Prof. Dr. Moustafa Moharam

Sorghum plants (Sorghum bicolor linn. Moench) is the important grains crop for human being and animals in Upper Egypt, grain sorghum are attacked by certain smut diseases causing considerable losses in the grain yield. Covered kernel smut (CKS) caused by Sporisorium sorghi and long smut (LS) caused by Sporisorium ehrenbergii are one of the most significant diseases in sorghum production especially where untreated seed is planted. Results of this study showed that the high rates of inoculum of S. sorghi and S. ehrenbergii teliospores playing a great factor to increasing the infection with CKS and LS diseases and yield losses, while they reduced the yield of grains. Sorghum cultivars Giza-15 and Dorado differed in their ability to infection with these two types of CKS and LS respectively. Results revealed that due to infection by CKS disease Giza-15 (highly susceptible) recorded the lowest yield and highest yield losses (2.30 kg and 51.78%, respectively) and (2.25 kg and 52.22%, respe...

Despite the economic importance of covered kernel smut of sorghum (Sporisorium sorghi) in many African states and other parts of the world, only limited information is available on laboratory cultivation methods for this fungus and techniques for its diagnosis in plant tissue. When in the present study spores of S. sorghi were kept as intact sori at 5 degrees C, 80% of the spores germinated even after 24 months of storage. Spore germination on agar medium and production of mycelial dry weight in still culture were highest between 20 and 35 degrees C, with a peak at 30 degrees C. Both showed a steady increase from pH 4.5 to pH 7.5, followed by a decline at pH 8.5 and 9.5. In shake culture in different broth media the addition of 0.3% peptone from soybean caused an increase in fungal growth compared to the media alone. Of the media tested, mycelial production was highest in malt dextrose broth supplemented with peptone. When cultivated on different agar media, the morphology of single spore isolates differed both among isolates and depending on the agar medium. In greenhouse experiments, five short heighted, early maturing sorghum breeding accessions proved to be partially or fully resistant to covered kernel smut. Among the plant material tested, cv. 'Dorado' appeared to be the one best suited for greenhouse experiments with covered kernel smut. By microscopy of hand-cut sections stained with trypan-blue, hyphae of S. sorghi were seen in apical buds and in nodes of young sorghum plants. Diagnostic PCR amplified a 903 bp element comprising the internal region of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) encoding gene and enabled the detection of S. sorghi in both nodes and apical buds of infected sorghum seedlings. Both techniques, i.e. microscopy and diagnostic PCR have the potential to be used in studies for the identification of effective sorghum seed treatments already at the seedling stage.

Diseases induced by Fusarium, like damping-off and wilt on cucumber, are serious problems around the world. Samples of cucumber seeds were collected from commercial markets in Egypt and tested for seed-borne fungi. In order to detect the maximum number of internal and external seed-borne fungi, agar plate examination of disinfected and non-disinfected seeds were used. Two species of Fusarium were the most frequent and predominant fungi. Facultative parasites of the genera Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, Helminthosporium and Penicillium were also found. A total 33 isolates of Fusarium spp. were obtained using Komada’s selective medium. Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani were highly frequent. Pathogenicity test indicated that, F. oxysporum isolate (Fem8) was the main causal organism of pre- and post-emergence damping off. Furthermore, it occurred in all seed parts tested. Some infected seeds germinate, but they were either rapidly overgrown by F. oxysporum or they developed into a diseased see...

Despite the economic importance of covered kernel smut of sorghum (Sporisorium sorghi) in many African states and other parts of the world, only limited information is available on laboratory cultivation methods for this fungus and techniques for its diagnosis in plant tissue. The current paper describes laboratory and greenhouse experiments performed with field material of S. sorghi. When intact sori were kept at 5°C, 80% of the spores germinated even after 24 months of storage. Spore germination on agar medium and production of mycelial dry weight in still culture were highest between 20° and 35°C, with a peak at 30°C. Both showed a steady increase from pH 4.5 to pH 7.5, followed by a decline at pH 8.5 and 9.5. In shake culture in different broth media the addition of 0.3% peptone from soybean caused an increase in fungal growth compared with the media alone. Of the media tested, mycelial production was highest in malt dextrose broth supplemented with peptone. When cultivated on d...

