Delineation of nutrient management zones in Chunian using soil attributes database developed by soil fertility research institute, Punjab, Pakistan

A significant increase in food production, approximately 70%, is needed to feed the estimated 9.1 billion world population by 2050. Site-specific nutrient management through adoption of Precision Agriculture (PA) technologies can potentially increase crop productivity while keeping the use of chemical fertilizers at its minimum required level. In this study, agricultural land of tehsil Chunian was delineated into management zones using georeferenced soil attributes database developed by Soil Fertility Research Institute (SFRI), Punjab. Appropriate number of zones was determined after conducting fuzzy c -means unsupervised clustering analysis by using Management Zone Analyst (MZA) software and finally Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) was used to differentiate study area into five zones. Analysis of variance was performed to verify whether these defined zones reflect soil attributes. We concluded that tehsil Chunian could be categorized into five statistically different management zones based on soil electrical conductivity (EC), pH, soil organic matter (SOM), available potassium and available phosphorus levels. The highest crop yield was predicted in southeastern parts of tehsil Chunian represented by management zone-2 (4.4 t ha-1) followed by zone-1 (4.3 t ha-1). Whereas, northern and northwest areas were predicted with decreasing trend of wheat yield (zone-5, 3.7 t ha-1; zone-4, 4.0 t ha-1), respectively. We found that MZA and QGIS software could be used as supportive tools for making informed-decisions and the database of soil attributes developed by SFRI would serve as primary source of information for adoption of PA technology in coming years

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

An exploratory study of Muslim consumers’ halal meat purchasing intentions in Norway

Although Norway is the largest sheep meat producer in Scandinavia and Norwegian Muslims are expected to double in population in the next decade, the overall local per capita red meat consumption is still low. Meanwhile, Norwegian Muslims’ purchasing preferences on lamb meat products have not been investigated. This paper presents the results of a choice-based conjoint survey which would help stakeholders to understand the niche Muslim immigrant halal meat market and potentially increase meat consumption. Post-hoc market segmentation was performed using latent class analysis, and factors affecting consumers’ purchase intentions were studied within each segment. Results show that purchasing halal meat from a butcher was the top preference while there was a higher willingness to purchase from national supermarkets among younger second-generation Pakistanis. In order to benefit from niche halal meat market, Norwegian supermarkets are recommended to adapt some of the services that halal butchers are offering to their consumers