Modifying of calcareous soil with some acidifying materials and its effect on Helianthus annuus (L.) growth.

Calcareous soils contain a high concentration of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which influences soil properties related to plant growth. Humic acid (HA) and ammonium molybdate (AM) were added as treatments for calcareous soils at concentrations of 0.1, 0.5 and 1 g/l respectively. The pots were divided into three groups. The first set of groups were irrigated with AM, while the second set of groups were irrigated with HA. As a control, the third group was irrigated using only tap water. Many soil properties and plant characteristics were measured during the experiment. The results showed that most of the studied treatments aided to increase organic carbon of calcareous soil and improved sunflower height, leaf area and shoot and root biomass. All investigated treatments significantly enhanced carbohydrates content in the sunflower shoots, except the treatment with 0.1 g/l AM, while only the with AM (under all studied concentrations) significantly enhanced carbohydrates content in roots higher than untreated. Proteins content in the shoots and roots of sunflower significantly increased when treated only with 1 g/l HA higher than control. The amino acid content of sunflower roots enhanced when treated with 0.1 and 1 m/l HA and 0.5 g/l AM Evidently, acidifying materials enhanced the calcareous soil and increased productivity.

Effect of temperature & humdity on population dynamics of insects' pest complex of cotton crop.

The current study was directed to investigate the effect of temperature and humidity on insect pest complex of cotton. This study was carried out on the farmer field of a farmer of MouzaMehraywala tehsil and district Rajanpur southern part of the Punjab, Pakistan (29.1044° N, 70.3301° E) in the month of May, 2019 to November 2019. The climatic conditions of the study site were; a Rajanpur lie on 96m above sea level Rajanpur has a desert climate. During the year, there is virtually no rainfall. The average temperature in Rajanpur is 26.0°C | 78.8°F. Precipitation here is about 205 mm / 8.1 inch per year. Our results indicate that's the correlation of temperature (minimum and maximum), humidity (minimum and maximum), rainfall and weather condition (clear or cloud), it is clear that except temperature there is a positive correlation of jassid population. While among the relation of jassid with different factor there is very weak relation with jassid population regarding temperature (-0.001), the relation of humidity, rainfall and sky condition with jassid population is positive and moderate (0.520, 0.668 & 0.575 respectively), while the relation of jassid population among these factor is significant except temperature. The results indicate that's the correlation of temperature, humidity, rainfall and weather condition, it is clear that there is positive correlation of thrips population. While among the relation of thrips with different factor there is very weak relation of thrips population with temperature (.103), the relation of humidity, rainfall and sky condition with thrips population is positive and moderate (.515.751& .577 respectively), while the relation thrips population among these factor is significant except temperature. The results indicate that's correlation of temperature, humidity, rainfall and weather condition, it is clear that there is positive correlation of Whitefly population. While among the relation of Whitefly with different factors there is very moderate relation of Whitefly population with temperature (.076), the relation of humidity, rainfall and sky condition with Whitefly population is negative and moderate (-.051.-.368 & -.559 respectively), while the relation Whitefly population among these factor is significant except temperature.

Awareness and perception of malaria and dengue at school and college level in the district of Multan.

The purpose of this study is to examine the awareness and perception of malaria and dengue fever in Multan Punjab, Pakistan while taking into account the important role of government policies and other variables. The goal of this study is to examine the awareness of students in Multan, Pakistan on malaria and dengue. This study is based on a quantitative approach of secondary evidence from scientific journals and questionnaire surveys. It is also based on observational evidence gathered in Multan Punjab Pakistan, in a field study. The survey with school children, teachers and healthcare professionals were both formal and semi-structuralize. Studies have found that malaria and dengue mainly affect children's schooling through their absence, but can also induce brain loss and cognitive disability. In questionnaires, students were seen to have different understanding of the illness, but also to be able to serve as agents of health reform only through teachers. A sample size of 500 respondents has been selected from different colleges of district Multan Punjab, Pakistan. Correlation technique is used for the data analysis. According to our results it is concluded that the students at college level are aware of malaria and dengue diseases, but they are not capable of engaging and serving as agents for health reform. On the basis of results it is recommended that students must teach about epidemics diseases regarding how to handle these diseases.

