Salt stress is a potential constraint that perturbs plant physiological and osmolytic processes, and induces oxidative stress. The plant biostimulant, such as humic acid (HA) is capable to improve the wheat-tolerance to salt stress through triggering the plant defense mechanisms and regulating the genetic determinants. In this context the present study has comparatively evaluated the effect of HA on salt tolerant synthetic hexaploid (SH) and salt susceptible bread wheat (BW) genotypes. The experiment was performed in three replicates using randomized complete block design (RCBD) having two factorial arrangements, with HA treatment as one, while genotype as second factor. HA treatment significantly enhanced chlorophyll (33.33%–100%) and photosynthesis (31.25%–50%), and significantly reduced the glycine betaine (GB) (42.85%–77.77%), proline (20%–28.57%) and Na+/K+ ratio (33.33%–50%) in salt stressed SH and BW genotypes. Additionally, HA significantly increase the activities superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) by 57.14%–66.67%, 54.54%–83.33%, and 55.55%–80%, respectively in all salt stressed genotypes. The salinity associated genes TaNHX1, TaHKT1,4, TaAKT1, TaPRX2A TaSOD and TaCAT1 were upregulated, while TaP5CS was downregulated in SH and BW genotypes corresponding to their regulatory traits. Furthermore, the multivariate analysis including correlation, principal component analysis (PCA) and heatmap dendrogram further rectified the strong impact of HA on the strength of association and expression of stress marker traits. Overall, the SH genotypes showed more strong response to the HA and illustrated significant tolerance to salt stress based upon physiological, biochemical and genetic indicators. Conclusively, the SH can serve as a bridge to transfer alien genes associated with salt tolerance into elite bread wheat germplasm.

The present study intended to assess the physiochemical and genetic responses of ten different wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes including bread wheat and synthetic hexaploids (SHs) under drought and control conditions. The experiment was performed in two factorial arrangements with genotypes as one and treatments as other factor. The drought treatment was applied at pre-anthesis stage by withholding water for 10-15 days and continued till the appearance of the symptoms of drought. The data for biochemical contents, physiological traits and gene expression was conducted in randomly selected wheat samples at the onset of drought symptoms. The enzymatic activity, proline and glycine betaine showed significant increase in wheat genotypes due to drought treatment, with maximum increase in SHs lines followed by bread wheat genotypes Galaxy -2013, Aas-2011 and AARI-2011. Conversely, all SHs recorded less reduction in physiological traits as compared to bread wheat genotypes due to application of drought stress. Besides correlation, PCA and heatmap analysis proved significantly high impact of drought on the correlation and expression of physiological and biochemical traits as compared to control treatment. Furthermore, in all wheat genotypes, the expression of drought associated genes TaDREB1A , TaGROS-A , TaERF3, TaCPK34, TaLEA3, TaHSFA1a, TaWRKY44, TaZFP34 and TaEXPA2 changed complementary to the corresponding physiological and biochemical traits. The most significant change in expression of these genes with respect to corresponding physiological and biochemical traits under drought stress was recorded in SHs, Galaxy -2013, Aas-2011 and AARI-2011.The drought tolerant genotypes screened on the basis of physiochemical and genetic indices can further be used as an effective germplasm while devising a breeding program for drought tolerance adaptability optimization.

