Bilquees Fatima

Androgenesis is reported in a few tree crops such as citrus and papaya; however, there is little information available about guava. Different modified Chu (N6) media and cold pretreatments of floral buds were tested to induce embryogenic calli in the anthers of two white flesh guava cultivars, ‘Round’ and ‘Pyriform’. Four modified Chu (N6) media fo...

Pollen irradiation technique has emerged as a novel tool to induce parthenogenesis. Round shaped guava cultivars including white flesh "Gola", pink flesh "Surkha" and pyriform shaped cultivar white flesh "Surahi" were self-pollinated by 60 Co gamma irradiated pollen at variable gamma irradiation doses viz. 100, 200, 350, 500, 700 and 900 Gy to obse...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.), a major fruit crop of the sub-tropical region, is facing a production decline due to drought stress. Morphophysiological responses to drought stress and underlying transcriptional regulations in guava are, largely, unknown. This study evaluated the drought stress tolerance of two guava cultivars, viz. “Gola” and “Surahi,...

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a genetically diverse group of vegetables having various cultivars with distinct traits. The study was conducted to explore the available germplasm of cucumber for better yield. Different commercial open pollinated and hybrid varieties of cucumber were planted in the field and evaluated for morphological variability...

To get desired level of agricultural crop production, researchers are working hard to achieve appropriate plant genetics which should counterpart with management practices and prevalent environmental conditions. Plant breeders can be more effective in the development of stress tolerant crop cultivars and hybrids when the genetic mechanisms of key t...

Seed priming has the potential to speed up emergence rate and vegetative growth, an effective way to develop early maturing varieties under prevalent environmental conditions. Ascorbate seed priming boosts up vegetative growth in fodder sorghum production. The present research work was planned to evaluate and identify an accurate level of ascorbic...

Being an oilseed crop, sunflower seed is more prone to storage conditions affecting the seed germination, seed quality and drastically negative impact on crop yield. Seed longevity is very important for long term safe storage of oilseeds. Temperature and relative humidity are the major factors regulating the seed longevity of oilseeds which also di...

Seed priming has the potential to speed up emergence rate and vegetative growth, an effective way to develop early maturing varieties under prevalent environmental conditions. Ascorbate seed priming boosts up vegetative growth in fodder sorghum production. The present research work was planned to evaluate and identify an accurate level of ascorbic...

Oat is being cultivated as cereal and multi-cut forage crop in temperate and subtropical regions of the world. However, elite germplasm of oats was found susceptible to abiotic stresses including drought stress. Therefore, 15 oat accessions were evaluated for various traits using completely randomized factorial design under four irrigation levels,...

Stevia is a natural sweet herb grown as a substitute for sugar producing crop. Its leaves have stevioside and have about 300 times more sweetness compared with other sugar producing crops. Its seeds are small and poor in germination hence can’t be used for mass propagation. Hence, this study was aimed to enhance propagation efficiency using Murashi...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit physical and chemical characterization was performed across six distinct summer and winter seasons (Year I-III) in two elite cultivars (Round and Pyriform) to assess genotypic and seasonal variations and their correlations with the key environmental components. A strong negative correlation was found between in temp...

Seeds and vegetative parts of two white and four pink flesh grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Macf.) varieties were exposed to colchicine treatment under in vitro and field conditions for the development of colchiploid germplasm for breeding programs. Genotype dependent plant growth responses were observed under both in vitro and field conditions. Embryo...

Biotechnology has played a significant role in crop improvement and productivity and flourished well since the last decade of the 20 th century. Biotechnology is a tool that intensively uses the biological systems to produce quality products for human consumption, particularly in the fields of agriculture and food processing. The recent advances in...

Grapefruit is considered as a minor citrus crop in Pakistan and its annual production is less than 0.5% of total citrus production. Grapefruit industry is depending upon pink flesh cultivar ‘Shamber’ and need varietal diversification. Mutation breeding has played a pivotal role in grapefruit crop improvement and most of the commercial cultivars are...

