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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]

Generally, there is subsistence kind of farming in Pothwar Region of Pakistan. The per unit area income of farmers is very low and the soils of this region are very poor. Mostly mono-cropping system is prevailing here. So, the pearl millet and mung bean were selected as test crops to evaluate the intercropping system in this region for the ultimate improvement of the net profitability of the farmers per unit area simultaneously not compromising with the food security and soil health. Different line spacing's (inter and intra strip) i.e., 30, 60 and 90 cm were maintained along with different number of lines of pearl millet and mung bean i.e., 1, 2 and 3 in the form of strips for comparison. The results showed that intercropping significantly reduced density and dry biomass of weeds per unit area. Moreover, the biological yield, grain yield and the harvesting index of pearl millet and mung bean were also affected significantly under different sowing geometries. Both crops growth and yield was increased in the narrow row spacing as compared to wider row spacing, whereas, weed density and biomass was decreased in narrow spacing that may be due to less availability of space and more intra and inter specific competition. Maximum land equivalent ratio (1.8) was found under the plot where alternate strips of three lines of both crops were grown at 30 cm intra and inter strip distance and it was followed by (1.7) in the treatment where single lines of both crops were grown alternately at 30 cm distance. Similarly, the net income of intercropped plots having three lines of both crops grown alternately in the form of strips at 30 cm intra and inter strip spacing, was 116% higher than sole mung bean crop and 56% higher than sole pearl millet crop. Maximum weeds (106.4 m-2) were observed in single alternate lines of both crops grown at 90 cm intra and inter strip distance whereas minimum (75.2m-2) in triple lines of both crops grown alternately in the form of strips having 30 cm intra and inter strip distance. Therefore, intercropping of mung bean and pearl millet in the form of strips of three lines having 30 cm intra and inter strip distance is recommended to the farming community of Pothwar Region of Pakistan for taking maximum net returns per unit area per unit time through inter cropping in kharif season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to analyse family farming in context of socio-economic needs of farmers in district Nankana Sahib, Punjab, Pakistan in 2019. Tehsil Nankana Sahib was selected purposively as it was the largest tehsil of the selected district (Nankana Sahib). Twenty union councils were selected randomly; from each of the selected union councils three farm families were selected by using snow ball sampling technique. From each of the selected families, two respondents, one head of the farm family and second any other adult family member (willing to give concerned data) were selected. In this way, a validated and reliable interview schedule was used to collect data from 360 respondents. The collected data were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Mean, standard deviation, weighted score and rank order were calculated to interpret the data. It was concluded that family farming was providing food to whole family (score = 1570 and mean = 4.36). It was also playing its role to engage the whole family in farming related activities (score = 1548 and mean = 4.30). The family-based farming was also responsible for a better living standard (score = 1321 & mean = 3.67) of the family farmers, it was also the only source of income to fulfill the expenditures for happy and sad moments (score = 1310 and mean = 3.64), and the family farming was also contributing for better health and education (score = 2364 and mean = 3.79). The family farmers were also depending on farms for their agricultural needs (seed, fertilizers, pesticides and etc.). It was suggested that family farmers should move towards modern agricultural farming techniques to secure their profesion as well as themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is an important oil seed crop in Pakistan having the potential of bridging gap between production and consumption of edible oil in the country. The experiment was conducted at National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) Islamabad, Pakistan, during August to December, 2016, to evaluate different exotic sunflower hybrids for their performance and adaptability in the field area of NARC. Twelve sunflower hybrids including one check i.e. SF-16013, SF-16007, SF-16010, SF-16005, SF-16006, SF-16002, SF-16008, SF-16004, SF-16011, SF16003, SF-160011, Hysun-33 were studied in the experiment. The experiments were carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The distance between adjacent rows was 75 cm while the distance between plants to plant was 30 cm. The seed was sown in the first week of August. The following parameters were studied in the experiment i.e. days to flower initiation, days to flower completion, plant height, days to maturity, stem diameter, head diameter, number of leaves, 1000 seed weight and seed yield per hectare. Quality parameters were consisted upon oil content (%), protein content (%), and fatty acid profile. The results showed that significantly highest seed yield (2187.3) kg ha-1 was produced by SF 16003 followed by SF16010 and SF 16002 having (2016.2) kg ha-1 and (1888.2) kg ha-1 seed yield respectively. The Cluster analysis also determined SF 16003 as best hybrid which was at a very close distance from the group of SF16010 and SF 16002. