Khalil Saad-Allah

Tanta University · Department of Botany

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technique used to regulate gene expression and silence specific genes. RNAi has been widely adopted in agriculture to enhance plant resistance against biotic stresses and improve crop traits. The mechanism of RNAi involves the introduction of small RNA molecules into cells, which then bind to complementary mRNA...

Background: Mycotic keratitis (MK) poses a significant risk as a severe and difficult-to-treat corneal infection with potentially life-threatening consequences. Fungi are commonly implicated as causative agents. Additionally, improper care of contact lenses increases the susceptibility to MK. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the phytochemical c...

The growth and productivity of crop plants are negatively affected by salinity-induced ionic and oxidative stresses. This study aimed to provide insight into the interaction of NaCl-induced salinity with Azolla aqueous extract (AAE) regarding growth, antioxidant balance, and stress-responsive genes expression in wheat seedlings. In a pot experiment...

The medicinally effective plant Achillea fragrantissima exhibits a magnitude of pharmacological activities. In this study, the effects of different ZnONP concentrations on antioxidant enzymes, bioactive secondary metabolites, redox potential, and molecular changes in A. fragrantissima callus cultures were investigated. First, the concentrations of...

An efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of novel α-aminophosphonates (AAP) (3a-m) through a one-pot three-component reaction of 1,3-disubstituted-1H-pyrazol-5-amine, aromatic aldehydes, and phosphite using lithium perchlorate as catalyst. All newly synthesized compounds were characterized via different spectroscopic techniques. The...

Palm pollen extract (PPE) is a viable source of osmoregulators, phytohormones, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and cofactors supporting plant growth in normal and challenging environments. In this study, we explored the competency of methanolic-aqueous PPE to amend cadmium (Cd) and cobalt (Co) toxicity in beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Bean seeds wer...

The reaction of (1,3‐diphenyl‐1H‐pyrazole‐4‐carbaldehyde) with different aromatic amines and triethylphosphite in the presence of magnesium perchlorate as a catalyst resulted in high yields of new α‐aminophosphonates containing pyrazole moiety. The structures of the newly prepared α‐aminophosphonates were confirmed using IR, elemental analysis, ¹H...

Biotic and abiotic stress factors drastically limit plant growth and productivity through changing the physiological, biochemical, and cellular processes. In this study, 100 mM of lead (Pb) was used as an abiotic stress source, while Fusarium graminearum represented a biotic one on wheat plant. Compared to the control, Pb treatment and F. graminear...

Fusarium graminearum is among the most virulent pathogens attacking wheat plants and significantly lowering its production globally. The present work aims to shed light on the interactions between two priming solutions, calcium (Ca) or salicylic acid (SA), and F. graminearum inoculation depending on the growth rate, physiological attributes, and mo...

Background Seaweeds are a viable bioresource for suffering plants against salt stress, as they abundant in nutrients, hormones, vitamins, secondary metabolites, and many other phytochemicals that sustain plants' growth under both typical and stressful situations. The alleviating capacity of extracts from three brown algae ( Sargassum vulgare , Colp...

In recent years, it has been evident that there is a rise in global interest in the discovery of drugs from medicinal plants. The present study aimed to estimate the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of ethanol extract of five plant species: Lavandula atriplicifolia, Cocculus pendulus, Teucrium polium, Varthemia candicans, and Cassia javanic...

Horticultural crops are used for a variety of purposes, including nourishment and aesthetics. Human nutrition relies heavily on these plants for carbohydrates, proteins, organic acids, vitamins, and minerals. Drought, flood, nutrient inadequacy, heat, light, metal stress, and other abiotic stresses restrict crop plant development and output. A vari...

Seaweeds are a viable bioresource for suffering plants against salt stress. The alleviating capacity of extracts from three brown algae ( Sargassum vulgare , Colpomenia sinuosa , and Pandia pavonica ) in pea ( Pisum sativum L.) was investigated in this study. Pea seeds were primed for 2 h either with seaweed extracts (SWEs) or distlled water. Seeds...

Prolonged drought presents a serious challenge to the agricultural sector. The main concern of this work was to assess the phenotypical, physiological, and molecular responses of five teosinte (Zea mexicana Schrad L.) genotypes (Ba, Gm1, Gm2, Gm3 and Gm4). In a two-season (2020 and 2021) field experiment, fifteen-day-old teosinte plants were subjec...

