318 research outputs found
Economic Evaluation of Pesticide Use Externalities in the Cotton Zones of Punjab, Pakistan
The crop protection strategy in Pakistan is almost entirely based on pesticide use whereas development of integrated pest management (IPM) based technologies is in its initial phases of scrutiny as well as implementation. The inefficient use of chemicals has resulted in environmental pollution and sub-optimal returns to the society on the costly investments. This study estimates the social cost of pesticide use and suggests appropriate guidelines for regulating the safe use of pesticides. An overall economic evaluation of the externalities for the current pesticide use levels shows that external costs are quite higher than the currently paid price at the farm gate level. The environmental degradation and public health costs inflicted on the society due to the inefficient chemical use on cotton crop amounts to twelve thousand million rupees. The reduced reliance on crop protection through chemical methods seems inevitable for a sustainable and healthy crop production.economic evaluation; externalities; pesticide use; social cost; crop protection; Punjab; Pakistan
Screening of Arabidopsis mutants for functional genomic studies
Eight photosynthetic Arabidopsis mutants were screened for co-segregation of a photosynthetic phenotype with the T-DNA insertion. These mutants were selected from 80 photosynthetic mutants with genetic background of Columbia-0. Two different screening approaches were used to study the T-DNA insertion in the genome of mutant Arabidopsis lines. The sulphonamide sulfadiazine was found to be an effective selective agent and a single copy of sulfonamide resistant gene was found to be completely resistant to the optimal concentration i.e., 5mg mL-1. The maximum number of Arabidopsis mutant plants had confirmed insertions. Some of the plants did not show any amplification with gene specific primer combination, and it was assumed that either they were wild type plants or they had random T-DNA insertion and the insertion was not found in the gene under study but it could be found in any where in the genome. Some mutant plants were morphologically different from the wild type plants e.g., ALP105. These plants grew as small in size and dark green in color. After PCR screening with gene specific and T-DNA border primers all such mutant plants were confirmed as heterozygous T-DNA insertion plants
Environment-Friendly Cotton Production through Implementing Integrated Pest Management Approach
Tremendous increases in pesticide use in cotton growing areas
have severely affected the health of peoples and degraded environment
[Poswal and Williamson (1998); Ahmad and Poswal (2000); Orphal 2001 and
Khan (2000)]. Farmer Field School (FFS) based IPM implemented in the
world to reduce dependence on pesticides and promote environmentally
safe plant protection practices. An FFS-led Integrated Pest Management
(IMP) model implemented in Pakistan during 1996—popularly known as
“Vehari Model”, clearly demonstrated that IPM could be implemented on a
large scale at the farm level. UNDP-FAO Policy Reform Project provided
required policy level support to scale up the Farmer-led IPM in the
country. Implementation of pesticide policy project in Pakistan
highlighted that pesticide consumption increased from 665 metric tons in
1980 to 78,132 metric tons in 2003-4. The role of private sector in
promoting the production and use of pesticides was found tremendously
high. The private sector also took full advantage of government’s
pesticide import liberalisation policies. One of the key components of
dramatic increase in pesticide use in Pakistan is related to very soft
import and registration at that time, which allowed the generic
compounds registered elsewhere, to be imported without
fieldtesting
Fiscal Decentralisation in Pakistan
Fiscal decentralisation is considered as an important policy
instrument to achieve economic efficiency and ensure effective
governance through financial autonomy of provincial governments. It
integrates the smaller units of federation and ensures their
participation in the economic development of country while at the same
time capacitate the central government to fulfil the national level
tasks more efficiently and effectively. It is considered as an important
growth accelerating measure. It empowers the lower level governments
through financial autonomy and administrative empowerment. Devolution
helps the lower tiers of government to act as a powerful administrative
agent of the central government. However, decentralisation helps units
to be more innovative, responsible and efficient as they have more
autonomous status. Decentralisation policy is believed to positively
affect economic growth because it envisage better derivation and
implementation of social policies. The decentralised setup of the
government does not have any information barriers and lower level of
government is better positioned to know the basic necessities and
developmental needs of the people that are living in different regions
of a country. Decentralisation brings up the true potential of a
locality with the efficient resource exploration and its efficient
utilisation. It furthers competition among the competing constituencies
for better service provision which results in higher efficiency. This
all has the potential to positively influence economic
growth
السرقة والانتحال في الأدب والجامعات وطرق مكافحتها: Plagiarism in Literature and Institutions: History, Forms and Prevention
Plagiarism is the act of unacknowledged borrowing of the writings of others and passing them as one’s own. This fraudulence is closely related to forgery and piracy. This article deals with plagiarism in literature and institutions. Literary plagiarism is not new; its history is very old and goes back to pre-Islamic period. In the present era, it has spread as pandemic due to modern facilities. Our literature and educational institutions are badly affected by it. There are different types of plagiarism: accidental plagiarism, intentional plagiarism and self-plagiarism. This article describes its various forms, and the ways to control and prevent it.
