Abdul Wahid

• Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim

Water-scarce areas are continually increasing worldwide. This factor reduces the quantity and quality of crops produced in affected areas. Physical seed treatments are considered economical and ecofriendly solutions for such problems. It was hypothesized that a moderately drought-tolerant crop grown from seeds treated with a He-Ne laser utilizes wa...

Abstract Extensive pesticides use is negatively disturbing the environment and humans. Pesticide bioremediation with eco-friendly techniques bears prime importance. This study evaluates the bioremediation of chlorpyrifos in soil using indigenous Bacillus cereus Ct3, isolated from cotton growing soils. Strains were identified through ribotyping (16s...

Cosmic energy equation is actually the representation of law of conservation of energy in the region expanding with time as Universe expands. It gives the evolution of kinetic and gravitational correlation potential energies with time in a cluster expanding as Universe expands. In order to understand the gravitational galaxy clustering in the expan...

Excess of exchangeable sodium (Na) in salt-affected soils causes ion toxicity and decrease in nutrient uptake by plants, particularly potassium (K). A number of studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of K-fertilization on plant growth under sodic and saline-sodic conditions but the results are much diverse to process for concrete rec...

Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses affecting crop plants worldwide including cotton. QTLs were identified to assess the genetic control of relative leaf water contents, excised leaf water loss, cell membrane stability, stomatal size and frequency under drought. An F2 population was developed by an intraspecific crossing between drought to...

Sugarcane shows reduced crop stand under relatively suboptimal conditions; the main reason for this is its sensitivity to ionic stress in the soil solution. This research was performed to explore some physiological and developmental changes in the immature sugarcane buds submitted to salt stress and possible role of glycinebetaine (GB) and proline...

Weeds pose serious threat to success of direct seeded rice (DSR). Cultural practices can alter dynamics of weed-crop competition through alteration of growth and accumulation of thermal time for phenological development. Thermal time accumulation by the DSR crop under different tillage systems, sowing times and durations of weed competition was stu...

Heavy metals greatly alter plant morphology and architecture, however detailed mechanisms of such changes are not fully explored. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of cadmium (CdCl2 .2.5H2 O) on some germination, morphological, biochemical and histological characteristics of developing embryonic tissue of maize. In the fir...

Cleavage and polyadenyation is an important step in eukaryotic mRNA biogenesis that also controls gene expression. The process undergoes with interaction of poly(A) factors with the poly(A) sites and with each other. Among different poly(A) factors, Cleavage and Polyadenylation Specificity Factor (CPSF) has a central role in the process. Tomato, So...

The aim of the study was to address the effects of hydrogen fluoride (HF) on mango (Mangifera indica L.), a widely grown economically important fruit of the Southern Punjab which has many agricultural fields with large mango orchards along with parallel clusters of poorly regulated brick-kilns emitting visible smoke throughout the year. A mango orc...

Cadmium (Cd) becomes very perilous pollutant for living things when its concentrations exceedcertain thresholdvalue. Barley (Hordeumvulgare L.) can accumulate high amount of Cd but the genotypic differences in barley for Cd uptake have not been clearly determined. The objective of this work was to determine the effects of three Cd levels (0, 500, 1...

In developing countries like Pakistan wastewater treatment is not a primary focus but due to its toxic affects the need for wastewater treatment is increasing day by day. Discharge of wastewater (containing heavy metals) without treatment leads to the damage to all functions of ecosystem. The present study is the continuation of previous work. Prev...

Use of industrial and domestic wastewaters for irrigation has been becoming a public health concern throughout the developing countries. It is a common practice in Pakistan to use industrial and sewage effluents to irrigate crops and vegetables. In this study an atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to measure cadmium, chromium, copper, nick...

The present work was conducted in Sustainable Development Study Centre, Government College University, Lahore. The focus of the study was the removal of coliform bacteria from municipal wastewater by Rhizocloniion implexum, a freshwater algal species. Experiments were conducted on the basis of pond size, algal and water quantity and optimum conditi...

