سائنس اور تہذیب و تمدن کے فروغ میں اسلام کا کردار

Islam is a complete code of life. It has complete instructions regarding all aspects of life. There is no moment in human life when the wisdom of Islam has not benefited humanity. Likewise there is no such area in the world where Islam has not put the light of guidance. Allah Almighty has systematically administered this world system.  Allah created the universe and set it disciplined, then created man and gave him every kind of physical, rational, logical and argumintive ability, so that humans can know the secrets of the universe by thinking and understanding it. The journey of research and discovery, which started long ago, is still continues today after passing through different stages of research. This journey of research resulted in evolution of philosophy, civilization, promotion of new scientific innovations and discoveries. The research and discovery resulted in the secrets of heaven and earth.  Today, man stands at the stage of science and technology, about which the human being in the older days even could not imagine of it. In this entire evolutionary journey, the religion of Islam is the only religion that not only stood firmly with humans, but guided him at every step during this evolutionary journey. In this context, the Quranic teachings are comprehensive matter. Allamah Sayyuti says "There is no knowledge and problem that is not discussed in the Qur'an. So Islam invites human to research in the system of the universe and presents the system of universe for its authenticity.

Influence of Storage Duration, Harvesting Stage and Calcium Treatment on the Storage Performance of Apple Cultivars

The “Influence of storage duration, harvesting stage and calcium treatment on the storage performance of apple cultivars” was conducted at Department of Horticulture, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan during the years 2007-10 to optimize the storage duration and calcium treatments for apple fruit. The fruit of apple (Pyrus domestica L.) cultivars: Royal Gala, Mondial Gala, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious were harvested at optimum maturity and stored at 5±1°C with 60-70% relative humidity. Physico-chemical changes in fruit were determined at 30 days interval during storage. Significant differences were observed among apple cultivars. Cultivar Red Delicious had the highest juice content (58.47%), TSS/Acid ratio (23.12), ascorbic acid (13.12 mg/100g), fruit firmness (5.98 kg/cm2), fruit density (0.82 g/cm3) as well as the least weight loss (2.22%) but also had the highest bitter pit (11.86%) and soft rot (13.53%) incidence. Titratable acidity was the highest (0.55%) in cultivar Mondial Gala and starch score was the maximum (5.22) in cultivar Golden Delicious. Storage resulted in significant increased in weight loss, total soluble solids, total sugar, pH, TSS/Acid ratio, bitter pit incidence and soft rot, while juice content, starch score, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, firmness and density of fruit decreased with increasing storage duration. Physico-chemical characteristics of apple fruit varied significantly with harvesting stage and storage duration. The juice content (47.68%), total soluble solids (10.07), total sugar (9.31%), pH (3.71), TSS/Acid ratio (18.73), ascorbic acid (10.11 mg/100g) and soft rot (9.52%) recorded with early mature fruit, increased to 59.33%, 12.92, 12.98%, 4.23, 29.29, 12.50% and 15.22% accordingly in late mature fruits, while weight loss (3.34%), starch score (4.95), titratable acidity (0.59%), fruit firmness (5.88 kg/cm2), density of fruit (0.82 g/cm3) and bitter pit incidence (11.69%) recorded at early maturity stage, declined with delaying the harvesting to 1.93%, 3.21, 0.49%, 4.81 kg/cm2, 4.81 g/cm3 and 6.63% respectively at late maturity stage. Dipping in calcium solution declined the storage related changes but the influence was dependant on concentration as well as dipping duration. The juice content (60.63%), starch score (5.05), ascorbic acid (12.67 mg/100g), firmness (5.98 kg/cm2) and density of fruit (0.81 mg/100g) recorded in fruits dipped in 0% CaCl2 solution (control), increased to 64.34%, 5.68, 13.87 mg/100g, 6.54 kg/cm2 and 0.84 mg/100g accordingly in fruits dipped in 9% CaCl2 solution. By contrast, weight loss (1.95%), total soluble solids (12.01), total sugar (10.95%), TSS/Acid ratio (28.09), bitter pit incidence (15.18%) and soft rot (15.33%) incidence recorded in control, decreased to 1.31%, 11.88, 10.76%, 23.88, 3.80% and 2.10% in fruits treated with 9% CaCl2 solution. The starch score (5.30), firmness (6.13 kg/cm2) and density of fruit (0.82 mg/100g) recorded in fruits dipped for 3 minutes in CaCl2 solution, increased to 5.50, 6.49 kg/cm2 and 0.84 mg/100g accordingly in fruits dipped for 12 minutes in CaCl2 solution, whereas weight loss (1.81%), TSS/Acid ratio (27.21), bitter pit incidence (11.92%) and soft rot (7.07%) incidence recorded in fruits dipped for 3 minutes in CaCl2 solution, reduced to 1.41%, 25.27, 5.60% and 6.28% respectively in fruits treated CaCl2 solution for 12 minutes. It can be concluded that cultivar Red Delicious had superior quality but more susceptible bitter pit and soft rot with prolong storage. Harvesting at mid mature stage and calcium chloride (9%) treatment for 9 minutes resulted in enhanced storage performance.