Grapefruit is considered as a minor citrus crop in Pakistan and its annual production is less than 0.5% of total citrus production. Grapefruit industry is depending upon pink flesh cultivar ‘Shamber’ and need varietal diversification. Mutation breeding has played a pivotal role in grapefruit crop improvement and most of the commercial cultivars are...

Citrus industry of Pakistan is dominated by Kinnow mandarin while grapefruit cultivation, despite having enormous nutraceutical properties, is negligible and concentrated by pigmented cv. Shamber only. Hence, fruit of six elite pigmented grapefruit cultivars viz. Flame ‘F’, Pink Ruby ‘PR’, Red Blush ‘RB’, Rio Red ‘RR’, Star Ruby ‘SR’ and Shamber ‘S...

Different elite strains of Guava cultivars 'Round' and 'Pyriform' collected from a single locality were evaluated for phenotypic, physico-chemical and genetic variation. Phenotypic variability was observed in strains of 'Round' and 'Pyriform' cultivars in leaf and fruit physical traits. In 'Round' strains, variation in leaf shape and other traits w...

Lime (Citrus aurantifolia L.) and related species are briefly introduced with details of new varieties. The economic importance, global distribution of limes and reasons for low productivity are discussed. Significance of germplasm collections, biodiversity and conservation along with breeding systems is explained in detail. Application and utiliza...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is one of the most popular sub-tropical fruit crops due to its regular bearing nature, extended harvest span, provision of meadow orcharding and better economic value. Breeders are interested to develop varieties having better fruit size and quality, soft or chewable seeds, tolerant to biotic (wilt disease and fruit fly)...

Twenty-eight strains of guava (Psidium guajava L.) cultivar Pyriform (Surahi) were collected from geographically distant localities in Punjab-Pakistan and evaluated for physico-chemical properties to select better candidates for clonal propagation and breeding programs. The largest fruit were observed in S12 (MSSP; 91.75 mm) followed by S26. The wi...

A comprehensive survey was conducted across guava growing regions of Punjab including Lahore (LHR), Faisalabad (FSD), Sahiwal (SWL), Multan (MUL) and Bahawalpur (BWP) for identification of the hot spots, collection of root samples from wilting plants for fungal isolation and characterization. A large number of root samples were collected and 70% of...

Guava cultivation is rapidly rising in the progressive farming community due to its early bearing habit, long harvesting span and meadow orchard culture. However, in the last 7-8 years, despite 25% increase in the area under cultivation, production has not increased accordingly and per hectare yield has decreased up to 13% mainly due to guava decli...

Mandarins including clementines, tangerines, satsumas, willowleaf, tangors and tangelos are the second largest cultivated group of citrus after sweet oranges and provide about 25% of world citrus production. Classical breeding has limited potential in citrus crop improvement and is handicapped mainly by nucellar embryony, long juvenility and self-i...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) cultivation and production is expanding despite biotic stress and growers are diverting towards high density plantations to meadow orcharding systems which demands establishment of better plant multiplication systems producing quality clonal plant material. Sixty elite guava strains in ‘Round’ (Gola) and ‘Pyriform’ (Surah...

In Pakistan grapefruit production is negligible and mainly ‘Foster’ and ‘Shamber’ seedy and seedless pink fleshed bud sports, respectively, have been cultivated which need varietal diversification. Annual grapefruit production is less than 0.5% of the total citrus production. In grapefruit flesh color enhancement, seedlessness and low furanocoumari...

Drought is amongst the most devastating threats for agriculture in Pakistan and rising water scarcity is predicted in future. Guava cultivation is economical, more rewarding and it is considered as a relatively drought tolerant fruit crop. Morphological and physiological alterations were investigated in two-year-old ‘Round’ (Gola) and ‘Pyriform’ (S...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) popularity is rising in growers as a highly economical fruit crop due to its early and regular bearing nature, extended harvesting span and possibility of meadow orcharding. Breeding objectives include development of soft seeds or seedlessness, better tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress including tolerance against wilt...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) popularity is rising in growers as a highly economical fruit crop due to its early and regular bearing nature, extended harvesting span and possibility of meadow orcharding. Breeding objectives include development of soft seeds or seedlessness, better tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress including tolerance against wilt...