Invitation Dear Professors and Researchers I would like to start publishing a book titled The book project is new, innovative, and essential in the Plant-Microbe Interaction. It is a great book that can be up to or over 1,500 pages. Therefore, I ask for communicating with academic partners or researchers to participate in writing and finishing chapters during a specific period. I ask those who are willing and ready to participate in this great and hard work to communicate with me to form a team working. To my

This is to certify that Moustafa Moharam has successfully completed the EF SET Certificate and has earned the English level: 81/100 (C2 Proficient).
The achieved English level is 81/100 on the EF SET score scale and C2 Proficient according to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The EF SET score is calculated as an average of the reading and listening scores.

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The current study was conducted to assess the possibility of using two bio-agents (BAs), Trichoderma harzianum T39 (Trichodex) and Bacillus subtilis (MBI 600) tested at 1, 3 and 5% concentration to control damping-off disease and also their ability to promote yield of wheat lines under field conditions. Seed inoculation with two BAs protected wheat seedlings and highly promoted seed germination. Also, inoculation with BAs significantly affected number of spikes/plant, biological yield/plant and grain yield/plant and there were statistically significant differences between bread wheat lines under field conditions. Moreover, the treatments at 5% of T. harzianum and B. subtilis were the best treatments to increase grain yield. Four lines, L11, L12, L27 and L38 were found to be more responsive to BAs treatments under field conditions.

Sporisorium ehrenbergii Vánky is the causal agent of long smut (LS) on sorghum in several African and Asian countries. For effective breeding programs to evolve LS resistant varieties to control this important disease, information on the current status of physiological races of S. ehrenbergii is most essential. In this study, when teliospores of 22 collected isolates were cultured on PDA medium at 30°C for 15 days, three distinct and frequent morphological colonies were observed and they were designated as form No. 1, 2, and 3. Virulence of these isolates and their forms was tested on certain sorghum genotypes/varieties which could serve as a set of differentials for evaluating resistance to LS in field experiments to characterize the putative virulent races. All 7 isolates of the form No. 2 were highly virulent (HV) on all 13 tested sorghum genotypes/varieties, and they were designated race No. 2. In contrast, all 6 isolates of the form No. 1 were only HV on 3 tested sorghum genotypes/varieties (race No. 1) and all 9 isolates of the form No. 3 were HV on 9 tested sorghum genotypes/varieties (race No. 3). Following in vitro screening test, water extracts of rheum (Rheum rhabarbarum) and common walnut (Juglans regia) at 1% exhibited full inhibition of teliospore germination of S. ehrenbergii. Moreover, spraying inoculated sorghum plants with 1% rheum and common walnut extracts twice during panicle emergence significantly reduced the incidence of LS compared with untreated control plants.

Isolation trails from garlic seed cloves of certain cultivars commercially istributedand rotted cloves of stored Baladi cultivar during 2010 and 2011 in different regions of Sohag, Egypt resulted in detection of four fungal genera Aspergillus, Botrytis, Fusarium and Penicillium. Moreover, Fusarium spp. was the most dominant fungi. Koch’ postulates were performed on cloves, seedlings and potted garlic plants. Results showed that isolates of F. oxysporum, F.  proliferatum and F. solani were superior to other tested fungi and induced the highest cloves rot (CR). F. oxysporum highly reduced clove germination (CG), produced extensive seedlings damping-off and induced highly disease severity index of rotted roots/cloves followed by F. solani. Unexpectedly, it was found that F. proliferatum is contaminated and colonized seed cloves, extremely reduced CG and following harvesting caused the highest CR of stored bulbs. To our knowledge, this is first notice for occurrence of F. proliferatum causing CR of stored garlic bulbs in Egypt.