Gibberellic Acid and Jasmonic Acid Improve Salt Tolerance in Summer Squash by Modulating Some Physiological Parameters Symptomatic for Oxidative Stress and Mineral Nutrition.

Gibberellic acid (GA) and jasmonic acid (JA) are considered to be endogenous regulators that play a vital role in regulating plant responses to stress conditions. This study investigated the ameliorative role of GA, JA, and the GA + JA mixture in mitigating the detrimental effect of salinity on the summer squash plant. In order to explore the physiological mechanisms of salt stress alleviation carried out by exogenous GA and JA, seed priming with 1.5 mM GA, 0.005 mM JA, and their mixture was performed; then the germinated summer squash seedlings were exposed to 50 mM NaCl. The results showed that a 50 mM NaCl treatment significantly reduced shoot and root fresh and dry weight, water content (%), the concentration of carotenoid (Car), nucleic acids, K+, and Mg++, the K+/Na+ ratio, and the activity of catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), while it increased the concentration of proline, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), Na+, and Cl- in summer squash plants, when compared with the control. However, seed priming with GA, JA and the GA + JA mixture significantly improved summer squash salt tolerance by reducing the concentration of Na+ and Cl-, TBARS, and the Chl a/b ratio and by increasing the activity of superoxide dismutase, CAT, and APX, the quantities of K+ and Mg++, the K+/Na+ ratio, and the quantities of RNA, DNA, chlorophyll b, and Car, which, in turn, ameliorated the growth of salinized plants. These findings suggest that GA and JA are able to efficiently defend summer squash plants from salinity destruction by adjusting nutrient uptake and increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes in order to decrease reactive oxygen species accumulation due to salinity stress; these findings offer a practical intervention for summer squash cultivation in salt-affected soils. Synergistic effects of the GA and JA combination were not clearly observed, and JA alleviated most of the studied traits associated with salinity stress induced in summer squash more efficiently than GA or the GA + JA mixture.

Foliar Sprayed Green Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Mitigate Drought-Induced Oxidative Stress in Tomato.

This study explored the effectiveness of green zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) foliar spray on tomato growth and oxidative stress relief under drought conditions. Tomato plant subjected to four water regimes (100, 75, 50, and 25% FC), and in the same while seedlings were sprayed with 25, 50, and 100 mg/L green ZnO-NPs. The results showed that tomato growth parameters reduced significantly by increasing drought stress levels, while ZnO-NPs enhanced plant growth under all studied drought levels. Out of three ZnO-NPs concentrations tested, 25 and 50 mg/L ZnO-NPs proved to be the optimum treatments for alleviating drought stress. They increased shoot and root biomass compared to untreated controls. Application of 25 and 50 mg/L ZnO-NPs enhanced shoot dry weight by about 2-2.5-fold, respectively, under severe drought conditions (25%) compared to ZnO-NPs untreated plants. The application of 25 and 50 mg/L green ZnO-NPs decreased the drought-induced oxidative stress as indicated by the reduction in malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide concentrations compared to untreated controls. While 100 mg/L ZnO-NPs further increased oxidative stress. The beneficial effects of ZnO-NPs were evident in the plants' defensive state, in which the concentration of ascorbic acid, free phenols, and the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase were maintained at higher levels compared to NPs-untreated plants. At severe drought conditions, 25 mg/L ZnO-NPs induced SOD, CAT, and APX activity by about 3.99-, 3.23-, and 2.82-fold of their corresponding controls, respectively. Likewise, at 25% FC, SOD, CAT, and APX activity increased with 50 mg/L ZnO-NPs by about 4.58-, 3.57-, and 3.25-fold consecutively compared with their respective controls. Therefore, foliar use of green ZnO-NPs at lower concentrations might be suggested as an efficient way for enhancing tomato tolerance to drought stress.

Enhancement of resistance by poultry manure and plant hormones (salicylic acid & citric acid) against tobacco mosaic virus.

