Cluster and berry thinning are management techniques that adjust over-crop and provide a method for improving the quality. Furthermore, lately, a lot of attention is focused on minimizing the heavy amounts of mineral fertilizers by applying organic and bio-fertilizers such as vermicompost and humic acid. Therefore, these treatments were applied to increase the productivity and quality of Ruby Seedless table grape. To achieve this aim of this study, this study was conducted during two successive seasons of 2022 and 2023 on Ruby Seedless grape cultivar which was cultivated at the orchard of Pomology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University. Six treatments were carried out control, humic acid at 2%/vine, humic acid to the soil at 5g/vine, vermicompost extract at 3.3ml/L, vermicompost extract at 5ml/L, cluster thinning by Removing the second cluster. Yield components, vegetative properties, berry attributes in addition to quality of grape berries were measured. The results revealed that all of the treatments were effective in improving both productivity and berry quality of the Ruby Seedless grape cultivar. In addition, spraying with vermicompost extract could be recommended as the best treatment.

Sugar solutions are a valuable tool in the beekeeper’s arsenal. Understanding the nutritional value and diverse effects of sugar solutions on individual and colony populations allows beekeepers to ensure the successful wintering of honey bee colonies. The efficacy of feeding three types of sugar solutions (sucrose, glucose + fructose, invert sugar) compared to honey as a control on honey bees’ physiological and morphological parameters was studied during nursing. The results showed that the feeding type influenced consumption, digestibility, wax gland development, and hemocytic parameters. While honey topped the charts in all parameters, sucrose also reflected improvement of wax gland development (oenocytes area) and significantly increased hemolymph plasmatocytes as an index for bee immunity, making it a compelling alternative among the tested solutions. The glucose and fructose solution mixture exhibited neither significant bee attraction nor positive impacts on the fourth wax mirror area, wax gland development, or bee immune response. Invert sugar exhibited the lowest consumption and bee attraction among the solutions, yet it demonstrated a noteworthy effect on the fourth wax mirror expansion. The highest spindle hemocyte percentage of bees fed Invert sugar suggested they experienced stress. In this study, honey, followed by sucrose, is the best feeding choice to prepare bee colonies for winter to promote honey bee immunocompetence. While invert sugar potentially offers several economic advantages. Its limited influence on key colony parameters, such as wax production and overwintering success, requires further study.

The Culex pipiens complex is a major and prevalent pest of dipterans for the most part of the world. The addition of sub-lethal quantities of chemical toxicants, such as fungicides and herbicides, can change the toxicity of certain insecticides on mosquito larvae. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to evaluate toxicity of certain insecticides individually and in combination with the sub-lethal concentrations of myclobutanil (1 µg ml-1 ) or S-metolachlor (0.140 µg ml-1 ) against C. pipiens larvae after 24, 48 and 72 h of exposure. Depending on the combination of the sub-lethal concentrations of S-metolachlor and myclobutanil, as well as the LC50 values of each studied insecticide, the insecticides exhibited distinct interaction reactions (e.g., antagonistic and/or synergistic effects) on C. pipiens larvae. Permethrin mixed with myclobutanil or S-metolachlor at sub-lethal concentrations produced a synergistic effect and enhanced permethrin's toxicity on C. pipiens larvae during exposure durations (except for the sub-lethal concentration of S-metolachlor after 72 h). On the other hand, following exposure times, combining imidacloprid or cyromazine with sub-lethal concentrations of myclobutanil or S-metolachlor was an antagonistic impact and reduced the toxicity of both insecticides on C. pipiens larvae. Only after 24 h of exposure did the sublethal concentrations of myclobutanil or S-metolachlor increase the lethality of indoxacarb; however, after 48 and 72 h of exposure, they decreased the toxicity of indoxacarb. It will be worthwhile to evaluate the impact of insecticides on fish and mosquito larvae when sub-lethal levels of herbicides and fungicides are present.

Tebuconazole + fluopyram is a new binary mixture fungicide product that is widely used to control many plant fungal pathogens and nematodes in several agricultural crops worldwide, including Egypt. However, there is a lack of information about their toxicological effects on honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). In the current study, the lethal and sub-lethal toxic effects of mixture tebuconazole + fluopyram were examined on A. mellifera workers. Tebuconazole + fluopyram exhibited low acute toxicity to A. mellifera foragers (the 96-h LC50 value was 1.389 mg a.i. · ml^–1). Sub-lethal effects of tebuconazole + fluopyram on survival, body weight, food consumption and antioxidant defenses of A. mellifera were determined by chronic oral exposure of A. mellifera workers to sugar syrup which contained two sublethal concentrations of the fungicide, 0.139 mg · ml^–1 (1/10 of 96 h LC50) and 0.278 mg · ml^–1 (1/5 of 96 h LC50), along with clear sugar syrup as a control for 18 days. Honeybees exposed to both sublethal concentrations of tebuconazole + fluopyram showed a significant decrease in the bees’ survivability and dry body weight. Sugar syrup and pollen consumption by the exposed A. mellifera were relatively less than by the controls. Tebuconazole + fluopyram also induced disruptions in the enzymatic antioxidant and detoxification defense systems in bees, indicating the presence of oxidative stress. Fungicide exposure elicited a significant depletion in catalase and superoxide dismutase activities and a significant elevation in glutathione and malondialdehyde levels in bees, indicating lipid peroxidation. This is the first study indicating the harmful impacts of tebuconazole + fluopyram on honeybee health.

The predatory efficacy of tilapia Oreochromis niloticus was confirmed against the immature stages of mosquitoes including Culex pipiens. The present study evaluated the detrimental impacts of sublethal concentration of myclobutanil (1000 µg/L) and S-metolachlor (140 µg/L) pesticides for 15 days on the predatory potential of O. niloticus on larvae of Cx. pipiens. Also, effects of both pesticides on acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and certain antioxidant parameters (i.e., total antioxidant capacity [TAC] and superoxide dismutase [SOD]) in the fish were assessed. The exposure of O. niloticus to sublethal concentration of myclobutanil and S-metolachlor caused destructive effects on the predatory behavior of the fish and decreased its predation rates on mosquito larvae compared to the control. Changes in predation capacity of the predatory fish on mosquito larvae may be due to the toxic effect of these pesticides on fish’s antioxidants and AChE activity. The fish pre-exposed to both pesticides presented a significant decrease in the TAC and a significant increase in the SOD activity relative to control group, indicating the advancement of oxidative stress in the treated fish. Fishes pre-exposed to sublethal of both pesticides also showed a significant increase in AChE activity. This study suggests a threat of S-metolachlor and myclobutanil to O. niloticus health and potential as a successful indigenous predatory fish on Cx. pipiens larvae.