Water stress is a major constraint in crop production particularly in arid and semiarid regions of the world including Pakistan. Screening of maize germplasm at early stage is an effective tool for successful crop production in these areas. A pot experiment was conducted to screen seven maize hybrids namely 32F10, 32B33, 33H35, 3335, 34N43, 6142, 6...

The present study was carried out to investigate the occurrence of ciprofloxacin (CIP) and norfloxacin (NOR) in wastewaters of three teaching hospitals of Lahore along with assessment of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the wastewaters. The concentrations of CIP and NOR in the wastewaters of hospitals were ranged from 126.86 to 48.23 μg/L and 50.23...

Indigenous bacterial isolates of Bacillus and Pseudomonas sp were used:to biodegrade the textile dye (light green) in the laboratory. The 50, 100 and 150 ppm of textile dye light green were completely decolorized after 24 h, while 200 ppm after 30 h of incubation. Both the isolates decolorized 76 to 79 % of dye after 24 h at pH 7 to 7.5 and tempera...

The current study was carried out to assess the pollution load in industrial effluent located at Hudiara drain and municipal wastewater collected from sewage drain passing through Shadman, Lahore and its treatment with heterogeneous species (Microspora sp., Rhizoclonium sp., Diatoms, Lyngbya sp., Dinoflagellates) of fresh water algae. Various compo...

The current study was carried out to assess the pollution load in industrial effluent located at Hudiara drain and municipal wastewater collected from sewage drain passing through Shadman, Lahore and its treatment with heterogeneous species (Microspora sp., Rhizoclonium sp., Diatoms, Lyngbya sp., Dinoflagellates) of fresh water algae. Various compo...

The current study was carried out to assess the pollution load in industrial effluent located at Hudiara drain and municipal wastewater collected from sewage drain passing through Shadman, Lahore and its treatment with heterogeneous species (Microspora sp., Rhizoclonium sp., Diatoms, Lyngbya sp., Dinoflagellates) of fresh water algae. Various compo...

Physicochemical properties of water pH, EC and TDS has relationship with total coliform count, total bacterial count and E. coli in terms of seasonal variations. It had been observed the highest values of TCC, TBC and fecal coliform was significantly higher in July as compare to April and December, Because the monsoon floods in river Kabul carries...

In the study area, vegetation was classified and ordinated by multivariate techniques. Randomly, floristic data was collected through quadrat method (quadrat size: 1m x 1m) from the self designated two zones of the GFP. Deterended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was applied in order to ordinate the plant communities. The species abundance was compare...

Medicinal usage of plants is one of the superior characteristic on which mankind is dependent upon since ages. Plants are being used for the treatment of various diseases of humans and animals. The Changa Manga Forest is designated as National Park located in Kasur, District. It consists of vast biological panorama, constituting many plants of the...

To investigate the toxic effects of Cd on seedling growth parameters and mineral nutrients, and the impact of SA in the alleviation of Cd toxicity in four basmati rice genotypes (Basmati-198, Basmati-370, Basmati-2000 and Kashmir Basmati), the pot experiment was conducted in sand-filled pots under normal temperature (28±2°C). After germination, the...

Plants are important source of medicines and major resources of healthcare since ancient times. Of these evening primrose (Oenothera biensis L.) is used in the treatment of a number of diseases due to its distinct antioxidative and medicinal properties. The studies pertaining to seasonal patterns of some secondary metabolites accumulation in leaves...

Multivariate technique i.e., CCA has been used to analyze the response of the species against the stress due to moisture. GLM (General Linear Model) response curve and attribute plot using 3-D contour has been used to see the response of the different species in each zone of the Changa Manga forest. Response curve shows that Cynodon dactylon was do...

The consumption of pesticides is increasing at an alarming rate in the third world countries including Pakistan and is creating serious environmental and health concerns. Pesticides are often persistent in soils and reach to humans by entering into food chain. Biostimulation and bioaugmentation are considered as most reliable techniques for pestici...

Renewable energy sources and technologies have the potential to provide solutions to the long-standing energy problems being faced by the developing countries like Pakistan. Pakistan is endowed with various renewable energy resources such as solar, hydal, wind, biofuel and geothermal. It can earn dividends if these resources are explored, exploited...