Certain plant-derived agents (PDA) which could induce resistance in okra leaves against powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum) and biochemical changes in treated leaves were investigated during 2011 and 2012 growing seasons. At the two-leaf old, four- and eight-week leaves of the greenhouse-grown okra plants were sprayed with either PDA two days before inoculation with conidia. Among all tested PDA, neem seed oil (NSO) caused the highest protection, followed by jojoba oil (JO) and extract of Reynoutria sachalinensis. Moreover, levels of total protein, activity of peroxidase, polyphenyloxidase and chitinase and total phenols content of treated two-leaf old highly increased after application of NSO and JO, but not by the pathogen (untreated control). Finally, based on conidia germination, lack of the fungitoxic effect of JO and RE and also the slight effect of NSO (9–13.75%) may demonstrate the main role of these agents for inducing resistance through the activation of biochemical defence in treated leaves.

Fusarium wilt disease in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is widespread, responsible for serious economic losses. Amongst totally 15 isolates of Fusarium spp., obtained from different localities of Sohag governorate, Egypt, only the identified isolates as F. oxysporum were pathogenic on cucumber Denmark Beta-Alpha cv. and caused wilt symptoms. Totally 22 isolates of Trichoderma spp., B. subtilis and Pseudomonas spp., were obtained from rhizosphere of cucumber and some available commercial formulations and then tested for antagonistic activity against F. oxysporum (FO5) in vitro. The highest inhibitory effect on growth of FO5 was observed by isolate Trichodex of T. harzianum (89.29%) followed by Th4 of T. harzianum, Serenade and MBI 600 of B. subtilis, PS3 of Pseudomonas spp., and Treico and Tv2 of T. viride. Pot experiments were performed to investigate the effects of formulated antagonists as seed treatment on Fusarium wilt incidence, growth and mineral uptake of cucumber. Results showed that all tested formulations significantly reduced percent of wilted plants and disease severity, and improved plant growth by increasing length of shoot and root, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root system, and number of leaves and flowers per plant compared with untreated control. They also significantly increased nutrient contents of plant shoot including N, P, K, Ca, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn. Magnesium content in shoot slightly not significantly increased. Formulation of Trichodex was the most effective ones followed by Serenade, Th4 and PS3."

Diseases induced by Fusarium, like damping-off and wilt on cucumber, are serious problems around the world. Samples of cucumber seeds were collected from commercial markets in Egypt and tested for seed-borne fungi. In order to detect the maximum number of internal and external seed-borne fungi, agar plate examination of disinfected and non-disinfected seeds were used. Two species of Fusarium were the most frequent and predominant fungi. Facultative parasites of the genera Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, Helminthosporium and Penicillium were also found. A total 33 isolates of Fusarium spp. were obtained using Komada’s selective medium. Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani were highly frequent. Pathogenicity test indicated that, F. oxysporum isolate (Fem8) was the main causal organism of pre- and post-emergence damping off. Furthermore, it occurred in all seed parts tested. Some infected seeds germinate, but they were either rapidly overgrown by F. oxysporum or they developed into a diseased seedling. The water extract of garlic, peppermint and rheum completely inhibited the conidiospore germination and mycelial growth of F. oxysporum at tested conc. 3, 2 and 3%, respectively. Soaked seeds in 2% peppermint extract and evaporated seeds by vapor of peppermint oil caused a highly reduction in the infection and reduced transmission of the referred fungi from seeds to the growing seedlings. The vigor of cucumber seedlings raised from the treated seeds was better than that developed from untreated ones.

