Hybrid energy sources status of Pakistan: An optimal technical proposal to solve the power crises issues

Power outage owing to shortage of power generation, transmission losses, lack of planning and inappropriate policies has led to escalate the energy crisis in Pakistan. The reason for selecting Pakistan is to facilitate its 220 million population and to attract the international investors to take benefit by integrating power generation units into National Grid of Pakistan (NGOP). Domestic, Industrial, health and education sectors are badly affected due to this power crisis. Instead of remedial measures and providing incentives to the investors in power sector, the government of Pakistan (GOP) has remained unable to overcome the dilemma in power sector due to improper check and balance. The failures in completion of hydropower dams and generating electricity by fossil fuels has resulted in increased power generation cost and environmental hazards. Therefore, some suitable solutions are compulsory for meeting the escalating power demands adequately. The incorporation of renewable energy units and stopping electricity theft can be the most explicit choice for meeting aforementioned problems. This paper explores the vast potential of Pakistan with respect to energy production by means of solar and wind power units. Moreover, most appropriate sites for incorporating power generation units are also critically reviewed. The paper also proposes the short-term, mid-term and long-term effective solutions along various practical proposals for overcoming the existing power crisis in Pakistan. Keywords: Power outage, HVDC, Energy crisis, Energy solutions, Renewable energy, Pakista

Effects of lead salts on growth, chlorophyll contents and tissue concentration of rice genotypes

Abstract Lead (Pb) is one of the most abundant heavy metal pollutants and readily absorbed by plants that exerts toxic effects and also gets entered into human food chain. There are very few examples of genetic differences being exploited to produce low Pb rice food through decreased metal uptake from Pb-polluted environment. In this regard, solution culture screening has been proposed as a rapid technique for the identification of prospective rice genotypes. In a hydroponics study, fourteen rice genotypes were tested against varying rates of applied Pb, to investigate the effects of chloride, sulfate and nitrate salts of Pb on growth, chlorophyll contents and tissue concentration of rice genotypes. The plants were exposed to 0, 100 and 200 µM Pb as PbCl 2 , PbSO 4 and Pb(NO 3 ) 2, separately for 42 days. Thus, there were seven treatments arranged in completely randomized design each with four replications. The results showed that at a certain defined Pb rate (100 or 200 µM), the toxic effects of Pb as Pb(NO 3 ) 2 to rice plants were found significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than PbCl 2 and PbSO 4 treatments. At all applied Pb treatments, the Shaheen Basmati and KS-282 were found tolerant to Pb because of higher growth, total chlorophyll contents, low root and shoot Pb concentration. Therefore, these both genotypes were found to be a good source for future rice breeding programs or grown by the farmers for Pb risk-free rice production in Pb polluted environment

Effects of lead salts on growth, chlorophyll contents and tissue concentration of rice genotypes

Lead (Pb) is one of the most abundant heavy metal pollutants and readily absorbed by plants that exerts toxic effects and also gets entered into human food chain. There are very few examples of genetic differences being exploited to produce low Pb rice food through decreased metal uptake from Pb-polluted environment. In this regard, solution culture screening has been proposed as a rapid technique for the identification of prospective rice genotypes. In a hydroponics study, fourteen rice genotypes were tested against varying rates of applied Pb, to investigate the effects of chloride, sulfate and nitrate salts of Pb on growth, chlorophyll contents and tissue concentration of rice genotypes. The plants were exposed to 0, 100 and 200 µM Pb as PbCl2, PbSO4 and Pb(NO3)2, separately for 42 days. Thus, there were seven treatments arranged in completely randomized design each with four replications. The results showed that at a certain defined Pb rate (100 or 200 µM), the toxic effects of Pb as Pb(NO3)2 to rice plants were found significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than PbCl2 and PbSO4 treatments. At all applied Pb treatments, the Shaheen Basmati and KS-282 were found tolerant to Pb because of higher growth, total chlorophyll contents, low root and shoot Pb concentration. Therefore, these both genotypes were found to be a good source for future rice breeding programs or grown by the farmers for Pb risk-free rice production in Pb polluted environment. © 2017 Friends Science Publisher