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

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

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