Postharvest insect pests constitute major threats to food security because they cause qualitative and quantitative damage to agricultural produce. Therefore, eco-friendly and cost-effective measures should be used for their management. In this study, five botanical powders ( Trema orientalis and Crataeva religiosa leaves; and Citrus tangelo, Citrus maxima and Citrus aurantifolia peels) were admixed with Spintor® [1.25 active ingredient (a.i.) mg · kg ^–1] and evaluated as toxicants against Tribolium castaneum. Each botanical powder and spintor was solely applied at 1000 mg · kg ^–1 millet seeds. Spintor-botanical powder mixtures admixed at a ratio of 1 : 1 (w/w) were applied at 500 and 1000 mg · kg ^–1, corresponding to 0.313 and 0.625 a. i. mg · kg ^–1 for spintor in the mixtures, respectively. On the 14th day of exposure, the Citrus species admixed with spintor and applied at 500 mg · kg ^–1 evoked significantly (p < 0.05) higher percentage mortality (72.22–90.28%) than what was observed in the mixture of spintor with T. orientalis (22.08%) or the mixture of spintor with C. religosa (17.92%) applied at 500 mg · kg ^–1. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the Kaplan-Meier estimates of the treatments against the insects. The time required to kill 50% of the assayed insects (LT50) when Citrus species were admixed with spintor at 500 mg · kg ^–1 (10 days) was shorter than 14 days observed in the mixture of spintor with T. orientalis or C. religiosa. Therefore, admixing spintor with any of the Citrus powders [at 1 : 1 (w/w)] applied at 500 mg · kg ^–1 seed is recommended for the protection of millet seeds against T. castaneum.,

In the current study, it was tried to investigate the medicinal plants of the native flora of the Northern Tien Shan to bring them into domestication. The study was carried out on the territory of a botanical garden located at an altitude of 880 m a.s.l., in the foothill steppe zone of the Zailiysky Alatau ridge, People’s Republic of China on light chestnut loamy soils. In 2018–2019, more than 90 samples of 51 species of medicinal plants of the Northern Tien Shan flora was selected from 17 families for introduction tests. The families Compositae (10 genera, 12 species) and Lamiaceae (12 genera, 13 species) were represented by the largest numbers of genera and species. The family Leguminosae was represented by four species from four genera; the families Polygonaceae and Ranunculaceae, by three species each; the family Rosaceae, by two species; and the remaining 11 families, by one species each. The results suggested that the majority of medicinal plants of the Northern Tien Shan tested can be successfully cultivated in the foothill zone of the Zailiysky Alatau. The results indicated that when propagated by seed, the laboratory germination varied from 2 to 30%, and the mass of seeds was 0.21 g. When sown in spring, the field germination was 8%, and when sown in autumn, 42% from 50 to 70% of seedlings survived until the end of the growing season. The massive flowering was observed in the third year, and the plants vegetated until the end of the growing season.

In the present contribution the Beja botanical terminology is analyzed from the point of view of semantic motivation. The study is limited only to the unborrowed part of the botanical lexicon (with some exceptions), together 76 terms. First 51 terms are etymologized with help of external comparisons with probable cognates in other Cushitic or Afroasiatic languages. The last 25 terms are understandable from the point of view of internal etymology and their semantic motivation is more transparent than in the preceding cases.