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is facing a chronic deficiency of edible oil and imports around 75% of its edible oil from other countries which is a huge burden on our national economy. The situation thus requires for enhancing the indigenous oilseed production through different possible approaches. Development and promotion of local sunflower hybrids can be one of the options. Local sunflower hybrids with higher yield and wider adoptability can make Pakistan self sufficient in edible oil. Therefore a study was carried out at National Agricultural Research Centre Islamabad, to evaluate the performance of 12 locally developed sunflower Hybrids. Twelve sunflower hybrids including two checks viz., SMH 1006, SMH 0907, SMH 0932, SMH 1208, NKS-278, SMH 1001, SMH 0917, SMH 1401, Hysun-33, SMH 0927, SMH 0909 and SMH 1215 were studied in the experiment. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data regarding Agronomic parameters was collected on days to flower initiation, days to flower completion, stem diameter, number of leaves per plant, plant height, head diameter, days to maturity, 100 seed weight, number of seeds per head and seed yield per hectare. Quality parameters were consisted upon oil content (%), protein content (%) and Fatty acid profile. Results showed that SMH-1001 and SMH-1215 hybrids performed best for yield and quality parameters, whereas, SMH-1006 and SMH-0909 were considered best for early maturing traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat is the main cereal crop and a staple food in Pakistan. It is an important cereal crop of Potohar region. Weeds infestation is a major cause of low wheat yield. Synthetic herbicides are mostly used to control weeds. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the Chemical control of broad-leaved weeds in wheat at the Koont Research Farm, PMAS-Arid Agricultural University, Rawalpindi, during rabbi season, 2014. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications, with a plot size of 06 x 04 m2. Four different herbicides were applied as post emergence with three different doses each viz:,Ally max @ 34.58, 46.11 and 23.04 g ha-1, Lihua @ 53.34, 72.4 and 36.23 g ha-1, and Wheat Star @ 370.5, 494 and 247 g ha-1 and Buctril super 60% EC @ 741, 988 and 494 ml ha-1. An untreated control and hand weeded plot was also included in the trial. Wheat variety AUR-2009 was sown as a test crop and the herbicide was applied 65 days after sowing. All herbicides were sprayed as post-emergence. The best weed control was accomplished by Wheat star@ 494 gha-1 as profoundly lower weed counts m-2 (26), and higher percent weed control (27.9%) were noted after 25 days of its spray. Wheat growth parameters like plant height, number of tillers per m2, spike length and number of spikelets per spike remained statistically at par among various treatments. Significantly higher number of fertile tillers (172), Plant height (93.83 cm), spike length (7.4 cm) were noted with Wheat Star @ 370.5 g ha-1. Although treatments did not differ significantly with respect to wheat grain and biological yields, yet the highest grain yield (3295 kg ha-1) and biological yield (11173 kg ha-1) were produced by Wheat Star @ 370.5 g ha-1. Based on better weed control and wheat yield, Wheat Star @ 370.5 g ha-1 and Buctril Super @ 741 ml ha-1 are recommended in similar areas where wheat fields are predominantly affected by drought and infested by broad leaved weeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil weed seed bank is a natural source for weed infestation. Determination of soil weed seed bank has primary importance to get complete picture of weed seed reservoir in the soil profile. An experiment was conducted at University Research Farm, Chakwal Road, Rawalpindi to compare the techniques for determination of soil weed seed bank during winter 2012-2013 under rainfed conditions of Pothowar. Soil samples for the weed seed bank analysis were taken from the experimental field before wheat sowing from 0-10 cm, 11-20 cm and 21-30 cm soil depth. Two soil weed seed bank determination techniques were compared viz., sieving method and seedling emergence method. The data were collected on the seed density m-2, seed frequency, diversity