Pr. Abdelhay ARAKRAK obtained his PhD thesis in 1989 at National Polytechnic Institute, Nancy, France, in Agronomic Science. He worked at Ibn Zohr University (Agadir, Morocco) as assistant professor in 1990. Currently, he is full professor at Faculty of Sciences and Technology of Tangier
Objective: This study aims to assess the prevalence of clinical isolates of carbapenemase-produci... more Objective: This study aims to assess the prevalence of clinical isolates of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), and to characterize the types of carbapenemases produced among the strains isolated from different samples in patients hospitalized at the regional hospital in Tangier in the North of Morocco over 12 month period (January to December 2015). Methods: A total of 367 isolates of Enterobacteriaceae were collected from inpatients, antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was determined, and Enterobacteriaceae isolates with reduced susceptibility to carbapenems were investigated by phenotypic study using a range of techniques including antibiotic susceptibility testing, modified Hodge test and the double-disk synergy method. Expression of the genes encoding carbapenemases measured using PCR. Results: Twenty-two strains of Enterobacteriaceae were isolated which were expressing the phenotypic production of carbapenemases so 5.99% of Enterobacteriaceae are CPE. Ac...
Sulla flexuosa is a protein-rich Mediterranean pastoral and forage legume that is widely used for... more Sulla flexuosa is a protein-rich Mediterranean pastoral and forage legume that is widely used for animal feed. In this work, we analyzed the diversity of the plant as well as the phylogenetic affiliations of its microsymbiotes. To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of Sulla natural ecotypes in Morocco. We found that the plant populations constitute two distinct ecotypes, related to their geographical origin in Northern Morocco. The phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences of two representative strains, KS6 and BG1, isolated from the root nodules of each Sulla flexuosa L. ecotype, showed that they were closely related to Rhizobium sullae IS 123T with a similarity of 99.78%. This result was confirmed by MLSA using atpD, recA and glnII housekeeping gene sequences. Indeed, the phylogenetic analysis of the tree genes concatenated sequences sowed that the strains have 98.60 to 98.67% of similarity with R. sullae IS 123T. Furthermore, the phylogenic analysis of the nod...
Journal of microbiology, biotechnology and food sciences
Goat milk, a highly nutritious product is widely used in cheese making. In order to properly sele... more Goat milk, a highly nutritious product is widely used in cheese making. In order to properly select suitable milk samples for production, fifty-five samples of raw goat’s milk were collected from eight farms in the North-West of Morocco to analyze their counts of various mesophilic bacteria and determining the physicochemical characteristics during different seasons of the year. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated, identified, and screened for several technological properties. Overall mean values for mesophilic aerobic flora were above 7.10 log cfu/mL in spring and 5.80 log cfu/mL during winter with a statistically significant difference found between all the microorganisms except for coagulase-positive staphylococci. The physical and chemical composition tests showed higher values for fat (4.9±1.01%), dry matter (13.98±0.95%), ash (1.3±0.12%), lactose (3.1±0.65 g/L), and protein (4.6±1.03 g/L) during the winter season which could be of great interest for cheese production. fat...
European Journal of Biotechnology and Bioscience7, 2017
With the aim to select beneficial bacteria exhibiting several plant growth promoting (PGP) traits... more With the aim to select beneficial bacteria exhibiting several plant growth promoting (PGP) traits and develop biofertilizers, the present study was conducted to characterize the native phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) present in wheat rhizosphere in the Northwestern Morocco. A total of 122 rhizobacteria were isolated from the rhizosphere of two wheat varieties (Salama and Rajae) of which 34% was able to solubilizing tri-calcium phosphate (TCP) on Pikovskaya's agar. On the basis of solubilization index (SI≥ 1.44), 10 rhizobacteria were selected and tested for hydrogen cyanide (HCN) production, quantitative assay of indole acetic acid (IAA) and siderophores production. Three isolates (Rs15, Rs19 and Rr1) were HCN producers. IAA production reached 31.08 mg/l by the isolate Rs19, whereas siderophores production was shown in Rs20, Rr1 and Rr3 isolates. Amount of solubilized phosphate ranged from 35.13 to 217.59 mg P L-1. Also, the effect of three isolates, Rs15, Rs19 and Rr1 on ...
