On-Farm Composting of Agricultural Waste Materials for Sustainable Agriculture in Pakistan.

Agriculture is the economic backbone of Pakistan. 67% of country's population resides in rural areas and primarily depends on agriculture. Pakistan's soils are poor in OM and have a low C : N ratio, and the overall fertility status is insufficient to support increased crop yields. Compost is an excellent alternative solution for improving soil OM content. However, this excellent alternative supply in Pakistan has yet to be used. Mass volumes of leaves, grass clippings, plant stalks, vines, weeds, twigs, and branches are burned daily. In this study, different compost piles (P1, P2, and P3) of compost were made using different agricultural and animal waste combinations to assess temperature, pH, and NPK. Results revealed that P3 demonstrated the most successful composting procedure. The temperature and pH levels throughout the composting process were determined in a specified range of 42-45oC and 6.1-8.3, respectively. Total nitrogen content ranged from 81.5 to 2175 ppm in farm compost. Total phosphorus concentrations range from 1.33 to 13.98 ppm, and potassium levels, on the other hand, range from 91.53 to 640 ppm in farm compost. The overall nitrogen concentration grew progressively between each pile at the end of a week. The varied concentrations revealed that adding various forms of agricultural waste would result in a variation in the quantity of NPK owing to microbial activity. On-farm composting has emerged as an effective technique for the sustainability of agricultural activities, capable of resolving crucial problems like crop residues and livestock waste disposal. Based on this study's results, the pile (P3) combination shows the best NPK value performance and is recommended for agricultural uses to overcome the OM deficiency.

New promising high yielding cotton Bt-Variety RH-647 adapted for specific agro-climatic zone.

The Bt-cotton RH-647 was developed by Cotton Research Institute CRI, Khanpur has been acknowledged for its possesses superior plant characteristics and potential to yield out under harsh agro-climatic conditions of cotton productive district of Rahimyar Khan in Bahawalpur Division and southern Punjab in 2016. RH- 647 for its novel plant structure and improved fiber quality heat and drought tolerant to withstand successfully sustain yield out in harsh, highly variable hot and dry climatic conditions of and harsh seasoned. RH-647 was developed through one-way hybridization of elite parental genotypes accompanied by pedigree selection method through gene pyramiding technique for incorporation of excellent combinations of fiber traits and CLCuV disease tolerance with higher yield potential right from F1 population. The superior plant combinations were selected in F2-F6 generations were entirely based on phenotypic plant traits and progeny yield potential in field, plant shape, number of bolls per plant, average boll weight (g) and fiber quality traits over standard varieties. The single plant progenies were selected 56 sister lines were tested for Bt-gene (Cry1 Ac) were evaluated for high yielding performance for this superior cross and finally RH-647 as superior breeding line was bulked in year 2010. The strain was evaluated in Randomized Complete Block Design in preliminary yield trials (PYT) and two years in Advance Yield Trials (AYT) trials and Zonal Varietal trials for two years. The superior line 647/10 was ensued for performance in variety attestation tests as RH-647. RH-647 performed best in two years varietal trials (NCVT and PCCT and DUS) conducted for two successive growing seasons (2014-2015 and 2015-2016). RH-647 yielded out significantly compared with standard varieties MNH-886, FH-142 and CIM 602. After completion of mandatory trials in year 2016, RH-647 was approved as new Bt. cotton variety "RH-647". RH-647 is early in maturity with high yield potential and best suited for wheat-cotton cropping pattern. It has fluffy opening and is easy to pick, strongly tolerant to CLCuV disease, high Ginning out turn GOT% (40.2%) with improved fiber traits; staple length (28.3 mm), fiber strength (4.2ug/inch) is duly capable to fulfill all industrial requisitions.

Chromium accumulation in soil, water and forage samples in automobile emission area.

Environmental contamination caused by various pollutants due to automobile emissions is an alarming issue. One important type of the pollutants are heavy metals, including chromium (Cr) added by the exhaust of toxic smoke of vehicles. These pollutants are added to forage crops cultivated near roadsides, soil and irrigation water. However, rare studies have been conducted to infer Cr accumulation near heavy automobile emission areas. This study was conducted to determine Cr concentration in irrigation water, soil and forage. Water, forage and soil samples were collected from area impacted by heavy traffic. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to appraise Cr values in the collected samples. Chromium values ranged from 0.50 to 1.14 mg/kg in water samples and from 0.04 to 2.23 mg/kg in soil samples. It was highest in Zea mays grown soil, whereas minimum in Brassica campestris soil. The Cr values in forages ranged from 0.09 to 1.06 mg/kg. Z. mays observed the highest Cr accumulation, whereas the lowest Cr accrual was noted for B. campestris. The pollution load index (PLI) was the highest for Trifolium alexandrinum, while the lowest for Z. mays. Bio-concentration factor (BCF) ranged from 0.14 to 8.63. The highest BCF was noted for T. alexandrinum, while the lowest for Z. mays. The highest and the lowest daily intake of metal (DIM) was noted for Z. mays at different sites. Health risk index (HRI) was highest for Z. mays and lowest for B. campestris. The results add valuable information on heavy metal accumulation in water, soil and forage samples near to automobile emission area.