Virus is the most menacing factor for plant, which causes enormous economic losses in agriculture worldwide. Tobacco mosaic virus is most hazardous virus among the plants that can spread through biological and non-biological sources. TMV is ancient virus that causes huge economic losses to pepper cucumber ornamental crops and tobacco. It can be controlled by reducing the population of vector through pesticide application. However, the rapid usage of synthetic chemicals causes environmental pollution and destroys our ecosystem. Consequently, different approaches just like natural derivatives should be adopted for the environmental friendly management for TMV. This in vitro study demonstrated the potential role of natural metabolites such as poultry manure and plant extracts such as salicylic acid and citric acid for the control of TMV. Two different concentrations of poultry manure 60G and 30G were used. Poultry manure was mixed with the soil at the time of sowing. Disease severity was minimum at maximum concentration as compared to the control. Meanwhile, two different concentrations of salicylic acid and citric acid 60% and 90% were applied by foliar sprayer after three-leaf stages. Disease severity was observed after 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 days after disease inoculation. Here also maximum concentration showed the minimum disease severity and higher concentration of both animal and plants extracts were used for following experiment. Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) results demonstrated that different plant defense-related genes such as PR1a, PAL, PR5, NPR1, PRIb, and PDF1.2 were up-regulated. Furthermore, applications of each treatment-induced systemic resistance against a wide range of pathogen including TMV and fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea.

Jasmonates mediate plant defense responses to Spodoptera exigua herbivory in tomato and maize foliage.

Plants evolve diverse strategies to cope with herbivorous insects, in which the lipid-derived phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) plays a crucial role. This study was conducted to investigate the differential responses of tomato and maize plants to Spodoptera exiguaherbivory and to clarify the role played by JA, methyl-jasmonate (MeJA) and jasmonoyl-L-isoleucine (JA-L-Ile) in their defense responses. JA, MeJA and JA-L-Ile were quantified using HPLC-MS/MS. The results showed that maize plant was more tolerant toS. exiguaherbivory than tomato. Spodopteraexigua attack induced JA, MeJA, and JA-L-Ile to high levels after 2 h of infestation in both test plants. Then, all studied JAsconcentration decreased gradually by increasing infestation time up to 1 week. JA concentration in infested maize was much higher than that in infested tomato leaves. However, MeJA concentration in infested tomato leaves was higher than that in maize. In control plants, JA was not recorded, while MeJA was recorded in comparable values both in tomato and maize. Our results showed that JA plays the main role in increasing defense responses to S. exigua infestation in the studied plants as a direct signaling molecule; however, MeJA could play an indirect role by inducing JA accumulation. JA-L-Ile indicated a less efficient role in defense responses to S. exigua attack in both test plants where its level is much lower than JA and MeJA.

Sulfate influx transporters in Arabidopsis thaliana are not involved in arsenate uptake but critical for tissue nutrient status and arsenate tolerance.

MAIN CONCLUSION: Arsenic, a non-nutrient metalloid is toxic to plants but many details on the physiology of plant adaptation to arsenic stress are not well understood. This work provides new insights about the role of sulfur assimilation in arsenate uptake, growth and arsenic tolerance. Research reported here indicates that two high affinity sulfate transporters in Arabidopsis thaliana are not involved in root uptake of arsenate. Further this study revealed that sulfate status influenced thiol levels, elemental nutrients, growth and arsenate tolerance. The hypothesis that arsenate may be transported via sulfate transporters, SULTR1;1 and SULTR1;2 in Arabidopsis, was tested. The double mutant of sultr1;1 sultr1;2 exhibited significantly less growth than the wild-type or the single mutants. The double mutant's sulfur content was significantly lower than the wild-type but the single mutants were similar to the wild-type confirming the redundant functions of SULTR1;1 and SULTR1;2. Gene expression analyses indicated that the double mutant's sulfate uptake could be explained by the expressions of SULTR1;3, SULTR2;1, and SULTR2;2 in its roots. Following arsenate supply to the roots, the double mutant accumulated significantly less arsenic in the roots and the shoots than did the single mutants and the wild-type. The double mutant accumulated significantly less potassium and phosphorus also. (35)S sulfate supplied to wild-type or double mutant roots showed that sulfate uptake was not inhibited by arsenate. Taken together, these results indicate that root uptake of arsenate is probably not via sulfate transporters, but the poor growth of the double mutant of sultr1;1 and sultr1;2 was due to its poor sulfate status and decreased levels of thiols, which had pleiotropic effects on the root uptake and translocation of potassium and phosphorus and arsenic tolerance.