of weed species and relative importance value. The input and output data was also collected to find out the socioeconomic feasibility of the techniques. The comparative analysis of seed bank extraction methods revealed higher weed seeds density, weed frequency with more diversity of weed species under sieving method in comparison to seedling emergence method. Therefore, sieving method was considered superior over seedling emergence method. The feasibility analysis of seed bank extraction methods indicated that sieving was cost-effective, less time consuming, more user friendly with higher accuracy over seedling emergence method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field experiments were conducted at two different locations (Barani Agriculture Research Institute Chakwal and farmer's field in Talagang) in northern rainfed Punjab, Pakistan, to assess relative efficiency of two sources of sulfur (S) in enhancing nitrogen (N) fixation and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The treatments were four combinations of two levels of S (15 and 30 kg ha−1) from two sources [gypsum and ammonium sulfate (AS)] and a no-S control. Application of S significantly increased seed yield up to 12% and 14% at Chakwal and Talagang, respectively. Response (kg seed yield kg−1 S) at economic optimum dose (EOD) was greater for AS than for gypsum. Sulfur application enhanced the S uptake at both locations significantly. Sulfur harvest index and S economic yield efficiency ratio were greater at Talagang than at Chakwal. Sulfur application resulted increases in N uptake by 19% and 20% and N fixation by up to 19% and 30% at Chakwal and Talagang, respectively. Ammonium sulfate was more effective in increasing N fixation and uptake as compared to gypsum at Chakwal, whereas the difference between the two sources was nonsignificant at Talagang. Thus, it can be concluded that S should be applied to chickpea crop to enhance yield and improve soil fertility status as result of greater amount of N fixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data obtained from 5260 birth records of 1179 Hissardale sheep maintained at the Livestock Experiment Station, Jahangirabad, in the district of Khanewal during 1978-1995 were analyzed. The objective was to evaluate the performance and to estimate the heritability of Hissardale sheep in Pakistan. Mean 180-day, 270-day, and yearling weights were 23.5 ± 3.31 kg, 25.7 ± 3.49 kg, and 30.7 ± 3.83 kg, respectively. Mean greasy fleece weight was 3.6 ± 0.57 kg. Post-weaning mean daily weight gain was 45 ± 0.02 g. Mean weight at first service was 38.9 ± 4.9 kg. The number of services per conception averaged 1.23 ± 0.40. The sire model using PROC MIXED in SAS was used to estimate heritability. Heritability estimates for 180-day, 270-day, and yearling weights were 0.09 ± 0.03, 0.17 ± 0.04, and 0.15 ± 0.04, respectively. The heritability estimate of post-weaning average daily gain was low (0.06 ± 0.03). The heritability for greasy fleece weight was also very low (0.02 ± 0.02). Low estimates of heritability indicated the presence of less additive genetic variance and large environmental variance. Hence, improvement in the traits through selection may be limited. [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]

Research trials on commercially important rice varieties were conducted to assess their response against the narrow brown leaf spot (NBLS) disease at the research area of Plant Pathology Department, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan during the year 2018 and repeated in 2019. For the sake of experimentation, Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kaku (RRIKSK) Sheikhupura provided the germplasm of ten rice varieties that farmers frequently used for cultivation. The seeds of rice varieties were sown in pots with a completely randomized design under controlled environmental conditions. The lower, middle, and flag leaves of five plants from each replication were tagged, and the percent severity of narrow brown leaf spot disease was recorded and analyzed by statistical computer software GenStat (10th Edition). The means of percent disease severity on different rice varieties were compared by Fisher’s protected least significant difference test at a 5% significance level. The simple main effects of rice varieties and years on the development of narrow brown leaf spot disease were significant, but their interactions were non-significant. The disease severities were enhanced during the year 2019 as compared to 2018 on the same rice varieties. Minimum disease severity was detected on the plants of rice variety Basmati-515 (1.67%) and maximum on rice variety PK- 1121 (81.00%). The second-highest level of susceptibility was found in the variety KSK-133 (67%) and ranked as very highly (VHS) susceptible. The variety B-Ksn (43.67%) was found highly susceptible. The varieties B-Chb (21.17%) and KSK-434 (22.50%) were statistically at par and found