Khushdil Khan’s research while affiliated with Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University and other places

The present research work investigates the palynological characteristics of 24 species belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae using scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy. Pollen grains of the selected plant species showed diverse shapes, including spheroidal, oblate-spheroidal, prolate-spheroidal, prolate, oblate, sub-prolate, and sub-oblate shapes. The investigated pollen apertures included tricolporate, triporate, pantoporate, porate, trizonocolporate, and tricolpate types. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of pollen grains were measured using light microscopy. Cucurbita pepo L. exhibited the largest polar diameter (173.25 µm), while Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus had the smallest (40.37 µm). Similarly, Cucurbita pepo L. had the largest equatorial diameter (166.25 µm), whereas Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus exhibited the smallest (31.62 µm). The longest colpi were found in Cucurbita pepo L. (66.37 µm), while the shortest were observed in Luffa aegyptiaca L. (20.50 µm). Luffa aegyptiaca L. also displayed the widest colpi (18.37 µm), whereas Coccinia cordifolia L. exhibited the narrowest (3.87 µm). The thickest exine was measured in Citrullus colocynthis L. (8.62 µm), while the thinnest was recorded in Cucumis melo var. inodorus L. (1.50 µm). The qualitative and quantitative pollen data provided in this study offer valuable insights into the systematics and taxonomy of the Cucurbitaceae family.

Natural honey is enriched with essential and beneficial nutrients. This study aimed to investigate the melliferous flora microscopic techniques and assess the biochemical properties of honey. Flavonoid and phenolic contents in honey samples were analyzed via colorimetric and Folin-Ciocalteu methods and the alpha-amylase, reducing power, and minerals using Pull’s and spectroscopy methods. HPLC determined the Sucrose, fructose, and glucose content in the honey samples. Four different classes of moisture content were used to assist the honey quality, including A + < 17, A = 17–18, B = 18–19, and C > 19. This study identified the Eucalyptus globulus, Trifolium pratense, Neltuma juliflora, Ziziphus mauritiana, Asphodelus tenuifolius, Cynodon dactylon, Saccharum spontaneum, and Vachellia nilotica as the predominant plant species honey samples. The total range of moisture was observed from 16.5 to 21.1% in the samples studied. The honey class within the range of 16.5–17.5% was identified as the optimal class. Four classes of sucrose level were used to evaluate the honey quality, including: (2.50–2.60 = A +); (2.61–2.75 = A); (2.76–3.00 = B); (3.00 + = C). The total variation of sucrose levels in the analyzed ranged from 2.50 to 3.89%. Overall, the findings of these studies implemented various aspects of honey production, quality, and potential health benefits, benefiting consumers, beekeepers, and researchers.

The current study focuses on the previous research on paleopalynology of existing plants from different regions of the Eocene strata of South Asia. This study was conducted for the first time in the study area to highlight the distributions, identifications, and abundance of the floral paleopalynological record of the Eocene in South Asia. The study attempts to describe plant evolution, reconstructions of past climate change, and the effects of these changes on plant communities over time in the study area. The vegetation of the study area during the depositional period was better predicted by the existence of fossil flora. The proposed work yields data on the dominant fossil plant taxa that existed in South Asia over megaannum–including trees, shrubs, herbs, bryophytes and aquatic macrophytes. Results of this work promise to yield novel insights into the synergistic effects of climate change and paleoecology and evolution of plant communities. The data proved useful for establishing links with other branches of sciences, including archaeology, geology, plant ecology and environmental science. The current study aimed to describe phylogeny, reconstructions of past climate change and its effects on plant communities in the Eocene period of south Asia.

