Molecular characterization of CMS is an environmentally-independent tool and represents an alternative way to consider genetic variation within and between the different maize populations. The current study which consisted of six cms lines of maize in the 8th generation (S8) revealed that all of these lines were C-type. The adopted six specific markers (forward and reverse) in detecting the three cms types produced a fragment with a molecular size of ∼350 bp. The used RAMs markers (UBC-810, UBC-812, UBC-821, UBC-848, UBC-854 and UBC-855) produced a total of 36 fragments across the lines genomes, 25 out of them were polymorphic scoring a polymorphism percentage of 69.4%. The PIC values indicated that UBC-821 was the most discriminative primer with a PIC value of 0.40 compared to UBC-854, and UBC-855 primers which had the humble capability to distinguish between the studied inbreds with a PIC value of 0.33. The results of cluster analysis based on the molecular discrimination confirmed that A1 has the lowest values of genetic similarity, hence it was the most genetically divergent against the other cms inbred lines, especially A6 (0.42). On the other hand, A2 and A3 lines found to be genetically related by scoring the maximum genetic similarity (0.92). Molecular investigations have several advantages over the traditional methods and will be helpful in the real evaluation of any genotype.

Desert truffles are edible fungi formed beneath the soil surface. They are ecologically native to the ecosystem of the Mediterranean, Eastern and Arab Gulf countries of the arid and semi-arid areas. The western Iraqi desert in Al-Anbar Governorate is an important region for truffle production in Iraq. Contrary to the previous seasons, the 2018-2019 in Iraq was an unprecedented in the abundance of truffles and rain averages, their frequencies. The rains spanned from October of 2018 to the end of May 2019. The sample of truffles in this study were collected from the desert and the markets easily recognized into two forms according to their traditional name, appearance, forming nature, delicacy, color, shape, inner tissue color, texture, smell, and sell price. These types were identified as Tirmania spp. and Terfezia spp. as macro and microscopically examination. Histological inspection of a wild Helianthemum spp. (Rugrug plants) roots showed the association of a mycorrhizal fungus. The BLASTn results for the sequence analyses revealed that the truffles that was morphologically identified as Tarminia spp. showed significant alignment with 1066/1066 (99.32%) identity for Tarminia pinoyi. On the other hand, soil sample obtained from around a truffle was of positive DNA extraction also showed significant alignment with 1038/1038 (99.30 %) identity for Tarminia pinoyi ( MK 478864.1). This finding, reported for the first time detection of the fungal truffles in the desert soil from the outside the ascocarps. In addition the association of mycorrhizal fungi with the wild plants Helianthemum roots that collected directly from the desert was confirmed.

The mycoherbicides have been recognized as an effective approach for weed control as being eco-friendly, low cost, and of long-lasting. This research was carried out to evaluate the herbicidal effect of Macrophomina phaseolina, the causal of sesame charcoal rot. The fungal culture was extracted with water and the extract toxicity was evaluated by seed germination, detached leaf, and whole plant bioassays on several weed species of Iraq (Cynanchum actum, Malva parviflora, Sorghum halepense, Lolium rgidum, and Silybum marianum). The results revealed that the extract of the fungal culture was significantly inhibited the germination of the examined weeds seeds by more than 86.7 %. The detached leaf bioassay also indicated that the culture extract was of potent toxic effect to all examined weed species, regardless their types (broad or narrow and mono or dicotyledonous). The phytotoxicity symptoms appeared on the detached leaves were as tissue and chlorophyll disintegration, yellowing, necrosis, and death. The same toxic symptoms were also recorded on the whole plant bioassay in vivo but the weed species of the narrow leaves however, showed significantly much less effect. The phytotoxicity on the examined weed species ranged from 66 to 83%. Moreover, the fungal culture extract was also found to be of potent toxic effect to milk thistle (Silybum marianum) despite the application method as foliar spraying or root immersing with 100% and 20% of the extract respectively. The results of this research showed for the first time the effect of M. phaseolina culture filtrates as a potent herbicide potential on different weed species.

In this research, reliability for disease severity assessment was compared for two different digital imaging quantifying techniques (ImageJ and Leaf Doctor applications) and visual assessments included ImageJ (IJ), Leaf Doctor (LD) applications, and visual assessments (VA) for the downy mildew of lettuce and Cercospora leaf spot of chard. Samples of infected chard leaves with symptoms of Cercospora leaf spot disease and lettuce leaves with symptoms of downy mildew were randomly collected from a field and a grocery in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. Each leaf was shot with iPhone 8 plus, provided with Dual 12 MP Camera, f1. 8, 28mm (wide), and f 2.8 (telephoto). The percentage of the diseased tissue of each shot was subjected to visual analysis and the ImageJ (IJ), Leaf Doctor (LD) applications. The measurements for them were subject to statistical analyses. Generally the results revealed a compatibility in the performance of the evaluated methods for the both diseases. There was positive and significant correlation coefficients between the measurement results of the VA and the LD for the downy mildew of lettuce (r= 0.664 ) and the Cercospora leaf spot of chard (r = 0.8990 ). Regarding the correlation between the IJ measurements and that of either VA or the LD revealed to be weak for both diseases. There were also linear regressions obtained only between the VA and the LD measurements (R2 = 0.441 for downy mildew and R2 = 0. 809 for Cercospora leaf spot). The results of other experiment indicated positive correlation coefficients between the upper and lower disease severity measurements regardless the assessments methods for both diseases. The highest correlation coefficients and linear regression were found for the AV measurements (r =0. 936, R2 = 0.876 and r = 0.996, R2 = 0. 992 for lettuce and chard respectively) followed by that of the LD (r = 0.908, R2 = 0.824 and r = 0.835, R2 = 0.697 for lettuce and chard respectively). This research indicates that the LD application is easier, faster and more reliable and accurate for disease severity measurements regardless the disease and its severity.

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