Silicon (Si) is known to be a beneficial element that involved in improving the growth of many crops. It was hypothesized that effective source and optimized rate of soil applied Si could promote the growth of the wheat under normal condition. Thus, this study aimed to assess the effective source and best level of soil applied Si on the growth of t...

Water samples were collected from River Ravi upstream and downstream to the city of Lahore to determine role of the city in spread of antibiotic and antibiotic resistant bacteria in the river. All the water samples collected upstream to the city was not contaminated with ciprofloxacin (CIP) and norfloxacin (NOR). Concentration of CIP and NOR in the...

In this study bacterial flora of meat in chicken Shawarma (meat) were investigated from five different regions of Lahore. Samples were taken from internal and external part of Shwarma. The contamination was present in both external and internal part of meat. But external part was found to be little more contaminated as compared to internal part. An...

Low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is important yield limiting factor in rice. This study evaluated the response of split application time of N on total dry matter accumulation and yield in dry direct seeded rice (DSR). Total crop required N (143 kg ha -1) was applied in different splits viz. three splits with one-half at sowing, remaining half at t...

The effects of sugar mill effluent (SME) on plant growth and biochemical attributes of two maize cultivars (Pak-Afgoi and EV-5098) were evaluated in a pot experiment. The maize kernels were sown in soil-filled pots. After 15 days of germination, maize seedlings were irrigated with four different concentrations (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% v/v) of SME. T...

The classification of herbaceous vegetation into groups establishes the link between researcher and resource managers, because the natural ground flora of any region represents the soil conditions, climate trends and indirectly refers to the overall natural system. Classification is an eminent mean that provides a description of vegetation units wi...

Ordination axis is frequently correlated with one environmental variable showing the correlation of the species with one of the environmental factor, thus it helps in the identification of the abundance and occurrence of the species. Different multiple approaches can depict such relations including biplot which introduces the species environment co...

Crop management techniques are useful tools to enhance the drought tolerance and crop yield when moisture supply is limited. A field study was conducted to predict the effects of potassium (K) doses (0, 90, 120, 150kg/ha) on drought resistance and growth of maize under different furrow irrigation systems. Irrigation in alternate-furrow irrigation (...

In present work, activated carbons were prepared from saw dust of Dalbergia sissoo, Cedrus deodara and Eucalyptus spp., using H3PO4, H2SO4 and BaCl2 as activating agents. The activated carbons were evaluated for reduction in color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of a real paper industry effluents using batch-mode method to explore the effect of op...

Intercropping can improve crop yields, but intercropping under different spatial patterns at large scale in central Punjab, Pakistan has not been studied. In this research, the feasibility of wheat-canola intercropping systems under two spatial patterns (row and mixed intercropping) was carried out to evaluate the interaction between the crops and...

Although ozone is well-documented to reduce crop yields in the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plain, there is little knowledge of its effects in other parts of south Asia. We surveyed crops close to the city of Peshawar, in north-west Pakistan, for visible injury, linking this to passive measurements of ozone concentrations. Foliar injury was foun...

Excessive use of pesticides are disturbing major components of ecosystems. Therefore their removal using biodegradation technique is the need of time. In present study, 35 microbial strains were isolated from industrial drain which carries effluents from chlorpyrifos manufacturing plant. These strains significantly differ in their ability against c...

Phytoremediation is effectively used to remove heavy metals from soil. In this research Chenopodium album and Chenopodium murale were evaluated for their comparative potential to phytoremediate increased (0-750 μM) cadmium (Cd) from soil. Both the Chenopodium species showed wide difference for Cd tolerance. Chlorophyll (Chl) a was at par with contr...

Water samples were collected from 18 sampling sites including the three hospitals their Municipal Wastewater (MWW) drains receiving the hospital sewage and from the river Ravi. The occurrence and fate of ofloxacin (OFLX) and resistance of Vibrio cholerae due to the presence of OFLX was studied. It was found that 16 out of 18 sites were contaminated...

Cosmic energy equation represents the law of conservation of energy in the region expanding with time as the universe expands. It gives the evolution of kinetic and correlation potential energy with time in a cluster expanding as the universe expands. To understand the clustering of galaxies under the influence of gravitational force, cosmic energy...