Background: Saccharum spontaneum belongs to the Poaceae family. It is also known as kans grass or wild sugarcane. It is a perennial grass that can grow up to 4 meters tall with deep roots and rhizomes. Higher morphological variability, early vigour, the ability to root, and resistance to a range of biotic and abiotic stressors are characteristics of this wild species. Tropical regions of the world such as tropical Australia and the tropical nations of Asia, Africa, and America are home to this plant. when plants are at juvenile stages camels and goats eat it. Quinones, Terpenes, Alkaloids, Phenolic Compounds, Coumarins, Saponins, Tannins, Steroids, proteins, and Carbohydrates are among the phytoconstituents present in leaves. This herb treats respiratory problems, gynaecological problems, burning pain, piles, and dyspepsia. Aims of the study: To aware all the people about Saccharum spontaneum and its valuable traditional and medicinal uses and also about the presence of phytochemical constituents and their role in different fields. Materials and methods: Google Scholar, PubChem, and Open Access Library were used to locate references about Saccahrum spontaneum between 1998 and 2024. Conclusion: Saccharum spontaneum has bright futures ahead of it, including potential uses in complementary and alternative medicine and drug development. To identify and isolate the main bioactive compounds and to elucidate the precise mechanisms underlying their pharmacological actions, more research is required. Furthermore, investigating its production and sustainable harvesting methods may result in the creation of cutting-edge medications or nutraceuticals. Keywords: Saccharum spontaneum, Traditional, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology.

Honey is a nutrient-rich natural substance prepared by honeybees from the nectars of flowers. Various factors including botanical composition of the bee diet, geographical locations and environmental features affect the biochemical properties of honey, including its composition in biomolecules. In the present study melissopalynological techniques were applied to identify the honeybee (Apis mellifera) flora using light microscopy. Phenolic and flavonoid contents in honey samples were analyzed via Folin-Ciocalteu and colorometric methods. Total reducing power, alpha-amylase and mineral contents were calculated by Phull’s method, and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Acacia nilotica (Ghawandi village), Cynodon dactylon (Jathanbanda), Saccharum spontaneum (Paniala), and Ziziphus jujuba (Kot Kashmir) were identified as the predominant plant species in four unifloral honey samples. In terms of biochemical properties, total phenolic contents ranged from 0.27 ± 0.094 to 1.76 ± 0.02 µg/mL while total flavonoid contents varied from 0.80 ± 0.1 to 1.23 ± 0.102µg/mL. One of the applications of this investigation is that the pollen profile of honey samples here determined is useful for the identification of bee floral diet diversity and the geographical origin of honey. Moreover, the biochemical properties will be helpful to clarify the medicinal properties of honey samples. In addition to this, the biochemical profile of honey samples is the basis for further pharmacological analysis.

The present study was carried out to determine the floristic composition and ecological characterization of the flora of tehsil Sarai Naurang. The floristic diversity of the plant consists of 143 species belonging to 47 different families having 42 dicots and 05 monocots. Poaceae were comprised as the dominant families containing 18 species followed by Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Solanaceae. Therophytes were dominant class having 89 species (62.23%) followed by Microphanerophytes 19 species (13.28%), Hemicryptophytes 13 species (9.09%),Chamaephytes 8 species (5.59%), Geophytes 7 species (4.89%), Nanophanerophytes 6 species (4.19%) and Megaphanerophytes have 1 species (0.69%). Leaf size of most plant species was reduced indicating an adaptation to arid climatic conditions. The leaf size showed that Nanophylls size were the dominant followed by Microphyll (40 species (27.97%), Leptophyll (34 species (23.77%), mesophyll (15 species (10.48%), megaphyll (2 species( 1.39%) and macrophyll 1 species (0.69%).

Currently in many rural communities of district Lakki Marwat traditional knowledge of honey and bee flora are used to treat numerous diseases. Aim of the present study was to collect, identify, explore ethnomedicinal applications of melliferous plants and uses of honey in district Lakki Marwat for treatment of various diseases. A field survey was carried out from different villages of the district. A total of 50 plants belonging to 25 different families and many medicinal uses of honey were reported from study area. According to questionnaire and interview taken from numerous people more than 22 diseases were cured through honey but most used for cough and eye infections followed by dysentery, stomach pain, fever, kidney problems and respiratory diseases. The results of current study showed that honey and its bee flora play an important role for curing different diseases in Lakki Marwat.