FOPBIE: Multi-image cipher based on the random walk of fleet of pawns on the large hypothetical chessboard and chaotic system.

In the last two decades or so, a large number of image ciphers have been written. The majority of these ciphers encrypt only one image at a time. Few image ciphers were written which could encrypt multiple images in one session. The current era needs speedy multiple image ciphers to address its varied needs in different settings. Motivated by this dictation, the current study has ventured to write a multi-image cipher based on the fleet of pawns walking in the large hypothetical chessboard. This walk of pawns on the chessboard has been ingeniously linked with transferring the pixels from the plain image to the scrambled image. The confusion effects have been realized through the XOR operation between the scrambled image and the key image. The plaintext sensitivity has been incorporated by embedding the SHA-384 hash codes of the given large combined plain image. Moreover, the Henon map has been employed to spawn the streams of random numbers. Besides, Blum Blum Shub random number generator has been used to further cement the security of the proposed cipher. We got a computational time of 0.2278 seconds and an encryption throughput of 5.5782 MBit/seconds by using the four images with a size of 256×256. Apart from that, the information entropy gained is 7.9993. Lastly, the cipher has been subjected to an array of validation metrics to demonstrate its aversion to the myriad threats from the cryptanalysis savvy. We contend that the proposed work has great potential for some real-world applications.

Gait Dynamic Stability Evaluation in Patients undergoing Hip joint Fractures - Tools to Measure Rehabilitation Effectiveness.

A hip joint fracture includes a break in the thigh (femur) or coxa bone near the pelvis. During fracture healing, stability and weight bearing by the affected limb are key indicators to measure patients' improvement. Conventionally, the rehabilitation effectiveness is monitored through clinical examinations, patients' feedback, and few studies also reported instrumented gait evaluations. A gap remains there to numerically quantify the recovery in patients' stability and weight bearing in response to rehabilitation therapies. This study introduces Nyquist and Bode (N&B) methods to analyse the instrumented gait signals further and evaluate gait stability in hip fracture patients during weight loading and unloading transitions. The centre of pressure (CoP) data was recorded using force plates for conditions: coxa hip fracture (HC), femur hip fracture (HF), and normal hip joint (NH). The time rate of CoP signals illustrated two major impulses during the loading and unloading phases which were modelled in time and frequency domains. The frequency models were further analysed by applying N&B methods and stability margins were computed for both impaired and healthy conditions. Results illustrated a significant decrease (Kruskal-Wallis's test, p<0.001) in the intralimb walking stability of both fracture conditions. Further, Spearman's correlation between CoP velocities of fractured and intact limbs illustrated significant interlimb dependencies to maintain walking stability (p<0.001) during weight loading and unloading transitions. Overall, the HF impairment illustrated the least intralimb walking stability and relatively greater interlimb dependencies. Clinically, these methods and findings are important to measure the recovery in patients undergoing rehabilitation after a hip joint or other lower limb impairments.

Highly efficient aramid fiber supported polypropylene membranes modified with reduced graphene oxide based metallic nanocomposites: antimicrobial and antiviral capabilities.

Polypropylene hybrid polymeric membranes with aramid support have been fabricated using Thermally Induced Phase Separation (TIPS). Different modifying materials, such as metallic nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), improve the properties of these membranes. The nanomaterials and the fabricated membranes have been characterized with FTIR spectrometer, SEM and UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. Following that, the disinfection capabilities of the fabricated hybrid membranes were investigated. The antibacterial capability of the membranes is established through the testing of the membranes against bacterial strains S. aureus and E. coli, whereas the antiviral evaluation of the membranes was made against H9N2 and IBV strains. This research aims to develop advanced hybrid membranes that effectively disinfect water by incorporating novel nanomaterials and optimizing fabrication techniques.

Sequence based model using deep neural network and hybrid features for identification of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine modification.

RNA modifications are pivotal in the development of newly synthesized structures, showcasing a vast array of alterations across various RNA classes. Among these, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5HMC) stands out, playing a crucial role in gene regulation and epigenetic changes, yet its detection through conventional methods proves cumbersome and costly. To address this, we propose Deep5HMC, a robust learning model leveraging machine learning algorithms and discriminative feature extraction techniques for accurate 5HMC sample identification. Our approach integrates seven feature extraction methods and various machine learning algorithms, including Random Forest, Naive Bayes, Decision Tree, and Support Vector Machine. Through K-fold cross-validation, our model achieved a notable 84.07% accuracy rate, surpassing previous models by 7.59%, signifying its potential in early cancer and cardiovascular disease diagnosis. This study underscores the promise of Deep5HMC in offering insights for improved medical assessment and treatment protocols, marking a significant advancement in RNA modification analysis.