Present study was carried out to ascertain the effects of lead (Pb) on wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Shafaq-2006). Different concentrations of lead nitrate (viz., 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 mg/Kg of soil) were applied to potted wheat plants while control plants were grown without lead nitrate in the soil. Plants grown in all Pb treatments were...

The present study depicts a comparison of ozone (O3 ) concentrations over a decade time (1993-94 to 2006) using plant biomonitoring and continuous ozone monitors techniques in Lahore city of Pakistan. The variations in O3 levels were assessed at city centre, suburbs and semi-rural/rural locations in and around the city of Lahore by using American...

Study was conducted in the suburbs of Lahore city of Pakistan to ascertain the protective effects of ethylene diurea (EDU) on three cultivars of sesame plants against ambient air pollutants. Seasonal mean 10 hr pollution levels at the site remained very high (O3 : 91 ppb; NO2 : 38 ppb; SO2 : 10 ppb). It was found that plants treated with highest...

Micronutrients are vital for plant growth and human health. Soil and foliar applications are the most prevalent methods of micronutrient addition but the cost involved and difficulty in obtaining high quality micronutrient fertilizers are major concerns with these in developing countries. Micronutrient seed treatments, which include seed priming an...

We present the results of BV photoelectric photometry observations of UX Ari RS CVn Star, obtained on 14 nights during the observing run January-February, 2006, using 14 telescope and SSP-3 Photometer.

Crop yield potential with conservation agriculture (CA) in rainfed systems is often greater than with conventional tillage (CVT) systems, particularly where sub-optimal rainfall limits yield. However, the full potential is rarely achieved because of various biotic and abiotic constraints. Analysis of 25 experiments found a slight increase in CA cro...

Exotic quinoa genotypes were evaluated for seedling vigor, viability, heritability, and genotypic and phenotypic variations under lab. conditions. A total of 25 genotypes of quinoa underwent comparison. Distinct demarcation among these genotypes was observed for final germination percentage, mean germination time, time to 50% germination, germinati...

The effects of hexavalent chromium (Cr) were studied in rice plants by applying its different concentrations ranging from 50-500 mg/kg of soil. Cr significantly altered growth of rice plants and reduced dry weights of shoot (7-58%) and roots (7-73%) in different treatments. Cr impact was remarkably high on photosynthetic rate (21-62%), transpiratio...

High temperature strongly hampers the plant growth particularly at early growth stages. In this study, changes in some physiological and anatomical characteristics and possibility of mitigating the adversities of heat stress by soaking sugarcane nodal buds in 20 mM proline and glycinebetaine (GB) solutions have been explored. Heat stress reduced th...

A 43- year- old woman on treatment for primary hypothyroidism presented with 1- day progressive weakness of all her limbs and history of similar episodes in the past. Clinical examination revealed grade 2 hyporeflexive weakness. Investigations revealed features of hypokalemia, metabolic acidosis, alkaline urine, and a fractional bicarbonate excreti...

Impact of municipal wastewaters of Quetta city on two cultivars viz., SF-187 and SH-3322 of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) was assessed during 2005 growth season. Wastewaters effluents were not fit for irrigation purposes due to extremely high mineral contents and heavy metals. In addition, effluents were highly alkaline in nature with much highe...

Cosmic energy equation is an important equation for studying the gravitational galaxy clustering in the expanding universe. We derive the distribution function for fluctuations in particle number by using the cosmic energy equation for extended structures (galaxies with halos). From spatial distribution function, containing particle fluctuations, w...

The response to ozone (O3) of a range of Chinese leafy vegetables was investigated with respect to both inter- and intra-specific differences in sensitivity. In the interspecific experiment local Chinese cultivars of pak choi, rape, leaf mustard, leaf lettuce and coriander were fumigated with 90 ppb O3 for 9 h daily for 22–30 days. A similar fumiga...

Three rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties (Basmati-Pak, Basmati-370 and IRRI-9) of Pakistan were grown for their entire life cycle in open top field chambers to investigate the impacts of ambient ozone (O3 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), and sulphur dioxide (SO2 ) on the biomass, growth physiology, and yield. The treatments were charcoal filtered air (...

