Growth and dry matter partitioning response in cereal-legume intercropping under full and limited irrigation regimes.

The dry matter partitioning is the product of the flow of assimilates from the source organs (leaves and stems) along the transport route to the storage organs (grains). A 2-year field experiment was conducted at the agronomy research farm of the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan during 2015-2016 (Y1) to 2016-2017 (Y2) having semiarid climate. Four summer crops, pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoidum L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) and pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) and four winter crops, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), fababean (Vicia faba) and rapeseed (Brassica napus) were grown under two irrigation regimes (full vs. limited irrigation) with the pattern of growing each crop either alone as sole crop or in combination of two crops in each intercropping system under both winter and summer seasons. The result showed that under full irrigated condition (no water stress), all crops had higher crop growth rate (CGR), leaf dry weight (LDW), stem dry weight (SDW), and spike/head dry weight (S/H/PDW) at both anthesis and physiological maturity (PM) than limited irrigated condition (water stress). In winter crops, both wheat and barley grown as sole crop or intercropped with fababean produced maximum CGR, LDW, SDW, S/H/PDW than other intercrops. Among summer crops, sorghum intercropped either with pigeon pea or with mungbean produced maximum CGR, LDW, SDW, and S/H/PDW at both growth stages. Sole mungbean and pigeon pea or pigeon pea and mungbean intercropping had higher CGR, LDW, SDW, S/H/PDW than millet and sorghum intercropping. On the other hand, wheat and barley grown as sole crops or intercropped with fababean produced maximum CGR, LDW, SDW, and S/H/PDW than other intercrops. Fababean grown as sole crop or intercropped with wheat produced higher CGR, LDW, SDW, and S/H/PDW at PM than intercropped with barley or rapeseed. From the results it was concluded that cereal plus legume intercropping particularly wheat/fababean in winter and sorghum/pigeon pea or sorgum/mungbean in summer are the most productive intercropping systems under both low and high moisture regimes.

Review on Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles through Plants.

Nature has the potential to reduce metal salts to their relative nanoparticles. Traditionally, physical and chemical methods were used for the synthesis of nanoparticles but due to the use of toxic chemicals, non-ecofriendly methods and other harmful effects, green chemistry approaches are now employed for synthesizing nanoparticles which are basically the most cost effective, ecofriendly and non-hazardous methods. In this review, we aimed to evaluate and study the details of various mechanisms used for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from plants, their size, shape and potential applications. A total of 150 articles comprising both research and review articles from 2009 to 2019 were selected and studied in detail to get in-depth knowledge about the synthesis of silver nanoparticles specifically through green chemistry approaches. Silver ions and their salts are well known for their antimicrobial properties and have been used in various medical and non-medical applications since the emergence of human civilization. Miscellaneous attempts have been made to synthesize nanoparticles using plants and such nanoparticles are more efficient and beneficial in terms of their antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-biofilm and cytotoxic activities than nanoparticles synthesized through physical and chemical processes. Silver nanoparticles have been studied as an important research area due to their specific and tunable properties and their application in the field of biomedicine such as tissue and tumor imaging and drug delivery. These nanoparticles can be further investigated to find out their antimicrobial potential in cell lines and animal models.

Medicinal Applications of Cannabinoids Extracted from Cannabis sativa (L.): A New Route in the Fight Against COVID-19?

Cannabis sativa is a well-known plant that has been recognized for its benefits since ancient times by several medicinal systems, including those of China, India, Greece, and Egypt. Although C. sativa is one of the most investigated medicinal plants in the world, it faces some of the greatest controversies surrounding its legalization and use as a medication. C. sativa contains several hundred phytoconstituents, including the infamous "cannabinoids". It is necessary to properly understand the medicinal importance of these phytochemicals and spread awareness among the countries where cannabis is still facing legal obstacles. The current review focuses on the most recent literature pertaining to various applications of cannabinoids, with a special focus on the medicinal aspect of these phytochemicals. Peer-reviewed articles focusing on the importance of cannabis and cannabinoids are the target of this review. Articles were selected based on the relevance to the general scope of the work, i.e., application of cannabinoids. Cannabinoids can truly be regarded as wonder drugs, considering their immense diversity of usage. Unfortunately, however, many of the mares have never been researched biologically or pharmacologically due to their low yield in the plant. However, the approval of some cannabinoids by the FDA (along with other recognized national medical health systems) has opened the horizon for the use of these natural drugs in medicines such as Epidiolex® (cannabidiol, used for the treatment of severe forms of epilepsy) and Sativex®(Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, used for the treatment of spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis). Many pharmacological properties of C. sativa are attributed to cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive component, along with Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), a psychoactive component. This review addresses the most important applications or current utilization of cannabinoids in a variety of treatments such as chronic pain, cancer, emesis, anorexia, irritable bowel syndrome, communicable diseases, glaucoma, and central nervous system disorders. The biosynthetic pathway of cannabinoids is also discussed. In short, cannabis has a myriad of bioactive compounds that have the potential to increase the list of approved cannabinoids suitable for therapy.

Effectiveness of manual therapy to the cervical spine with and without manual therapy to the upper thoracic spine in the management of non-specific neck pain; a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness of manual therapy to the cervical spine with and without manual therapy to the upper thoracic spine in the management of non-specific neck pain. METHODS: The randomized controlled trial was conducted at 3 different hospitals in Peshawar, Pakistan, from October 2016 to January 2017, and comprised patients suffering from non-specific neck pain aged 25-60 years. The control group received cervical manual therapy alone while the experimental group received cervical along with thoracic manual therapy for 2 weeks. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 37 subjects, 20(54%) were cases and 17(46%) were controls.The overall mean age was 35.9±9.6 years. There was no significant difference between the groups at baseline in terms of the levels of pain (p=0.125) and disability (p=0.392). The experimental group showed greater reduction in pain (p=0.02) and disability (p=0.03) compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Cervical along with thoracic manual therapy reduced neck pain and associated neck disability more effectively than cervical manual therapy alone.