Plant growth regulators and improved planting density are the innovative techniques in the establishment of more productive cotton crop. A field study was planned to assess the role of growth regulators in the resource utilization efficiency of cotton cultivars under different row spacing at Agronomic Research Area, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan and Usmania Agricultural Farm, Shujaabad during Kharif 2012. The study was comprised of cotton cultivars viz. CIM-573 and CIM-598, cultivated under conventional (75 cm), medium (50 cm) and improved ultra-narrow row spacing (25 cm) and foliar spray of growth regulators viz. moringa leaf extract (MLE) and mepiquat chloride (MC), either alone or in combination, distilled water as a control. The application of MLE alone and in combination (MLE + MC) showed the promoting effect on crop growth rate, net assimilation rate, leaf area index, leaf area duration, sympodial branches and number of bolls leading to higher seed cotton yield of both cotton cultivars grown under conventional row spacing. While application of MC averts the plant growth without considerably improving the productivity. MLE being rich source of growth promoting hormone and nutrients showed its potential to a far greater extent under conventional row spacing in efficient utilization of available resources compared to MC and distilled water.

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (XUARC) harbors almost 50 ethnic groups including the Uyghur (UGR: 45.84%), Han (HAN: 40.48%), Kazakh (KZK: 6.50%), Hui (HUI: 4.51%), Kyrgyz (KGZ: 0.86%), Mongol (MGL: 0.81%), Manchu (MCH: 0.11%), and Uzbek (UZK: 0.066%), which make it one of the most colorful regions with abundant cultural and genetic diversities. In our previous study, we established allelic frequency databases for 14 autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) for four minority populations from XUARC (MCH, KGZ, MGL, and UZK) using the AmpFlSTR® Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit. In this study, we genotyped 2,121 samples using the GoldenEye™ 20A Kit (Beijing PeopleSpot Inc., Beijing, China) amplifying 19 autosomal STR loci for four major ethnic groups (UGR, HAN, KZK, and HUI). These groups make up 97.33% of the total XUARC population. The total number of alleles for all the 19 STRs in these populations ranged from 232 (HAN) to 224 (KZK). We did not observe any departures from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in these populations after sequential Bonferroni correction. We did find minimal departure from linkage equilibrium (LE) for a small number of pairwise combinations of loci. The match probabilities for the different populations ranged from 1 in 1.66 × 10²³ (HAN) to 6.05 × 10²⁴ (HUI), the combined power of exclusion ranged from 0.999 999 988 (HUI) to 0.999 999 993 (UGR), and the combined power of discrimination ranged from 0.999 999 999 999 999 999 999 983 (HAN) to 0.999 999 999 999 999 999 999 997 (UGR). Genetic distances, principal component analysis (PCA), STRUCTURE analysis, and the phylogenetic tree showed that genetic affinity among studied populations is consistent with linguistic, ethnic, and geographical classifications.

Background Appropriate agronomic practices are required to ensure high and sustainable crop yields. Timely sowing of wheat at an optimum seeding rate plays an important role in weed management and obtaining higher crop yields. Objective This study assessed the impact of agronomic practices, i.e., herbicide application, sowing dates and seeding rates on weed management and productivity of wheat. Methods Experimental treatments comprised of three sowing dates (20 November, 5 December, and 30 December), three seeding rates (120, 160, and [...] Abstract Background Appropriate agronomic practices are required to ensure high and sustainable crop yields. Timely sowing of wheat at an optimum seeding rate plays an important role in weed management and obtaining higher crop yields. Objective This study assessed the impact of agronomic practices, i.e., herbicide application, sowing dates and seeding rates on weed management and productivity of wheat. Methods Experimental treatments comprised of three sowing dates (20 November, 5 December, and 30 December), three seeding rates (120, 160, and

Genetic diversity plays a critical role in crop improvement. Radish is one of the important vegetable crops of Rabi season, however, there is a lack of information about radish germplasm resources available in Pakistan. The present research was carried out to characterize radish gene pool on the basis of qualitative and quantitative traits. Twelve genotypes of radish comprised of local and exotic sources were evaluated for genetic variability through morphological, quality, and quantitative traits. Analysis of variance depicted maximum variation among genotypes for all studied straits. High genotypic co-efficient of variance (GCV) value (>20%) in all traits indicates that these traits can be improved through selection. The estimate of genotypic co-efficient of variance (GCV) in present research was closer to phenotypic co-efficient of variance (PCV), suggesting the key role of genotype as compared to the environment. However, high heritability along with genetic advance (as % of mean) among studied genotypes suggests that the selection of studied traits simply on phenotypic basis can also be effective for the breeding program. Cluster analysis based on morphological traits, grouped genotypes into three clusters and cluster I, contained the maximum number of genotypes. In correlation analysis, significant positive correlation among plant fresh weight, root length, root weight, number of leaves and yield can be directly used a selection criteria. Studying of variability in qualitative traits through frequency distribution exhibited maximum variation for root shape and root base. This study showed considerable variability exists in studied genotypes that can further be used for the improvement of radish breeding.

Vermicompost is a humified, stabilized and finely alienated peat like mass by activity of earthworms in a form that is eagerly available for plants. Due to its porous nature , high water storage capacity, having hormones such as substance and plant growth regulators such as auxins, cytokinins, absicisic acid and also high levels of macro and micro nutrients, vermicompost fertilizer can play an important role in plant growth and development and also in reducing harmful effects of various harmful stresses on plants. In regard of this, special focus of this study was to prepare different types of vermicomposts using earthworm specie Eisenia fetida and to access the effect of these various types of vermicompost on lentil growth and yield. Field experiment was laid out in Randomized complete block design (RCBD) using 06 treatments having 03 replications conducted at University Research Farm Koont, Chakwal Road, Rawalpindi. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to detect difference among means of all treatments at 5% significance level by using Fisher’s protected Least Significant Differences (LSD) Test. Statistical results revealed that vermicompost application @ 5 tonns/ha significantly affected growth and yield of lentil and maximum growth was attained with cow dung derived vermicompost+rhizobium followed by wheat straw, vegetable waste and minimum with leaf litter derived vermicompost. Cow dung vermicompost was found to be efficient for all growth and yield parameters.