mildly resistant. Different rice varieties have different genetic response against the NBLS disease development. So, evaluating rice varieties against the infection of narrow brown leaf spot disease is the need of time for breeders for their breeding programs. The cultivation of resistant rice varieties is cost-effective for farmers regarding disease management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field experiments were conducted at two different locations under rainfed conditions of Punjab, Pakistan to assess nodulation, nitrogen fixation and nutrient uptake by chickpea (Cicer arietinumL.) in response to application of three rates [0, 40, and 80 kg phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5ha−1)] of phosphorus and three rates (0, 15 and 30 kg S ha−1) of sulfur in different combinations. Effect of phosphorus application was nonsignificant while that of sulfur was significant on percent nitrogen derived from atmosphere. Both phosphorus and sulfur application resulted in increase in nitrogen fixation up to 38% and 33% over control, respectively. Nutrient uptake [nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S)] increased significantly with the application of phosphorus and sulfur and correlated positively with nitrogen fixation. There is direct involvement of sulfur in the process of nitrogen fixation whereas effect of phosphorus on nitrogen fixation is indirect mainly through enhanced growth and dry matter production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen fixing capacity of leguminous plants can be increased by the supply of adequate amounts of nutrients, especially phosphorus and sulfur. Some nutrients have direct involvement in the process of nitrogen fixation while others affect by improving growth of host plant. Field experiments were conducted at two different locations in northern rainfed Punjab, Pakistan, to assess the amount of nitrogen fixation and nitrogen uptake by chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) during crop growing seasons 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. Treatments were: phosphorus levels (0, 40 and 80 kg P2O5 ha-1); sulfur sources (gypsum and ammonium sulfate) and levels (0, 15 and 30 kg S ha-1). The experimental design was randomized complete block with split-split plot arrangement: phosphorus levels in main plots, sulfur sources in sub-plots and sulfur levels in sub-sub-plots. Phosphorus (80 kg P2O5 ha-1) increased nitrogen fixed and uptake by 33 and 31 % over control. However, effect of phosphorus on nitrogen derived from atmosphere was not significant while that of sulfur was significant. Sulfur (30 kg S ha-1) increased nitrogen derived from atmosphere, amount of nitrogen fixed and nitrogen uptake by 6, 25 and 17 % over control. Ammonium sulfate treatments caused significantly higher amount of nitrogen fixed and higher nitrogen uptake as compared to gypsum treatments, although both sulfur sources were similar regarding percent nitrogen derived from atmosphere. A strong positive correlation (R= 0.98**) between amount of nitrogen fixed and nitrogen uptake at both locations was observed. There was a direct effect of sulfur on the process of nitrogen fixation, whereas phosphorus mainly affected growth of chickpea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted at Barani Agriculture Research Institute Chakwal Punjab, Pakistan to assess the seed yield, nitrogen fixation and nutrient uptake by chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in response to application of different levels of phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S). The treatments comprised three levels (0, 40 & 80 kg P2O5 ha-1) of P and three levels (0, 15 & 30 kg S ha-1) of S from two sulfur S sources (gypsum & ammonium sulfate) in different combinations. The trial was laid out according to randomized complete block design with split split plot arrangement. Application of P and S resulted in significant increase in seed yield by 21 and 12% over control, respectively. Effect of combined application of P and S was synergistic at nutrient application rate of P40S15, while antagonistic at P80S30. Sulfur application had significant effect on percent nitrogen derived from atmosphere (% Ndfa), while effect of P was non-significant. There was significant increase in protein content of chickpea seed due to application of S. Application of both P and S resulted in increase in nitrogen (N) fixation by 16%. Value cost ratio was less than 2 for higher level of P either sole or in combination with S. A fertilizer combination of P40S30 is more economical and cost effective for chickpea production under rainfed conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel approach comprised of fuzzy intelligence and GMM has been proposed for segmentation of brain MRI and carotid artery ultrasound images. • It utilizes statistical, wavelet, and textural features. • Robustness of the approach has been evaluated at Gaussian and