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world, and staple for more than half of the global population. Looming water crisis, water-intensive nature of rice cultivation and escalating labour costs drive the search for alternative management methods to increase water productivity in rice cultivation. Direct seeded rice (DSR) has received...

Contamination of agricultural soils with heavy metals, including cadmium (Cd), is global threat to agricultural productivity. Maize is sensitive to Cd toxicity, although varietal differences exist. However, the responses of maize varieties to Cd toxicity across the growing seasons are not reported. With the objective to find variability for Cd tole...

The effects of hexavalent chromium (Cr) were studied in rice plants by applying its different concentrations ranging from 50-500 mg/kg of soil. Cr significantly altered growth of rice plants and reduced dry weights of shoot (7-58%) and roots (7-73%) in different treatments. Cr impact was remarkably high on photosynthetic rate (21-62%), transpiratio...

Three rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties (Basmati-Pak, Basmati-370 and IRRI-9) of Pakistan were grown for their entire life cycle in open top field chambers to investigate the impacts of ambient ozone (O 3), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), and sulphur dioxide (SO 2) on the biomass, growth physiology, and yield. The treatments were charcoal filtered air (FA)...

We derive the cosmic energy equation for the non-point mass system of galaxies (galaxies with halos) by using the adiabatic approximation for the growth of gravitational clustering of galaxies in the expanding Universe. The cosmic energy equation so derived represents the general form of conservation of energy for the expanding volume. Using the de...

Worldwide rice productivity is being threatened by increased endeavours of drought stress. Among the visible symptoms of drought stress, hampered water relations and disrupted cellular membrane functions are the most important. Exogenous use of polyamines (PAs), salicylic acid (SA), brassinosteroids (BRs), glycinebetaine (GB) and nitrous oxide (NO)...

Improved planting methods and foliar application of glycinebetaine (GB) and salicylic acid (SA) can improve the water productivity in field crops under limited water supply conditions. A 2-year field study was conducted to evaluate the possible role of different planting methods and foliar applications of GB and SA in improving the yield, quality a...

Leaf growth is one of the first physiological processes affected by changes in plant water status under drought. A decrease in leaf expansion rate usually precedes any reduction in stomatal conductance or photosynthesis. Changes in leaf size and stomatal opening are potential adaptive mechanisms, which may help avoid drought by reducing transpirati...

For the distribution of classical non-interacting particles we use Maxwell-Boltzmann's statistics. However, this statistics is not workable for classical interacting particles (galaxies). We attempt to modify the Maxwell-Boltzmann's statistics by incorporating gravitational interaction term in it. The number of ways in which N-particles can have pa...

This study presents analysis of the current status of energy demand of agriculture sector of Punjab, which is associated with agricultural inputs and farm operations. It also included past trends and future scenarios in order to reduce the future energy demand. A computer based software called Long Range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) i...

The present study was carried out in order to investigate the impact of municipal wastewater effluents of Quetta city on the biomass, physiology, and productivity of two canola (Brassica napus L.) cultivars viz., Oscar and Rainbow. Plants were grown in pots from seed to maturity during 2005-2006 growth season. Different concentrations of effluents...

Improved planting methods and foliar application of glycinebetaine (GB) and salicylic acid (SA) can improve the water productivity in field crops under limited water supply conditions. A 2-year field study was conducted to evaluate the possible role of different planting methods and foliar applications of GB and SA in improving the yield, quality a...

Rice is life for more than half of humanity. It is the grain that has shaped the cultures, diets, and economies of billions of people in the world. Food security in the world is challenged by increasing food demand and threatened by declining water availability. More recently, the increase in area under biofuel crops at the cost of food crops is al...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) provides about 55–80% of the total calories for people in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Elsewhere, it represents a high-value commodity crop. Change in the method of crop establishment from traditional manual transplantation of seedlings to direct seeding has been adopted in many Asian countries in the last t...