Role of nitrogen and magnesium for growth, yield and nutritional quality of radish.

Nitrogen (N) affects all levels of plant function from metabolism to resource allocation, growth, and development and Magnesium (Mg) is a macronutrient that is necessary to both plant growth and health. Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) occupies an important position in the production and consumption of vegetables globally, but there are still many problems and challenges in its nutrient management. A pot trial was conducted to investigate the effects of nitrogen and magnesium fertilizers on radish during the year 2018-2019. Nitrogen and magnesium was applied at three rates (0, 0.200, and 0.300 g N kg-1 soil) and (0, 0.050, and 0.100 g Mg kg-1 soil) respectively. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) and each treatment was replicated three times. Growth, yield and quality indicators of radish (plant height, root length, shoot length, plant weight, total soluble sugar, ascorbic acid, total soluble protein, crude fiber, etc.) were studied. The results indicated that different rates of nitrogen and magnesium fertilizer not only influence the growth dynamics and yields but also enhances radish quality. The results revealed that the growth, yield and nutrient contents of radish were increased at a range of 0.00 g N. kg-1 soil to 0.300 g N. kg-1 soil and 0.00 g Mg. kg-1 soil to 0.050 g Mg. kg-1 soil and then decreased gradually at a level of 0.100 g Mg. kg-1 soil. In contrast, the crude fiber contents in radish decreased significantly with increasing nitrogen and magnesium level but increased significantly at Mg2 level (0.050 g Mg. kg-1 soil). The current study produced helpful results for increasing radish quality, decreasing production costs, and diminishing underground water contamination.

Vulnerability assessment and application of bacterial technology on urban rivers for pollution eradication.

To protect against the environmental pollution, the present research was undertaken to enumerate the Bacterial Technologies (BTs) on the restoration of polluted urban rivers, that is, Fenghu-Song Yang River (FSR) and Xuxi River (XXR). Experimental research accounted for the physiochemical parameters (pH; temperature; dissolved oxygen (DO); chemical oxygen demand (COD); total phosphorus (TP); total nitrogen (TN); and ammonia nitrogen (NH3N)) before and after the BT operation. The results declared that the BT is efficient to restore the polluted rivers up to reliable condition. These results were analyzed by using multivariate statistical techniques (principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA)). These techniques interpreted the complex data sets and expressed the point source information about the water quality of these rivers at SA5, SA6, and SB3 under highly polluted regions. For better understanding, water quality index (WQI) was applied to compute the single numeric value. WQI results are evidence of the above results which prove the water quality of both rivers faced under outrageous condition (below 50 WQI scores) before the BT treatment, but, after the treatment, the rivers were restored from fair to good level (above 50 WQI scores) and overall output of these scores was quite similar to detect the point source of pollution. These results described an abrupt recovery of the urban rivers up to reliable condition for aquatic organism and clear effluents from the rivers.

Integrated Evaluation of Urban Water Bodies for Pollution Abatement Based on Fuzzy Multicriteria Decision Approach.

Today's ecology is erected with miscellaneous framework. However, numerous sources deteriorate it, such as urban rivers that directly cause the environmental pollution. For chemical pollution abatement from urban water bodies, many techniques were introduced to rehabilitate the water quality of these water bodies. In this research, Bacterial Technology (BT) was applied to urban rivers escalating the necessity to control the water pollution in different places (Xuxi River (XXU); Gankeng River (GKS); Xia Zhang River (XZY); Fenghu and Song Yang Rivers (FSR); Jiu Haogang River (JHH)) in China. For data analysis, the physiochemical parameters such as temperature, chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), total phosphorus (TP), and ammonia nitrogen (NH3N) were determined before and after the treatment. Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) method was used for relative significance of different water quality on each station, based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). The overall results revealed that the pollution is exceeding at "JHH" due to the limit of "COD" as critical water quality parameter and after treatment, an abrupt recovery of the rivers compared with the average improved efficiency of nutrients was 79%, 74%, 68%, and 70% of COD, DO, TP, and NH3N, respectively. The color of the river's water changed to its original form and aquatic living organism appeared with clear effluents from them.