Plastic pollution represents a major global environmental challenge due to the persistence and accumulation of petroleum-based plastics in natural ecosystems. In response, biodegradable biopolymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have gained increasing attention as sustainable alternatives, owing to their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and physicochemical properties comparable to conventional plastics. PHAs are naturally synthesized by microorganisms as intracellular carbon and energy storage compounds, particularly under nutrient-limited conditions. This review provides a comprehensive overview of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production by halophilic microorganisms, highlighting their physiological adaptations, metabolic versatility, and suitability for industrial-scale bioplastic production under saline conditions. Recent advances in elucidating PHA biosynthetic pathways in halophilic bacteria and archaea are discussed, with emphasis on key enzymatic reactions. In addition, downstream processing approaches for PHA recovery from saline biomass are evaluated, comparing conventional solvent-based extraction with enzymatic and emerging environmentally friendly recovery methods. Analytical techniques commonly employed for polymer characterization, including FTIR, GC, TGA, DSC, and electron microscopy, are also summarized. Halophilic microorganisms offer distinct advantages for bioplastic production, including reduced risk of microbial contamination, tolerance to harsh operating conditions, and the ability to utilize low-cost feedstocks such as industrial by-products and agricultural wastes. Several halophilic species, particularly within the genus Halomonas, have demonstrated high biomass yields and substantial PHA accumulation. Despite these advances, challenges related to large-scale process implementation, downstream processing optimization, and metabolic regulation still persist. Overall, halophilic microorganisms represent a promising and sustainable biological platform for next-generation bioplastic production, warranting further research integrating metabolic engineering, systems biology, and process intensification strategies.
The study aims to identify The relative importance of the value of the study's harvests to the total value of Egypt's agricultural exports was studied. The relative importance of the value of potato exports was approximately 5.8%, onion exports approximately 5%, and tomato exports approximately 1%. As for the most important European markets importing Egyptian agricultural products in terms of quantity, Italy ranked first, the Netherlands and Germany ranked second, and Spain, Greece, France, Belgium and Romania ranked third.By studying the gravity model of the most important European Union countries importing Egyptian onions and by studying the basic model, the model’s significance was shown at the 1% level, and the significance of the impact of the gross domestic product of the selected countries was shown, and its sign was positive, consistent with the expected sign of the model, as increasing it by 10% increases the quantity by approximately 22.5%. The significance of the distance effect is shown to be negative, which is consistent with the expected sign of the model. As for the modified model, the significance of the model is shown at the 5% level. The significance of the effect of the average per capita share of the selected countries is shown to be positive, which is consistent with the expected sign of the model, as increasing it by 10% leads to an increase in the quantity of exports by approximately 14.3%. The significance of the population effect is also shown to be negative.
A study on the most important European markets importing Egyptian agricultural products in terms of quantity, Italy ranked first, the Netherlands and Germany ranked second, and Spain, Greece, France, Belgium and Romania ranked third. As for the most important markets competing with Egypt in exporting oranges, Spain came in first place and South Africa in second place. As for the markets competing with Egypt in exporting grapes, Chile came in first place, the United States in second place, Italy in third place and Turkey in fourth place As for the markets competing with Egypt in the export of dates, the United Arab Emirates came in first place, Iraq in second place, Pakistan in third place, and Saudi Arabia in fourth place. The geographical distribution of Egypt’s exports was studied. From the results of the study, it became clear that Egypt’s orange exports were concentrated in the Netherlands, England, Ukraine, and Lithuania, in order. Grape exports were concentrated in England, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, in the same order. As for Egypt’s date exports, they were concentrated in Germany, Italy, England and the Netherlands, in the same order.
