Ornamental bulbous plants have great value in the world floriculture industry and gladiolus possesses prominent position among them. Gladiolus plant is mainly grown for its flower spike but it can be used as an bedding and potting plant. The increase in demand of its spikes needs continuous cultivation to meet the market demands throughout the year but occurrence of dormancy in corms limits its cultivation to only one growing season in a year. Various chemicals were used to break corms dormancy and their effect on corm health was also studied. The effect of important factors which affects the breaking of corm dormancy including corm source, scales and varieties was studied. Among treatments the soaking of dormant corms in different concentrations of methanol in combination with plant growth regulators (gibberellic acid, 6-benzylaminopurine and indole acetic acid) was effective to break corm dormancy rather than individual application of chemicals. The descaled corms responded better to application of chemicals than the scaled ones. In another set of chemical treatments, the combined application of gibberellic acid with benzylaminopurine enhanced their effect to get the maximum germination percentage under controlled conditions of temperature at 26 o C in complete darkness. The combination of gibberellic acid with benzylaminopurine was found the best from the initial experiments and this combination was used to break corm dormancy under field conditions. The germination percentage increased as the concentration of gibberellic acid in combination with benzylaminopurine increased. The chemical analysis of treated and non treated corms revealed that there was maximum increase in total soluble sugars (6.98mg/g), gibberellic acid content (112.80ηg/g) and decrease in starch content (22.25mg/g), total phenolic content (91.57μg/g) and abscisic acid (27.32ηg/g) was recorded in treated corms. In the second part of the study, foliar application of gibberellic acid, 6-benzylaminopurine and salicylic acid was done at three different stages of growth of gladiolus plants. The plants which received foliar application of gibberellic acid showed an improvement in their vegetative characters i.e. the maximum increase in plant height (122.14cm), spike length (58.41cm), number of florets (13.49), corm diameter (4.43 cm), corm weight (25.34g), number of cormels plant-1(75.64), cormel weight plant-1(20.45 g), and also the chemical constituents of leaves including, chlorophyll content (7.72mg/g), total carotenoids (1.61mg/g), total soluble sugars (3.68mg/g), nitrogen (1.52%), phosphorus (0.28%) and potassium (0.64%). Whereas benzylaminopurine application increased the spike diameter (7.23 mm) and salicylic acid application acted to decrease the number of days to flower (64.93) and total phenolic content (0.62mg/g) of leaf compared to control plants. The foliar application of polyamines (putrescine and spermine) and vitamins (ascorbic acid and thiamine) at 0.1, 0.4, 0.7 and 1mM concentrations improved the morphological and physiological parameters. Putrescine application at 1mM concentration resulted in increased morphological parameters, the plant height (107.85cm), spike length (53.19cm), spike diameter (7.53 mm), florets spike-1(13.99), 1st floret diameter (9.66 cm), floret weight (4.90g), corm diameter (4.57cm) corm weight (26.16g), cormels plant-1(80.86), cormel weight (23.03g) and also improved the physiological attributes like chlorophyll content(8.06mg/g), total carotenoids (1.66mg/g), total phenolic content (0.89mg/g), total soluble sugars (4.75mg/g), nitrogen (1.42%), phosphorus (0.27%) and potassium (0.84%). Thus foliar application of gibberellic acid and putrescine is helpful to improve the economically valuable characteristics of gladiolus plant which may helpful for gladiolus growers to fetch more price in the market.
والیؔ آسی ۱۴؍ اپریل کو اردو کے ایک خوش گو اور خوش فکر شاعر والی آسی کا انتقال ہوگیا، انہیں شاعری اور اردو زبان کی خدمت کا ولولہ اپنے نامور والد، مولانا عبدالباری آسی مرحوم سے وارثت میں ملا تھا۔ والی مرحوم کی تعلیم ممتاز اسکول اور امیر الدولہ اسلامیہ کالج لکھنؤ میں ہوئی تھی۔ جناب ساجد لکھنوی سے ان کی دوستی تھی، دونوں نے لاٹوش روڈ پر مکتبہ دین و دنیا قائم کیا، جہاں سے متعدد مجموعے شائع کئے، دونوں نے مل کر نعتیہ کلام کا ایک مجموعہ " ارمغانِ نعت" کے نام سے مرتب کر کے شائع کیا تھا، جو بہت مقبول ہوا۔ والی مرحوم شریف، ملنسار مگر خود دار شخص تھے، صوم و صلوٰۃ کے پابند تھے ان کی شاعری فکر و خیال کی مہارت اور اسلامی رنگ کی حامل ہوتی تھی، ان کے دو مجموعے ’’شہد‘‘ اور ’’موم‘‘ کے نام سے شائع ہوچکے ہیں، رسالوں میں بھی ان کا کلام چھپتا رہتا تھا، مشاعروں میں بھی شریک ہوتے تھے، ان کا ترنم بہت اچھا تھا مگر اکثر تحت اللفظ پڑھتے تھے، آواز اتنی پاٹ دار ہوتی تھی کہ سامعین خود بہ خود متوجہ ہوجاتے تھے، اپنے جان دار کلام کی وجہ سے ملک کے علاوہ دوحہ، قطر، مسقط، جدہ، دبئی، لندن، اور نیویارک کے مشاعروں میں بھی مدعو کئے جاتے تھے، ان کے شاگردوں کا وسیع حلقہ تھا، جن میں مشہور شاعر منور رانا بھی ہیں، وہ بڑے یار باش تھے، امین آباد میں ان کی دکان پر دوست شاعروں کا جمگھٹ رہتا تھا۔ ان کے چند اشعار ملاحظہ ہوں، جو آزادی کے پچاس ۵۰ برس گزرنے کی مناسبت سے کہے گئے ہیں: کبھی کیا نہ کسی سے بیاں پچاس برس کہ ہم نے کیسے گزارے یہاں پچاس برس یہ چاہتے تھے قصیدہ ترا لکھیں لیکن لہو میں ڈوبی رہیں انگلیاں پچاس...
