Walnut anthracnose is the most common disease in common walnut, Juglans regia L., in Iran, caused by Gnomonia leptostyla. In current research, efficiency of various culture media including BAB, OMA, MA, NA, PDA, CMA, WLEA and WLEOMA in growth and sporulation of the fungus were studied. Three contaminated leaf samples from Miyaneh (No1), Marand (DV) and Karaj (Md1) areas were selected and after fungus isolation, they were cultured on mentioned media with three replications. Cultures were incubated in 21°C, 50% RH and 12:12 (L:D) photoperiod and some traits such as maximal colony diameter, colony pattern, mycelium density, sexual and asexual reproduction were investigated after 2, 3, 6, 9, 14 and 21 days. For perithecia maturation, primordial perithecia consisted cultures were incubated in 4°C in darkness for 3 months. There was no significant difference between isolates in morphology, color and growth pattern, but in growth rates and sporulation. Md1 produced primordial perithecia on the culture without walnut leaf extract but the others were not able to do. No1 could not sporulate on PDA, WA, CMA and OMA media as much as other isolates. However all isolates could produce immature perithecia and acervuli on WLEA and WLEOMA. The weakest media was BAB and the most suitable media for fungus isolation was WA. Fungus growth rate was in maximum on OMA and the highest density of mycelium was obtained on PDA. Sexual and asexual reproduction has been occurred in best way on media with walnut leaf extract. However, any mature perithecia were not obtained in any culture after three month incubation.

Avian coccidiosis is the most important parasitic disease in poultry production, which inflicts numerous losses to the industry. The extensive use of anticoccidial drugs leads to parasite resistance and drug residue in poultry products. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of three famous essential oils (EOs) and their combination on inactivation of mixed oocysts of Eimeria adenoides, Eimeria dispersa, Eimeria meleagrimitis, and Eimeria meleagridis. The EOs of Thymus vulgaris, Artemisia sieberi, and Mentha pulegium were prepared. After inoculation of each turkey with 7×105 sporulated oocysts, fresh unsporulated oocysts were harvested from their feces. To evaluate the sporulation inhibition effect, 5×104 oocysts were used in each treatment. Each EO was used in increasing concentrations. Half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was determined for each EO and they were blended in pairs based on IC50 line. Our results showed that the IC50 values for mentha, artemisia, and thyme were 22. 92, 40. 5, and 53. 42 mg/ml, respectively. According to our results, artemisia and thyme combination has a synergistic effect, whereas the combination of a high concentration of mentha with a low concentration of thyme had an antagonistic effect. During this study, no interactions were observed between mentha and artemisia.

A comprehensive study is underway now to determine the predicting factors of rice blast and its loss assessment in Guilan province. In a preliminary study, the effect of climatic factors on spores population and forecasting the disease were considered. So, during cultivation season of 2006 and 2007, some fields were chosen five kilometers away from weather stations in three regions of Guilan, including, Rasht, Lahijan and Anzali, and the daily spore population was measured on slides. Climatic data including precipitation (mm), maximum and minimum daily temperature, maximum and minimum daily humidity and sunny hours were obtained from weather stations. Then the relation between spore population and weather data was analyzed, and the most important climatic factors affecting spore population and predicting of rice blast were determined. It was concluded that climatic factors such as precipitation (mm), maximum daily temperature, minimum daily humidity and sunny hours are the most important factors for predicting rice blast in Guilan province. Spore population was positively correlated with precipitation, increase of daily minimum humidity, decrease of daily maximum temperature and decrease of sunny hours. The blast disease occurred in the fields during next 7 to10 days.

For knowledge localization of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) production as biological pest control, optimization of culture medium is necessary. In this study, Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis– BN1 (Btt– BN1) was used as a biological pesticide to control elm leaf beetles. The aim of optimizing the desire culture medium is to increase the production efficiency of Bt biopesticide using agricultural and food wastes as cheap raw materials. To optimize the parameters of the culture medium, experimental design of response surface methodology (RSM) was applied with a central composite design (CCD) approach. The parameters including the amount of carbon (sugar cane molasses, oats and wheat bran sources) and the amount of nitrogen (corn syrup source) at three levels (0. 6 to 1 percent of sugar cane molasses, 0. 3 to 0. 9 percent of oat, 0. 3 to 0. 9 percent of wheat bran and 1 to 5 percent of corn syrup) were investigated with colony forming unit (CFU) response. The results obtained under operating conditions of pH = 7, temperature of 30oC after 72 hours. The results showed that the maximum CFU for the minimum concentration of oats (0. 3%), the minimum concentration of wheat bran (0. 3%), the maximum concentration of sugar cane molasses (1%) and the minimum concentration of corn syrup (1%) were equivalent to 8. 36 11 spores. ml– 1. In addition, the results of Btt– BN1 bioassay survey on elm leaf beetle showed that two concentrations of 0. 5 and 1. 0 percent cause 67. 7% and 80. 0% of mortality, respectively.

In this study the effects of natural grain-based media on the sporulation and germination of conidia and blastospores of Metarhizium anisopliae were investigated. Experiments were conducted with factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design with nine treatments and three replications. The obtained results showed that there was significant difference in the yield of conidia among different treatnents, two weeks after inoculation, (F= 4. 66, df= 7, 16, p<0. 01). Highest average yields were obtained as 3. 1×108 and 3×108 conidia/g in rice flour and Sabouraud’ s Dextrose Agar with 1% yeast extract, respectively. The lowest level of conidia yield was 4×106 conidia/g which obtained in the wheat bran medium. There was significant difference between blastospores yields four days after inoculation of the media, (F=2. 57, df= 8, 18, p<0. 05). The highest and lowest average yield of blastospores were 6. 1×108 and 4. 5×108 blastospores/ml and were obtained in the wheat bran+rice bran+yeast extract and rice bran+yeast extract media, respectively. Analysis of variance of nutritional and chemical amendments which were added to blastospores media showed significant differences in the yield among different treatments (F=5. 02, df=13, 29, p<0. 01). The highest average yield of blastospores were 6. 6×108, 6. 1×108 and 5. 7 ×108 blastospores/ml which were obtained in the rice bran+wheat bran+yeast extract+whey powder, rice bran+wheat bran+yeast extract, and wheat bran+rice bran+magnesium sulfate media, respectively. The lowest average yield of the blastospores was obtained in the media containing grape juice. Results also showed significant difference between the means of germination rate of conidia one, two and three month storage at 4 ° C and 25 ° C. The highest germination rate belonged to treatments stored in the refrigerator.

The effects of different sources of carbon, nitrogen and some of trace elements on cultivation of Bacillus thuringiensis H14 were studied. Glucose, glycerol, sodium acetate, (NH4)2 SO4, corn steep liquor, yeast extract, hydrolyzed casein, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Mn2+ were the main parameters evaluated by Plackett-Burman statistical method. All elements have insignificant effect on germination while spore production was mainly affected by corn steep liquor. Growth was affected by corn steep liquor, MnSO4 and sodium acetate. The following medium has been proposed based on the responses to growth and sporulation of B. thuringiensis H14: glucose, 5 g/L; glycerol, 1 g/L; sodium acetate, 0 g/L; (NH4)2 SO4, 1 g/L; corn steep liquor, 2 mL/L; yeast extract, 1 g/L; hydrolyzed casein, 1 g/L; CaCl2, 20 mg/L; MgSO4, 50 mg/L; MnSO4 100 mg/L; FeSO 4, 0 mg/L. This medium resulted in a maximum spore count.