Doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica L.) has been reported as one of the most beneficial species worldwide. Its fruits are a good source of fibers, antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, essential minerals, monosaccharides, essential oil and flavonoids. Fruit extract shows anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer and pharmacological potential. However, there is a lack of investigations dealing with its genetic diversity. Therefore, a collection of twelve mature female palm landraces grown in the botanical garden of Aswan, “Egypt” were used for genetic diversity assessment based on phenotypic and molecular levels. 18 vegetal and chemical traits were evaluated. Fifteen of them showed highly significant variation among the tested landraces. Euclidian-based-dendrogram discriminated the tested landraces based on their phenotypic similarities to three main clusters showing a high level of variability. Molecular analysis using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) vis-à-vis start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphism markers displayed the relationships among the tested landraces molecularly. Both markers showed a reasonable degree of polymorphism, however SCoT was more effective than the ISSR by showing a higher percentage of polymorphism, polymorphism information content, resolving power and diversity index. Cluster analysis based on molecular data showed a clear relationship among the doum landraces. However, ISSR- and SCoT-based dendrograms were slightly different, and completely unlike that based on phenotypic data. Nevertheless, phenotypic and molecular evaluations might complement each other, and by data of both an excellent overview was obtained from principle coordinate analysis. The information herein is valuable and considered as a keystone for further proximate studies on doum genetic diversity to help in improvement and breeding approaches.

Doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica L.) has been reported as one of the most beneficial species worldwide. Its fruits are a good source of fibers, antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, essential minerals, monosaccharides, essential oil and flavonoids. Fruit extract shows anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer and pharmacological potential. However, there is a lack of investigations dealing with its genetic diversity. Therefore, a collection of twelve mature female palm landraces grown in the botanical garden of Aswan, “Egypt” were used for genetic diversity assessment based on phenotypic and molecular levels. 18 vegetal and chemical traits were evaluated. Fifteen of them showed highly significant variation among the tested landraces. Euclidian-based-dendrogram discriminated the tested landraces based on their phenotypic similarities to three main clusters showing a high level of variability. Molecular analysis using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) vis-à-vis start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphism markers displayed the relationships among the tested landraces molecularly. Both markers showed a reasonable degree of polymorphism, however SCoT was more effective than the ISSR by showing a higher percentage of polymorphism, polymorphism information content, resolving power and diversity index. Cluster analysis based on molecular data showed a clear relationship among the doum landraces. However, ISSR- and SCoT-based dendrograms were slightly different, and completely unlike that based on phenotypic data. Nevertheless, phenotypic and molecular evaluations might complement each other, and by data of both an excellent overview was obtained from principle coordinate analysis. The information herein is valuable and considered as a keystone for further proximate studies on doum genetic diversity to help in improvement and breeding approaches.

The combined influence of cadmium (Cd) and drought was evaluated on in vitro regenerated plants of banana ‘Grand Nain’ at morpho-physiological and molecular levels. A significant reduction was observed due to separate or combined treatments of Cd and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in total chlorophyll, carotenoid content, and all growth parameters except root length, which was increased under Cd treatment. Meanwhile, other traits were increased significantly under combined treatment of Cd and PEG (1 and 3%), including malondialdehyde, phenolic content, and peroxidase specific activity. Furthermore, molecular analysis using the inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers confirmed the harmful effect of Cd. Cadmium caused DNA damage reflected by 18.4% polymorphism compared to the control. Out of 14 polymorphic bands, 12 were absent due to Cd treatment and two bands existed only in Cd-treated samples compared with control. However, the addition of PEG was efficient to reduce the harmful effect of Cd on DNA profile. In this regard, 1% PEG reduced the number of polymorphic bands produced by Cd to the half, while 3% PEG was enough to give an equal DNA profile to that of control with no polymorphic bands. In addition, there was no effect of the separate PEG treatments on ISSR pattern compared with control. Results confirmed the mutagenicity and toxicity of Cd on banana. The effect of PEG-induced drought reduced the damaging effects of Cd by minimizing its uptake and accumulation in plant tissues.

The combined influence of cadmium (Cd) and drought was evaluated on in vitro regenerated plants of banana ‘Grand Nain’ at morpho-physiological and molecular levels. A significant reduction was observed due to separate or combined treatments of Cd and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in total chlorophyll, carotenoid content, and all growth parameters except root length, which was increased under Cd treatment. Meanwhile, other traits were increased significantly under combined treatment of Cd and PEG (1 and 3%), including malondialdehyde, phenolic content, and peroxidase specific activity. Furthermore, molecular analysis using the inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers confirmed the harmful effect of Cd. Cadmium caused DNA damage reflected by 18.4% polymorphism compared to the control. Out of 14 polymorphic bands, 12 were absent due to Cd treatment and two bands existed only in Cd-treated samples compared with control. However, the addition of PEG was efficient to reduce the harmful effect of Cd on DNA profile. In this regard, 1% PEG reduced the number of polymorphic bands produced by Cd to the half, while 3% PEG was enough to give an equal DNA profile to that of control with no polymorphic bands. In addition, there was no effect of the separate PEG treatments on ISSR pattern compared with control. Results confirmed the mutagenicity and toxicity of Cd on banana. The effect of PEG-induced drought reduced the damaging effects of Cd by minimizing its uptake and accumulation in plant tissues.