Rician noise levels. • Application of the proposed approach to plaque detection in real carotid artery ultrasound images is assessed. • Benefit for clinical evaluation of the disease in both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals. In medical image analysis for disease diagnosis, segmentation is one of the challenging tasks. Owing to the inherited degradations in MRI improper segments are produced. Segmentation process is an important step in brain tissue analysis. Moreover, an early detection of plaque in carotid artery using ultrasound images may prevent serious brain strokes. Unfortunately, low quality and noisy ultrasound images are still challenges for accurate segmentation. The objective of this research is to develop a robust segmentation approach for medical images such as brain MRI and carotid artery ultrasound images. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed to address the segmentation challenges of medical images. The proposed approach employed fuzzy intelligence and Gaussian mixture model (GMM). It comprises two phases; firstly, incorporating spatial fuzzy c-means in GMM by exploiting statistical, texture, and wavelet image features. During model development, GMM parameters are estimated in presence of noise by EM algorithm iteratively. Utilizing these parameters, brain MRI images are segmented. In next phase, developed approach is applied to solve a real problem of carotid artery plaque detection using ultrasound images. The dataset of real patients annotated by radiologists has been obtained from Radiology Department, Shifa International Hospital Islamabad, Pakistan. For this, intima-media-thickness values are computed from the proposed segmentation followed by support vector machines for plaque classification (normal/abnormal). The obtained segmentation has been evaluated on standard brain MRI dataset and offers high segmentation accuracy of 99.2%. The proposed approach outperforms in term of segmentation performance range of 3–9% as compared to the state of the art approaches on brain MRI. Furthermore, the proposed approach shows robustness to various levels of Gaussian and Rician image noises. On carotid artery dataset, we have obtained high plaque detection rate in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F-score values of 98.8%, 99.3%, 98.0%, and 97.5% respectively. The proposed approach segments both modalities with high precision and shows robustness at Gaussian and Rician noise levels. Results for brain MRI and ultrasound images indicate its effectiveness and can be used as second opinion in addition to the radiologists. The developed approach is straightforward, efficient, and reproducible. It may benefit to improve the clinical evaluation of the disease in both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Family planning (FP) interventions aimed at reducing population growth have negligible during the last two decades in Pakistan. Innovative FP interventions that help reduce the growing population burden are the need of the hour. Marie Stopes Society - Pakistan implemented an operational research project - 'Evidence for Innovating to Save Lives', to explore effective and viable intervention models that can promote healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy in rural and under-served communities of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan. Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental (pre - and post-intervention with control arm) study to assess the effectiveness of each of the two intervention models, 1) Suraj model (meaning 'Sun' in English), which uses social franchises (SF) along with a demand-side financing (DSF) approach using free vouchers, and 2) Community Midwife (CMW) model, in promoting the use of modern contraceptive methods compared to respective controls. Baseline and endline cross-sectional household surveys were conducted, 24 months apart, by recruiting 5566 and 6316 married women of reproductive age (MWRA) respectively. We used Stata® version 8 to report the net effect of interventions on outcome indicators using difference-in-differences analysis. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to assess the net effect of the intervention on current contraceptive use, keeping time constant and adjusting for other variables in the model. Results: The Suraj model was effective in significantly increasing awareness about FP methods among MWRA by 14 % percentage points, current contraceptive use by 5 % percentage points and long term modern method - intrauterine device (IUD) use by 6 % percentage points. The CMW model significantly increased contraceptive awareness by 28 % percentage points, ever use of contraceptives by 7 % percentage points and, IUD use by 3 % percentage points. Additionally the Suraj intervention led to a 35 % greater prevalence (prevalence ratio: 1.35, 95 % CI: 1.22-1.50) of contraceptive use among MWRA. Conclusion: Suraj intervention highlights the importance of embedding subsidized FP services within the communities of the beneficiaries. The outcomes of the CMW intervention also improved the use of long-term contraceptives. These findings indicate the necessity of designing and implementing FP initiatives involving local mid-level providers to expand contraceptive coverage in under-served areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