Soybean is an important oilseed crop worldwide; however, it has a high sensitivity to temperature variation, particularly at the vegetative stage to the pod-filling stage. Temperature change affects physiochemical and genetic traits regulating the soybean agronomic yield. In this regard, the current study aimed to comparatively evaluate the effects of varying regimes of day and night temperatures (T1 = 20°C/12°C, T2 = 25°C/17°C, T3 = 30°C/22°C, T4 = 35°C/27°C, and T5 = 40°C/32°C) on physiological (chlorophyll, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration, and membrane damage) biochemical (proline and antioxidant enzymes), genetic (GmDNJ1, GmDREB1G;1, GmHSF-34, GmPYL21, GmPIF4b, GmPIP1;6, GmGBP1, GmHsp90A2, GmTIP2;6, and GmEF8), and agronomic traits (pods per plant, seeds per plant, pod weight per plant, and seed yield per plant) of soybean cultivars (Swat-84 and NARC-1). The experiment was performed in soil plant atmosphere research (SPAR) units using two factorial arrangements with cultivars as one factor and temperature treatments as another factor. A significant increase in physiological, biochemical, and agronomic traits with increased gene expression was observed in both soybean cultivars at T4 (35°C/27°C) as compared to below and above regimes of temperatures. Additionally, it was established by correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), and heatmap analysis that the nature of soybean cultivars and the type of temperature treatments have a significant impact on the paired association of agronomic and biochemical traits, which in turn affects agronomic productivity. Furthermore, at corresponding temperature regimes, the expression of the genes matched the expression of physiochemical traits. The current study has demonstrated through extensive physiochemical, genetic, and biochemical analyses that the ideal day and night temperature for soybeans is T4 (35°C/27°C), with a small variation having a significant impact on productivity from the vegetative stage to the grain-filling stage.

The plant growth regulator 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) is an important component of plant nutrient medium with tendency to accelerate physiological, biochemical and molecular processes in woody plants such as olive. To date, limited knowledge is available on the role of BAP in mediating physiological, biochemical and genetic activities in olives under in vitro conditions. To cover this research gap, the current study was conducted with the objective of studying the role of BAP in regulating physiological traits (chlorophyll, CO2 assimilation), antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase), metabolic contents (starch, sucrose and flavonoids) and gene expression (OeRbcl, OePOD10, OeSOD10, OeCAT7, OeSS4, OeSuSY7, OeF3GT and OeChlH) under varying concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 mg L-1) within the provided in vitro conditions. The explants obtained from different olive cultivars ('Leccino', 'Gemlik', 'Moraiolo', 'Arbosana') were cultured on olive medium (OM) provided with different BAP concentrations using a two-factorial design, and data were analysed statistically. All traits increased significantly under in vitro conditions due to increasing concentrations of BAP; however, this increase was more dramatic at 2.5 mg L-1 and the least dramatic at 0.5 mg L-1. Moreover, correlation, principal component analysis and heatmap cluster analysis confirmed significant changes in the paired association and expression of traits with changing BAP concentration and type of olive cultivars. Likewise, the expression of all genes varied due to changes in BAP concentration in all cultivars, corresponding to variations in physiological and biochemical traits. Moreover, the spectrographs generated via scanning electron microscopy further indicated the variations in the distribution of elements in olive leaf samples due to varying BAP concentrations. Although all cultivars showed a significant response to in vitro varying concentrations of BAP, the response of Arbosana was statistically more significant. In conclusion, the current study proved the dynamic impact of the varying BAP concentrations on regulating the physiological, biochemical, and molecular attributes of olive cultivars.

Globally, tuberculosis (TB) is a major health risk that is mostly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a member of the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex (MTC). Ten million cases of tuberculosis and 1.3 million deaths from the disease occur each year, making Mycobacterium tuberculosis one of the leading causes of death globally. Pakistan is ranked fifth among high-burden countries for tuberculosis (TB) and is expected to rank fourth for the prevalence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB. As a result, tuberculosis poses a serious threat to public health in Pakistan. Tuberculosis is a common occurrence in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Aims: The current study aimed to find out the prevalence of tuberculosis in the defined population. Study Design: The study was conducted in the District and Tehsil Headquarters Hospitals of District Sudhnuti AJK. Place and Duration of Study: Samples were collected from all the District and Tehsil headquarters hospitals of Sudhnuti district from January 2019 to December 2019. Methodology: Samples of sputum from suspected cases were gathered from district Sudhnuti hospitals and TB centers from January 2019 to December 2019. All the suspected cases were examined by sputum smear microscopy and then bacteriologically positive cases were further confirmed by GeneXpert. All positive cases were examined for multi-drug resistance by using GeneXpert. Results: In the current study during the year 2019, 201 TB cases were reported from district Sudhnuti out of which 107 (53.23%) were males and 94 (46.76%) were females. The value of P=0.51 which is >0.05 is insignificant shows that Tuberculosis has no selective effect on a specific gender. Pulmonary cases were 131 in number with 81 bacteriologically positive and 50 clinically diagnosed negative cases. Extra Pulmonary cases were 70 in number with 1 bacteriologically positive and 69 clinically diagnosed negative cases. Only 2 (0.99%) MDR cases were diagnosed and the case notification rate during 2019 was 66. Conclusion: The current study shows that males are slightly more prone to TB in district Sudhnuti AJK as compared to females. Individuals with age >64 are more susceptible to TB when compared to individuals with age <15. The CNR during 2019 is 66 which is far away from the WHO set criteria. The CNR indicates that there is a need for improvement in the surveillance system.