The agricultural soil has extremely become contaminated with various pollutants. These pollutants arise from divergent sources including agricultural and industrial drainage, erosion and weathering of rocks, and various human activities, especially after the great development in the industrial sector through the latest decades. Such contaminants ne...

Scarcity of water is a substantial impediment to the growth and yield of crop species. In this study, free-radical copolymerization was used to tailor novel formulations of superabsorbent nanocomposites (SANCs). The prepared SANCs were characterized using FT-IR spectra, SEM micrograph, TGA and X-Ray diffraction. Following SANC preparation, the swel...

Background The liver is a vital organ that must be maintained healthy. Therefore, hepatoprotective agents deserve a big concern and exploring. Objectives: We aimed to enhance the yielded seed extract of Ammi visnaga by kinetin (KN) seed priming or asparagine (ASN) foliar spraying to explore the possibility of enhancing the hepatopritective effect a...

Synthetic fertilizers are widely employed in agriculture relative to biofertilizers. Long-term use affects soil fertility, plant vigor, human and livestock health, and the soil microbial community. Seaweeds were employed as biofertilizers in sustainable agriculture to overcome this issue and boost the agricultural productivity. Therefore, the curre...

Selenium (Se) is a trace element but its basic role in plant physiology is still poorly known. An experiment to investigate the role of Se in enhancing cotton growth and its efficiency in alleviating PEG-induced water stress and NaCl-induced salt stress under controlled conditions was conducted. The hydroponically grown cotton was supplied with sel...

Keywords Abstract Phytoremediation; hyper-accumulators; metal toxicity; phytochelatins; metallothioneins; microbes. The agricultural soil has extremely become contaminated with various pollutants. These pollutants arise from divergent sources including agricultural and industrial drainage, erosion and weathering of rocks, and various human activiti...

Two Phlomis species occur in Egypt: P. aurea (Decne.), endemic to Sinai region and P. floccosa (Don.) in the western Medi-terranean coast. The carbohydrate composition of plants varied according to the species, microhabitat, and organ. Soluble sugars (SS) were in the order: leaves > flowers > stem in the two species, with higher levels in P. aurea...

Two Phlomis species occur in Egypt: P. aurea (Decne.), endemic to Sinai region and P. floccosa (Don.) in the western Mediterranean coast. The carbohydrate composition of plants varied according to the species, microhabitat, and organ. Soluble sugars (SS) were in the order: leaves > flowers > stem in the two species, with higher levels in P. aurea t...

Drought has been recognized as a potential challenge to maize production around the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. The primary focus of the present study was to investigate the metabolic and physiological adjustment mechanisms as well as drought-responsive gene expression patterns in five maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes (G314, G2,...

Background Natural products from plants are very safe as compared to synthetic ones, so the aim of this study was to assess the in vitro antioxidant and antitumor activities of the ethanolic extracts of four Egyptian wild plant species ( Varthemia candicans , Peganum harmala , Suaeda vermiculata , and Conyza dioscoridis ), as well as polyphenols an...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Increased urbanization detrimentally affects crop plants. Heavy metals pollution sharply threatens food security. However, greenly synthesized nanoparticles were recently proposed as growth bioregulators. To investigate the evolved mechanisms by which sulfur nanoparticles (SNPs) could improve cellular defense against manganese toxicity, the present...

Root rot and head blight caused by soil-borne fungi are prevalent diseases endanger the global food security. The purpose of this study is to provide insight into the interaction of Fusarium graminearum with two weed extracts, concentrating on growth rate, physiological responses, molecular changes in wheat seedlings and yield parameters. In a pot...

Phlomis aurea Decne. and Phlomis floccosa D. Don. exhibit different ecological and geographical distribution range in Egypt. Phlomis aurea is endemic to Saint Katherine Protectorate (SKP), South Sinai with narrow geographic distribution, but wide ecological range. Phlomis floccosa has wide geographical and ecological range within the coastal wester...

