Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most important emerging foodborne pathogens. The
objectives of this work were to investigate the incidence of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes in soft
cheese and ice cream in Assiut city, Egypt, and to examine the effect of some probiotic Bifidobacterium
spp. (Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium animalis, or a mixture of the two) on the viability of
L. monocytogenes in soft cheese. The existence of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes was examined
in 30 samples of soft cheese and 30 samples of ice cream. Bacteriological analyses and molecular
identification (using 16S rRNA gene and hlyA gene for Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes, respectively)
were performed on those samples. Additionally, Bifidobacterium spp. were incorporated in the making
of soft cheese to study their inhibitory impacts on L. monocytogenes. Out of 60 samples of soft cheese
and ice cream, 25 samples showed Listeria spp., while L. monocytogenes was found in only 2 soft
cheese samples. Approximately 37% of soft cheese samples (11 out of 30) had Listeria spp. with about
18.0% (2 out of 11) exhibiting L. monocytogenes. In ice cream samples, Listeria spp. was presented by
47% (14 out of 30), while L. monocytogenes was not exhibited. Moreover, the addition of B. animalis to
soft cheese in a concentration of 5% or combined with B. breve with a concentration of 2.5% for each
resulted in decreasing L. monocytogenes efficiently during the ripening of soft cheese for 28 d. Listeria
spp. is widely found in milk products. Probiotic bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium spp., can be utilized
as a natural antimicrobial to preserve food and dairy products.

The study determined the ability of three probiotics to improve the nutritional value of date palm leaves in diets of growing lambs. Twenty male Farafra lambs (26 ± 0.33 kg) were randomly allocated to one of four treatments (n = 6) and fed: a control or basal diet (C; 70% concentrate + 30% date palm leaves without additives) and supplemented with Bacillofort containing 2 × 10¹¹ CFU of Bacillus subtilis/g (BAC treatment), Lacotpro containing 1 × 10¹² CFU of Lactobacillus acidophilus/g (LAC treatment) or ZAD containing 6 × 10⁸ CFU of R. albus/g (ZAD treatment) at 4 g of all additives for 150 days. As a result of this study, LAC improved (P < 0.05) growth performance and feed eciency compared to control. Additives increased (P = 0.001) concentrations of albumin, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine, hemoglobin concentration and red blood cells and decreased (P = 0.001) globulin and urea-N. Additives increased hot carcass (P = 0.040) while BAC increased Longissimus dorsi,meat and fat without a?ecting water holding capacity compared to other treatments. In themetabolismexperiment, BAC increased the digestibility of crude protein, while BAC and ZAD increased the digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, and neutral detergent fiber. Additives did not a?ect nitrogen (N) intake and urinary N; however, decreased fecal N and increased N balance compared to the control. BAC and ZAD increased ruminal volatile fatty acids concentration compared to the control. Based on our results, Lacotpro could be used to improve growth performance and feed eciency, while Bacillofort could be used to improve meat quality of in lambs.

.

Stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici Eriks. is an important disease of common wheat globally. The production and cultivation of genetically resistant cultivars are some of the most successful and environmentally friendly ways to protect wheat against fungal pathogens. Seedling screening and genome-wide association study (GWAS) were used to determine the genetic diversity of wheat genotypes obtained on stem rust resistance loci. At the seedling stage, the reaction of the common stem rust race QFCSC in Nebraska was measured in a set of 212 genotypes from F3:6 lines. The results indicated that 184 genotypes (86.8%) had different degrees of resistance to this common race. While 28 genotypes (13.2%) were susceptible to stem rust. A set of 11,911 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers was used to perform GWAS which detected 84 significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) with SNPs located on chromosomes 1B, 2A, 2B, 7B, and an unknown chromosome. Promising high linkage disequilibrium (LD) genomic regions were found in all chromosomes except 2B which suggested they include candidate genes controlling stem rust resistance. Highly significant LD was found among these 59 significant SNPs on chromosome 2A and 12 significant SNPs with an unknown chromosomal position. The LD analysis between SNPs located on 2A and Sr38 gene reveals high significant LD genomic regions which were previously reported. To select the most promising stem rust resistance, a new approach was suggested based on four criteria including, phenotypic selection, number of resistant alleles (s), the genetic distance