Salicylic acid- and ethylene-dependent effects of the ER stress-inducer tunicamycin on the photosynthetic light reactions in tomato plants.

Plant hormones such as ethylene (ET) and salicylic acid (SA) have an elementary role in the regulation of ER stress and unfolded protein response (UPR) in plants via modulating defence responses or inducing oxidative stress. Chloroplasts can be sources and targets of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that affect photosynthetic efficiency, which has not been investigated under tunicamycin (Tm)-induced ER stress. In this study, the direct and indirect effects of Tm on chloroplastic ROS production were first investigated in leaves of wild-type tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants. Secondly changes in activities of photosystem II and I were analysed under Tm exposure and after application of the chemical chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) in different genotypes, focusing on the regulatory role of SA and ET Tm treatments significantly but indirectly induced ROS production in tomato leaves and in parallel it decreased the effective quantum yield of PSII [Y(II)] and PSI [Y(I)], as well as the photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) and the quantum yield of non-photochemical energy dissipation in PSI due to acceptor-side limitation [Y(NA)]. At the same time, Tm increased non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) and cyclic electron flow (CEF) in tomato leaves after 24 h. However, the photosynthetic activity of the SA hydroxylase-overexpressing NahG tomato plants was more severely affected by Tm as compared to wild-type and ET-insensitive Never ripe (Nr) plants. These results suggest the protective role of SA in the regulation of photosynthetic activity contributing to UPR and the survival of plants under ER stress. Interestingly, the activation of photoprotective mechanisms by NPQ was independent of SA but dependent on active ET signalling under ER stress, whereas CEF was reduced by ET due to its higher ratio in Nr plants.

Outcomes of initial 100 cases of laparoscopic nephrectomy at tertiary care center (PKLI).

Objective: Laparoscopic nephrectomy has been adopted by many centers in the last few decades. However, there are a few inherent challenges while adopting laparoscopic nephrectomy in a new unit. These include a significant learning curve required to adopt this modality. This study aimed to share the initial experience of adopting laparoscopic nephrectomy at our center. Methods: In total, 101 patients were analyzed in the study. These patients underwent laparoscopic radical or simple nephrectomy (for renal mass and noncancer renal cases respectively) at Department of Urology, Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre, Lahore from April 2018 till January 2021. Data were entered in the statistical analysis software file. Analysis was attained by utilizing SPSS version 20. Implementation of Mean along with standard deviation values was utilized in the case of the continuous variables. While frequency/percentages represented categorical factors. Results: The mean age of patients was 42.81±15.49 years and their overall BMI was 26.41±5.30 kg/m2. Out of these, 57 (56.43%) were males and 44(43.56%) were female. Eighteen percent of patients had a previous surgical history on the ipsilateral side. Total operative time was 163.98±58.02 minutes while mean hospital stay reached 3.2±0.87 days. The tumor-free margin was attained in all cases of radical nephrectomy. Based on Clavien-Dindo classification, Grade-1 (n=3; 2.97%), Grade-2 (n=6; 5.94%), Grade-3A (n=1; 0.99%), and Grade-3B (n=1; 0.99%) complications were observed. Conclusion: In a newly developed urology center, laparoscopic nephrectomy can be a daunting task. Good teamwork among the surgical team members and careful selection of cases can result in satisfactory procedural outcomes.

Fusaric acid-evoked oxidative stress affects plant defence system by inducing biochemical changes at subcellular level.

