Aims: The present study evaluated, for the first time, the inhibitory effects of the filtrate of Purpureocillium lilacinum against Penicillium digitatum. Methods and Results: No direct contact between P. lilacinum and P. digitatum was observed during the dual culture test and the inhibition zone was 6Á1 mm. The filtrate of P. lilacinum completely inhibited P. digitatum growth and spore germination at the concentration of 64%. The filtrate increased the permeability of the cell membrane and the content of MDA in P. digitatum. The ergosterol content in P. digitatum was strongly inhibited at 32% by 81Á1%. The green mould incidence and severity in filtrate-treated fruit at 64% were 71Á7 and 80Á7% lower than in the control, respectively. The filtrate enhanced the activity of PAL, PPO and POD enzymes in orange fruit. The POD and PAL gene expression levels were significantly upregulated in the fruit treated with the filtrate. Conclusions: This study indicated that the antifungal mechanism of P. lilacinum filtrate against P. digitatum is mainly by the damage of the fungal cell membrane and its components. Significance and Impact of the Study: This work provides the pioneer evidence on the application of P. lilacinum filtrate as a novel biocontrol agent for orange green mould.

The aims of our study were to molecularly assess some seedy strains of Alamar Apricot Rootstock using SCoT and ISSR techniques. In addition, assessment of the expression of P5CS gene with assay of some stress-related phytochemical parameters under salinity stress. These strains were irrigated with salt solution for 6 months from June 2016, only eight strains continued to grow under salinity stress. ISSR and SCoT techniques revealed polymorphic patterns and confirmed to be valid in discriminating these eight strains. SCoT technique was better than ISSRs in assessment for molecular diversity and discrimination capacity for all studied seedy strains. However, a significant positive correlation was found only between distances based on ISSR data and Euclidian distances based on stress-related phytochemical parameters data. These strains showed higher values than control for the studied parameters, specially A3 being the best strain in all parameters, in addition to showing a significantly increase in P5CS gene expression compared to control. Also, A3 was distinguished by a few ISSR unique markers. This, suggesting that, these markers may be used as markers assisted selection in the improvement of salinity tolerance. In addition, the possibility of utilizing this strain through other studies as a source of salinity tolerance in Alamar apricot rootstock.

Peaches are grown in many Egyptian orchards for local and global fresh market sales. The interior fruit tissue breakdown (IFTB), often resulting in decayed peaches, is a severe problem during marketing. Therefore, to minimize FTB of peaches, in this study, gum arabic (GA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were mixed with different concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) (0, 1, and 2 mM) and were applied as edible coating to extend the shelf life of peach fruits. Mature peaches were selected and harvested when peaches reached total soluble solid content (SSC: 8.5%) and fruit firmness of about 47 N. Fruits were coated and stored at room temperature (26 ± 1 °C and air humidity 51 ± 1%) for 10 days during two seasons: 2020 and 2021. Fruit coated with GA/PVP-SA 2 mM showed a significant (p < 0.05) inhibition in degrading enzyme activities (CWDEs), such as lipoxygenase (LOX), cellulase (CEL), and pectinase (PT), compared to uncoated and coated fruits during the shelf-life period. Hence, cell wall compartments were maintained. Consequently, there was a reduction in browning symptoms in fruits by inhibiting polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activities. Thus, the fruit skin browning index showed almost no symptoms. The lipid peroxidation process and ionic permeability declined as well. The result suggests that, by applying GA/PVP-SA 2 mM as an edible coating, fruit tissue breakdown can be minimized, and the shelf life of peach can be extended up to 10 days without symptoms of tissue breakdown.

