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The southern part of the Punjab province is blessed with a warm climate favorable for cotton production. Most of the rural families are dependent on cotton for socio-economic survival. Therefore, they utilize huge financial resources on pesticides to get maximum cotton production for sustainable rural livelihoods. However, lack of information about safe usage of pesticides may result not only in wastage of resources but also causes harmful effects. Therefore, the present study has been designed to assess the knowledge level of farmers about safe use of pesticides. From southern part of the Punjab, district Khanewal was selected for in-depth analysis about knowledge and behavior of pesticide users. A sample of 160 respondents was selected randomly and data from them was collected through interviews. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analyzing. Results depict that instructions regarding safe use of pesticides application was ranked 1st due to highest weighted score with value of 581. Based on ranking of health and environmental effects of pesticides, headache (health hazard) and ground water pollution (environmental hazard) were ranked 1st as perceived by farmer respondents. There is a need for training of farming community concerning safe usage of pesticides to avoid its health and the environmental effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current study was designed to investigate and compare the effects of a locally isolated strain of Lactobacillus brevis MF179529 (LB) with commercial probiotic (CP), and yeast (Y) on growth performance and meat quality of chicken. One-day old Cobb broiler chicken (n=270) were randomly allocated into six groups (A-F) having 45 birds in each group. Groups, A-E were continuously given 1g of different probiotics (LB, CP, Y, LB+CP, LB+CP+Y, respectively) in 10 L of drinking water for 42 days except group F (Negative Control) which was given plain drinking water. Feed consumption and weight gain were recorded on weekly basis. Subsequently, at day 42, birds were slaughtered and breast meat samples were processed for meat quality parameters. FCR of groups A, D and E was significantly lower than group F. Similarly, group A displayed high body weight compared to B, C and F groups (p<0.05). Among color attributes, L* (groups A-E) and b* (Group A, C-E) were significantly higher than group F, while a* of group A was higher (p<0.05) than groups C and F. The results indicate that supplementation of LB alone and in combination with, commercial probiotics lead to significant improvement (p<0.05) in growth rate, total proteins, mineral and fat contents as well as color attributes and tenderness of meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]