The preventative and curative effects of some plant derived agents based on plant extracts or essential oils were studied at different concentrations against Erysiphe cichoracearum DC. ex Merat, the causal pathogen of okra powdery mildew by the detached leaf-disk and potted plants bioassays. Through detached leaf-disk assay, the highest mean preventative effect (97.74%) was recorded by neem seed oil followed by jojoba oil (89.82%) and extract of Rynoutria sachalinensis (82.77%). Neem seed oil at 1% was the most effective agent followed by jojoba oil and extract of R. sachalinensis at 1.5% and 2%, respectively, where they suppressed E. cichoracearum completely. Potted plants assay revealed that neem seed oil, jojoba oil and extract of R. sachalinensis as well as the fungicide (active ingredient dinocap) showed higher preventative efficacy at all leaf olds treated after 7 and 14 days of inoculation as compared with extracts of henna and garlic. Moreover, the preventative efficacy partly remained apparent after 14 days of inoculation at all leaf olds tested. In field trials through 2010 and 2011 growing seasons, when the first symptoms of powdery mildew appeared naturally, 1.5% jojoba oil, 2% extract of R. sachalinensis and 1% neem seed oil were sprayed individually twice on grown plants to evaluate their efficacy on controlling powdery mildew, growth and yield of okra. Resulted showed that neem seed oil was the most effective agent and highly decreased the disease severity to 29.92%, recorded the highly curative effect (68.15%) and also improved plant growth and pods yield.

Sporisorium ehrenbergii Vánky is the causal agent of long smut (LS) on sorghum in several African and Asian countries. For effective breeding programme to evolve LS resistant varieties to control  this important disease, information on the current status of physiological races of S. ehrenbergii is most essential. In this study, when teliospores of collected 22 isolates were cultured on PDA medium at 30° C for 15 days, three distinct and frequent morphological colonies were observed and they were designated to form No. 1, 2, and 3. Virulence of these isolates and their forms was tested on certain sorghum genotypes/varieties in field experiments and the tests were undertaken to characterize the putative virulent races. Results indicate that 7 isolates of the form No. 2 were highly virulent (HV) on all tested varieties/genotypes and they were  characterized as race No. 2. Whereas, 6 isolates of the form No. 1 were only HV on the Egyptian varieties Giza 3 and Giza 14 and
they were characterized as race No. 1. Moreover, 9 isolates of the form No. 3 also were HV on Giza 15, Dorado, Shandawel 2, some American accessions and they were characterized as race No. 3. Following in vitro screening test, water extracts of rheum (Rheum rhabarbarum) and common walnut (Juglans regia) at 1% exhibited full inhibition of teliospores germination of S. ehrenbergii. Moreover, spray of 1% rheum and common walnut extracts on inoculated sorghum plants twice starting from panicles emergence significantly reduced the incidence of LS compared with untreated control.

