Determination of Effective Method of NPK Fertilization in Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Cultivars Grown in Pakistan

Summary: Introduction:Medicinal plants are the natural source of medicines used in treatment of many diseases among local communities of various countries. It is also the raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. Pakistan is a country with a variety of medicinal plants, comprehensively studied in some areas, while others still need more studies of their flora.Objectives:The study was performed to catalogue the flora of district Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan and to assess its ethnomedicinal importance.Methods:A field survey was conducted in the Gujrat district (including Sarai Alamgir, Gujrat and Kharian) in 2019–2020 to collect the flora. Nearly 200 people of various age groups were interviewed and the questionnaire was filled, the gender and professions of the participants were also noted.Results:The plant species collected belonged to 32 different Angiosperm families i.e.Poaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Moraceae, Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Myrtaceae, Rutaceae, Solanaceae, Malvaceae, EuphorbiaceaeandLamiaceae. The obtained material consisted of 30 herbs, 20 shrubs and 22 trees. The floral parts used most often were leaves (63%) followed by: flower (41%), fruit (28%), stem (16%), seed (16%), bark (14%), root (13%), whole plant (12%), underground part (3%) and latex (3%). According to the study, the highest RFC (Relative Frequency of Citation) values were 0.1 inCassia fistulaL. (0.25) and the smallest RFC values were observed inStellaria media(L.) Vill. – 0.025. The highest UV (Use Values) were noted forAchyranthes asperaL. at 0.9. In disease category, the highest value (0.67) of ICF (Informant Consensus Factor) was observed for stomach and skin infections, while the lowest ICF value was noted for diabetes and gonorrhoea (0.27).Conclusions:It was concluded that the Gujrat district is rich in useful plants that can be used in the preparation of various medicines as well as be sold on the herbal market.

Background: Pea is the most important crop and vegetable in the world but it has low yield. There is a need to find the ways for the improvement of crop productivity. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are extensively used in many crops for enhancement of yield and quality. This study was designed to find the influence of PGRs on growth, yield and quality of pea cultivars grown in Pakistan. Methods: Pot experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of various plant growth regulators (IAA, NAA and GA3) on pea during 2018-19. Four cultivars of pea i.e. Meteor, Green cross, Sultan and Dollar were used in these experiments. There were 0, 100 and 200 mmol’×L-1 levels for each hormone that were applied as foliar spray after 14 days of germination. Experiment was laid down in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates. Results: Morphological, biochemical and yield attributes significantly increased in four cultivars of pea except variety Sultan for few parameters. Cultivar Meteor showed highly positive increasing effects on growth and yield attributes as compared to other treatments. Catalases (CAT) activities were increased and peroxidase dismutase (POD) activities were reduced. It can be concluded that reduction in POD activities helped to increase the defense mechanism of plants and high CAT activities caused better balance in plant metabolism as a result growth, yield and quality of pea were increased. All the variables including shoot length, shoot biomass, number of fruits, total seed yield, carbohydrates and protein had positive correlation with phytohormones. These outcomes might be good indicators to predict the best pea cultivars that can have positive promising response for growth, yield and quality traits under plant growth regulators (PGR).