresh matter/m3 water for cowpea, sorghum, wheat, and alfalfa, respectively. No significant differences between barley and cowpea for water use efficiency were noted. It can be concluded from this study that barley crop can be considered the best choice for production of hydroponic green fodder with less water consumption.

UVB exposure enhances the internalization of ZnO-NPs and caused changes in surface morphology of SKH-1 mouse skin.

A field study was carried out under rainfed conditions during the growing season 2008/2009 in Maru (Northern Jordan) to evaluate the phenological variation using heat-accumulated system and its relation with yield in sixteen durum wheat genotypes. Grain yield was negatively correlated with growing degree days (GDDs) to maturity, while positively correlated with GDD to heading. Increasing GDD to heading resulted in higher grain yield, while increasing grain fill duration had little effect. Rapid grain fill rate was positively correlated with grain weight and negatively correlated with grain fill duration. Waha-1, Omrabi-5, and Massara-1 genotypes had the highest grain yields among genotypes studied. These three genotypes tended to have relatively longer preheading periods with early maturity. The results of this study indicate that Mediterranean-adapted cultivars would have long preheading periods, followed by short periods and high rates of grain fill and mature early to avoid late-season drought and high-temperature stress and to attain high yields. Therefore, it is recommended for the development of high yielding wheat cultivars adapted to semiarid environments to select the genotypes with early maturity and a relatively long time to heading.