Cu-nanoparticles enhance the sustainable growth and yield of drought-subjected wheat through physiological progress.

Drought stress (DS) is a significant abiotic stress that limits agricultural productivity worldwide. In semi-arid climates, one potential solution to alleviate the deleterious effects of drought is the use of soil amendments such as nanoparticles. The current research was conducted out to probe the sway of drought at critical growth stages (CGS) of wheat crop (D0: Control, D1: Drought at tillering stage, and D2: Drought at anthesis stage) and the application of Cu-nanoparticles (T0: 0 mg L-1, T1: 300 mg L-1, T2: 700 mg L-1, and T3: 950 mg L-1) in order to improve drought resilience. Results of the study revealed that DS considerably decreased the wheat growth and yield during CGS. However, Cu-nanoparticles application alleviated the detrimental backlash of DS and led to improvements in various aspects of wheat growth and yield, including plant height, spike length, 1000 grain weight, stomatal conductance, leaf chlorophyll content, water use efficiency, leaf turgor potential, relative water content, and ultimately the grain yield. The use of principal component analysis allowed us to integrate and interpret the diverse findings of our study, elucidating the impact of Cu-nanoparticle treatment on wheat growth and yield under drought. Overall, the study concluded that DS during the anthesis stage had the most significant negative impact on crop yield. However, applying Cu-nanoparticles at the rate of 300 mg L-1 proved to be an effective strategy for improving crop productivity by reducing the harmful effects of drought.

Exploring the recuperative potential of brassinosteroids and nano-biochar on growth, physiology, and yield of wheat under drought stress.

Drought stress as a result of rapidly changing climatic conditions has a direct negative impact on crop production especially wheat which is the 2nd staple food crop. To fulfill the nutritional demand under rapidly declining water resources, there is a dire need to adopt a precise, and efficient approach in the form of different amendments. In this regard, the present study investigated the impact of nano-biochar (NBC) and brassinosteroids (BR) in enhancing the growth and productivity of wheat under different drought stress conditions. The field study comprised different combinations of amendments (control, NBC, BR, and NBC + BR) under three irrigation levels (D0, D1 and D2). Among different treatments, the synergistic approach (NBC + BR) resulted in the maximum increase in different growth and yield parameters under normal as well as drought stress conditions. With synergistic approach (NBC + BR), the maximum plant height (71.7 cm), spike length (17.1), number of fertile tillers m-2 (410), no. of spikelets spike-1 (19.1), no. of grains spike-1 (37.9), 1000 grain weight (37 g), grain yield (4079 kg ha-1), biological yield (10,502 kg ha-1), harvest index (43.5). In the case of physiological parameters such as leaf area index, relative water contents, chlorophyll contents, and stomatal conductance were maximally improved with the combined application of NBC and BR. The same treatment caused an increase of 54, 10, and 7% in N, P, and K contents in grains, respectively compared to the control treatment. Similarly, the antioxidant response was enhanced in wheat plants under drought stress with the combined application of NBC and BR. In conclusion, the combined application of NBC and BR caused a significant increase in the growth, physiological and yield attributes of wheat under drought stress.

Impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on the China-Europe and China-Middle East trading route selection.

This research examines the potential impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on the selection of trading routes between China, the Middle East, and Europe, with a specific focus on the transportation of a 40-foot standard container carrying general commodities. The study compares traditional routes with the new CPEC routes in terms of time, distance, and cost. The findings indicate that the new CPEC routes offer reduced travel time and distance when compared to the traditional routes across all provinces involved. The research reveals that the cost of road transportation along the new CPEC route is lower for Xinjiang province, but higher for the other provinces. By utilizing the new CPEC routes, the time required for goods to travel from China to the Middle East and Europe will be reduced by 10 to 20 days. Furthermore, the distance covered in this trade route will be shortened by 3,000 to 10,000 kilometres. Specifically, the province of Xinjiang in western China stands to benefit significantly from the new CPEC routes, saving approximately $2,000 on trade with the Middle East and Europe. These findings highlight the potential advantages and economic benefits that can be realized by leveraging the CPEC for trade between China, the Middle East, and Europe, particularly in terms of reduced transportation time and distance.

