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Two okra cultivars (Chinese green and Chinese red) were subjected to salt stress for 12 weeks. Salt stress treatments T1 (20.8 mM), T2 (103.3 mM), T3 (180.0 mM) and T4 (257.0 mM) were applied with equal proportions of NaCl and CaCl2 in Hoagland nutrient solution. Salt stress significantly affects photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, water potential, plant height, root length, fresh weight and dry weight of both okra cultivars in every salt stress treatment. At T2, T3 and T4, Chinese red plants maintained their physiological and growth traits up to Weeks 9, 6 and 3, respectively; beyond these salt-stress durations, growth reductions were found. Similarly, Chinese green plants maintained their growth up to Weeks 9, 5 and 3, respectively, at T2, T3 and T4 treatments. In comparison, Chinese red showed more tolerance than Chinese green. According to the results, the third and ninth weeks are the tolerance threshold limits for both cultivars to sustain their physiological traits and growth under T4 and T2 salinity treatments. Similarly, Chinese red has the threshold limit to bear T3 treatment up to the eighth week and Chinese green, up to the fifth week. Thus, this study provides a new method to determine the threshold value of crops with respect to duration under salt stress. This finding would be useful in the field of water saving and utilisation of saline water resources.

Objective: To determine immunization status of children residing in urban slums of Rawalpindi and identify the barriers to immunization. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Slums of Takht Pari, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan to Mar 2020. Methodology: Children, aged 12-23 months, residing at Takht Pari were enrolled. Two sessions of a free medical camp were arranged at Takht Pari by Department of Community Medicine, Foundation University, Islamabad. Data was collected from parents visiting the medical camp with the mother labelled as the primary respondent. Immunization cards and mother's recall were used to assess the immunization status of children. Results: Two hundred ninety-one (72.9%) children were completely immunized, partially immunized were 106(26.6%) while 2(0.5%) were unimmunized. Three hundred eighty-eight (97.2%) children were vaccinated through government centers while those who received vaccination through private clinics were 9(2.3%). Factors associated with incomplete immunization were education of parents (p<0.001), number of children (p<0.001), gender of child (p=0.001), access to TV or Radio (p<0.001), and site of immunization (government/private) (p<0.001). Conclusion: Immunization status of 73% shows that unremitting efforts are essential for attaining universal coverage of immunization with extra attention to underprivileged areas. Planning and placement of public facilities for preventive services needs to be an urgent priority improving service utilization and enhancing coverage as people tend to follow ease of accessibility for using immunization services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant invasions can affect soil properties in the invaded habitat by altering the biotic and abiotic nature of soils through positive or negative plant–soil feedback. Litter decomposition from many invasive species enhanced soil nutrients, thereby decreasing native plant diversity and leading to further plant invasions. Here, we examined the impact of litter decomposition from an invasive plant (Sphagneticola trilobata) in a range of soils at varying depths on growth and physiology of its native congener (Sphagneticola calendulacea). We added litter from S. trilobata to each soil type at different depths (0, 2, 4 and 6 cm). Plants of S. calendulacea were grown in each treatment, and morphological and physiological parameters were measured at the end of the growing period. All soils treated with litter displayed increases in soil nutrients at depths of 2 and 4 cm; while most growth traits, leaf chlorophyll and leaf nitrogen of S. calendulacea decreased at the same soil depths. Therefore, litter decomposition from invasive S. trilobata resulted in a positive plant–soil feedback for soil nutrients, and a negative plant–soil feedback for growth in native S. calendulacea. Our findings also suggest that the effects of litter decomposition from an invasive plant on soils and native species can vary significantly depending on the soil depth at which the litter is deposited. Future studies should focus on plant–soil feedback for more native and invasive species in invaded habitats, and the effects of invasive litter in more soil types and at greater soil depths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to develop an independent multi-criteria model to predict the growth of invasive Alternanthera philoxeroides under salt stress. Artificial neural-networks with Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) were used for building a Predicted Neural Model (PNM) using soil parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), water content, temperature, humidity, and organic content and a growth parameter, i.e. plant height. Quality assessment of the produced PNM is done through ex-post errors, i.e. Relative-Approximation Error (RAE), Root-Mean Square (RMS) error, Mean-Absolute Error (MAE), and Mean-Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). The MAPE was 2.21% for PNM of A. philoxeroides, which was less than 10%, thus proving that all the obtained results are highly satisfactory. In the next step, the sensitivity analysis assigned the highest rank 1 to salt stress in the model with a quotient value of 1.71, and the rank-2 was assigned to EC of soil with quotient value of 1.51. Therefore, the constructed PNM will provide the basis for building new prediction tools for the growth of invasive species. It will be an important element for prediction of invasiveness of A. philoxeroides in a stressful environment and will also be helpful for the management of invasive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]