Role of foliar spray of plant growth regulators in improving photosynthetic pigments and metabolites in Plantago ovata (Psyllium) under salt stress – A field appraisal

Salinity is one of the major abiotic factors that limit the growth and productivity of plants. Foliar application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) may help plants ameliorate the negative impacts of salinity. Thus, a field experiment was conducted at the Botanical Garden University of Balochistan, Quetta, to explore the potential role of PGRs, i.e., moringa leaf extract (MLE; 10%), proline (PRO; 1 µM), salicylic acid (SA; 250 µM), and thiourea (TU; 10 mM) in ameliorating the impacts of salinity (120 mM) on Plantago ovata, an important medicinal plant. Salinity hampered plant photosynthetic pigments and metabolites but elevated oxidative parameters. However, foliar application of PGRs enhanced photosynthetic pigments, including Chl b (21.11%), carotenoids (57.87%) except Chl a, activated the defense mechanisms by restoring and enhancing the metabolites, i.e., soluble sugars (49.68%), soluble phenolics (33.34%), and proline (31.47%), significantly under salinity stress. Furthermore, foliar supplementation of PGRs under salt stress led to a decrease of about 43.02% and 43.27% in hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde content, respectively. Thus, PGRs can be recommended for improved photosynthetic efficiency and metabolite content that can help to get better yield under salt stress, with the best and most effective treatments being those of PRO and MLE to predominately ameliorate the harsh impacts of salinity

A STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF AQUATIC IMPURITIES ON THE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE

An experimental study, the details of which are presented in this paper pertains to the effect of water impurities particularly dissolved salts and turbidity in the water from various sources such as river water, ground water\ public health department water, sea water and LBOD water which is commonly used for mixing and curing of cement concrete. Pure distilled water has also been used for the sake of comparison. Chemical analysis of the water has been done to know the nature and quantity of dissolved salts in the water obtained from various sources. This study includes the determination of compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and poisson’s ratio

Allelopathic Impact of Sorghum and Sunflower on Germinability and Seedling Growth of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

Sorghum and sunflower are considered as highly allelopathic plants with inhibitory efficacy on plants of other species. In a pot study, the phytotoxic potential of sorghum and sunflower shoot and root on germination and seedling growth of cotton was evaluated through soil incorporation of powders and spray of water extracts. The experiment was conducted at | department of Agronomy, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam during Kharif (summer) 2010 and 2011. The analysis of pooled data suggested that all the powders and water extracts of both allelopathic crops caused substantial suppression of germination and related traits of cotton seedlings as compared to control (untreated). Sorghum shoot powder (10 g kg-1 soil) caused highest allelopathic effects and reduced cotton seed germination by 12.8%, root length by 45.4%, shoot length by 51.9%, fresh weight seedling-1 by 41.7% and dry weight seedling-1 by 36.7%, followed by sunflower shoot powder (10 g kg-1 soil) in phytotoxic efficiency for inhibiting seed germination, seedling growth and weight in contrast to control (untreated). Sorghum showed superiority over sunflower in allelopathic efficiency. Powder of both crops was found more allelopathic in contrast to water extract. Among plant parts phytotoxic potential, shoot proved higher in inhibitory effect than root. However, it was concluded from the results of present study that both sorghum and sunflower possess allelopathic compounds with growth suppressing ability which could be utilized for effective weed management in cotton under field conditions as eco-friendly low-cost alternate of herbicides with wise strategy

Spatter Formation and Splashing Induced Defects in Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion of AlSi10Mg Alloy: A Novel Hydrodynamics Modelling with Empirical Testing