License plate localization is the process of finding the license plate area and drawing a bounding box around it, while recognition is the process of identifying the text within the bounding box. The current state-of-the-art license plate localization and recognition approaches require license plates of standard size, style, fonts, and colors. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, license plates are non-standard and vary in terms of the characteristics mentioned above. This paper presents a deep-learning-based approach to localize and recognize Pakistani license plates with non-uniform and non-standardized sizes, fonts, and styles. We developed a new Pakistani license plate dataset (PLPD) to train and evaluate the proposed model. We conducted extensive experiments to compare the accuracy of the proposed approach with existing techniques. The results show that the proposed method outperformed the other methods to localize and recognize non-standard license plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field experiments were conducted at two locations in northern rainfed Punjab, Pakistan to assess the seed yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in response to application of different levels of sulfur and phosphorus. The treatments comprised three levels (0, 40 & 80 kg P2O5 ha-1) of phosphorus and three levels (0, 15 & 30 kg S ha-1) of sulfur from two sulfur sources (gypsum & ammonium sulfate) in different combinations. Phosphorus was applied in the form of triple super phosphate. Crop was harvested at maturity and data were recorded for seed yield. Application of phosphorus and sulfur resulted in significant increase in seed yield up to 34 and 17 % over control, respectively. Effect of combined application of phosphorus and sulfur was synergistic at nutrient application rate of 40 kg phosphorus and 15 kg sulfur ha-1, while antagonistic at 80 kg phosphorus and 30 kg sulfur ha-1. Value cost ratio was higher for combined application of phosphorus and sulfur as compared to their sole application. Therefore either 80 kg phosphorus along with 15 kg sulfur ha-1 or 40 kg phosphorus in combination with 30 kg sulfur ha-1 should be applied in order to maximize profit from chickpea crop under rainfed conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long-acting reversible contraceptives, such as the intrauterine device (IUD), remain underutilised in Pakistan with high discontinuation rates. Based on a 24-month prospective client follow-up (nested within a larger quasi-experimental study), this paper presents the comparison of two intervention models, one using private mid-level providers branded as "Suraj" and the other using community midwives (CMWs) of Maternal Newborn and Child Health Programme, for method continuation among IUD users. Moreover, determinants of IUD continuation and the reasons for discontinuation, and switching behaviour were studied within each arm.Methods: A total of 1,163 IUD users, 824 from Suraj and 339 from the CMW model, were enrolled in this 24-month prospective client follow-up. Participants were followed-up by female community mobilisers physically every second month to ascertain continued IUD usage and to collect information on associated factors, switching behaviour, reasons for discontinuation, and pregnancy occurrence. The probabilities of IUD continuation and the risk factors for discontinuation were estimated by life table analysis and Cox proportional-hazard techniques, respectively.Results: The cumulative probabilities of IUD continuation at 24 months in Suraj and CMW models were 82% and 80%, respectively. The difference between the two intervention areas was not significant. The probability distributions of IUD continuation were also similar in both interventions (Log rank test: χ(2) = 0.06, df = 1, P = 0.81; Breslow test: χ(2) = 0.6, df = 1, P = 0.44). Health concerns (Suraj = 57.1%, CMW = 38.7%) and pregnancy desire (Suraj = 29.3%, CMW = 40.3%) were reported as the most prominent reasons for IUD discontinuation in both intervention arms. IUD discontinuation was significantly associated with place of residence in Suraj and with age (15-25 years) in the CMW model.Conclusion: CMWs and private providers are equally capable of providing quality IUD services and ensuring higher method continuation. Pakistan's National Maternal Newborn and Child Health programme should consider training CMWs and providing IUDs through them. Moreover, private sector mid-level providers could be engaged in promoting the use of IUDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]