Guava cultivation is rapidly rising in the progressive farming community due to its early bearing habit, long harvesting span and meadow orchard culture. However, in the last 7-8 years, despite 25% increase in the area under cultivation, production has not increased accordingly and per hectare yield has decreased up to 13% mainly due to guava decli...

Different elite strains of Guava cultivars ‘Round’ and ‘Pyriform’ collected from a single locality were evaluated for physico-chemical and genetic variation. Strains in cultivars ‘Round’ and ‘Pyriform’ depicted significant variation for physical traits including fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit length : fruit diameter, fruit weight, flesh weight...

Guava holds major position among fruit crops in Pakistan after Citrus and mango. It is considered as moderately salt tolerant crop and its capability to resist salts is alike rootstock traits. Increase in chloride concentration is the primary source of salt toxicity in guava and decrease in Cl- uptake makes plant resistant against salt toxicity. Li...

Guava holds major position among fruit crops in Pakistan and is considered as moderately salt tolerant crop. Little is known about potential of indigenous guava cultivars for salt tolerance. Hence, the study was aimed to investigate inherent potential in guava (cv. white fleshed Round) for salinity tolerance. Significant reductions in ∆ shoot growt...

Due to increased global concern over the deleterious effects of toxic heavy metals in the environment, it has become necessary to develop plant genotypes that limit the uptake of heavy metals to aerial edible parts. To address this concern, we performed a glasshouse experiment to assess variations within tomato germplasm for cadmium (Cd) tolerance...

Polyploids play a key role in the improvement of citrus cultivars. Citrus breeding programs necessitate morphological, cytological and genetic characterization of cultivars. Here we analyze the polyploids using these three approaches. Cytological studies signify occurrence of spontaneous triploids (9.95%) and tetraploids (6.05%) in Kinnow mandarin...

Haploid plant development through androgenesis is highly genotype dependent. Hence, native high yielding bitter gourd cultivar Faisalabad long was explored for androgenesis and development of embryogenic calli from somatic tissues. Flower buds of different sizes (small 11-13 mm; medium 13-15 mm; large 15-17 mm in length) at popcorn stage were colle...

Date palm is a dioecious monocotyledonous plant which belongs to Arecaceae family. Date palm pollen retains viability for a single growing season. Air dried pollen was enclosed in sealed capsules and stored at 4°C,-20°C and-80°C for different storage periods (1, 3, 6, 12 months). Pollen viability of fresh and stored pollen was determined by in vitr...

Date palm is a dioecious monocotyledonous plant which belongs to Arecaceae family. Date palm pollen retains viability for a single growing season. Air dried pollen was enclosed in sealed capsules and stored at 4°C,-20°C and-80°C for different storage periods (1, 3, 6, 12 months). Pollen viability of fresh and stored pollen was determined by in vitr...

Capsicum cultivars Sanam and Nepali were investigated for their in vitro regeneration potential. The regeneration behavior was found to be independent of genotype. Maximum calli (83%) were induced in cotyledon explant on MS medium containing 2,4-D (1 mgL -1). No embryogenesis could be observed in calli when sub-cultured on auxin free medium. Highes...

Essential nutrient profiling of natural and steam sterilized soil and soilless media components was performed to obtain better rough lemon seedling growth in containers. Steam sterilization of potting media components did not alter physico-chemical properties of the media. Three fold higher seed germination (95%), two fold better seedling growth 9....

Sadabahar guava cultivars are bearing round the year and no other fruit crop offers such uniform production. This makes guava which is the third most important fruit crop in Punjab, an attractive fruit crop for growers in establishing new orchards. Further, guava is highly nutraceutically rich fruit containing more vit. C compared with Citrus. Owin...