Morpho-physiological and biochemical response of wheat to various treatments of silicon nano-particles under drought stress conditions.

Silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs) have shown their potential for use in farming under water-deficient conditions. Thus, the experiment was accomplished to explore the impacts of seed priming of Si-NPs on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) growth and yield under different drought levels. The plants were grown in pots under natural ecological environmental conditions and were harvested on 25th of April, 2020. The results revealed that seed priming of Si-NPs (0, 300, 600, and 900 mg/L) suggestively improved, the spike length, grains per spike, 1000 grains weight, plant height, grain yield, and biological yield by 12-42%, 14-54%, 5-49%, 5-41%, 17-62%, and 21-64%, respectively, relative to the control. The Si-NPs improved the leaf gas trade ascribes and chlorophyll a and b concentrations, though decreased the oxidative pressure in leaves which was demonstrated by the diminished electrolyte leakage and upgrade in superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activities in leaf under Si-NPs remedies over the control. The outcomes proposed that Si-NPs could improve the yield of wheat under a dry spell. In this manner, the utilization of Si-NPs by seed priming technique is a practical methodology for controlling the drought stress in wheat. These findings will provide the basis for future research and helpful to improve the food security under drought and heat related challenges.

Ameliorating Drought Effects in Wheat Using an Exclusive or Co-Applied Rhizobacteria and ZnO Nanoparticles.

Drought is a major abiotic factor and affects cereal-based staple food production and reliability in developing countries such as Pakistan. To ensure a sustainable and consistent food supply, holistic production plans involving the integration of several drought mitigation approaches are required. Using a randomized complete block design strategy, we examined the drought-ameliorating characteristics of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and nanoparticles (NPs) exclusively or as a combined application (T4) through three stages (D1, D2, and D3) of wheat growth (T1, control). Our field research revealed that Azospirillum brasilense alone (T2) and zinc oxide NPs (T3) improved wheat plant water relations, chlorophyll, proline, phenolics and grain quality, yield, and their allied traits over the stressed treatments. Specifically, the best outcome was observed in the combined treatment of PGPR and ZnO NPs (T4). Interestingly, the combined treatment delivered effective drought mitigation through enhanced levels of antioxidants (15% APX, 27% POD, 35% CAT, 38% PPO and 44% SOD) over controls at the grain-filling stage (GFS, D3 × T1). The 40% improvements were recorded under the combined treatment at GFS over their respective controls. Their combined usage (PGPR and ZnO NPs) was concluded as an effective strategy for building wheat resilience under drought, especially in arid and semi-arid localities.

Biochar enhances wheat crop productivity by mitigating the effects of drought: Insights into physiological and antioxidant defense mechanisms.

Drought stress is a major limitation in wheat production around the globe. Organic amendments could be the possible option in semi-arid climatic conditions to mitigate the adverse effects of drought at critical growth stages. Wheat straw biochar (BC0 = Control, BC1 = 3% biochar and BC2 = 5% biochar) was used to alleviate the drought stress at tillering (DTS), flowering (DFS), and grain filling (DGFS) stages. Drought stress significantly reduced the growth and yield of wheat at critical growth stages, with DGFS being the most susceptible stage, resulting in significant yield loss. Biochar application substantially reduced the detrimental effects of drought by improving plant height (15.74%), fertile tiller count (17.14%), spike length (16.61%), grains per spike (13.89%), thousand grain weight (10.4%), and biological yield (13.1%) when compared with the control treatment. Furthermore, physiological parameters such as water use efficiency (38.41%), stomatal conductance (42.76%), chlorophyll a (19.3%), chlorophyll b (22.24%), transpiration rate (39.17%), photosynthetic rate (24.86%), electrolyte leakage (-42.5%) hydrogen peroxide (-18.03%) superoxide dismutase (24.66%), catalase (24.11%) and peroxidase (-13.14%) were also improved by biochar application. The use of principal component analysis linked disparate scales of our findings to explain the changes occurred in wheat growth and yield in response to biochar application under drought circumstances. In essence, using biochar at 5% rate could be a successful strategy to promote wheat grain production by reducing the hazardous impacts of drought stress.

