Transgenerational Seed Exposure to Elevated CO2 Involves Stress Memory Regulation at Metabolic Levels to Confer Drought Resistance in Wheat.

Drought is the worst environmental stress constraint that inflicts heavy losses to global food production, such as wheat. The metabolic responses of seeds produced overtransgenerational exposure to e[CO2] to recover drought's effects on wheat are still unexplored. Seeds were produced constantly for four generations (F1 to F4) under ambient CO2 (a[CO2], 400 µmol L-1) and elevated CO2 (e[CO2], 800 µmol L-1) concentrations, and then further regrown under natural CO2 conditions to investigate their effects on the stress memory metabolic processes liable for increasing drought resistance in the next generation (F5). At the anthesis stage, plants were subjected to normal (100% FC, field capacity) and drought stress (60% FC) conditions. Under drought stress, plants of transgenerational e[CO2] exposed seeds showed markedly increased superoxide dismutase (16%), catalase (24%), peroxidase (9%), total antioxidants (14%), and proline (35%) levels that helped the plants to sustain normal growth through scavenging of hydrogen peroxide (11%) and malondialdehyde (26%). The carbohydrate metabolic enzymes such as aldolase (36%), phosphoglucomutase (12%), UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (25%), vacuolar invertase (33%), glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase (68%), and cell wall invertase (17%) were decreased significantly; however, transgenerational seeds produced under e[CO2] showed a considerable increase in their activities in drought-stressed wheat plants. Moreover, transgenerational e[CO2] exposed seeds under drought stress caused a marked increase in leaf Ψw (15%), chlorophyll a (19%), chlorophyll b (8%), carotenoids (12%), grain spike (16%), hundred grain weight (19%), and grain yield (10%). Hence, transgenerational seeds exposed to e[CO2] upregulate the drought recovery metabolic processes to improve the grain yield of wheat under drought stress conditions.

Ethnopharmacological uses of fauna among the people of central Punjab, Pakistan.

Introduction: The utilization of fauna and fauna-based byproducts in ethnomedicinal usages has been a longstanding human activity, practiced across various cultures worldwide. This study focuses on investigating the utilization of animal-based traditional medicine by the people of Pakistan, specifically in the Gujranwala area. Methods: Data collection took place from January to September 2019 through interviews with local communities. Ethnomedicinal applications of animal products were analyzed using several indices, including Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), Relative Popularity Level (RPL), Folk Use Value (FL), and Relative Occurrence Percentage (ROP). Results: The study identified the use of different body parts of 54 species of animals in treating various diseases and health issues. These include but are not limited to skin infections, sexual problems, pain management (e.g., in the backbone and joints), eyesight issues, immunity enhancement, cold, weakness, burns, smallpox, wounds, poisoning, muscular pain, arthritis, diabetes, fever, epilepsy, allergies, asthma, herpes, ear pain, paralysis, cough, swelling, cancer, bronchitis, girls' maturity, and stomach-related problems. Certain species of fauna were noted by informers with high "frequency of citation" (FC), ranging from 1 to 77. For instance, the black cobra was the most frequently cited animal for eyesight issues (FC = 77), followed by the domestic rabbit for burn treatment (FC = 67), and the Indus Valley spiny-tailed ground lizard for sexual problems (FC = 66). Passer domesticus and Gallus gallus were noted to have the highest ROP value of 99. Discussion: The findings of this study provide valuable preliminary insights for the conservation of fauna in the Gujranwala region of Punjab, Pakistan. Additionally, screening these animals for medicinally active compounds could potentially lead to the development of novel animal-based medications, contributing to both traditional medicine preservation and modern pharmaceutical advancements.

Magnesium nanoparticles extirpate salt stress in carrots (Daucus carota L.) through metabolomics regulations.

Underground vegetables are sensitive and vulnerable to salt stress. The vegetables are the main source of vitamins, nutrients and minerals in human diet. Also contain healthy carbohydrates, antioxidant and resistant starch which are beneficial for human health. Salinity influences water balance, morphological appearance and cellular interference of crop plants. It also caused disproportion of nutrients which usually affects the physiochemical processes in plant. Salt stress also affect biochemical attributes and hampers the growth of underground organs, due to which yield of crop decreased. The nanoparticles had been potentially used for better crop yield, in the recent. In our research study, we elaborate the positive response of magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO-NPs) on the morphological and biochemical parameters as well as anti-oxidant enzymes action on two accessions of carrot (Daucus carota L.) under salt stress of 40 mM and 80 mM. In a pilot experiment, various levels (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mg/L) of MgO-NPs were tested through foliar application on carrot plants. Foliar application of MgO-NPs at concentration of 150 mg/L was most effective treatment and ameliorate the salt stress in both carrot accessions (DC-03 and DC-90). The MgO-NPs significantly enhanced the morphological and biochemical parameters. The yield was significantly increased with the exposure of MgO-NPs. Our results thus confirmed the potential of MgO-NPs to endorse the plant development and growth under salinity. However, further research study is needed to explore effectiveness of MgO-NPs in various other plants for the ameliorant of salinity.

Rice residue management alternatives in rice-wheat cropping system: impact on wheat productivity, soil organic carbon, water and microbial dynamics.

In the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) predominates, producing large quantity of crop residue and its management is major concern. Farmers usually burn the residue to clear the field for succeding crop, and burning damages soil microbes, resulted in loss of soil organic matter. Hence, current study was conducted to assess the impact of different Happy seeder based residue management options on changes in microbial dynamics, enzyme activities and soil organic matter content and also to know that alternative method for attaining sustainable wheat productivity in sandy loam soils of Haryana, India. Results revealed that Zero tillage wheat (ZTW) with partial and full residue retention treatments sown with Happy seeder (after using chopper and spreader), and ZTW with anchored stubbles significantly enhanced soil microbial count by 47.9-60.4%, diazotropic count by 59.0-73.1% and actinomycetes count by 47.3-55.2%, grain yield by 9.8-11.3% and biomass yield by 7.4-9.6% over conventional tilled (CT) residue burning and residue removal plots. ZTW sown with surface retention of rice crop residue increased the organic carbon by 0.36-0.42% and the soil moisture content by 13.4-23.6% over CTW without residue load. Similarly, ZTW sown with Happy seeder with full residue enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity from 95.3 µg TPF g-1 soil 24 h-1 in 2018-2019 to 98.6 µg TPF g-1 soil 24 h-1 in 2019-2020 over control plots. Likely, microbial population and enzymatic activity showed strong positive correlation under variable residue retention practices. However, increased microbial population reduced the soil pH from 7.49 to 7.27 under ZTW with residue retention plots. The wheat yield enhanced by 9.8-11.3% during 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 under ZTW with Happy seeder with full residue load over residue burning and residue removal plots. ZTW sown with Happy seeder under full residue retention, achieved maximum net return 43.16-57.08 × 103 ₹ ha-1) and B-C ratio (1.52 to 1.70) over CTW without residue. Therefore, rice residue needs to be managed by planting wheat using appropriate machinery under ZT for sustaining higher productivity in RWCS and improve soil health and environment under IGP regions.