Androgenesisisaneffectiveshortcuttoolindevelopingpurelinesforfuturebreedingprograms.Anthersofindigenousbittergourd(MomordicacharantiaL.)fromyoungfloralbuds(11-13mm)wereculturedonMSmediumcontainingdifferentplantgrowthregulators(PGRs)fordirectorindirectembryogenesisandsubsequentplantregenerationafterexposingtocoldshockat4˚Cfor0-96hrs.toenhanceembryog...

To identify the genotypic effects of parents for wheat × maize crossing system, five F1 wheat genotypes were crossed with five maize cultivars. The data for haploid seed and embryo production in each cross was recorded and analyzed. The data revealed that maize genotypes have significant variable effects on haploid wheat seed and embryo production....

Guava iPsidium guajava L.) is ranked as third most important fruit crop in Punjab due to its well adaptation to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. Sadabahar cultivars are economical to grow and give high returns to the farmers. Guava fruit is highly nutraceutically important and provides more vitamin C compared with Citrus. Despite large...

Explants of different age were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing auxins and cytokinins in elite leafy vegetables under different photoperiodic conditions to explore in vitro regeneration. Fifteen days old explants produced more calli in both crops compared with 7 days old explants. Though, dark culture conditions triggered more...

Elite guava (Psidium guajava L.) cultivars Round and Pyriformed were explored for in vitro seed germination response to acid treatment and regeneration from leaf disc and other vegetative tissues. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) treatment of seed significantly enhanced in vitro and in vivo seed germination (97% and 80%, respectively) compared with sulfuric...

Citrus, member of family Rutaceae, is a bounty of fruit species and stands second after grapes in world in terms of area and production. Global Citrus leaders include USA, Brazil and China. China 15% and Brazil 7% has much higher area under Citrus, however USA is leading in per hectare yield producing >31 tons/ha based on better technology and cent...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a luscious and important tropical fruit crop. The objective of the study was to develop vegetative propagation system to avoid clonal degradation in guava fruit plants. Softwood cuttings from five year old gola accession were prepared from the shoot tops of current season growth, measuring 12 cm in length and carrying...

Elite commercial guava cultivars Round and Pyriformed were reciprocally crossed to develop hybrids. The crossed fruit was analyzed to explore metaxenial effects on fruit quality. Use of cv. Round as pollen parent markedly enhanced different fruit quality related attributes including fruit diameter (up to 25.4%), Total soluble solids (4.01 Brix), ti...

Elite guava (Psidium guajava L.) strains of cv. Safeda were explored in vitro for multiple shoot induction. Shoot induction was enhanced up to 83% with 3.5 to 4.25 shoots per single node cutting and shoot tip explants, respectively, using higher levels of benzyl amino purine (BAP) in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Enhancing sucrose supplement to...

One hundred and eight accessions of oats (Avena sativa L.) including five check arieties were evaluated for green fodder yield during 2011 following Augmented design. The highest values of genotypic variance, phenotypic variance, genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variance were recorded for number of tillers per meter row while lowest for numb...

Different cultivars of grapefruit (Citrus paradisi L.) were explored for colchicine induced polyploidization using embryo culture on MS medium. Embryo germination was found to be highly genotype dependent on colchicine containing MS medium. The highest number of germinated embryos per seed was observed in cvs. Shamber and Frost Fresh 2.89 and 2.27,...

Commercial cucumber cultivars were explored for embryogenesis and plant regeneration induced in somatic tissues on plant growth regulators (PGRs). Maximum callus induction 94.16% and 76% was observed in leaf disc explants on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D (2 mgL -1), NAA and BAP (1.5 mgL -1 , each), respectively. Seed cotyledon explants induced...

