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The use of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) has been closely connected with the survival of people in arid areas given their fruits´ high concentration of energy, fibre, minerals, vitamins and 16 amino acids. The arid climate and sandy or clayey loam soils in many parts of Pakistan are ideal for the cultivation of date palm, which contributes to feeding the country's rapidly growing population. To fill knowledge gaps on the effects of cultivar diversity and cultivation sites on the nutritional properties of dates, the present project studied dates and related physical and chemical soil properties across six districts in four provinces of Pakistan: Jhang, Muzaffargarh and Bahawalpur in Punjab; Dera Ismail Khan (D. I. Khan) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK); Khairpur in Sindh and Panjgur in Baluchistan. To this end, during 2012–2013, a total of 170 households (HHs) were selected using a snowball sampling approach. Thirty-nine different date palm cultivars with diverse nutritional properties are grown in the study area. In these total soluble solids (TSS) were highest in Muzawati and Koharba cultivars, while cultivars and site conditions significantly affected TSS, minerals (calcium and magnesium), acidity, and firmness of dates. Concentration of CaCO3 and bulk density (BD) of soils varied widely, while hydraulic conductivity (HC) was similar across sites (p = 0.128). Mean soil pH was highest in Panjgur (8.3) and lowest in Muzaffargarh (7.6), soil organic matter content was highest in Jhang (0.8%) and lowest in D. I. Khan (0.6%) and plant available phosphorous (P) was highest in Muzaffargarh (7.8 mg kg−1) and lowest in Panjgur (6.0 mg kg−1). As indicated by correlation analysis BD and cation exchange capacity of soils seemed to affect TSS, whereas concentration of CaCO3 and available P were correlated with calcium concentration of dates. HC and electrical conductivity, however, seemed to have little effect on dates´ nutritional properties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tomato production in Pakistan is facing stagnation due to different biotic and abiotic stresses. Tomato crop thrives well at temperatures ranging from 13 to 30°C. Tomato plants are sensitive to chilling temperature (0-12°C), therefore, its yield is affected by frost and low temperature. Hence, chilling stress is the major yield limiting factor for tomato cultivation in the plain areas of Pakistan. In order to develop high yielding frost/chilling tolerant tomato varieties/hybrids, there is need to exploit the existing variability for different yield related traits in tomato. The present study was designed to undertake the genetic analysis of various quantitative traits of economic worth. Among all the screened genotypes, only 18 lines were identified as frost tolerant. The selected lines were crossed with three high yielding testers. The parents and the F1 hybrids were planted at two different locations (Faisalabad and Sialkot). The data for various fruit morphology traits were recorded and subjected to biometrical analysis to evaluate variability in parents and off springs. The yield performance of hybrids was evaluated at two different locations as a step towards the development of genetically improved indigenous hybrids/varieties in tomatoes. Maximum heterosis (78.11%) for marketable fruit yield per plant was calculated in F1 hybrid resulting from a cross involving 017856 and Roma. Likewise, maximum heterosis for fruit length, width and weight was recorded for F1 hybrids of BSX-717-1-1 × Roma (20.67%), Rutgar Sala × Nagina (50.80%) and CLN-2418 A × Roma (44.90%), respectively. Hence, suggesting the use of these parental genotypes for the development of frost tolerant and high yielding tomato varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mango is the second major fruit crop of Pakistan. A large number of unexplored indigenous mango germplasm with great economic significance is present in the country. Hence, 425 mango accessions were studied from Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) as well as Northern and Southern Punjab to explore the genetic diversity. Total 33 traits (25 qualitative and 8 quantitative) enabled the assessment of morphological and physico-chemical diversity of the studied indigenous mango germplasm. The first three principal components (PCs) contributed 68.06% variability among all mango accessions. The PCs also successfully grouped mango accessions according to their morphological and physico-chemical characteristics. Trunk height, tree circumference, crown diameter, leaf colour, leaf blade length, petiole length, inflorescence length, inflorescence width, fruit shape, fruit weight, soluble solid contents, titratable acidity, sugar:acid ratio, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars and total sugars were found highly variable. Many of these characters are of substantial economic significance and could be used as breeding goals to increase the germplasm repository as well as fruit yield and quality. In conclusion, morphological and physico-chemical traits were highly useful for mango germplasm