Phlomis aurea Decne. and Phlomis floccosa D. Don. exhibit different ecological and geographical distribution range in Egypt. Phlomis aurea is endemic to Saint Katherine Protectorate (SKP), South Sinai with narrow geographic distribution, but wide ecological range. Phlomis floccosa has wide geographical and ecological range within the coastal wester...

Salinization of the agricultural soil, caused by natural factors or human activities, is one of the greatest challenges facing food production in the current time, as it negatively affects soil construction along with growth and yield of crops. In this study, an experiment was conducted on mallow plants (Corchorus olitorius L.) growing in pots to d...

Salinity is a critical issue impairing the growth and productivity of most crop species through the mediated ionic and osmotic imbalances. As a way forward, the current study was tailored to elucidate the capacity of sulfur nanoparticles (SNPs) to amend salinity consequences on growth and physio-biochemical attributes of wheat. In a controlled expe...

In the present study, valorization of food and lignocellulosic wastes into bio-diesel and 2-phenylethanol using Metchinikowia pulcherrima isolated from rotten food wastes was evaluated. At the optimum pH of 5.5, food waste hydrolysate (FWH) showed 74.1% higher dry weight than the corresponding synthetic medium. Rice straw (RS) and softwood sawdust...

Controlled-release urea fertilizer (CRUF) consists of urea granules intercalated within the lattice of a superabsorbent composite to control urea release thereby improving nitrogen supply and minimizing environmental hazards. In this work, new formulations for controlled-release urea were prepared based on biodegradable polymers and agricultural wa...

Depletion of fossil fuels and increasing the environmental concerns against pollution accelerate the research in renewable energy with much efforts directed to produce biodiesel by the promising oil-rich biomass, like oleaginous fungi, growing on inexpensive agricultural and industrial wastes. Rhizopus stolonifer was found to be the most potent lip...

A range of heterogeneous, inexpensive and benign Schiff bases-montmorillonite composites were synthesized and screened for their antibacterial activity against common microbial pathogens. Sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) clay was modified with tris(2-ethylamine) in the presence of dilute HCl to yield a quaternary salt of tris(2-ethylamine) modified...

A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the capacity of superabsorbent composite (SAP) Gelatin-g-p(AA-co-AM)/RH to improve the performance of rice, maize, and peanut against terminal water stress. For each crop, pots (60 x 40 cm) were divided into two groups, the first comprised 12 SAP-free pots (control) and the second comprised 12 SAP-amended...

Plants offer unlimited source of bioactive compounds that have tremendous applications in pharmaceutical industry. To find new sources of antioxidants and antimicrobial agents against pan-drug resistant (PDR) pathogens of skin burn infections, methanolic extracts of nine Egyptian plants were evaluated. Total phe-nolic content varied from 19.48 to 6...

Due to its substantial nutritional value, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is currently attracting worldwide attention. Quinoa is characterized by a high adaptability to various environmental conditions. This is the first report on the phytochemical and genetic evaluation of quinoa germplasms introduced to Egypt, and the results could be used to...

A pots experiment was conducted in the greenhouse governorate during the winter season 2015-2016 to study the response of salt-stressed safflower to extracts of two types of naturally growing costal halophytes, Z. album and H. strobilaceum. Safflower seeds were presoaked either in distilled water or 1% halophytic extract for 24 hrs then sown in pla...

The present study was conducted to evaluate the pollution phytoremediation capacity and pollution tolerance of Solanum nigrum in two habitats varied in their pollution intensity with heavy metals. We investigated the relative contributions of the hyperaccumulator S. nigrum in eliminating some pollutants from agricultural soils such as Zn, Pb, Ni an...

Two field experiments were carried out through 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons in Faculty of Agriculture experimental farm, Tanta University, to investigate the influence of chicken manure (CM) and yeast extract (YE) on Silybum marianum (milk thistle) growth, yield and phytochemical constituents. CM was applied to soil with rates of 0.0, 23.81, 35....

Floral preservative biocides in most cases consider toxic at the affective concentration to both plant and microbial proliferation. Therefore, in order to find nontoxic biocide, this experiment was conducted to evaluate a recent Synthetized Zirconyl Complex as a potential floral preservative biocide for cut roses (Rosa hybrida L. cv. Grand Prix). T...