Citrus cultivars were explored for seed development in response to genotype and plant sides. Number of developed, under-developed and shrivelled seeds per berry per cultivar was found different. Kinnow showed the highest number of shrivelled seeds 3.7 per berry compared with Feutrell's early, Musambi and Succari cultivars that ranged 2.1-2.4 seeds...

Kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata) and Musambi sweet orange (C. sinensis) are the predominant citrus fruits cultivated in Pakistan. Citrus species are highly vulnerable to many types of pathogens. Among the viruses, Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is the most devastating which can cause the death of millions of citrus trees if once established. CTV is...

One of the rich sources of germplasm development to improve citrus crop is the ploidy management through in vivo and in vitro techniques. In vitro and in vivo applications of colchicine change the chromosome number by interfering with chromosomal segregation at anaphase, restricting cell wall formation and yielding polyploid cells. Further, endospe...

Different explants from in vitro raised cucumber seedling were excised and cultured on MS media containing various levels of plant growth regulators (PGRs) to establish plant regeneration. The trends for callus induction were found as among cultivars Bethalpha>Marketmore, among explants cotyledon>cotyledon leaf>leaf disc on medium containing 2,4-D>...

ABSTRACT : Seedlings recovered from underdeveloped seeds of different commercial cultivars of Citrus were studied for their ploidy level. Cytological examination revealed that maximum triploid plants were found in lime Kaghzi (15.5%) followed by grapefruit Foster, mandarin Kinnow, sweet orange Musambi and mandarin Feutrell’s Early (7.3%). Lime also...

Citrus cultivars were explored for multiple shoot induction and root regeneration in different media. The multiple root and shoot induction was found directly proportionate to the increase in the levels of benzyleaminopurine (BA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) in the modified Murashige and Skoog medium. The study might be promising towards in vi...

Cotyledonary nodes of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) produced maxi-mum number of shoots (3.43 shoots/explant) when cultured on MS supple-mented with 0.25 mg/l Kn. Highest percentage (93.3) of root development and root length (5.85 cm) was obtained when shoots were cultured on MS supplemented with 0.5 mg/l NAA and 0.1 mg/l Kn.

Different explants of mango cultivars were explored for in vitro plantlet regeneration on Murashige and Skoog (MS) and Gamborg (B5) medium. Only zygotic embryos of Chaunsa cultivar initiated callus formation and successful plant regeneration with highest percentage on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D 1mgL-1. Calli were also observed from zygotic e...

Effect of explant source was studied in indigenous potato variety PARS-70 and a Dutch introduction Santa for microtuber induction at different sucrose levels supplemented in Murashige and Skoog medium. In vitro grown shoots and nodal explants proved superior to shoot tips for shoot formation, shoot length, number of roots, root length, number of mi...

Multiple shoot induction was studied in upland cotton. Cotyledonary nodes obtained from aseptically raised seedling were cultured on modified Murashige and Skoog media supplemented with different doses of Kinetin. Cotyledonary nodes produced maximum number of shoots (3.43 shoots/explant) when cultured on MS medium supplemented with 0.25 mgL-1 Kinet...

Mango is the second most important fruit crop of Pakistan after Citrus. Its chronology has been reviewed since 1957 to present. In 1970's, Pakistan was the second largest mango producer in the world that have dropped upto 5th level now and declining trend may continue if the crop production and management is not properly dealt. Maximum average yiel...

Shoot tip and nodal segment explants were cultured on MS medium modified with different growth regulators for mass propagation of 'Hybrid Tea' roses cvs. 'Rosy Cheek' and 'Whisk Mac'. The Murashige and Skoog medium modified with BAP (3 rnql,") + IAA (3 rnql,") + activated charcoal (5 rnql,') effectively minimized production of phenolic compounds an...

Different explants excised from reproductive organs of papaya (Carica papaya L.) were appraised on half strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. It was supplemented with 2,4-D (2.5. 5.0 & 7:5 rngl.") and kinetin (0.5, 1.0 & 1.5 mgl.") for callogenesis. separately. Highest initial callus induction (100% and 75%) was found in ovary explants on Kinet...

