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Carthamus oxyacantha is the noxious weed of Pothwar Region of Pakistan. This weed has excellent growing and surviving characteristics even under extreme stress conditions that may be due to its higher level of phenolic compounds. Similarly, utilization of nanotechnology is a novel and innovative field. Drought is threatening the productivity of wheat worldwide as a main environmental stress, especially in countries like Pakistan, where about 25% of cultivated area is rainfed. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy spectrum of Carthamus oxyacantha nano-biomass showed the presence of seven functional groups (alcohols, phenols, alkanes, 1-amines, aromatics, aromatic amines and alkyl halides). Plant phenolic compounds can act as antioxidants, structural polymers (lignin), attractants (flavonoids and carotenoids), UV screens (flavonoids), signal compounds (salicylic acid and flavonoids) and defense response chemicals (tannins and phytoalexins). They also play a crucial role in the tolerance mechanisms against a wide range of stresses. So, it was hypothesized that the exogenous application of nano-biomass of aforesaid weed as catalytic agent may improve the drought tolerance of wheat and this technology will be proved as an environment friendly solution for drought prone areas. The nano biomass of the subject weed was prepared through top-down approach and was applied exogenously through petri dish, test tube, pot experiments and then under open field conditions at different crop growth stages of wheat. Results of petri dish, test tube and pot experiments showed positive effects of nanobiomass upto certain limits but affected negatively beyond 250 ppm. The results of field experiments showed that there were 55.55 and 68.75% increase in the crop growth rate of wheat in 2020 and 2021 by three applications of nano-biomass at 250 ppm compared to control. Similarly, 61.27 and 53.97% increase in the grain yield of wheat was recorded with nano-biomass application compared to control in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Similarly, there was 250% and 252% decrease in the proline accumulation where nano biomass was applied by three times at different growth stages of wheat as compared with control during 2020 and 2021 respectively which confirmed the presence of drought stress in control treatment but mitigation in treated plots. So, results of this study clearly exhibited that the application of this technology would be useful to mitigate drought stress under rainfed conditions and we can increase our wheat growth and production by following this technique under this changing climate. Moreover, the application of this technique is user and environment friendly. The study is also suggested to be evaluated for other crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavior of different organic manures may vary in soil because of their compositional differences. The basic objective of this study was to examine the fundamental characteristics of the traditional organic manures and their direct effect upon aggregate formation and stability. The organic manures i.e. municipal solid waste compost, farmyard manure and poultry litter were characterized on the basis of total organic carbon, total polysaccharides, microbial biomass carbon, humic and fulvic acid content. A two years field trial was executed by applying each of these manures at four levels i.e. 0, 0.25, 0.50 and 1% of soil organic carbon in a randomized complete block design. Poultry litter dominated in the carbonaceous compounds in its composition and under field conditions its application at 0.25% level significantly enhanced the macro aggregate formation (2-4 and 1-2 mm) which reflected in mean weight diameter (MWD) as 1.48 mm and effective sizes at D10, D30 and D60 (0.0261, 0.099 and 0.732 mm, respectively). The application of MSW compost at 0.25% level significantly improved the MWD of wet aggregates (5.5 mm) and carbon concentration of macro aggregates (2-4, 1-2 and 0.5-1 mm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrow brown leaf spot disease of rice caused by fungus Cercospora oryzae Miyake emerged as potential threat to rice crop in previous few years worldwide and can cause more than 40% yield loss. The disease symptoms were noted on various commercially important rice varieties in the rice growing districts of Punjab province of Pakistan. Hence, the studies were planned to assess the effects of Propiconazole fungicide application timings and different rice varieties on the severity of narrow brown leaf spot (NBLS) disease of rice to develop an accurate management strategy for the disease. The Propiconazole fungicide was tested at three various growth phases (early booting, late booting, and soft dough) of four rice varieties against the percent severity of the NBLS disease The experiments were designed under strip-plot (crisscross) design with four replications at research area of Plant Pathology Department, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. Analysis of variance has demonstrated that the main and interactive effects of fungicide applications and rice varieties were found significant. The main effects of years were found non-significant but their interactions with fungicide application timings and rice varieties were significant. Fungicide applications at soft dough and late booting phases of rice variety B-515 were found least effective to reduce the disease severity, respectively. Fungicide application at early booting of rice variety PK-1121 was found most effective by reducing the maximum percent diseases severity (47.25%) compared to control. It is concluded that, to minimize hazardous effects of chemicals on the environment by practicing multiple sprays at inappropriate growth phases of rice crop, fungicides must be applied during the early and late booting phases of rice varieties on mildly resistance, susceptible and highly susceptible rice varieties to reduce NBLS disease severity and to enhance the rice production and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]