Influence of tourism, governance, and foreign direct investment on energy consumption and CO2 emissions: a panel analysis of Muslim countries.

The empirical linkages from tourism, governance, and FDI have been quantified on CO2 emission and energy use over 2002-2014 for a panel of 13 Muslim countries. To this end, we have examined the data for cross-sectional dependence (CD) and panel heterogeneity and employed panel algorithms, which account for both CD and panel heterogeneity. The results from Pedroni, Westerlund, and Kao tests supported the existence of a cointegration association between the chosen variables. In the CO2 model, we observed that tourism positively, and governance negatively, influences the CO2 emission. However, in the case of the energy model, the results of tourism pose a negative relationship, and governance indicates a positive relationship with energy use. The results supported the pollution haven phenomenon, finance, and energy triggered pollution in the study area. Further, the research supported a two-way causality between tourism and CO2, where there is a unilateral causality from governance to CO2. Similarly, a unidirectional causality was obtained from energy towards tourism. Lastly, the key policy recommendations based on the outcomes of the study are encouraging clean energy investment, enhancing good governance, and sustainable tourism development for improving environmental quality.

The dilemma of natural disasters: Impact on economy, fiscal position, and foreign direct investment alongside Belt and Road Initiative countries.

This paper investigates the damages and population affected by natural disasters based on percentile rankings, and analyzes the impact on the economy, per capita, fiscal balance, and foreign direct investment using novel panel algorithms including; Generalized Method of Moment (GMM), Crossectionally augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lags (CS-ARDL), and Driscoll & Kraay (DK) in Belt and Road initiative countries (B&RIC) over 1990-2018. The results indicate that severe natural disasters have negatively influenced economic growth with an average size of -0.016, which is transmitted to fiscal balance (-0.011) and foreign direct investment (-0.0271) in the long-run. The results also imply that the intensity of severe disasters on the fiscal position of the B&RIC countries is negative with an average effect of -0.011; however, the trade-openness, FDI, and economic activities support to improve the fiscal balance in the long-run. The outcomes of the study further revealed that foreign direct investment is more elastic in response to natural disasters in these countries. Therefore, it is recommended that the policymakers in B&RI countries should integrate the economic impacts of natural disasters in long-term economic planning. This would help the policymakers for better fiscal decisions, attracting FDI inflows and preparedness aftermath of natural disasters.

The dirty energy dilemma via financial development and economic globalization in Pakistan: new evidence from asymmetric dynamic effects.

Energy strategy has been an essential strand in the view of economists in achieving rapid development process of any country. The recent wave of globalization exerts pressure on energy consumption via financial development which ultimately vindicates economic growth. This paper has covered a period of 1976-2016 using annual data for the empirical analysis and constructed a growth equation as the main equation and the energy consumption equation as a channel equation. The empirical study has been undertaken by performing ARDL and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag models (NARDL). The bound test result declares a long-run association in both equations. Consequently, energy consumption and economic globalization have significantly enhanced economic growth in the long run. Whereas, financial development index has no influence on the economic growth of Pakistan. The results of channel equation suggested that due to growing the price of crude oil, the energy consumption is reduced in the long run. The increasing imports of energy products and increasing urbanization are conducive for energy consumption in Pakistan. By NARDL model, our empirical findings provide robust support for the existence of asymmetric co-integration linking among underlying variables of the study.