Fusaric acid (FA) is one of the most harmful phytotoxins produced in various plant-pathogen interactions. Fusarium species produce FA as a secondary metabolite, which can infect many agronomic crops at all stages of development from seed to fruit, and FA production can further compromise plant survival because of its phytotoxic effects. FA exposure in plant species adversely affects plant growth, development and crop yield. FA exposure in plants leads to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which cause cellular damage and ultimately cell death. Therefore, FA-induced ROS accumulation in plants has been a topic of interest for many researchers to understand the plant-pathogen interactions and plant defence responses. In this study, we reviewed the FA-mediated oxidative stress and ROS-induced defence responses of antioxidants, as well as hormonal signalling in plants. The effects of FA phytotoxicity on lipid peroxidation, physiological changes and ultrastructural changes at cellular and subcellular levels were reported. Additionally, DNA damage, cell death and adverse effects on photosynthesis have been explained. Some possible approaches to overcome the harmful effects of FA in plants were also discussed. It is concluded that FA-induced ROS affect the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant system regulated by phytohormones. The effects of FA are also associated with other photosynthetic, ultrastructural and genotoxic modifications in plants.

Enhancing Sumoylation Site Prediction: A Deep Neural Network with Discriminative Features.

Sumoylation is a post-translation modification (PTM) mechanism that involves many critical biological processes, such as gene expression, localizing and stabilizing proteins, and replicating the genome. Moreover, sumoylation sites are associated with different diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Due to its vital role in the biological process, identifying sumoylation sites in proteins is significant for monitoring protein functions and discovering multiple diseases. Therefore, in the literature, several computational models utilizing conventional ML methods have been introduced to classify sumoylation sites. However, these models cannot accurately classify the sumoylation sites due to intrinsic limitations associated with the conventional learning methods. This paper proposes a robust computational model (called Deep-Sumo) for predicting sumoylation sites based on a deep-learning algorithm with efficient feature representation methods. The proposed model employs a half-sphere exposure method to represent protein sequences in a feature vector. Principal Component Analysis is applied to extract discriminative features by eliminating noisy and redundant features. The discriminant features are given to a multilayer Deep Neural Network (DNN) model to predict sumoylation sites accurately. The performance of the proposed model is extensively evaluated using a 10-fold cross-validation test by considering various statistical-based performance measurement metrics. Initially, the proposed DNN is compared with the traditional learning algorithm, and subsequently, the performance of the Deep-Sumo is compared with the existing models. The validation results show that the proposed model reports an average accuracy of 96.47%, with improvement compared with the existing models. It is anticipated that the proposed model can be used as an effective tool for drug discovery and the diagnosis of multiple diseases.

Unveiling the biosynthesis, mechanisms, and impacts of miRNAs in drought stress resilience in plants.

Drought stress is one of the most serious threats to sustainable agriculture and is predicted to be further intensified in the coming decades. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of drought stress tolerance and the development of drought-resilient crops are the major goals at present. In recent years, noncoding microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key regulators of gene expressions under drought stress conditions and are turning out to be the potential candidates that can be targeted to develop drought-resilient crops in the future. miRNAs are known to target and decrease the expression of various genes to govern the drought stress response in plants. In addition, emerging evidence also suggests a regulatory role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the regulation of miRNAs and the expression of their target genes by a process referred as miRNA sponging. In this review, we present the regulatory roles of miRNAs in the modulation of drought-responsive genes along with discussing their biosynthesis and action mechanisms. Additionally, the interactive roles of miRNAs with phytohormone signaling components have also been highlighted to present the global view of miRNA functioning under drought-stress conditions.

Primary retroperitoneal teratoma in a young woman: a case report.

Teratomas are usually seen in gonads but they do occur in other extra gonadal regions such as sacrococcygeal region, mediastinum, head and neck, and retroperitoneum. Rarely in the retroperitoneal area, such tumours mostly develop in the pararenal area and usually on the left side. They have bimodal presentation at the age of six months and then in early adulthood. They originate from the germ cells that have failed to migrate to normal anatomical destinations. Many of such patients are diagnosed incidentally. Here, we report a case of symptomatic primary retroperitoneal mature teratoma in a young lady managed at Pakistan kidney and Liver Institute, Lahore.

Ethylene-dependent regulation of oxidative stress in the leaves of fusaric acid-treated tomato plants.