The tolerance to salinity stress is an intricate phenomenon at cellular and whole plant level that requires the knowledge of contributing physiological and biochemical processes and the genetic control of participating traits. In this context, present study was conducted with objective to evaluate the physiological, biochemical, and genetic responses of different wheat genotypes including bread wheat (BW) and synthetic hexaploids (SHs) under saline and control environment. The experiment was conducted in two factorial arrangement in randomized complete block design (RCBD), with genotypes as one factor and treatments as another factor. A significant decline in physiological traits (chlorophyll, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration, and cell membrane stability) was observed in all genotypes due to salt stress; however, this decline was higher in BW genotypes as compared to four SH genotypes. In addition, the biochemical traits including enzymes [superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase (POD)] activity, proline, and glycine betaine (GB) illustrated significant increase along with increase in the expression of corresponding genes (TaCAT1, TaSOD, TaPRX2A, TaP5CS, and TaBADH-A1) due to salt stress in SHs as compared to BW. Correspondingly, highly overexpressed genes, TaHKT1;4, TaNHX1, and TaAKT1 caused a significant decline in Na+/K+ in SH as compared to BW genotypes under salt stress. Moreover, correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and heatmap analysis have further confirmed that the association and expression of physiological and biochemical traits varied significantly with salinity stress and type of genotype. Overall, the physiological, biochemical, and genetic evaluation proved SHs as the most useful stock for transferring salinity tolerance to other superior BW cultivars via the right breeding program.

Drought and heat stress are potential problems that can reduce wheat yield, particularly during the terminal growth stages in arid and semiarid regions of the world. The current study intended to examine the impact of individual and combined drought and heat stress on the biochemical contents (antioxidant enzymes, proline, soluble proteins, and soluble sugars), physiological parameters (chlorophyll content, cell membrane stability, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and transpiration), plant-water relations (relative water content, water potential, osmotic potential, and pressure potential), agronomic traits (flag leaf area, plant height, number of tillers per plant, spike length, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight), and gene expression (TaHSF1a, TaWRKY-33, TaNAC2L, and TaGASR1) in four different thermostable and drought-tolerant wheat genotypes (i.e., Gold-16, HS-240, Suntop, and Hemai-13) collected from different countries. The tri-replicate experiment was conducted using two factorial arrangements in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). All measured traits, except total soluble sugars, proline, and cell membrane stability index, showed significant reduction under both combined and individual treatments. Furthermore, correlation analysis revealed a significant association between biochemical and physiological characteristics and crop agronomic productivity. Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA) and heatmap analysis demonstrated significant levels of variation in traits according to the type of stress and nature of wheat genotype. The spectrographs and micrographs generated by scanning electron microscopy for the selected high- and low- tolerance samples revealed clear differences in mineral distribution and starch granulation. All studied genes showed comparatively high levels of relative expression under combined treatments of drought and heat stress in all wheat genotypes, but this expression was the highest in 'Gold-16' followed by 'HS-240', 'Suntop', and 'Hemai-13'. Overall, this study concluded that plants are proactive entities and they respond to stresses at all levels; however, the tolerant plants tend to retain the integrity of their biochemical, physiological, and molecular equilibrium.