Reproductive explant derived callus of'papaya (Carica papaya L) was subcultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different levels of NAA for embryogenesis and subsequent organogenesis, Embryo and ovary derived callus yielded maximum multiplication (80%) on NAA 5 and 3 mgL'1 in first week. Ovary (80%) derived callus multiplied at...

Citrus polyploids were developed through interploid hybridization followed by embryo rescue. Embryos from developed and underdeveloped seeds of reciprocal crosses of 2X x 4X of sweet lime (Citrus limettioides L.) and kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) were cultured on modified MS medium with different levels of GA3 (0,4, 8, 10 rngl."). The...

The survival of Citrus seeds was examined under different moisture contents and storage atmospheres. Results demonstrated that grapefruit (Citus paradisi Macf.) and rough lemon (Citrus limon L.) seeds can be dried upto 7% moisture content without any significant damage and their storage behaviour may be orthodox. Kinnow mandarin (C. reticulata Blan...

Developing comprehension about fruit set and drop behaviour is important to improve the yield status of mango. Three mango cultivars 'Anwar Rataul', 'Dasehari' and 'Langra' were explored for study. Maximum fruit set was observed in all the cultivars on Eastern side of the plant. Langra showed maximum fruit set (205.3) on east while minimum fruit se...

Triploid Kinnow was developed through interploid hybridization followed by embryo rescue. Embryos from developed and underdeveloped seeds of reciprocal crosses of 4X x 2X of kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) and succari orange (Citrus sinensis L.) were cultured on modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with different levels of GA 3. Sign...

Developing comprehension about fruit set and drop behaviour is important to improve the yield status of mango. Three mango cultivars 'Anwar Rataul', 'Dasehari' and 'Langra' were explored for study. Maximum fruit set was observed in all the cultivars on Eastern side of the plant. Langra showed maximum fruit set (205.3) on east while minimum fruit se...

Different explants from in vivo grown seedlings of papaya (Carica papaya L.) were appraised for callogenesis on half strength organic and inorganic salts of Murashige and Skoog (MS) media. It was supplemented with 6% of sucrose and growth regulators like 2,4-D (2.5, 5.0 & 7.5 mg L -1) and kinetin (0.5, 1.0 & 1.5 mg L -1) for callogenesis, separatel...

The Mango (Mangifera indica L.), member of family Anacardiaceae, is amongst the most important tropical fruits of the world. The opportunity for breeding improvement in the mango is significant and challenging. There is a lot more varietal wealth available but certain inherent constraints are involved like: long juvenility, high clonal heterozygoci...

Oidium mangiferae Berthet was found to be associated With the powdery mildew disease of mango. The air- borne conidia are released from the old tissue harboring the dormant fungal hyphae under favorable weather conditions, which produce the disease. Proper forecasting of release of airborne innoculum significantly reduced the required number of spr...

In vitro evaluation of fungicides & effect of different carbon sources on mycellial growth & macroconidia production of Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinus causing mango maloformation.

Different exotic dahlia cultivars namely Double Decorative and Double Giant were explored for shoot regeneration using cotyledon leaf and hypocotyl explants on MS medium supplemented with combinations of plant growth regulators (PGRs) viz. NAA and BA (A medium) and BA and IAA (B medium). Callus induction and shoot regeneration was found directly pr...

Although Citrus enjoys the premier position among all fruits in Pakistan, there are several problems that occur including high number of seeds, lack of genetic diversity and a number of diseases and insect pests etc. Genetic characterization of polyploidy could help to improve Citrus both through breeding and biotechnological approaches. Therefore,...

Triploid Kinnow was developed through interploid hybridization followed by embryo rescue. Embryos from developed and underdeveloped seeds of reciprocal crosses of 4X x 2X of kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) and succari orange (Citrus sinensis L.) were cultured on modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with different levels of GA 3 . Sig...