American Journal of Microbiological Research, 2015
The present study aims to assess the effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) in interacti... more The present study aims to assess the effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) in interaction with native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobia on peanut growth cultivated in the Northwest of Morocco. To perform this aim, seeds were inoculated with 5 PSB strains: PP22, GP70, GR1, PR29, and GR70, and then grown in unsterilized soil collected from peanut fields. Plant harvesting was made after 8 weeks of growth under chamber conditions. The results demonstrated that PSB treatments showed positive effect on mycorrhizal colonization, nodulation and plant growth parameters. The best results were found with Pseudomonas strains, GP70, PP22 and GR1. This study indicates the great potential of some PSB to improve yield and nutrient uptake of peanut plants in the presence of native rhizobia and AMF. They could serve as biofertilizers, minimizing chemical fertilization that is currently used to obtain high yields for peanut agriculture.
The present work aims to study the symbiotic association of a wild steppic plant (Hedysarum palli... more The present work aims to study the symbiotic association of a wild steppic plant (Hedysarum pallidum Desf.) in the abandoned mining area of Touissit (east of Morocco). A detailed description of the mycorrhizal associations in this specie soil and roots is reported for the first time in this study. Soils and roots samples were extracted from the rhizosphere of H. pallidum. The frequency and intensity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inside the roots were measured and the spores were counted and characterized. Microscopic examination of the roots revealed the presence of typical endomycorrhizal structures. The mycorrhizal frequency was greater than 98%, the mycorrhizal intensity was high (50.9%) and arbuscular intensity reached 34.76%. The spore abundance of AMF isolated from the soil was 1200 spores/100g of soil. These spores presented 3 AMF genera: Glomus, Scutellospora and Septoglomus. The diversity of AMF present in the rhizosphere can be selected and used in improving the pr...
This study aims to describe the endomycorrhizal status of Hedysarum pallidum Desf. in the northea... more This study aims to describe the endomycorrhizal status of Hedysarum pallidum Desf. in the northeast of Morocco. A detailed description of the mycorrhizal associations in this species soil and roots is reported for the first time in this study. To achieve this goal, some tests were run on soil and root sample collected from the rhizosphere of Hedysarum pallidum Desf. The microscopic examination of the roots revealed the presence of typical endomycorrhizal structures. The mycorrhizal frequency was greater than 98%, the mycorrhizal intensity was high (50.9%), and the arbuscular intensity reached 34.76%. The spore number of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) isolated from the soil was 1200 spores/100 g of soil. These spores presented three AMF genera: Glomus, Scutellospora, and Septoglomus. The diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi present in the rhizosphere can be selected and used in improving the production of vigorous plants.
Objective: This study aims to assess the prevalence of clinical isolates of carbapenemase-produci... more Objective: This study aims to assess the prevalence of clinical isolates of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), and to characterize the types of carbapenemases produced among the strains isolated from different samples in patients hospitalized at the regional hospital in Tangier in the North of Morocco over 12 month period (January to December 2015). Methods: A total of 367 isolates of Enterobacteriaceae were collected from inpatients, antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was determined, and Enterobacteriaceae isolates with reduced susceptibility to carbapenems were investigated by phenotypic study using a range of techniques including antibiotic susceptibility testing, modified Hodge test and the double-disk synergy method. Expression of the genes encoding carbapenemases measured using PCR. Results: Twenty-two strains of Enterobacteriaceae were isolated which were expressing the phenotypic production of carbapenemases so 5.99% of Enterobacteriaceae are CPE. Ac...
Sulla flexuosa is a protein-rich Mediterranean pastoral and forage legume that is widely used for... more Sulla flexuosa is a protein-rich Mediterranean pastoral and forage legume that is widely used for animal feed. In this work, we analyzed the diversity of the plant as well as the phylogenetic affiliations of its microsymbiotes. To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of Sulla natural ecotypes in Morocco. We found that the plant populations constitute two distinct ecotypes, related to their geographical origin in Northern Morocco. The phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences of two representative strains, KS6 and BG1, isolated from the root nodules of each Sulla flexuosa L. ecotype, showed that they were closely related to Rhizobium sullae IS 123T with a similarity of 99.78%. This result was confirmed by MLSA using atpD, recA and glnII housekeeping gene sequences. Indeed, the phylogenetic analysis of the tree genes concatenated sequences sowed that the strains have 98.60 to 98.67% of similarity with R. sullae IS 123T. Furthermore, the phylogenic analysis of the nod...