The mycotoxin fusaric acid (FA) induces rapid oxidative burst leading to cell death in plants. At the same time, plant defence reactions are mediated by several phytohormones for instance ethylene (ET). However, previously conducted studies leave research gaps on how ET plays a regulatory role under mycotoxin exposure. Therefore, this study aims to the time-dependent effects of two FA concentrations (0.1 mM and 1 mM) were explored on the regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in leaves of wild-type (WT) and ET receptor mutant Never ripe (Nr) tomatoes. FA induced superoxide and H2O2 accumulation in both genotypes in a mycotoxin dose- and exposure time-dependent pattern. 1 mM FA activated NADPH oxidase (+34% compared to the control) and RBOH1 transcript levels in WT leaves. However, superoxide production was significantly higher in Nr with 62% which could contribute to higher lipid peroxidation in this genotype. In parallel, the antioxidative defence mechanisms were also activated. Both peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities were lower in Nr but ascorbate peroxidase showed one-fold higher activity under 1 mM FA stress than in WT leaves. Interestingly, catalase (CAT) activity decreased upon FA in a time- and concentration-dependent manner and the encoding CAT genes were also downregulated, especially in Nr leaves at 20%. Ascorbate level was decreased and glutathione remained lower in Nr than WT plants under FA exposure. Conclusively, Nr genotype showed more sensitivity to FA-induced ROS suggesting that ET serves defence reactions of plants by activating several enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants to detoxify excess ROS accumulation.

Impact of tourism development upon environmental sustainability: a suggested framework for sustainable ecotourism.

The empirical research investigated the relationship between tourism development and environmental suitability to propose a framework for sustainable ecotourism. The framework suggested a balance between business and environmental interests in maintaining an ecological system with the moderating help of government support and policy interventions. The study population encompasses tourism stakeholders, including tourists, representatives from local communities, members of civil administration, hoteliers, and tour operators serving the areas. A total of 650 questionnaires were distributed to respondents, along with a brief description of key study variables to develop a better understanding. After verifying the instrument's reliability and validity, data analysis was conducted via hierarchical regression. The study findings revealed that a substantial number of people perceive socio-economic benefits, including employment and business openings, infrastructure development from tourism development, and growth. However, the state of the natural and environmental capital was found to be gradually degrading. Alongside the social environment, social vulnerability is reported due to the overutilization of land, intrusion from external cultures, and pollution in air and water due to traffic congestion, accumulation of solid waste, sewage, and carbon emissions. The study suggested a model framework for the development of sustained ecotourism, including supportive government policy interventions to ensure effective conservation of environmental and natural resources without compromising the economic viability and social well-beings of the locals. Furthermore, the variables and the constructs researched can be replicated to other destinations to seek valuable inputs for sustainable destination management elsewhere.

Effect of Body Mass Index on complications and success rates of percutaneous nephrolithotomy-A tertiary care hospital experience.

Background and Objectives: Urolithiasis is prevalent globally. Over time, innovation in endoscopic instruments and miniaturization has untangled the interventional strategy for carrying out remedial surgical procedures for renal stones. However, studies have been scarce as for sequelae of Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in varying body mass index group patients in the developing world. We aimed to report success rates and complications in different BMI groups. Methods: This was a retrospective study wherein data of 359 patients was reviewed in charts. These patients went through PCNL at our department from July 2011 till September 2019. Three groups of patients were made in agreement with WHO BMI classification. Information concerning study variables was noted in designated and then processed in SPSS version 16 for the statistical computations. Results: On the whole, the mean age of patients was 44.6± 14.4 years. While the mean calculus size was 3.1± 1.4 cm. Moreover, the majority of stones in all the three groups belonged to Guy's stone score 1 and 2 (see Table-I). The overall mean procedure time and inpatient stay were almost comparable in the obese group. The highest stone-free rate was observed in the normal weight group (77.69 %), however, stone-free status in overweight and obese groups was not comparatively too lower (p=0.74). Complication rates were being close among the three groups. Conclusion: PCNL can be ventured with safety and in an effectual manner for attaining stone treatment goals alike in obese and non-obese group patients.

Machine Learning-Based Fragility Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Buildings.