Covered kernel smut disease of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (Linn.) Moench) caused by Sporisorium sorghi (Link) Clinton occurs in all countries where sorghum is grown. In Egypt it is regularly causing heavy losses of grain yield. The teliospores of S. sorghi adhere to the seed surface. The optimum temperature for spore germination and infection of the plant is 30 °C. Infection takes place only in the time period between grain germination and seedling emergence.The present work was started to identify non-chemical seed treatments that are effective against the disease. The treatments tested included experimental microorganisms, plant strengtheningagents and other agents of natural origin. Because the symptoms of kernel smut become visible only after development of the panicle, methods for early detection of the pathogen in the plant tissue were  developed. The fungus could be detected microscopically after staining of hand sections with trypan blue. Using this
method, mycelium was found in the apical buds and in the nodes. In the same tissues the presence of the fungus
was diagnosed by PCR. DNA was extracted from mycelium grown in vitro or from plant material using the DNeasy® Plant mini Kit. Amplification of a sequence within the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) gene with the primer pair G3PD-1096F + G3PD-2020R yielded a band of 930 base pairs inlength that was also present when infected plant tissue was assayed. Prior to testing in the greenhouse a screening was performed in vitro. A total of 270 microorganism was included.The microorganisms were inoculated on agar media as spots and cultured for approx. 48 h. The colonieswere then killed with chloroform vapours. Afterwards, the plates were spray-inoculated with a suspension of teliospores of S. sorghi. After 18 h of cultivation at 28 °C the plates were inspected under the microscope, and 48 h after inoculation inhibition zones were measured. As a second screening step, the microorganisms
were cultured in liquid media, and the culture filtrates were added at different concentrations to potato dextrose
agar. Likewise, water extracts prepared from dried plant material were added to PDA in Petri plates. Teliospores of S. sorghi were plated on the agar surface, and after incubation at 28 °C for 18 h spore germination was evaluated microscopically. Based on the results of the pre-screening, 12 treatments were selected forefficacy testing in the greenhouse. For the greenhouse tests sorghum seeds (cv. Dorado) were pre-germinated for 6 h on moist filter paper, dried, dusted with teliospores of S. sorghi (5 g / kg) and then treated with the agents to be tested (suspensions of
microorganisms, plant extracts, Tillecur suspended in a small amount of water). Per 5 g of seed, 100μl were
applied by vigorously shaking in a flask. Seeds treated with water served as controls. After treatment the seeds were sown in plastic pots (18 x 18 cm) at 3 seeds per pot and 18 pots per treatment. The pots were placed in a greenhouse at 25 - 30 °C with supplementary light from sodium high pressure lamps. About 3 weeks after sowing two plants per pot were harvested and used for detection of the fungus by microscopy and PCR. Examinationof the panicles of plants grown from the water-treated control seeds revealed an infection rate of 94 %. Seed treatment with Tillecur (Schaette, Bad Waldsee), Quillaja (NorNatur, Hvidovre, Danmark) andTrichoderma harzianum T39 isolated from Trichodex (Makhteshim-Agan, Israel) controlled the disease completely.A good efficacy (78 %) was recorded for garlic extract. The results of the greenhouse experiment were in good agreement with the microscopical evaluation and the PCR analysis performed with the apical buds of the plants harvested 3 weeks after sowing. A second greenhouse experiment with the same treatments has been started. The results of the microscopical analysis of the apical buds in this second experiment correspondwell with the results of the first experiment. This indicates that infections of sorghum by S. sorghi can be reliably detected at an early stage of plant development. In this way, the time period needed to evaluate seed treatments for control of S. sorghi.

The  Conf.  "56.  Deutschen  Pflanzenschutztagung",  Kiel, Germany, Sept 22‐25, 2008.

I studied the fungal plant pathogen Sporisorium sorghi, the causal agent of covered kernel smut disease in Sorghum. I performed detailed studies of environmental factors affecting teliospore germination and mcyelial dry weight, and determined the longevity for teliospore in vitro and in the field, screened of available sorghum cultivars for resistance and detect of the causal organism in plant by light microscopy, ELISA and PCR. The phylogenetic analysis of GAPDH gene of S. sorghi and others published related fungal genera and species was studied. I studied the biological control of smut by isolated microorganisms and commercial products of plant extracts and strengthening were also evaluated.

I am Assistant professor and lecture in the field of Plant Pathology,  that is, the study of plant disease processes, the organisms that cause them and the development of strategies for their management and that is the integration of a range of control measures (cultural, physical, biological, chemical. My research is specifically in the field of Plant Pathology. Currently I am going and developing in a project utilizing molecular techniques to improve the understanding of plant and pathogenic fungi processes.

I am assistant professor and lecture in the  field of Plant Pathology,  that  is,  the  study  of  plant  disease  processes,  the organisms  that  cause them  and  the  development  of  strategies  for  their  management, that  is  the integration of a range of control measures (cultural, physical, biological, chemical) for the management of pathogens in cropping and conservation areas. My research is specifically in the field of Plant Pathology, Currently, I am going and developing in a project utilizing molecular techniques to improve the understanding of plant pathogenic processes.