Abiotic stresses, such as a drought and heat, are potential constraints limiting wheat production across the globe. This current perspective study intended to characterize the performance of exotic synthetic hexaploid (SH) wheat genotypes on a physiological, biochemical, and agronomic basis under field-based drought and heat conditions. The tri-replicate experiments were conducted in two seasons using two-factorial arrangements in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with stresses as one factor and genotypes as another factor. The recorded data were statistically analyzed using computer-based software statistix8.1 and R-studio. In this study, all the physiological parameters (total chlorophyll, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, and cell membrane stability percentage), biochemical stress markers (antioxidant enzymes, glycine betaine, and proline), and agronomic traits (flag leaf area, plant height, tillers per plant, spike length, grains per spike, and thousand grain weight) varied significantly under separate and combined regimes of drought and heat stresses. All traits varied in same direction, excluding glycine betaine and proline, which varied in the opposite direction because of stress, as explicated by correlation analysis. Furthermore, PCA and heatmap analysis confirmed that the expression of the traits varied more significantly because of combined regimes of drought and heat stresses as compared to controlled and isolated applications. Interestingly, synthetic hexaploid (SH) genotypes depicted similar responses to individual and integrated regimes of drought and heat stresses. The current study proved that deciphering the physiological, biochemical, and agronomic performance of wheat genotypes under stress can provide effective criteria for the future selection of wheat germplasm for breeding against drought and heat stresses.

Aim: To know whether valsalva maneuver is more effective compared to modified valsalva in terminating paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia or vice versa. Method: The study design was randomized controlled trial. This research was conducted in accident & emergency department of Mayo hospital, Lahore. Duration of this study was nine months. Participants were divided in two groups, half were assigned in Standard VM group (Group A), and other half in Modified VM group (Group B). In both groups, assigned valsalva maneuver was repeated up to two times, only when paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia did not revert to sinus rhythm on first time. In those patients, VM failed even after three attempts, antiarrhythmic medications were used. Primary outcome was defined on the basis of successful return of sinus rhythm after either by standard or modified valsalva maneuver. Results: Sixty two patients were included in this study, thirty one in each group. Out of thirty one patients in group A, two patients (3.2%) rhythm reverted to sinus, while in group B, seven patients (11.3%) rhythm reverted to sinus. The number of patients who needed rescue treatment was lower in group B -21 (77.4%) as compared to group A- 29(93.5%). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that modified VM was more effective in terminating PSVT as compared to standard VM. So, number of patients who required pharmacological cardioversion was lower in group B. Keywords: Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), Standard valsalva maneuver (SVM), Modified valsalva maneuver (MVM)

This study is an endeavor to investigations “Awareness and attitude of educated female youth regarding women rights: A Study of Female of BZU, Multan City”. The primary target of this work was to see the degree of mindfulness about conjugal freedoms among educated women and to check the degree of training of the privileges of women giving by Islam. The fundamental objectives for the present study included to test out the height of practices of the right of the women specified by Islam as well as to observe the level of consciousness regarding marital rights and property rights among educated women. Furthermore, the relation between the level of education and women empowerment was also being explored. For this reason, females were chosen for information assortment and sample size was confined to 120 females of BZU Multan. Simple random sampling technique was utilized for the study. Questionnaire was utilized as a tool for data compilation. For estimating purpose, Likert scale was utilized to uncover the causal connection between ladies’ mindfulness and their freedoms. The investigation discovered that the female understudy’s contrast in familiarity with lady privileges. It was concluded that there is noteworthy dissimilarity in student awareness of educational right with respect of discipline as well as noteworthy distinction in student awareness of health with respect of degree level.