In the past, large earthquakes caused the collapse of infrastructure and killed thousands of people in Pakistan, a seismically active region. Therefore, the seismic assessment of infrastructure is a dire need that can be done using the fragility analysis. This study focuses on the fragility analysis of school buildings in Muzaffarabad district, seismic zone-4 of Pakistan. Fragility curves were developed using incremental dynamic analysis (IDA); however, the numerical analysis is computationally time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, soft computing techniques such as Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Gene Expression Programming (GEP) were employed as alternative methods to establish the fragility curves for the prediction of seismic performance. The optimized ANN model [5-25-1] was used. The feedforward backpropagation network was considered in this study. To achieve a reliable model, 70% of the data was selected for training and 15% for validation and 15% of data was used for testing the model. Similarly, the GEP model was also employed to predict the fragility curves. The results of both ANN and GEP were compared based on the coefficient of determination, R 2. The ANN model accurately predicts the global drift values with R 2 equal to 0.938 compared to the GEP model having R 2 equal to 0.87.

Short-Term Prediction of COVID-19 Using Novel Hybrid Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition and Error Trend Seasonal Model.

In this article, a new hybrid time series model is proposed to predict COVID-19 daily confirmed cases and deaths. Due to the variations and complexity in the data, it is very difficult to predict its future trajectory using linear time series or mathematical models. In this research article, a novel hybrid ensemble empirical mode decomposition and error trend seasonal (EEMD-ETS) model has been developed to forecast the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed hybrid model decomposes the complex, nonlinear, and nonstationary data into different intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) from low to high frequencies, and a single monotone residue by applying EEMD. The stationarity of each IMF component is checked with the help of the augmented Dicky-Fuller (ADF) test and is then used to build up the EEMD-ETS model, and finally, future predictions have been obtained from the proposed hybrid model. For illustration purposes and to check the performance of the proposed model, four datasets of daily confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), and France have been used. Similarly, four different statistical metrics, i.e., root mean square error (RMSE), symmetric mean absolute parentage error (sMAPE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) have been used for a comparison of different time series models. It is evident from the results that the proposed hybrid EEMD-ETS model outperforms the other time series and machine learning models. Hence, it is worthy to be used as an effective model for the prediction of COVID-19.

A Novel Grayscale Image Encryption Scheme Based on the Block-Level Swapping of Pixels and the Chaotic System.

Hundreds of image encryption schemes have been conducted (as the literature review indicates). The majority of these schemes use pixels as building blocks for confusion and diffusion operations. Pixel-level operations are time-consuming and, thus, not suitable for many critical applications (e.g., telesurgery). Security is of the utmost importance while writing these schemes. This study aimed to provide a scheme based on block-level scrambling (with increased speed). Three streams of chaotic data were obtained through the intertwining logistic map (ILM). For a given image, the algorithm creates blocks of eight pixels. Two blocks (randomly selected from the long array of blocks) are swapped an arbitrary number of times. Two streams of random numbers facilitate this process. The scrambled image is further XORed with the key image generated through the third stream of random numbers to obtain the final cipher image. Plaintext sensitivity is incorporated through SHA-256 hash codes for the given image. The suggested cipher is subjected to a comprehensive set of security parameters, such as the key space, histogram, correlation coefficient, information entropy, differential attack, peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), noise, and data loss attack, time complexity, and encryption throughput. In particular, the computational time of 0.1842 s and the throughput of 3.3488 Mbps of this scheme outperforms many published works, which bears immense promise for its real-world application.

Revitalization of tourism and hospitality sector: preempting pandemics through lessons learned.

The devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have left many repercussions for the tourism industry to preempt any future catastrophe of this nature. The research aims to propose recommendations for the post-COVID-19 business world to revitalize and reclaim their market space and win back their volumes without any fear of indefinite closures and continued lockdowns in the industry. Drawing from the literature, the study assumed revitalization through responsiveness, use of advanced technology, customers' and employees' willingness, enhanced skills, adherence to standard operating procedures and protective measures, and restructuring via a public-private partnership. For the purpose, survey method was employed to collect data from the industry. After confirmation of the reliability and validity, the regression analyses supported effective revitalization through government responsiveness, use of digital technology, psychological recouping of customers' willingness, enhancing technical skills through training, strict adherence to protective measures, and destination restructuring and reorganization through a public-private partnership. The study proclaimed that Pakistan's tourism and hospitality sector development has evolved through the COVID-19 situation, and is likely to revamp and revitalize into a sustainable business. Once achieving sustainability, the revamped industry will likely to increase revenue, generate employment, and alleviate poverty through thriving public-private partnerships, community involvement, and community well-being without compromising people's health.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy in new versus those patients with previous history of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy on ipsilateral side.