Powder spattering and splashing in the melt pool are common phenomena during Laser-based Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) of metallic materials having high fluidity. For this purpose, analytical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models have been deduced for the LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy. The single printed layer’s dimensions were estimated using primary operating conditions for the analytical model. In CFD modelling, the volume of fluid and discrete element modelling techniques were applied to illustrate the splashing and spatter phenomena, providing a novel hydrodynamics CFD model for LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy. The computational results were compared with the experimental analyses. A trial-and-error method was used to propose an optimized set of parameters for the LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy. Laser scanning speed, laser spot diameter and laser power were changed. On the other hand, the powder layer thickness and hatch distance were kept constant. Following on, 20 samples were fabricated using the LPBF process. The printed samples’ microstructures were used to select optimized parameters for achieving defect-free parts. It was found that the recoil pressure, vaporization, high-speed vapor cloud, Marangoni flow, hydraulic pressure and buoyancy are all controlled by the laser-material interaction time. As the laser-AlSi10Mg material interaction period progresses, the forces presented above become dominant. Splashing occurs due to a combination of increased recoil pressure, laser-material interaction time, higher material’s fluidity, vaporization, dominancy of Marangoni flow, high-speed vapor cloud, hydraulic pressure, buoyancy, and transformation of keyhole from J-shape to reverse triangle-shape that is a tongue-like protrusion in the keyhole. In the LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy, only the conduction mode melt flow has been determined. For multi-layers printing of AlSi10Mg alloy, the optimum operating conditions are laser power = 140 W, laser spot diameter = 180 µm, laser scanning speed = 0.6 m/s, powder layer thickness = 50 µm and hatch distance = 112 µm. These conditions have been identified using sample microstructures

Spatter Formation and Splashing Induced Defects in Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion of AlSi10Mg Alloy: A Novel Hydrodynamics Modelling with Empirical Testing

Powder spattering and splashing in the melt pool are common phenomena during Laser-based Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) of metallic materials having high fluidity. For this purpose, analytical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models have been deduced for the LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy. The single printed layer’s dimensions were estimated using primary operating conditions for the analytical model. In CFD modelling, the volume of fluid and discrete element modelling techniques were applied to illustrate the splashing and spatter phenomena, providing a novel hydrodynamics CFD model for LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy. The computational results were compared with the experimental analyses. A trial-and-error method was used to propose an optimized set of parameters for the LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy. Laser scanning speed, laser spot diameter and laser power were changed. On the other hand, the powder layer thickness and hatch distance were kept constant. Following on, 20 samples were fabricated using the LPBF process. The printed samples’ microstructures were used to select optimized parameters for achieving defect-free parts. It was found that the recoil pressure, vaporization, high-speed vapor cloud, Marangoni flow, hydraulic pressure and buoyancy are all controlled by the laser-material interaction time. As the laser-AlSi10Mg material interaction period progresses, the forces presented above become dominant. Splashing occurs due to a combination of increased recoil pressure, laser-material interaction time, higher material’s fluidity, vaporization, dominancy of Marangoni flow, high-speed vapor cloud, hydraulic pressure, buoyancy, and transformation of keyhole from J-shape to reverse triangle-shape that is a tongue-like protrusion in the keyhole. In the LPBF of AlSi10Mg alloy, only the conduction mode melt flow has been determined. For multi-layers printing of AlSi10Mg alloy, the optimum operating conditions are laser power = 140 W, laser spot diameter = 180 µm, laser scanning speed = 0.6 m/s, powder layer thickness = 50 µm and hatch distance = 112 µm. These conditions have been identified using sample microstructures

Area of experimentation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), with Red markers highlighting data collection points for <i>DatasetA</i> while the Blue marker identifies localities for <i>DatasetB</i>.

Area of experimentation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), with Red markers highlighting data collection points for DatasetA while the Blue marker identifies localities for DatasetB.</p

A representation of long short term memory block.

x(t) represents the input at time step t. h(t − 1) is the hidden state from the previous time step.</p

Training and testing graphs for LSTM.

(a) Training Accuracy and Validation Accuracy for DatasetA. (b) Training Loss and Validation Loss for DatasetA.</p

Classification report of LSTM for Dataset B observed under the study.

Classification report of LSTM for Dataset B observed under the study.</p