Journal of microbiology, biotechnology and food sciences
Goat milk, a highly nutritious product is widely used in cheese making. In order to properly sele... more Goat milk, a highly nutritious product is widely used in cheese making. In order to properly select suitable milk samples for production, fifty-five samples of raw goat’s milk were collected from eight farms in the North-West of Morocco to analyze their counts of various mesophilic bacteria and determining the physicochemical characteristics during different seasons of the year. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated, identified, and screened for several technological properties. Overall mean values for mesophilic aerobic flora were above 7.10 log cfu/mL in spring and 5.80 log cfu/mL during winter with a statistically significant difference found between all the microorganisms except for coagulase-positive staphylococci. The physical and chemical composition tests showed higher values for fat (4.9±1.01%), dry matter (13.98±0.95%), ash (1.3±0.12%), lactose (3.1±0.65 g/L), and protein (4.6±1.03 g/L) during the winter season which could be of great interest for cheese production. fat...
European Journal of Biotechnology and Bioscience7, 2017
With the aim to select beneficial bacteria exhibiting several plant growth promoting (PGP) traits... more With the aim to select beneficial bacteria exhibiting several plant growth promoting (PGP) traits and develop biofertilizers, the present study was conducted to characterize the native phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) present in wheat rhizosphere in the Northwestern Morocco. A total of 122 rhizobacteria were isolated from the rhizosphere of two wheat varieties (Salama and Rajae) of which 34% was able to solubilizing tri-calcium phosphate (TCP) on Pikovskaya's agar. On the basis of solubilization index (SI≥ 1.44), 10 rhizobacteria were selected and tested for hydrogen cyanide (HCN) production, quantitative assay of indole acetic acid (IAA) and siderophores production. Three isolates (Rs15, Rs19 and Rr1) were HCN producers. IAA production reached 31.08 mg/l by the isolate Rs19, whereas siderophores production was shown in Rs20, Rr1 and Rr3 isolates. Amount of solubilized phosphate ranged from 35.13 to 217.59 mg P L-1. Also, the effect of three isolates, Rs15, Rs19 and Rr1 on ...
American Journal of Microbiological Research, 2015
The present study aims to assess the effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) in interacti... more The present study aims to assess the effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) in interaction with native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobia on peanut growth cultivated in the Northwest of Morocco. To perform this aim, seeds were inoculated with 5 PSB strains: PP22, GP70, GR1, PR29, and GR70, and then grown in unsterilized soil collected from peanut fields. Plant harvesting was made after 8 weeks of growth under chamber conditions. The results demonstrated that PSB treatments showed positive effect on mycorrhizal colonization, nodulation and plant growth parameters. The best results were found with Pseudomonas strains, GP70, PP22 and GR1. This study indicates the great potential of some PSB to improve yield and nutrient uptake of peanut plants in the presence of native rhizobia and AMF. They could serve as biofertilizers, minimizing chemical fertilization that is currently used to obtain high yields for peanut agriculture.
The present work aims to study the symbiotic association of a wild steppic plant (Hedysarum palli... more The present work aims to study the symbiotic association of a wild steppic plant (Hedysarum pallidum Desf.) in the abandoned mining area of Touissit (east of Morocco). A detailed description of the mycorrhizal associations in this specie soil and roots is reported for the first time in this study. Soils and roots samples were extracted from the rhizosphere of H. pallidum. The frequency and intensity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inside the roots were measured and the spores were counted and characterized. Microscopic examination of the roots revealed the presence of typical endomycorrhizal structures. The mycorrhizal frequency was greater than 98%, the mycorrhizal intensity was high (50.9%) and arbuscular intensity reached 34.76%. The spore abundance of AMF isolated from the soil was 1200 spores/100g of soil. These spores presented 3 AMF genera: Glomus, Scutellospora and Septoglomus. The diversity of AMF present in the rhizosphere can be selected and used in improving the pr...
This study aims to describe the endomycorrhizal status of Hedysarum pallidum Desf. in the northea... more This study aims to describe the endomycorrhizal status of Hedysarum pallidum Desf. in the northeast of Morocco. A detailed description of the mycorrhizal associations in this species soil and roots is reported for the first time in this study. To achieve this goal, some tests were run on soil and root sample collected from the rhizosphere of Hedysarum pallidum Desf. The microscopic examination of the roots revealed the presence of typical endomycorrhizal structures. The mycorrhizal frequency was greater than 98%, the mycorrhizal intensity was high (50.9%), and the arbuscular intensity reached 34.76%. The spore number of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) isolated from the soil was 1200 spores/100 g of soil. These spores presented three AMF genera: Glomus, Scutellospora, and Septoglomus. The diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi present in the rhizosphere can be selected and used in improving the production of vigorous plants.
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