The major agro-industrial effluents of sugarcane and starch industries pose a serious threat to surface waters. Their disposal in the River Nile around Cairo city transitionally affected the microbial load. In situ bacterial enrichment (50-180%) was reported and gradually diminished downstream; the lateral not vertical effect of the effluent disposal was evident. Disposed effluents increased BOD and COD, and then progressively decreased downstream. Ammoniacal N was elevated, indicating active biological ammonification and in situ biodegradability of the effluents. In vitro, the nitrogen-fixing rhizobacteria Crysomonas luteola, Azospirillum spp., Azomonas spp. and K. pneumoniae successfully grew in batch cultures prepared from the crude effluents. This was supported by adequate growth parameters and organic matter decomposition. Therefore, such biodegradability of the tested agro-industrial effluents strongly recommends their use for microbial biomass necessary for the production of bio-preparates.

Aquatic organisms are a rich source of novel and bioactive compounds. Cyanobacteria and microalgae being a rich source of bioactive compounds have recently found immense application in human and animal medicine. The present study was attempted to find out the effect of the various extracts of Spirulina platensis, Chlorella vulgaris, Saragassum wightii and Saragassum latifolium using different solvents (methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate and chloroform) as antimicrobial agents against five bacterial pathogens; S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, Salmonella sp, Shigella sp. Results indicate that among the various extracts used, methanol extracts of tested cyanobacterial and algal species appeared to be the most effective ones showing maximum antibacterial activity against the selected bacterial pathogens. Spirulina platensis appeared to be the most effective against all the pathogens studied. The antibacterial substance was purified using column chromatography. The nature of the purified active fractions was detected using different chemical analyses (UV, FT-IR, 1H NMR and GC-MS) which indicated that it is an aliphatic compound and has different active groups (-OH,-C=O,-CH2 and –CH3). The results of this investigation proved that the tested cyanobacterium could be a good source for the production of promising antimicrobial agents.

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Nanotechnology finds its application in various areas of medication, starting from diagnosis, therapeutic drug delivery to the treatment of many diseases. Silver nanoparticles are one of the promising products within the field of nanotechnology because of their wide selection of applications as an antibacterial agent in disinfecting devices, cosmetics, home appliances, and water treatment plants (

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