Due increasing demands for natural food products, cultivate salt affected or salinized soil it's an important strategy to restore agricultural production. The goal of this study to safe-guard chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) plants against catastrophic salt damage by ap-plying soil amendments (SA) in terms, compost (COM) and biochar (BCH) at rates of 20 and 5 t/fed, orderly in addition to the control (non-amended) soil. Come next, bio-stimulants (BS) namely of ascorbic acid (AsA; 0.05 mM) and roselle petals extract (RPE; 3%) were foli-ar-sprayed on the foliage of chamomile plants + standard control (distilled water sprayed). In general, BCH-treated soil + RPE foliar applica-tion exhibited the highest increases in all growth parameters, leaf photosynthetic pigments, while reduced leaf Na+ content, and EL status, in comparison with the control. Comparatively to the control, soil applied-BCH × 3% RPE, considerably augmented leaf osmoprotectant constituents of TCarb by 24.3%, TPh by 400.0%, FPro by 79.2%, AsA by 68.7% respectively. Flower-heads yield and its parameters of chamomile plants was more increased under both SA, than the con-trol soil. Additionally, the highest number of flower heads/plant, fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) of flower heads (g-1 plant) of 130.1%, 182.9%, and 467.9%, orderly, was recorded from BCH-treated soil + 3% RPE-foliar spray, compared to the other combination including the control. Soil applied-BCH at rate of 5 t/fed, supply chamomile plants with 3% RPE were the potent treatments for improving growth, photosynthesis activity, Na+ homeostasis and increas-ing flower heads yield in saline soil.
Due to the elevated cost and limited supply of conventional roughage (e.g., wheat straw) in Egypt, this study aimed to chemically evaluate unconventional by-products as potential alternative feeds. Chemical analysis and energy values were determined for two types of conventional straws, 13 types of unconventional straws, and five types of fruit and vegetable pomaces available in Fayoum Governorate. The results revealed that pomegranate pomace recorded the highest organic matter content at 92.50%, followed by corn straw at 91.81%. In contrast, rice straw exhibited the lowest organic matter content (78.20%). The lowest crude protein (CP) values were observed in field crop by-products: rice straw (1.40%) and wheat straw (1.80%). On the contrary, tomato pomace achieved the highest CP values (11.81%) among fruit and vegetable by-products, followed by basil straw at 8.59% and parsley straw at 7.48%. Regarding EE, tomato pomace showed the highest content at 4.42%, while rice and wheat straws showed the lowest values at 1.10% and 1.30%, respectively. The lowest nitrogen-free extract (NFE) content was observed in rice straw at 30.12%. On the contrary, caraway straw showed the maximum NFE value at 61.05%, followed by mint straw (58.91%) and cumin straw (57.45%). Regarding crude fiber (CF), the highest values were observed in cowpea straw (45.66%) and rice straw (45.58%). The tomato pomace showed the highest gross energy at 18.06 MJ/kg of DM, followed by pomegranate (17.64 MJ/kg of DM) and apple pomaces (17.56 MJ/kg of DM). On the other hand, the highest metabolizable energy (ME) value available for animals was recorded in caraway straw (10.97 MJ / kg of DM), while rice straw recorded the lowest ME value at 7.00 MJ / kg of DM. In conclusion, the current results indicate that the evaluated conventional and unconventional byproducts can be effectively used as alternative and cost-effective roughage sources in livestock feeding.
The ectoparasitic, Varroa mite, Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae), is a serious threat to honeybee colonies worldwide. It affects brood and adult bees either by feeding directly or as a vector of severe diseases. It is crucial to develop an efficient control method whilst maintaining healthy colonies. The present study assessed the potential varroacidal effectiveness of certain essential oils, that is, tea tree, lemongrass and jojoba (either in bulk or in nanoemulsion forms) compared to chemicals, i.e. lithium sulfate, ammonium chloride, oxalic acid dihydrate and Mavrik®. In vitro bioassays showed that lithium sulfate had the highest effectiveness by feeding and spraying treatments. After 72 hours, its LC50 values were 5.52 and 9.22 mM, while the jojoba oil nanoemulsion exhibited the lowest LC₅₀ values of 0.11 and 0.16%, then tea tree oil with values of 2.29 and 0.27% using feeding and spraying, respectively. Among treatments, tea tree oil showed the least toxicity to bees, followed by jojoba nanoemulsion, while lemongrass oil caused 95% bee mortality. In vivo bioassay, tea tree oil, jojoba nanoemulsion, or lithium sulphate effectively suppressed Varroa mite dispersion. Lithium sulfate negatively impacted sealed worker brood, which recovered post-treatment. Conversely, tea tree oil or jojoba nanoemulsion preserved steady brood levels. The current findings underscore the potential of tea tree oil and jojoba nanoemulsion as eco-friendly varroacides in management strategies.