Potential therapeutic uses of fenugreek, Trigonella foenum-graecum, are famous in traditional medicine. More recently, it has been revealed that total saponin content in the defatted seed extract is related to the hypocholesterolemic activity of the seeds. Enhancement of growth of fenugreek plant and saponins content in the seeds was the main target of the current investigation. This was attained by the application of all possible combinations of humic acid (1000 ppm), micronutrients foliar fertilizer (1000 ppm) and salicylic acid (300 ppm). Data were recorded on leaf content of chlorophylls (a and b) and carotenoids, pods number and weight per plant, seed weight per plant, seed yield per feddan, weight of thousand seed, seed fixed oil percentage, fixed oil yield per feddan and total steroidal saponins in defatted seed extract. Different treatments exerted significant effect for improvement of the measured characteristics. Humic acid alone or combined with either or both of salicylic acid and the foliar fertilizer exhibited the best yield characteristics including seed and oil yields per feddan and total content of steroidal saponins.

Yield performance and berry sensory attributes in 10 grape cultivars were studied under Assiut conditions. In addition, the genetic variability and relationships among these cultivars were determined based on RAPD and SRAP molecular markers. Genetic variations were observed between the tested cultivars in all studied traits of yield and yield components as well as in berry sensory attributes. 100 sites of grape genome were amplified by RAPD and SRAP primers and used to study the interrelationships between 10 grape cultivars. The highest interrelationships were found between “Black Muscat and Provano”, “Palomino and Bez El-Naka”, and between “Palomino and Ruby Seedless”. The lowest relatedness was found between Beauty Seedless and the other nine grape cultivars. The phenotypic data and molecular markers were effective in estimating the genetic variability between grape cultivars. The study indicated the presence of abundant genetic variability among some of the important commercial grape cultivars. Significant positive correlation was found between the phenotypic and genotypic distance indicated that the studied RAPD and SRAP markers were able to bind to effective regions in the genome.

Yield performance and berry sensory attributes in 10 grape cultivars were studied under Assiut conditions. In addition, the genetic variability and relationships among these cultivars were determined based on RAPD and SRAP molecular markers. Genetic variations were observed between the tested cultivars in all studied traits of yield and yield components as well as in berry sensory attributes. 100 sites of grape genome were amplified by RAPD and SRAP primers and used to study the interrelationships between 10 grape cultivars. The highest interrelationships were found between “Black Muscat and Provano”, “Palomino and Bez El-Naka”, and between “Palomino and Ruby Seedless”. The lowest relatedness was found between Beauty Seedless and the other nine grape cultivars. The phenotypic data and molecular markers were effective in estimating the genetic variability between grape cultivars. The study indicated the presence of abundant genetic variability among some of the important commercial grape cultivars. Significant positive correlation was found between the phenotypic and genotypic distance indicated that the studied RAPD and SRAP markers were able to bind to effective regions in the genome.

Yield performance and berry sensory attributes in 10 grape cultivars were studied under Assiut conditions. In addition, the genetic variability and relationships among these cultivars were determined based on RAPD and SRAP molecular markers. Genetic variations were observed between the tested cultivars in all studied traits of yield and yield components as well as in berry sensory attributes. 100 sites of grape genome were amplified by RAPD and SRAP primers and used to study the interrelationships between 10 grape cultivars. The highest interrelationships were found between “Black Muscat and Provano”, “Palomino and Bez El-Naka”, and between “Palomino and Ruby Seedless”. The lowest relatedness was found between Beauty Seedless and the other nine grape cultivars. The phenotypic data and molecular markers were effective in estimating the genetic variability between grape cultivars. The study indicated the presence of abundant genetic variability among some of the important commercial grape cultivars. Significant positive correlation was found between the phenotypic and genotypic distance indicated that the studied RAPD and SRAP markers were able to bind to effective regions in the genome.

Yield performance and berry sensory attributes in 10 grape cultivars were studied under Assiut conditions. In addition, the genetic variability and relationships among these cultivars were determined based on RAPD and SRAP molecular markers. Genetic variations were observed between the tested cultivars in all studied traits of yield and yield components as well as in berry sensory attributes. 100 sites of grape genome were amplified by RAPD and SRAP primers and used to study the interrelationships between 10 grape cultivars. The highest interrelationships were found between “Black Muscat and Provano”, “Palomino and Bez El-Naka”, and between “Palomino and Ruby Seedless”. The lowest relatedness was found between Beauty Seedless and the other nine grape cultivars. The phenotypic data and molecular markers were effective in estimating the genetic variability between grape cultivars. The study indicated the presence of abundant genetic variability among some of the important commercial grape cultivars. Significant positive correlation was found between the phenotypic and genotypic distance indicated that the studied RAPD and SRAP markers were able to bind to effective regions in the genome.

The effect of chitosan and D,L β aminobutyric acid (BABA) at rates of 10, 20 and 40 ppm on the flowering, and chemical characteristics of German chamomile (Matricaria recutita L. cv. Bode-gold) was studied. Chitosan treatments with different concentrations significantly increased flower number per plant, flower head fresh weight, flower head dry weight, and yield of dry flowers per fed in comparison with all other treatments including the control (untreated plants). Plants treated with BABA had bigger flower head diameter compared to the other treatments including the control. The highest concentration of BABA (40 ppm) gave the highest volatile oil content in flowers (2.27 and 2.23 % during both seasons) with increasing rates of 32.59 and 29.59 % over that of the control during both seasons, respectively. Chitosan at 40 ppm followed by BABA at 40 ppm exhibited a significant increase in oil yield per fed comparing to the control with no significant differences between both of them ppm during both seasons. The highest percentage of chamazulene as the main active component was recorded in the volatile oil extracted from chamomile plants treated with BABA at 20 ppm. This investigation suggests further studies on using the foliar application of chitosan at a rate of 40 ppm to increase the quality of chamomile flower parameters and BABA at a rate of 40 ppm to improve the percentage and yield of volatile oil.