Climate change impacts on agriculture sector: A case study of Pakistan / Impactos das mudanças climáticas no setor agrícola: um estudo de caso do Paquistão

ABSTRACT: The current article looks at the effects of climate change on agriculture, especially crop production, and influence factors of agricultural development in terms of their rational use in Pakistan. Due to the dependence of economic development, and agriculture in the South Asian region on access to renewable national resources and the associated vulnerability to climate change, the limited financial and professional resources of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan require a clear definition of national priorities in this area. In the preparation of this article, general scientific cognition methods, in particular, empirical-theoretical methods were used. Grouping and classification methods have been used to process and systematize the data. The ability to change productivity, depending on the variation of the average annual air temperature and the average annual precipitation rate, was considered using a two-factor regression model. The main finding of the study is that temperature and precipitation have a negative impact on agricultural production. This study can provide a scientific justification for the specialization of agricultural production in the regions of Pakistan as well as the execution of the necessary agricultural activities.

RESUMO: O objetivo deste artigo é examinar os efeitos das mudanças climáticas na agricultura, especialmente a produção agrícola e os fatores de influência do desenvolvimento agrícola em termos de uso racional no Paquistão. Devido à dependência do desenvolvimento econômico e da agricultura na região do sul da Ásia do acesso a recursos nacionais renováveis ​​e à vulnerabilidade associada às mudanças climáticas, os recursos financeiros e profissionais limitados da República Islâmica do Paquistão exigem uma definição clara das prioridades nacionais nessa área. Na preparação deste artigo, foram utilizados métodos gerais de cognição científica, em particular métodos teórico-empíricos. Os métodos de agrupamento e classificação foram utilizados para processar e sistematizar os dados. A capacidade de alterar a produtividade, dependendo da variação da temperatura média anual do ar e da taxa média anual de precipitação, foi considerada usando um modelo de regressão de dois fatores. A principal descoberta do estudo é que a temperatura e a precipitação têm um impacto negativo na produção agrícola. Este estudo pode fornecer uma justificativa científica para a especialização da produção agrícola nas regiões do Paquistão, bem como a execução das atividades agrícolas necessárias.

Coping with drought: stress and adaptive mechanisms, and management through cultural and molecular alternatives in cotton as vital constituents for plant stress resilience and fitness

Increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and associated climatic variability is primarily responsible for inducing heat waves, flooding and drought stress. Among these, water scarcity is a major limitation to crop productivity. Water stress can severely reduce crop yield and both the severity and duration of the stress are critical. Water availability is a key driver for sustainable cotton production and its limitations can adversely affect physiological and biochemical processes of plants, leading towards lint yield reduction. Adaptation of crop husbandry techniques suitable for cotton crop requires a sound understanding of environmental factors, influencing cotton lint yield and fiber quality. Various defense mechanisms e.g. maintenance of membrane stability, carbon fixation rate, hormone regulation, generation of antioxidants and induction of stress proteins have been found play a vital role in plant survival under moisture stress. Plant molecular breeding plays a functional role to ascertain superior genes for important traits and can offer breeder ready markers for developing ideotypes. This review highlights drought-induced damage to cotton plants at structural, physiological and molecular levels. It also discusses the opportunities for increasing drought tolerance in cotton either through modern gene editing technology like clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR/Cas9), zinc finger nuclease, molecular breeding as well as through crop management, such as use of appropriate fertilization, growth regulator application and soil amendments.

Two-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy-a new technique

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is now the procedure of choice in all the gall bladder diseases and there is increase in the skills of surgeons with newer equipment. Normally the laparoscopic cholecystectomy is performed by using four ports or three ports. Two ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy is rarely performed as it demands greater expertise and skills. Also this technique is less expensive and less scar formation than four port laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We present a case of a middle aged female who underwent successfully laparoscopic cholecystectomy by using only two ports