IGH levels of pollutants in the River Nile water caused severe alteration in the pollutant indicators such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, chemical oxygen demand, ammonia and nitrate; in addition to the concentration of some heavy metals (e.g. lead, mercury and cadmium) which made water unsuitable for drinking, irrigation and aquatic life. Mi...

EEDS of E. sativa were primed with aqueous extract of the …….chlorophyte Halimeda opuntia or with distilled water for 3 h and sown in clay sandy soil (2:1 w/w). Plants were irrigated with tap water for 14 days, then with 20 mM CdCl 2 solution or tap water for 21 days. Cadmium stress caused a significant reduction in water content, photosynthetic pi...

New antibacterial composites were synthesized by modification and functionlization of montmorillonite (MMT). The antibacterial composites were synthesized by the reaction of MMT clay with the quaternary salt of p-N, N-dimethylamino benzaldehyde which produced modified functionalized montmorillonite composite in the form of Schiff bases. The schiff...

Seeds of radish were primed with the extract of either Codium taylorii or Pterocladia capillacea for 2 h, then sown in clay-sandy soil and left to grow under the effect of either 150 or 200 mM NaCl, however the control treatment was irrigated only with tap water, for 35 days. The results indicated that salinity decreased water content, shoot length...

Egypt. arthemia candicans (Delile) Boiss., naturally grows in the Northwestern costal region of Egypt. The present study was conducted to evaluate the diversity of V. candicans secondary metabolites in two habitats during different seasons. Results showed that flavonoids, alkaloids saponins, and phenolic compounds content attenuated their maximum v...

Varthemia candicans (Delile) Boiss., naturally grows in the Northwestern costal region of Egypt. The present study was conducted to evaluate the diversity of V. candicans secondary metabolites in two habitats during different seasons. Results showed that flavonoids, alkaloids saponins, and phenolic compounds content attenuated their maximum value d...

The impact of three levels of sea salt (0.0, 8.0, and 16.0 mS/cm 2) on six varieties of soybean (Crawford, G21, G22, G35, G82, and G83) was studied. Growth criteria, photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugars, soluble protein, free amino acids, free proline, and protein profile of soybean varieties were investigated under sea salt stress. Results of t...

A novel series of a-aminophosphonates containing chitosan moiety was obtained in high yields from reactions of chitosan with aromatic aldehydes and triphenylphosphite in the presence of lithium perchlorate as a catalyst. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR and 1 H NMR spectral data. Compounds (1–4) showed high antimicro...

The oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula minuta has been used previously as a biocide agent and for the production of β‐carotene. In addition, R. minuta has been shown to produce up to 40% lipids, while demonstrating a faster growth rate than the similar oleaginous yeasts; Lipomyces starkeyii and R. glutinis . In this study, this promising yeast was evalua...

The oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula minuta has been used previously as a biocide agent and for the production of b-carotene. In addition, R. minuta has been shown to produce up to 40% lipids, while demonstrating a faster growth rate than the similar oleaginous yeasts; Lipomyces starkeyii and R. glutinis. In this study, this promising yeast was evaluat...

Six varieties of soybean (Glycine max L.) plants were grown for 30 days under three levels of sea salt salinity (0.0, 8.0 and 16.0 mS/cm2) for studying the effect of sea salt on uptake of nitrate and response of the antioxidant system for these salinity doses. Salt treatments resulted in a gradual decline in nitrate uptake by increasing sea salt co...

Nine zirconyl(II) complexes of 3-(2-hydroxynaph-1-ylazo)-1,2,4-triazole (HL1), 3-(2,4-dihydroxyphen-1-ylazo)-1,2,4-triazole (HL2), 3-(2-hydroxy-3-carboxynaph-1-ylazo)-1,2,4- triazole (HL3), 3-(2-hydroxy-5-bromophen-1-ylazo)-1,2,4-triazole (HL4) and 3-(2-hydroxy-5-methylphen-1-ylazo)-1,2,4-triazole (HL5) have been synthesized and characterized by el...

Seeds of Pisum sativum and Vicia faba were pre-soaked in one of three concentrations (1.0, 2.0 or 4.0 mM) of the mutagenic agent sodium azide (NaN3) for different periods (30 min, 1 h or 2 hs). The impact of these treatments on seed germination, some growth criteria, photosynthetic pigments, some metabolic activities and cytological behavior in the...