Abioticstress such as drought is a potential threat posing a severe challenge to wheat production across the globe. The current study comparatively delineated the performance of elite Pakistani bread wheat genotypes at physiological (chlorophyll, canopy temperature, cell membrane percentage stability and leaf relative water content), agronomic (plant height, tillers plant−1, flag leaf area, spike length, spikelets spike−1, grains spike−1, grain yield spike−1, thousand grain weight and plant biomass) and genetic (TaDREB1A, TaGROS-A, TaLEA3, TaHSFA1a, TaWRKY44 and TaEXPA2) levels. Atri-replicate experiment was conducted in a two factorial arrangement using RCBD, and data were analyzed statistically using the computer-based programsStatistix8.1 and R-studio. In general, all wheat genotypes illustrated significant (p ≤ 0.05) alterations in physiological and agronomic traits under drought stress as compared to the control; however, this alteration was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different among all genotypes owing to their varying genetic potential. Furthermore, these genotypes were evaluated for the extent of the association of physiological and agronomic traits using PCA, correlation and heatmap analysis, which proved statistically significant variation in the paired association of traits among all genotypes during drought stress as compared to the control. In addition, based on statistical evaluations, the genotypes Pakistan-13, Shahkar-13, AAS-11, Chakwal-86, Chakwal-50 and AUR-09 were found to be tolerant, while genotypes Anmol-97, Chakwal-97, Bhakkar-02 and BWP-97 were comparatively susceptible. Furthermore, these screened genotypes showed differential expression of drought-related genes, with relatively high expression in tolerant genotypes compared to susceptible genotypes. The current study concluded that physiological, agronomic and molecular characteristics are significantly interconnected, and these associations determine the end productivity of wheat genotypes during abiotic stress. Therefore, their integrated study can enhance the pace of wheat breeding for drought tolerance in the near future.

Medicinal plants have significant contribution in pharmaceutical industries being producers of compounds utilized as precursors for drug development. A plant of Lamiaceae family; Pseudocaryopteris foetida had not been investigated for its biomedical potential. Current research was aimed to investigate phytochemical analysis, cytotoxic potential and antioxidant activity of crude methanolic extract and fractions of Pseudocaryopteris foetida (leaves). The preliminary phytochemical analysis of crude methanolic extracts and fractions of Pseudocaryopteris foetida revealed that plant is rich in phenolic and flavonoid classes of secondary metabolites while presence of tannin was observed only in crude methanolic extract. The cytotoxicity was determined using brine shrimp lethality test. Different concentrations (25, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 µg/mL) of crude methanolic extract and fractions exhibited dose dependent cytotoxicity. However, The LD50 for all the extracts was more than 200 µg/mL indicating weak cytotoxic potential of Pseudocaryopteris foetida. The antioxidant capabilities of crude methanolic extract and fraction of Pseudocaryopteris foetida were analyzed by in vitro bio assays including DPPH, ABTS, Reducing power and phosphomolybdate antioxidant assays using ascorbic acid as standard. The crude methanolic extract showed IC50 (256.38 ± 0.6 and 314.95 ± 1.1 µg/mL) for DPPH and ABTS respectively, while total antioxidant capacity was calculated as 55.79 ± 0.5 µg/mL for crude methanolic extract of Pseudocaryopteris foetida while ascorbic acid indicated total antioxidant capacity of 71.89 ± 2.3 µg/mL. Study concluded that leaves of Pseudocaryopteris foetida were the rich source of antioxidant phytochemicals. Based on preliminary investigations further research should be focused to isolate bioactive phytochemicals as leading source of clinical medicines in future.

Nanobioremediation is an advanced and rapidly emerging innovative technology in which biologically synthesized nanoparticles are utilized to eliminate contaminants from the environment. The utilization of nanomaterials such as nanoenabled sensors, nanopesticides, or nanofertilizers is getting increased attention in agriculture to enhance crop yields. Numerous researchers are exploring the ability of nanotechnology, in particular the nanoencapsulation method for the distribution of pesticides. The formulation of nanoencapsulated pesticide can minimize the usage of pesticides and thus human contact, which is naturally used for protecting crops. The specific behavior of the surface and explicit surface area of nanomaterials play a significant role in the degradation of pesticides. This chapter focuses on nanobioremediation and its application in the agriculture industry to accomplish food safety and to cleanse the environment from the effects of pesticides. Smart delivery methods of nanopesticides are highly promising as powerful tools for sustainable agricultural development.