Key words: Plagiarism, literature, educational intuitions, evolution, prevention, pre-Islamic period, form
Rising atmospheric temperature impact on wheat and thermotolerance strategies
Temperature across the globe is increasing continuously at the rate of 0.15–0.17 °C per decade since the industrial revolution. It is influencing agricultural crop productivity. Therefore, thermotolerance strategies are needed to have sustainability in crop yield under higher temperature. However, improving thermotolerance in the crop is a challenging task for crop scientists. Therefore, this review work was conducted with the aim of providing information on the wheat response in three research areas, i.e., physiology, breeding, and advances in genetics, which could assist the researchers in improving thermotolerance. The optimum temperature for wheat growth at the heading, anthesis, and grain filling duration is 16 ± 2.3 °C, 23 ± 1.75 °C, and 26 ± 1.53 °C, respectively. The high temperature adversely influences the crop phenology, growth, and development. The pre-anthesis high temperature retards the pollen viability, seed formation, and embryo development. The post-anthesis high temperature declines the starch granules accumulation, stem reserve carbohydrates, and translocation of photosynthates into grains. A high temperature above 40 °C inhibits the photosynthesis by damaging the photosystem-II, electron transport chain, and photosystem-I. Our review work highlighted that genotypes which can maintain a higher accumulation of proline, glycine betaine, expression of heat shock proteins, stay green and antioxidant enzymes activity viz., catalase, peroxidase, super oxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase can tolerate high temperature efficiently through sustaining cellular physiology. Similarly, the pre-anthesis acclimation with heat treatment, inorganic fertilizer such as nitrogen, potassium nitrate and potassium chloride, mulches with rice husk, early sowing, presoaking of a 6.6 mM solution of thiourea, foliar application of 50 ppm dithiothreitol, 10 mg per kg of silicon at heading and zinc ameliorate the crop against the high temperature. Finally, it has been suggested that modern genomics and omics techniques should be used to develop thermotolerance in wheat.Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan | Ref. 1a55b19f0b99ca1
Razina imunoglobulina u odnosu na neonatalnu smrtnost janjadi pak- karakul ovaca.
The study was conducted on 85 neonatals of Pak-Karakul sheep at the Sheep and Goat Development Centre, Rakh Khairewala, District Layyah, Pakistan, with the aim of assessing the relationship of immunoglobulins to neonatal lamb mortality. Overall mortality in neonates was 8.24%. Surviving lambs (3.77±0.07 kg) were significantly (P<0.001) heavier than those that died during the neonatal period (2.79±0.018 kg). Males were significantly (P<0.05) heavier than females (3.84±0.11 vs. 3.52±0.09 kg). The lambs that survived the neonatal period had a significantly (P<0.001) higher level of immunoglobulins (30.89±0.87 ZST units) than those that died (7.08±1.99 ZST units). The mean total serum protein values for surviving and dead lambs, using a refractometer, were 78.51±1.86 and 47.14±4.84 g/l, respectively. The turbidity values below 10 ZST units and total serum protein level below 50 g/l may be considered as an indication of hypogammaglobulinemia and consequently an increased susceptibility to diseases and subsequent deaths.Istraživanje je provedeno na 85 novorođenčadi pak-karakul ovaca u Sheep and Goat Development Centru u Rakh Khairewala, u području Layyah u Pakistanu, s ciljem procjene odnosa imunoglobulina i neonatalne smrtnosti janjadi. Ukupna smrtnost novorođenčadi je bila 8,24%. Janjad koja je preživjela (3,77±0,07 kg) imala je značajno (P<0,001) veću masu od one koja je uginula u neonatalnom razdoblju (2,79±0,018 kg). Masa mužjaka bila je značajno (P<0,05) veća od mase ženki (3,84±0,11 prema 3,52±0,09 kg). Janjci koji su preživjeli neonatalno razdoblje imali su značajno (P<0,001) višu razinu imunoglobulina (30,89±0,87 ZST jedinica) od onih koji su uginuli (7,08±1,99 ZST jedinica). Prosječne vrijednosti ukupnih serumskih proteina preživjelih i uginulih janjaca, mjerene refraktometrom, bile su 78,51±1,86 odnosno 47,14±4,84 g/l. Vrijednosti za turbiditet ispod10 ZST jedinica i za ukupne serumske proteine ispod 50 g/l mogu se smatrati indikacijom hipogamaglobulinemije i posljedične povećane prijemljivosti za bolesti i smrtnost
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