Curdlan production by Agrobacterium sp. IFO13140 immobilized on loofa sponge, alginate and loofa sponge with alginate was investigated. There was no statistically-significant difference in curdlan production when the microorganism was immobilized in different matrices. The loofa sponge was chosen because of its practical application and economy and because it provides a high stability through i...

Ambient energy, niche conservatism, historical climate stability and habitat heterogeneity hypothesis have been proposed to explain the broad-scale species diversity patterns and species compositions, while their relative importance have been controversial. Here, we assessed the relative contributions of contemporary climate, historical climate changes and habitat heterogeneity in shaping Salix...

Specimens of Solea aegyptiaca caught from Ghar El Melh lagoon in Tunisia were investigated for trichodinid ectoparasites. One species of the genus Trichodina was recorded on the gills of S. aegyptiaca. This species is identified as Trichodina gobii Raabe, 1959 which is reported for the first time on the soleidae fishes from Tunisian waters. The prevalence and the mean intensity level of these c...

Pea (Pisum sativum) is an important grain legume crop whose cultivation in the Mediterranean basin and West Asia is severely constrained by infection by the weedy root parasite Orobanche crenata (crenate broomrape). Pea is a false host of other species such as O. minor, O. foetida and Phelipanche aegyptiaca. In the present experiments, we demonstrate that seed germination of the Orobanche and P...