The study deals with evaluating the viability of using biodegradable polymer palm stearin (PS) as a coating material for the provision of nitrogen (N), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) on slow-release mechanism. Nitrogen in conventional form results mainly in ammonia volatilization loss. Decelerating hydrolysis rate of urea with the help of certain inhibitors (Cu and Zn); can enhance N-uptake and accordingly increases rice production. A novel PS coated urea was developed manually in laboratory conditions. The effect of PS coated urea evaluated for N, Cu and Zn concentration under field conditions on rice yield and nutrients concentration (N-Cu-Zn). The experiment made use of 140 kg N ha(-1) coated with 10 and 15 kg Zn ha(-1) and 3 and 5 kg Cu ha(-1) applied separately or in combinations. Our results indicated that the applied polymer coated urea with 15 kg Zn ha(-1) and 3 kg Cu ha(-1) had affirmative response to increase the yield more than half as compared to control and one-fold increase in Zn and N contents in soil and plants (p <= 0.05). This study has prospective to apply Zn and Cu coated urea as environment friendly fertilizer to reduce the N-losses and increase Zn contents.

In vitro propagation of olive (Olea euorpea L.) always remained a challenging task due to its woody nature and oxidation of culture. The current study intended to optimize shoot induction and proliferation protocol for different cultivars (“Leccino”, “Gemlik”, “Moraiolo” and “Arbosana”) of olive-on-olive media (OM) provided with different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5 mgL−1) of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) by pre-exposing their explants (nodal segments) with different regimes (0, 24, and 48 h) of cooling. The impacts of treatments were evaluated on morphological (shoot induction percentage, primary shoot length, number of leaves shoot−1, and number of shoots per explant−1), physiological (total chlorophyll, carotenoids, CO2 assimilation, and proline), biochemical (primary and secondary metabolites) attributes of cultivars after 50 to 60 days of culture. Data recorded were subjected to statistical analysis. All traits depicted significant increases in all genotypes with increasing pre-cooling treatments and increasing supplementations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). This increase was the highest for the interaction of 48 h pre-cooling and 2.5 mgL−1 BAP concentration. Moreover, correlation analysis of all traits revealed significant paired association among them in a positive direction, while principal component analysis (PCA) revealed the extent of association varied with types of treatments and the nature of genotypes. Among cultivars, Arbosana depicted more dramatic changes in morphological traits, physiological attributes, and biochemical contents due to varying interactions of pre-cooling and BAP treatments as compared to Moraiolo, Gemlik, and Leccino with in vitro systems.

Canker is the most devastating threat of citrus being caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac). A trail was conducted in the citrus pathology Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. Nine antibiotics Levofloxacin, Streptomycin, Ampicillin, kanamycin, Erythromycin, Ciprofloxacin, Clarithromycin, Azithromycin, Amoxicillin were tested against Xac by using inhibition zone technique under Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Three concentrations (300, 500 and 700 ppm) were tested. Out of these nine, Levofloxacin expressed best result by producing 14.22 mm mean inhibition zone followed by Ciprofloxacin (13.18), Ampicillin (6.89), Kanamycin (6.64), Clarithromycin (6.01), Azithromycin (5.24), Streptomycin (4.98), Amoxicillin (4.79), Erythromycin (4.29) mm respectively. In interaction between treatments and concentrations, Ciprofloxacin expressed maximum inhibition zone (15.06 mm) at 700 ppm while in interaction between treatments and time, levofloxacin exhibited maximum inhibition zone (15.00 mm) after 36 hours. In conclusion, Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin expressed best results at 700 ppm after 36 hours.

