The population dynamics of the green shield scale, Pulvinaria psidii (Mask.) (Hemiptera -Coccidae) was studied for two successive years (2008)(2009) on guava trees at Shibin El-Qanater district, Qalubiya Governorate. The obtained results revealed that, P. psidii occurred on guava trees all the year round and has two overlapping generations a year. The 1 st generation started from early March to early August/mid-August, peaked in mid-May (early summer) with duration of 5.0 -5.5 months at field conditions of 20.7 -21.3°C and 70.7 -71.9%R.H. The 2 nd generation occurred from early May to mid-November, peaked in mid-August (late summer) with duration of 6.0 -6.5 months at 24.2 -25.0°C and 69.4 -70.4%R.H., respectively. The favorable time for abundance of P. psidii occurred in early and late summer during both high temperature and relative humidity. The adult population was relatively higher than nymphal population one in winter months and this may be due to the cold weather and most of the nymphs attained to the adult stage which sheltered on stems bark or in the stem cracks.Daily mean temperature and %R.H. were effective on both nymph and adult populations in 1 st and 2 nd generations in the two studied years, the population was correlated with the increase of temperature. The combined effect of the daily mean temperature and %R.H. on both nymph and adult populations was high on the both generations. The changes in the half monthly counts of nymph and adult populations referred to the effect of the tested weather factors on the 1 st generation ranged 83.8 -87. 3% & 55.8 -75.9% and 55.7 -69.1% & 51.4 -56.6% for the 2 nd generation in the two studied years, respectively.Pulvinaria psidii (Mask.

The seasonal activity of fiorinia date scale, Fiorinia phoenicis Balachowsky, 1967 (Hemiptera -Diaspididae) was studied for two years (March, 2008 until mid-February, 2010 on date palm at Giza governorate. The obtained results revealed that F. phoenicis has three overlapping generations under field conditions. The 1 st generation (early summer generation) peaked in early June and the 2 nd generation (late summer generation) peaked around August/September whereas the 3 rd generation (autumn generation) peaked in October/November. The shortest generation was the late summer generation (2.5 -3.0 months) at 27.9 -28.6ºC and 63.5 -64.8%R.H.whereas the longest one was autumn generation (4.5 months) at 21.6 -22.0ºC and 65.9 -66.3 %R.H. The early summer generation had intermediate duration (4.0 -4.5 months) at 20.9 -21.2ºC and 62.5 -63.0%R.H in the two years, respectively. The population density was varied in the three generations, the autumn generation was the largest one with total population ranged 944.7 -1016.0 insects/leaflet with mean of 980.4 insects/leaflet followed by late summer generation 829.0 -1025.7 insects/leaflet with mean of 927.4 insects/leaflet whereas the smallest one was the early summer generation (422.4 -575.7 insects/leaflet with mean of 499.1 insects/leaflet). The insect population occurred on date palm fronds all the year round and decreased to lower numbers during winter season and this referred to the cold weather. The basal stratum of date palm leaflets received the highest infestation (37.4 -38.3%) than middle (34.4 -35.3%) and apical ones (26.4 -28.2%).On the other hand, the insect activity affected significantly with daily mean temperature and %R.H. in the both years. The combined effect of daily mean temperature and %R.H on nymph and adult populations showed 66.1 -69% & 48.1 -49.2% in the 1 st generation, 65.4 -74.0% & 63.8 -78.4% in the 2 nd generation and 60.9 -77.4% & 48.6 -63.5% in the 3 rd generation in the both years, respectively.

The aim of this study was to compare the genetic variation in two local chicken breeds, Fayumi and Dandarawi. Two hundred individuals (100, Fayumi and 100, Dandarawi) were tested. Live body weights were collected and recorded for each bird separately within genotype from zero to 16 weeks of age. Two genes for the Growth Hormone GH and the Growth Hormone Receptor GHR were used in 12 birds at random for each of the two chicken breeds. After MspI and HindIII digestion, four allele's privet patterns were found for the GH and GHR genes, allele C, T and allele A, B, respectively. For GH, there were 17 and 7 for the Fayoumi and Dandarawi breeds, respectively. While in GHR resulted were 25 and 15 bands with the Fayoumi and Dandarawi breeds, respectively. The frequency of TT (GH) and AA (GHR) in Fayumi chicken was 0.28 and 0.55, respectively. Also, in Dandarawi chicken, the frequency of these alleles was 0.21 and 0.56, respectively. There was no homozygous genotype CT for GH detected in both studied breeds. The Polymorphic Information Content PIC values of 0.49, 0.65, and 0.49, 0.57 for Fayumi and Dandarawi chicken breeds, respectively, for two genes GH and GHR. Some possible genes for improving body weight in various indigenous chicken breeds had already been identified and exploited for selection and breeding reasons.