Drought stress is the most pervasive threat to sustainable rice production and mainly disrupts membrane structure and cell-water relations. Exogenously applied brassinosteroids (BRs) may produce profound changes that may improve drought tolerance in rice. In this study, we monitored some physiological basis of the exogenously applied BRs in improvi...

Red leaf colour in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) variety SL 7-9 and green leaf colour variety FH-634 was crossed to raise F2 and F3 segregating populations for RAPD and SSR analysis. A total of 400 RAPD and 54 SSR primers were used to find out DNA markers linked with the red leaf colour. Two RAPD primers (OPL-09 and OPZ-11) and three SSR primer pa...

Drought stress is a severe threat to the sustainable rice production, which causes oxidative damage and disturbs plant water relations, while exogenously applied nitric oxide (NO) may have the potential to alleviate these effects in rice plants. In this study, the role of NO to improve drought tolerance in fine grain aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L....

Salinity often suppresses the wheat performance. As wheat is designated as silicon (Si) accumulator, hence Si application may alleviate the salinity induced damages. With the objective to combat the salinity stress in wheat by Si application (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg L-1) using calcium silicate, an experiment was conducted on two contrasting whea...

Drought stress encumbers the rice growth predominantly by oxidative damage to biological membranes and disturbed tissue water status. In this study, the role of salicylic acid (SA) to induce drought tolerance in aromatic fine grain rice cultivar Basmati 2000 was evaluated. SA was applied as seed and foliar treatments. For seed treatment, rice seeds...

Modelling-based studies to assess the extent and magnitude of ozone (O3) risk to agriculture in Asia suggest that yield losses of 5–20% for important crops may be common in areas experiencing elevated O3 concentrations. These assessments have relied on European and North American dose–response relationships and hence assumed an equivalent Asian cro...

We derive the cosmic energy equation for extended mass structures (i.e., galaxies with halos) which cluster gravitationally in the expanding universe. From this cosmic energy equation, we study the quasi-static evolution for nonpoint mass system of galaxies. Using this cosmic energy equation, we examine the growth of correlation potential energy fo...

Seed pretreatment with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can improve stress tolerance due to its biological activity, but the underlying mechanism of its action is largely elusive. This study explored the basis of heat tolerance in maize (Zea mays L.) following seed pretreatment with H2O2. Seed pretreatment indicated increased H2O2 content at 1 and 4 h (32...

Seed priming improves vigor, but priming agents may differ greatly in their effectiveness. The present study was performed to unravel the physiological basis of vigor improvement by priming sunflower achenes with pre-optimized levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), salicylic acid (SA), thiourea (TU), gibberellic acid (GA3), ascorbic acid (AA), sodium...

Abiotic stresses, including chilling, impede the plant growth and development mainly by oxidative damage. In this study, seed priming with CaCl2 was employed to reduce the damage caused by chilling stress in hybrid maize. Maize hybrid (Hycorn 8288) seeds were soaked in 50, 100 and 150 mg l−1 (ppm) aerated solution of CaCl2 for 24 h and dried. Treat...

Contamination of soils with cadmium is a major threat to ecosystems. Root uptake of cadmium from contaminated soils induces physiological changes such as a decrease in plant growth. Plant species and varieties show differential physiological mechanisms of cadmium tolerance. Here, we studied the effect of cadmium chloride on leaf chlorosis, gas exch...

The field experiments were conducted for three years (2005-2007) to determine the effect of planting pattern and water stress on sunflower yield and oil quality. Experimental treatment included four different water stress levels under four planting patterns. The results of this study indicated that planting pattern has no significant impact on oil...

Increased cadmium (Cd) contamination of soils resulting from industrial activities is critical to crop production. The objective of this study was to find varietal differences for foliar chlorosis and necrosis, growth and Cd accumulation in mungbean (Vigna radiata). Despite substantial varietal differences, increased Cd levels reduced the shoot and...

Increased cadmium (Cd) uptake from contaminated soils damages plant metabolism. The purpose of this study was to determine Cd-induced time-related changes in some shoot growth and physiological attributes, and their interrelationships in Cd-tolerant (NM-98) and sensitive (NM-28) mungbean varieties. Shoot Cd and leaf chlorosis increased with a conco...