1. It was assumed that the concentrations of arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn) and mercury (Hg) in the meat, kidney and liver of cattle, broilers and goats within Quetta city potentially exceeded the permissible limits for heavy metal content. Risk assessment of these heavy metals on human health were estimated based on daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI).2. Samples of the meat, liver and kidney of cattle, broilers and goats were collected from butcher shops and slaughterhouses in 20 different areas of Quetta city. Overall, 180 samples were analysed, each for six heavy metals. After acid digestion of meat samples, heavy metals analysis was carried out via atomic absorption spectroscopy.3. The results varied in levels depending upon the species and organ type. The average concentrations of As, Pb and Hg were within the established reference limits of the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA 2015) and the European Commission (EC, 2006), although some samples exceeded these limits. Compared with the kidney and meat, the liver was the primary tissue for Cr, Pb and Hg bioaccumulation. Metals concentration were mostly within the normal range in samples from cattle and goats, while the Mn concentration was elevated in broilers.4. The estimated daily intake (EDI) revealed that the intake of As, Co, Pb and Hg was mainly derived from goat and cattle products, whereas broiler samples were more contaminated with Cr and Mn. The EDIs of Cr and Hg in adults exceeded the oral reference dose, referring to potential adverse effects. The EDIs for Co and Mn were low, suggesting that additional intake sources were necessary. Except for As, none of the determined elements had a target hazard quotient (THQ) above 1.

The annual cumin and perennial fennel are economically important medicinal crops of cold dry regions of Pakistan. We hypothesized that the cumin, which produces 2–3 times less biomass, will respond to lower rates of mixture of biochar with synthetic NPK fertilizer or manure, compared to fennel. The NPK, poultry manure and their mixture with wood-derived or cow manure-derived biochars were applied for three consecutive years. No positive relation between application rate of biochar-mixed fertilizers and yield of both crops was observed over three years of study, except that manure-derived biochar-NPK mixture had a positive relation (R² = 0.99, P = 0.01) with the yield of fennel only during the third year. Significant positive influences of biochar-based fertilizers compared to control were observed for cumin and fennel of third year cropping. The co-amendment of NPK (0.14 kg ha⁻¹) with manure-derived biochar (6.6 t ha⁻¹) consistently increased the yield of cumin during the first two years of cropping, as opposed to NPK fertilizer. Cumin had a greater seed:stover biomass ratio when it received the co-amendment of wood-derived biochar with NPK or poultry manure. Our findings indicate that there is some potential for biochar-fertilizer amendments to improve the growth of these high-value medicinal crops.

This three years field study examined the influence of application rates of manure from sheep and goat (S/G) and their mixture with wood-based or farm yard manure-based biochars (FYMB) on growth performance of Foeniculum vulgare (fennel) and Cuminum cyminum (cumin). The fertilizer amendment rates were 1.66, 3.32 and 6.64 t ha⁻¹, which were applied for three consecutive years in field. The nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) in seeds and stover of test crops were analyzed for third year cropping only. Results demonstrated that in general, fertilizers did not influence yield of first and second year crops. The significant (P ≤ 0.05) positive influences of organic fertilizers were observed for third year crops and were of higher magnitude for C. cyminum than F. vulgare (126–306.6% increase for C. cyminum and 24.5–48.4% increase for F. vulgare than control). As compared to S/G applied at 6.64 t ha⁻¹ rate, its co-amendment with wood-derived biochar at all application rates significantly reduced P in seeds; whereas, its co-amendment with both biochar types and at all application rates significantly reduced P in the stover of F. vulgare (Table 3; P ≤ 0.05). For the crop C. cyminum, there was no difference between treatments for the concentration of P in stover. The phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) of stover of F. vulgare was significantly improved by 80–108% and by 60–79% in response to the application of S/G and its co-amendment with FYMB respectively than control. The PUE of seeds of F. vulgare was increased by 100% than control in response to the co-amendment of manure with wood-derived biochar at high application rate (P ≤ 0.05). More profound significant improvement in PUE was observed for third year crop of C. cyminum, as most of the treatments improved PUE of seeds by171 – 561% and stover by 196–294% than control with no significant differences between fertilizer treatments. Results show no relationship between fertilizer application rates and life history trait of crops in space and time, since there was non-consistent and in general non-significant differences between fertilizer treatments for both crops.

Rodh Mulazai is a small town in Pishin District, Balochistan, Pakistan. This study investigated the soil quality of agricultural lands in this region. The 20 field sites were sampled. All these sites had orchards (commonly apple), and three of them had tree-based intercropping systems with wheat or tomato. These agricultural lands were 7–25 years old and were commonly under conservation agriculture since the beginning. The concentration of soil organic matter in the upper 0–10 cm depth of these field sites ranged from 9.33 to 41 g kg-1. A total of 13 soil macrofauna species were found, and the most common and abundant was the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris, followed by the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus. There was no relationship found between the total number of soil fauna and the concentration of soil organic matter at these field sites, nor did soil organic matter have a relationship with the concentration of soil clay contents. Likewise, the age of these sites with continuous conservation agriculture had no relation to the concentration of soil organic matter.

Two experiments were conducted: one on the evaluation of three different saffron cultivars i.e., Local, Mongra and Sergul and the other one was examined the effects of corm size on the growth and production of local variety. Results showed that the small sized (less than 10 g) corms couldn’t produce flowers during the first year of planting. While maximum size corms (S-1 to S-5) produced good quality flowers. The significant higher number of flowers (412568/ha) were produced by S-1 corms followed by S-2 (187614/ha). Among different varieties of saffron (Local, Mongra and Sargul), the significantly higher number of flowers (214936.24flowers/ha) were produced by local variety which followed by Sargul. The higher yield of flowers can be attributed to longer flowering period (flowering days, i.e., 24) by local as compared to Sargul (17.66) and Mongra (13.66). These results showed that maximum corms (20-35 g) resulted in the higher production of flowers, higher yield stigma (Saffron) with higher number of daughter corms in the very first year of plantation. And the local varieties proved to be the best cultivar in terms of flower and saffron yield along with its other related yield components. So, this study revealed that the local variety of saffron is very much suitable for planting under agro-climatic conditions of Quetta, Balochistan Pakistan.