Morphological and molecular identification of Cladosporium sphaerospermum isolates collected from tomato plant residues

This study was conducted at the Agriculture College University of Karbala, Iraq to isolate and morphologically and molecularly diagnose thirteen Cladosporium isolates collected from tomato plant residues present in desert regions of Najaf and Karbala provinces, Iraq. We diagnosed the obtained isolates by PCR amplification using the ITS1 and ITS4 universal primer pair followed by sequencing. PCR amplification and analysis of nucleotide sequences using the BLAST program showed that all isolated fungi belong to Cladosporium sphaerospermum. Analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the identified C. sphaerospermum isolates 2, 6, 9, and 10 showed a genetic similarity reached 99%, 98%, 99%, and 99%, respectively, with those previously registered at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBl). By comparing the nucleotide sequences of the identified C. sphaerospermum isolates with the sequences belong to the same fungi and available at NCBI, it was revealed that the identified C. sphaerospermum isolates 2, 6, 9, and 10 have a genetic variation with those previously recorded at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBl); therefore, the identified sequences of C. sphaerospermum isolates have been registered in GenBank database (NCBI) under the accession numbers MN896004, MN896107, MN896963, and MN896971, respectively.

Wind Tunnel Test on Windblown Sand Two-Phase Flow Characteristics in Arid Desert Regions

Windblown sand two-phase flow characteristics become an essential factor in evaluating the windblown sand load on infrastructures and civil structures. Based on the measured wind characteristics in arid desert regions, windblown sand flow fields with three kinds of sand beds are simulated in the wind tunnel, respectively. The results indicate that the characteristic saltation height of sand particles increases with the wind speed and particle size in the windblown sand flow field. As the sand concentration increases, the wind speed decreases, and the turbulence intensity increases. The concentration, energy, and impact pressure of sand particles increase with increasing wind speed and decrease exponentially with increasing height. At the same wind speed, the concentration, energy, and impact pressure of the coarse sand, fine sand, and mixed sand increases, in turn. Moreover, the variation of kinetic energy with height is similar to that of total energy with height and the proportion of potential energy to total energy is quite small.

Cambial Activity of Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori in Arid Environments

Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori, one of 13 species of the Moringaceae family widely distributed throughout the dry tropics, has the potential to become one of the most economically important medicinal plants in Egypt. However, despite its tolerance for drought and heat, it is also threatened by increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation. Although the phenophase of this species is well documented, almost nothing is known about its period of cambial activity in desert regions. Ring formation and the general environmental adaptability of trees are affected by the timing of cambial activation. In our study site, we observe a distinct coupling of the development of new green leaves at the onset of vegetative growth in October and the phase of cambial activity (November–January). The onset of cambial activity seems to be related to a drop in temperature in October and the onset of torrential rains in the region. There might even be a short phase between the end of cambial activity and the onset of bud formation without xylem formation, but with photosynthetic activity. If so, we assume that all assimilates are stored as non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in the parenchyma of the new ring. This potential gap opens new questions regarding the correlation between NSC storage capacity and the timing of remobilization for subsequent ring formation.

Preface

The ICDS conference intends to bring together junior and senior, international and national researchers, scientists and scholars interesting in the field of desertification combat and water harvesting in desert regions. We think the conference will offer an excellent opportunity for networking with other members and exchange knowledge and explore the most recent developments in the desertification combat such as Water Resources Management in Desert Regions, Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Desert, Geology and Remote Sensing for Combating Desertification, Recent Agricultural Techniques Serving in Desert Soil Management, and Desert Regions Exploitation for Agricultural Production Regards. ICDS-2021 is a prestigious event organized by the Center of Desert Studies in cooperation with the College of Agriculture, University of Anbar, with a motivation to provide an excellent international platform for academicians, researchers, engineers, industrial participants and budding students around the world to share their research results with the global experts. We cordially invited participants from all over the world who wish to share their best practices and research findings in ICDS-2021 and enlighten their new ideas to make this event growing from strength to strength. Participants will be offered the opportunity to contribute to the conference in various roles: they can discuss keynotes, produce a poster presentation and submit full research or review articles. Articles submitted to the conference should report original high-quality and previously unpublished results. Submission of a manuscript implies that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All submitted articles will be subjected to a double-blind peer-review process. Novelty, relevancy, language standards, references, and many other factors are considered for the evaluation process. The conference nominated Prof. Dr. Prof. Dr. Amir Ibrahim (College of Agriculture & Life Science Texas A&M University, U.S.), Prof. Dr. Medhat M. Elsahookie (College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad, Iraq), and Prof. Dr. Wadid Erian (Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt) as keynote speakers. ICDS-2021 will be held basically via physical attendance (In-person) for two days 17-18 November, 2021 in Ramadi, Anbar, Iraq. Each participant will be given approximately 10 minutes to view the most important findings of his/her research, and 5 minutes to discuss these results. Sincerely yours, Prof. Dr. Nihad Mohammed Aboud Director of the Center of Desert Studies/University of Anbar The Chairman of ICDS-2021 List of Committees (ICDS-2021) are available in this pdf.

Numerical simulation on the effects of Ambient velocity and Temperature on solar panel efficiency

In desert regions like Thar located in India, the efficiency and capacity of solar panels is affected by many natural factors like wind velocity, surrounding temperature, dust, humidity etc. The main aim of this research is to find the temperature rise observed in solar panels due to surrounding temperature and wind velocity in the Thar Desert. A solar panel model is constructed for this research. The panel is simulated under three different velocities, 2.23m/s, 6.17m/s and 10.10m/s that are prominently observed in different months of a year in the Thar Desert. The surrounding temperatures considered for the simulation are 22.22°C, 30°C and 45°C respectively. Analysis results are obtained using Ansys simulation software. Based on the result, the ambient temperature and wind velocity can be determined to obtain best efficiency of the solar panel constructed in the Thar Desert.

Jojoba - The Gold of Desert

Jojoba [Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider] is evergreen, perennial and drought resistant shrub belongs to the family of Simmondsiaceae. It is a multipurpose oil seed crop mainly grown in desert regions of world. This plant has unique oil among plant kingdom which is chemically a liquid-wax. The liquid-wax is made up of an ester of long chain fatty acids and alcohols. The liquid-wax is unique in nature because have no traces of glycerine and easily modified via hydrolysis, hydrogenation, halogenation, sulfurization, phosphosulfurization and ozonization techniques. The main uses of liquid-wax in various industries like cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and lubricants. It is a potential seed oil crop for desert region so it is well known as the gold of desert. The main purpose of this chapter is to review the complete information about this plant so that it can produce and utilized maximally. Moreover, the review focuses on biology, biogeography, physico-chemical properties of jojoba oil and propagation techniques of the plant of desert regions.