Alleviation of drought stress through foliar application of thiamine in two varieties of pea (Pisum sativum L.).

Drought stress poorly impacts many morphological and physio-biochemical processes in plants. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) plants are highly nutritious crops destined for human consumption; however, their productivity is threatened under drought stress. Thiamine (vitamin B1) is well-known essential micronutrient, acting as a cofactor in key metabolic processes. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the protective effect of foliar application of thiamine (0, 250, and 500 ppm) on two varieties of pea plants under drought stress. Here, we conducted the pot experiment at the Government College Women University, Faisalabad, to investigate the physio-biochemical and morphological traits of two pea varieties (sarsabz and metior) grown under drought stress and thiamine treatment. Drought stress was applied to plants after germination period of 1 month. Results showed that root fresh and dry weight, shoot fresh and dry weight, number of pods, leaf area, total soluble sugars, total phenolics, total protein contents, catalase, peroxidase, and mineral ions were reduced against drought stress. However, the application of thiamine (both 250 and 500 ppm) overcome the stress and also enhances these parameters, and significantly increases the antioxidant activities (catalase and peroxidase). Moreover, the performance of sarsabz was better under control and drought stress conditions than metior variety. In conclusion, the exogenous application of thiamine enabled the plants to withstand drought stress conditions by regulating several physiological and biochemical mechanisms. In agriculture, it is a great latent to alleviate the antagonistic impact of drought stress on crops through the foliar application of thiamine.

Male individualization using 12 rapidly mutating Y-STRs in Araein ethnic group and shared paternal lineage of Pakistani population.

A multiplex assay has been developed with newly designed primer sets comprising high mutation rate 12 RM Y-STR markers (DYS570, DYF399S1, DYS547, DYS612, DYF387S1, DYS449, DYS576, DYS5626, DYF403S1 (a + b), DYS627, DYS526, and DYF404S1). Rapidly mutating Y-STRs were evaluated in 167 male individuals among 97 were unrelated from Araein ethnic group and 70 belonged to shared paternal lineage including 20 pairs of father-son and 15 pairs of brother-brother relationship collected from Punjabi population of Pakistan. Forensic competency parameters were implemented for each marker and exceptionally significant results found wherein polymorphism information content (PIC) was in range of 0.7494 (DYS576) to 0.8994 (DYS627). Samples were also analyzed with Y-filer kit for comparison and marked differentiations observed. Haplotype discrimination capacity was 100% as no haplotype shared among all the unrelated individuals of same ethnic group as compared to 17 Y-filer loci (78%). While in closely related males, discrimination capacity was 96.4% with haplotype diversity value of 0.98. Resulted high mutation rate 1 × 10-2 to 7.14 × 10-2 as compared to Y-filer (1 × 10-4 to 1 × 10-3) manifested the power of RM Y-STRs for considering absolute individualization of interrelated and unrelated male individuals. However, multiplex assay would be useful for male discrimination in mixed DNA specimen, azoospermic males, and multiple male DNA contributors in sexual assault cases and mass disasters victim's identification as well as anthropological studies.