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The study was executed during two successive years (2016 and 2017) in the The aim of the work was using one year old plants of five and four seedy strains of Betulaefolia and Mit-Ghamr deciduous fruit rootstocks respectively, where the study carried out to evaluate the molecular genetic variability between seedy strains of Betulaefolia and Mit-Ghamr (peach) rootstock by using two molecular genetic markers, ISSR and SCoT based on PCR techniques to support the use of marker-assisted selection (MAS) for detection of a biotic and biotic stress in seedy strains.Six and Ten primers was used with ISSR and SCoT molecular genetic markers had successfully generated reproducible polymorphic products to study the genetic variability between the seedy strains of each Betulaefolia and Mit-Ghamr rootstocks. The generated profiles revealed high levels of polymorphism among the studied strains of each rootstock. Data cleared that, a total bands of five seedy strains of Betulaefolia rootstock with ISSR-SCoT primers were recorded 106 band (44-64 respectively), where the total monomorphic bands were 28 (10-18) and total polymorphic bands was recorded 78 (34-44) with polymorphic percentage (73.5% -71%) and the specific marker bands were scored as 30 (13 -17) specific markers. While, total bands of four seedy strains with ISSR-SCoT primers of Mit-Ghamr rootstock were 97 bands (31-66 respectively), 96 these bands were identified as 43 (14-29) monomorphic ones and 54 (17-37) polymorphic bands with polymorphic percentage (54.8% -56%) and 40 (13-27) the polymorphic as a specific markers bands were scored .There were some specific markers discriminated each cultivar from the others as follows:-Primer 14A showed one specific marker for strain stI, Primer 44B showed three specific markers for stIV strain and four specific markers were produced from Primer HB-12 where three of them for stI strain and other specific marker was for stIII strain. While, Primer HB-14 exhibited one specific marker for stI strain, and Primer HB-15 exhibited four specific markers, two of them were for stI strain and the other two for stIV strain. So, It is noted that specific marker in each 14A and HB-14 were the lowest number while, the highest number of monomorphic Band was present at the same primers. Plate(3):DNA polymorphism using ISSR-PCR for the four seedy strains of Mit-Ghamr peach rootstock amplified with five ISSR primers.106 strains (stII and stIII), Three specific markers were resulted from primer SCoT-4 and all of them for stI strain.In the otherwise, Primer SCoT-6 exhibited two specific markers one of them for stII strain and the other was for stIV strain. In the same way, primer SCoT-8 produced one specific marker for stIV strain and four specific marker for stI strain exhibited with primer SCoT-9. While, primer SCoT-10 produced four specific markers, three of them were found in stI strain and the other one for stIII strain and four specific markers were illustrated from primer SCoT-11 where, three of them for stIII strain and the other one for stII ...

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Mentha is the major source of menthol used for many important commercial and pharmaceutical purposes. For enhanced menthol production, this study aimed to assess the influence of the foliar application of Jasmine oil and Methyl Jasmonate by 0.05 and 0.1% on gene expression, essential oil, and its component especially Menthol in Mentha piperita L. Exogenously foliar application of Methyl Jasmonate (MeJA) and Jasmine oil (JO) treatments induced alteration of gene expression patterns which was detected by a cDNA -SCoT technique with high informative and discrimination capability. Where it targeted 33 clear transcript-derived amplicons, 21 out of them were new transcripts. Differential expression analysis of these patterns illustrated that the higher influence was by J asmine oil with concentration 0.1% at 48 h followed by MeJA-0.1% at 24 h. On the other hand, mfs -transcripts were differentially regulated by MeJA and JO treatments. In general, the results revealed high level of volatile oil, high percentages of menthol (1.52 and 1.47-fold) with the low percentages of the menthone (0.69 and 0.77-fold), lowest level of upregulated menthofuran gene expression (-0.88 and -0.72 Log 2 FC). Besides, good vegetative growth relative to the control was found with exogenously foliar application of MeJA by 0.05% after 48 h and JO by 0.1% after 24 h, which increases the pharmacological quality of Mentha plant. Subsequently, indicating the possibility of using JO (Low-cost) after further study as a stimulant for the activity of menthol production with high quality as a cheaper alternative to exogenously foliar application of MeJA.