Antimicrobial activity of some Egyptian medicinal and aromatic plant waste extracts

A comparative study on the antimicrobial activity of some medicinal and aromatic plant wastes was done on a number of bacterial and fungal strains adopting the discdiffusion assay. Thirty extracts from Allium sativum L., Cympopogon sp., Nigella satival l., Ocimum basilicum L. and Thymus basilium were evaluated. Thymus basilium possessed the highest antimicrobial effect followed by Nigella sativa L., with respective average inhibition zone diameters of 4.7 and 3.8 mm. Fungal candidates were inhibited by plant extracts to higher extents as compared to bacterial strains, [inhibition zones measured were 5.9 mm for the former and 3 mm for the latter]. No remarkable variations were observed among the two methods used for extraction. The photochemical screening of plant waste extracts indicated the presence of carbohydrates, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, sterols, saponins and coumarins

Prevalence in Egyptian soils of r leguminosarum biovar viceae and their physiological properties

A survey was carried out on the prevalence of indigenous Rhizobium leguminosarum in different Nile Delta soils of Egypt. In addition, 163 strains of this bacterium were isolated from nodules of faba bt-an [Vicia faba] plants grown in the 40 locations under investigation to study some physiological characteristics of the indigenous bacteria as well as to determine their capacity in N[2]-fixation. Results showed that R.leguminosarum is present in soil in relatively low numbers [ca. 10[3] cells g[-1]] being the highest in the heavy teatured soils. Faba bean plants collected from Ismailia governor ate generally beared the highest number of nodules on their root systems [average of 43 plant[-1]] while those taken from Qalubia produced the lowest number [9 plant[-1]]. Out of the 163 R.leguminosarum isolated, 98 [ca. 60%] were sensitive towards all tested antibiotics [neomycin, kanamycin and streptomycin] at the given concentrations, only 19 isolates [11.7%] could resist the presence of the three compounds even applied at the highest concentrations, in comparison with the control medium containing 0.01% NaCl, 89 isolates [55%] could not grow at a salt level of 1% or more, mean while only 3 isolates [2%] did survive at 6% NaCl. No visible growth was observed in 8% salted medium. 59 isolates [36.2%] failed to withstand temperature as high as 35° or more, while 62 strains did grow fairly up to 35°. Only 8 strains could resist 45° for die 7 days of incubation. The 163 isolates widely differed in their ability to jwovide faba bean plants with fixed nitrogen. They could be classified into five categories namly; ineffective, slightly, moderately, highly and very highly effective [5. 46, 51, 45 and 16 isolates respectively]

Bacteriological evaluation of underground waters in Egypt

Survival of total bacteria and pollution indicators in both sterile and non-sterile well water in comparison with that in Nile water was studied

Assessment of the chemical and bacteriological quality of groundwater in Cairo

A total of 111 water samples randomly taken from 15 wells located at three water treatment plants in Cairo [Mustorod, El-Marg and El-Maadi] were chemically and bacteriologically examined to evaluate the suitability of water for drinking and domestic purposes. Most of water samples collected from Mustorod and El-Marg plants were containing soluble salts in amounts below the permissible levels recommended by the Egyptian standard. In contrast, samples of El- Maadi wells contained considerably higher levels of salinity over the permissible ones. Bacteriological analysis was done