characterization. Several accessions also showed potentially good traits which could be used to develop new mango cultivars through future breeding schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powdery mildew significantly hampers pea yield and deteriorate its quality as well. The resistance breakdown remained the main reason for failure in each attempt to incorporate powdery mildew resistance in well adapted pea cultivars. A precise selection of powdery mildew resistant source is the key to develop high yielding and stable powdery mildew resistant cultivars. Field screening alone is not an efficient method for making selection for powdery mildew resistance. Different physiological parameters viz., the concentration of total chlorophyll, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a: chlorophyll b and the number of stomata were found to be in a tight positive correlation with disease severity while, the concentration of chlorophyll a had negative correlation. The differential behaviour of these traits in powdery mildew susceptible and resistant genotypes has suggested their use as reliable criteria for screening against powdery mildew. A 1-5 scale has been devised for screening against powdery mildew in pea; where score 1 is for highly resistant and 5 for highly susceptible genotype. The suggested scale is reliable and reproducible in making selections for powdery mildew resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polypyrrole-Sn(IV)arsenotungstate (Ppy-SnAT) nanocomposite cation exchanger membrane was prepared by solution casting method of Polypyrrole in the presence of Sn(II)arsenotungstate gel and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as a binder. The formation of Polypyrrole-Sn(IV)arsenotungstate nanocomposite cation exchanger membrane was characterized by Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The membrane having a composition of 4.5:1 (composite:PVC) shows best results for water content, porosity, thickness and swelling. Our studies show that the present ion selective membrane electrode is selective for Ba(II) metal, having detection limit (1 × 10 − 8 M to 1 × 10 − 1 M), response time (35 s) and working pH range (3–5). The selectivity coefficient values for interfering ions indicate good selectivity for Ba(II) over interfering cations. The analytical utility of this electrode was established by employing it as an indicator electrode in potentiometric titration. The dielectrical constants (ε′, ε″), dielectric loss (tanδ) and AC conductivity (σ ac ) were studied as a function of frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Plant production is severely affected by biotic and abiotic stresses R-genes exhibit resistance against a range of diseases and pathogens in plants. The nucleotide binding site and leucine rich repeat ( NBS-LRR) class of R-genes is the most comprehensively studied in terms of sequence evolution and genome distribution. The differential response for resistance against biotic and abiotic stress has been observed in cultivated and wild relatives of the genus Gossypium. RESULTS Efforts have been made to address the recent evolution of NBS-LRR sequences within Gossypium hirsutum and resistance gene analogue ( RGA) sequences derived from G. arboreum and G. raimondii. The % identity and phylogenetic analysis of NBS-LRR-encoded RGAs from tetraploid New World cotton and its diploid ancestors G. raimondii and G. arboreum suggest that the evolution of NBS-LRR-encoding sequences in G. hirsutum occurred by gradual accumulation of mutants that led to positive selection and a slow rate of divergence within distinct R-gene families. CONCLUSION The allotetraploid genome of cotton, after separating from its diploid parents, experienced polyploidisation, natural and artificial selection, hybrid necrosis, duplication and recombination which became the reason to shed off and evolve new genes for its survival. These driving forces influenced the development of genomic architecture that make it susceptible to diseases and pathogens as compared to donor parents. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cataracts are the most common cause of blindness and are responsible for more than half of all occurrences of blindness worldwide, early detection is crucial. It is now recognized that childhood cataract, which was once common among the elderly, is a significant cause of infant and young child blindness and severe visual impairment. The objective of this paper is to develop a machine learning-based optic image-based cataract detection system. The public health dataset has been used to collect the data in this case using the internet of things module. The auto region encoder basis Boltzmann architecture has been used to pre-process and pre-train this data for improved data classification. The detection was carried out using this pre-trained data, and when an image showed signs of cataract in the eye, it was classified using auto region encoder basis Boltzmann architecture. The simulation results show that various optical-based cataract image datasets have the best accuracy, precision, recall, F-1 score, and specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]