Almost exactly 200 years ago, Trichoderma was introduced as a taxon to accommodate four fungal species, one of which actually was Trichoderma viride, while the others are now considered to be completely unrelated to this fungal genus. Over the next 150 years, Trichoderma was occasionally a subject of mycotaxonomists and a few others but did not attract the interest of other scientific disciplines. This situation changed dramatically during World War II when the US army was alarmed at the rate at which materials were rotting in tropical regions, particularly in the South Pacific. As a result, the army’s Quartermaster Corps set up a long-range basic program to investigate the nature of rotting and thereby identified Trichoderma “viride” QM 6a as one of the most cellulolytic fungi from this region. It should be noted that, at this time, all Trichoderma strains were identified as “T. viride”
and it took 20 more years before the unique biological nature of isolate QM 6a was recognized and named “T. reesei” in honour of its major investigator, Elwyn T.Reese. His pioneering work at the Natick Institute, in collaboration with Mary Mandels, made this fungus and several of its mutants a major subject of research on the biosynthesis, structure and mechanism of degradation of cellulose and other polysaccharides. It is due to their work that several other laboratories in the USA, Europe and Asia continued the exploitation of Trichoderma’s cellulolytic system in the late 1960s, during the time of the first “oil shock”. At the same time, Rifai and Webster in Exeter (UK) attempted for the first
time a taxonomic approach to Trichoderma and succeeded in defining nine species aggregates. The easy and inexpensive cultivation of most of these “species” has since attracted numerous other researchers interested in basic biological phenomena rather than cellulose degradation. One observation of major importance was the detection of the ability of selected species, most frequently published as “T.
harzianum” or “T. viride”, to antagonize the growth of plant pathogenic fungi and thus to act as biocontrol agents. Today this field has become the second basis on which most research on Trichoderma is built and has attracted numerous researchers worldwide. When summarizing the last 20 years of fungal research, Trichoderma is probably one of the most successful newcomers; for example, in the area of enzyme production this fungus is second only to Aspergillus. At the time this book goes to press, there are more than 150 entries for Trichoderma in the gene data bank, and weekly records in the biological or agricultural section of Current Contents exceed those obtained for other well-known and intensively studied fungal genera such as Penicillium or Neurospora. Surprisingly, this strong interest in Trichoderma has to date not
been reflected by the attempt to combine all the knowledge on Trichoderma in a monograph, whereas good monographs now exist for Aspergillus, Penicillium and several other plant pathogenic fungi. This lack of information is also reflected in
the current existence of two separate and regularly held conferences, i.e., the TRICEL Conference (focusing on all aspects of Trichoderma cellulases and other hydrolytic enzymes) and the Trichoderma and Gliocladium workshops (focusing mainly on taxonomy and various aspects of biological control). The idea of the present monograph therefore was to present a comprehensive treatise of Trichoderma that covered all of the different aspects and can thus serve as a standard source to all working with any of these species. We have also chosen to include Gliocladium in the title and scope of the book since one of the key species— Gliocladium virens—is now considered to actually be Trichoderma (T. virens) and substantial information from biocontrol research has been obtained with this species. However, research in other areas with Gliocladium hardly exists
and consequently most chapters of this book will deal with Trichoderma exclusively. We are grateful that Taylor & Francis have enthusiastically agreed to publish this work and we appreciate their help and collaboration on this project.
Lastly we would also like to thank all of our authors, who have been very cooperative in collaborating with us to produce this monograph.

The Editors

CHRISTIAN P.KUBICEK
University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
GARY E.HARMAN
Cornell University, Geneva, NY, USA with the capable editorial assistance of Kristen L.Ondik

Mailing me at Plant Pathology Depart, Faculty of Agriculture, Sohag University,  El-Kawamel, Sohag, P.O 82786  Egypt.

Work phone : 093/ 2287558

Mobil: 01060608344

Fax : 093/ 2287558

Or send and contact me at  E-Mail: moustafa.moharam@agr.sohag.edu.eg                moharam@hotmail.com