Objectives: To appraise the effects of previous history of ineffectual extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) treatment on the execution and end result of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Methods: The study was performed from January 2012 till November 2019 at the urology department at our hospital, a tertiary healthcare center. In total, four hundred and twenty two patients were enrolled in the study. We arranged the study participants into two groups. Group-I comprised of 66 subjects who had undergone failed SWL 12 months prior to PCNL procedure, while Group-II included patients who had no history of previous SWL. Information related to study variables was registered in designated proformas and then processed in SPSS version 16 for the statistical computations. Results: On the whole, the mean age of patients was 45.25± 14.38 years. While the mean calculus size was 494.80±128.83 mm2. The complexity of stones formulated on the basis of Guy's stone score was identical among the two groups. American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class categories were almost similar among the two groups. Stone free rates of 80.30% and 81.74% (p value=0.73) were observed in Group-I and II respectively. Time to create PCNL tract and mean drop in hemoglobin were noted to be significantly higher in Group-I. Complication rates and grades were not being dissimilar among the two groups. Conclusion: Patients having prior history of unsuccessful SWL history before undertaking the PCNL procedure manifested similar stone free rates and complications rates as those observed in SWL naive cases of PCNL.

Outcome of tubeless percutaneous nephrolithotomy in elder patients: A single-center experience from a developing country.

Background: Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) has evolved as a standard procedure to treat large-sized renal stones. A nephrostomy tube is used frequently in this procedure; however, data regarding tubeless PCNL procedures in elder patients is scarce. Aim: The aim of this study was to review the results and outcomes associated with tubeless PCNL procedures in the elderly population. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of patients aged ≥60 years at our hospital that was treated for renal stones by PCNL procedure. The patients were separated into two groups: Group 1 underwent tubed PCNL procedures and Group 2 received tubeless PCNL procedures. Information regarding variables were recorded in specified pro forma and then processed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences statistics analyses. Statistical tests were utilized for continuous and categorical variables and a P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 121 patients with a mean age of 65±5 years were included in the analysis. Mean stone size and body mass index were 3.4±1.5 cm and 26.2±4.3 kg/m2, respectively. Mean operative time was longer in tubed PCNL as compared to the tubeless group. Mean hospital stay was similar among the tubed and tubeless PCNL treated groups. Mean analgesic doses were significantly lower in the tubeless group. The overall stone-free rate was 89/121 patients (74%). Conclusion: Tubeless PCNL can be safely undertaken in geriatric patients and has potential advantages associated with shorter operative times and reduced necessity for analgesia. Relevance for Patients: Tubeless PCNL is considered advantageous as it can reduce post-operative pain and analgesia necessity; shorten hospitalization and lower cost in young patients. However, there is no clear evidence with reference to virtue of tubeless PCNL in the elderly age groups. This study will analyze and review results and outcomes associated with tubeless PCNL in a cohort of elderly patients.

Organic amendment plus inoculum drivers: Who drives more P nutrition for wheat plant fitness in small duration soil experiment.

Functioning of ecosystems depends on the nutrient dynamics across trophic levels, largely mediated by microbial interactions in the soil food web. The present study investigated the use of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and poultry manure (PM) for maintaining labile P in the soil for an extensive fertility enhancement and as a substitution of chemical fertilizers. Based on the different P solubilizing capabilities of Bacillus and Pseudomonas, a quadruple consortium of Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis and Pseudomonas fluorescens, and their grazer nematodes (soil free living) supplemented with PM were studied. This study was carried out on the trophic levels of soil communities to assess the growth and availability of P to the wheat plants. Experiment was performed for 90 days. Comparing the unamended and amended predator results showed that nematode addition beyond bacterial treatment substantially increased the net available P by ≈2 times, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity by 3.3 times. These results demonstrated the nematodes association with increasing nutrient availability or P mineralization. The interactive effect of PM as substrate and biological drivers was more noticeable on plant dry biomass (1.6 times) and plant P concentration (3.5times) compared to the similar unamended treatment. It is concluded that the biological drivers significantly enhanced the soil ALP and available P while the substrate and biological drivers enhanced dry biomass and plant P concentration. Bacterivore nematodes enhanced the effect of PSB for P mineralization via microbial loop and could be used for the enhancement of wheat production.