This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in the phytoextraction of nickel (Ni) from contaminated clay soil, focusing on the role of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and humic acid (HA). A greenhouse experiment was designed with five soil Ni concentrations (0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 mg/kg) and four chelating treatments: Control, EDTA (0.5 g/kg), HA (1.0 g/kg), and a combined EDTA+HA application. The results demonstrated that Ni stress significantly inhibited vegetative growth, reducing plant height, leaf area, and biomass as concentration levels increased. However, the application of HA acted as a biostimulant, significantly mitigating Ni-induced phytotoxicity and improving growth parameters compared to the EDTA-only treatments, which is consistent with the protective roles of organic amendments described by (Tassi et al., 2007). EDTA application effectively mobilized soil-bound Ni, leading to a substantial increase in Ni concentrations within shoot and root tissues, thereby enhancing the translocation factor (TF) and bioconcentration factor (BCF) as established in previous phytoextraction studies (Saifullah et al., 2009). The synergistic application of EDTA+HA yielded the most favorable results, achieving the highest total Ni uptake (17.37 mg/pot at 400 mg/kg Ni) while maintaining plant physiological stability. These findings indicate that while Ni negatively impacts sunflower growth, the combined use of EDTA and HA optimizes the phyto-extraction potential, making sunflower a viable candidate for the remediation of Ni-polluted clay soils as suggested by the phytoremediation indices of (McGrath and Zhao, 2003).
Nickel (Ni) contamination in coarse-textured soils presents a significant environmental challenge due to high metal mobility. This study evaluated the bio-sequestration patterns and growth dynamics of Helianthus annuus L. in a sandy loam matrix spiked with a gradient of Ni concentrations (0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 mg/kg). To enhance remediation, four chelation strategies were tested: EDTA (E), Humic Acid (H), and a hybrid ligand intervention (E+H). Results indicated that Ni stress at 400 mg/kg reduced plant height and total dry biomass by approximately 30-50% in the absence of ligands. However, the hybrid intervention (E+H) significantly mitigated this inhibition. At the 400 mg/kg Ni level, the E+H treatment achieved a record Ni uptake of 24.83 mg/pot, representing a substantial increase compared to the 7.57 mg/pot observed in the 'Without' ligand control. Furthermore, the Bioconcentration Factor (BCF) reached its peak (8.70) under the hybrid strategy at high Ni levels, while the Translocation Factor (TF) remained optimally balanced. Crucially, the Tolerance Index (TI %) was higher in E+H treatments (43.4%) compared to EDTA alone (23.1%) at maximum Ni stress, demonstrating that Humic acid successfully ameliorated the phytotoxic side-effects of EDTA. These findings conclude that hybrid ligand intervention (E+H) is a superior and sustainable strategy for maximizing Ni extraction efficiency in sandy loam soils while safeguarding the physiological integrity of H. annuus L.
Households use the plants or animal species that are grown in various ways on their farms, and they can sell the product to raise income to buy goods from food markets. Consequently, this generates two main consumption routes from the diversity of household farm production. Using the general household consumption survey (secondary data) for the post-planting and post-harvest seasons of 2010–2016, this study examines the effects of farm production diversity on households’ nutritional outcomes in Southwest Nigeria. Daily per capita calorie intake, value of food consumed, and diet diversity are the three indicators of nutritional outcomes used. The farm production diversity score was used to assess the farm production diversification. It was revealed that the daily per calorie intake in Lagos (2763.22 kilocalories), and Oyo (2811.07 kilocalories) states was higher than the recommended FAO (2017) daily per capita calorie of 2500 kilocalories for developing countries. The mean daily per calorie intake of 2438.74 kilocalories was obtainable in Southwest, Nigeria. Households are moderately farm diversified with a mean value of 0.42. This study confirmed that the households’ food, and nutritional outcomes are season-driving, and farm production diversity is a major driver. There is a need for seasonal policy intervention that will promote the production of diverse crop and livestock species to achieve improved nutritional outcomes.