Wheat is a globally important crop used as a main staple food in various countries of the world. The current study was conducted with the objective to evaluate the effect of a high temperature (HT) on osmolytes (starch, sucrose, total soluble sugars, total soluble proteins and proline), physiological parameters (Chl-a, Chl-b, photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance), antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase) and agronomic traits (flag leaf area, spike length, and thousand grain weight) during the grain filling and anthesis stages of wheat cultivars (Fakhr-e-Bhakar, Raj-3765, Jimai-22 and Bayraktar-2000) collected from different regions of the world. Separate experiments for both stages were conducted in a glasshouse and treated with two different temperature regimes, i.e., optimum (OT) (24 °C day; 14 °C night) and high temperature (HT) (32 °C day; 22 °C night) in RCBD for two weeks. The data for osmolytes, antioxidant enzymes and physiological contents were collected at days 3, 5, 7, 9 and 13 after the start of plant stress, while the agronomic traits were collected at maturity. The data obtained were subjected to a statistical analysis using the statistix8.1 and R-program. HT stress significantly reduced all the traits except for the membrane damage, transpiration rate, proline and total soluble sugars, whose values increased considerably in the genotype Bayraktar-2000. However, under both regimes of temperature Fakhr-e-Bhakkar showed a high tolerance against HT stress, as revealed by physiological, biochemical and agronomic evaluations. Moreover, correlation, PCA and heat map analyses indicated that all types of traits are significantly interconnected in determining the crop potential to sustain its growth under HT stress.

Allium cepa L. is a commonly consumed vegetable that belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family and contains nutrients and antioxidants in ample amounts. In spite of the valuable food applications of onion bulb, its peel and outer fleshy layers are generally regarded as waste and exploration of their nutritional and therapeutic potential is still in progress with a very slow progression rate. The present study was designed with the purpose of doing a comparative analysis of the antioxidant potential of two parts of Allium cepa, i.g., bulb (edible part) and outer fleshy layers and dry peels (inedible part). Moreover, the inhibitory effect of the onion bulb and peel extracts on rat intestinal α-glucosidase and pancreatic α-amylase of porcine was also evaluated. The antioxidant potential of onion peel and bulb extracts were evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl- 1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP), 2,2'-azino-bis- 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging assay, H2O2 radical scavenging activity and Fe2+ chelating activity. Total flavonoids and phenolic content of ethanolic extract of onion peel were significantly greater as compared to that of onion bulb. Ethanolic extract of onion peel also presented better antioxidant and free-radical scavenging activity as compared to the ethanolic extract of bulb, while the aqueous extract of bulb presented weakest antioxidative potential. Onion peel extract's α-glucosidase inhibition potential was also correlated with their phenolic and flavonoid contents. The current findings presented onion peel as a possible source of antioxidative agents and phenolic compounds that might be beneficial against development of various common chronic diseases that might have an association with oxidative stress. Besides, outer dry layers and fleshy peels of onion exhibited higher phenolic content and antioxidant activities, compared to the inner bulb. The information obtained by the present study can be useful in promoting the use of vegetable parts other than the edible mesocarp for several future food applications, rather than these being wasted.

Gui Zhen Cao is an herbal formulation that has been documented in Chinese traditional medicine as a remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, inflammation, and toxicity. The sources of this formulation (Bidens pilosa L., Bidens biternata (Lour.) Merr. & Sherff, Bidens bipinnata L.) are also listed in ethnomedicinal reports all over the world. In this study, all these plants are tested for in vitro anticandida activity. A quantitative evaluation of the phytochemicals in all these plants indicated that their vegetative parts are rich in tannins, saponins, oxalates, cyanogenic glycoside and lipids; moreover, the roots have high percentages of alkaloids, flavonoids, and phenols. The results indicated significant anticandida activity, especially for the hexane extract of B. bipinnata leaves which inhibited C. albicans (42.54%), C. glabrata (46.98%), C. tropicalis (50.89%), C. krusei (40.56%), and C. orthopsilosis (50.24%). The extract was subjected to silica gel chromatography and 220 fractions were obtained. Purification by High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection (HPLC–DAD) and Gas Chromatography tandem Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis led to the identification of two anticandida compounds: dehydroabietic and linoleic acid having an inhibition of 85 and 92%, respectively.