Obesity is a growing problem, most prevalent in the developed countries, especially US. Children and adolescents are gaining weight at a fast pace as compared to their parents. Although, it is very complicated to exactly know the cause of obesity, its risk factors, its prevention in different populations, yet, it has been observed that changes in life style and particularly in eating habits has contributed to an increased obesity incidence globally. These habits include eating junk food, synthetic and bakery products, increased hoteling, increased consumption of meat and unstaturated fats. If we compare the urban and rural regions at a global scale, we may come to know that Obesity and gastrointestinal problems are more prevalent in urban areas. It also indicates that these disorders are mostly attributed to bad eating habits and wrong choices of food which lack nutritional value but cause various disorders. Atleast 2 decades ago, when there was less digitalization and technological advancements, if people consumed high cholesterol diet or meat, they could digest it as they were physically very active. But in these days, there is less physical activity and our digestive systems cannot digest such food. Moreover, junk food may contribute to obesity. No doubt genetics may also has some role which cannot be denied but the modifiable risk factors can be controlled, monitored and may prevent such disorders. However, global investigations in this regard are direly needed to know the dietary habits and patterns worldwide, their effects in different populations, so that policies may be devised and implemented. Parents are also not aware of a proper healthy pattern that meets the requirements of their children. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) Surveys and then awareness campaigns may play a positive role in this regard. Teaching healthy dietary patterns for different age groups at school level may also serve the purpose.
The study was designed to investigate the perceptions of principals, teachers, and students regarding capacity building initiatives for Special Children Education of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Those children who are facing some sort of slight impairment can easilyacquire education with normal children. But, the children who are having severe and moderate impairment, need to go to different school, which are especially designed for the special children. Such schools design their own methodology and have different syllabus and methods of instruction. The objectives of the study were to identify the perceptions of students, teachers, and principals regarding capacity building initiatives that are undertaken by different special education institutions for the Special Children Education and formulate workable suggestions for theimprovement ofSpecial Children Education. In order to obtain quantitative and qualitative data in the study, mixed methodology was used which employed a survey questionnaire thatcontained 44 items grouped into 04 broad categories, which were collected from special children and their teacher’s fromtenspecial children schools in Khyber Paktunkhwa. The data were collected from 302 students out of which both were male students and female students of equal number of 151. The total sample teachers were 217 which include 83 male teacher and 45 female teachers.However, the interviews were taken from 10 principals of special children schools. To analyze quantitative data, statistical procedures were run by using SPSS version 16.0. The perceptions of Teachers and students about various capacity building initiatives of students, teachers, and institutions as well as a different problem faced by special children was analyzed by using mean and standard deviation. Secondly, the data was collected through Likert scale which was further put to analyzed through t-test in which Mann Witney U test and Kruskal Wallis U test were applied. As far as qualitative data analysis is concerned, the results from the interview of principals were recorded, coding, theming and documented by making transcripts, along with taking notes by the researcher. The null hypothesis was rejected and it was found out that various services and facilities are provided free to special children in their schools, but most of the time they were neither sufficient nor up-to the mark. As reflected by th quantitative and qualitative data, the curriculum must be equipped with the national and international requirements because the present curriculum needs modification. The data reflected a broad consensus that a teacher may be a good researcher and must be able to tackle classroom problems. There is a need to link research with practice in order to facilitate learning and school life as a whole. It is recommended that all vacant posts of the teachers in the schools need to be fill up as in every special children school there is a shortage of teachers, establish teachers training institutes in the province, initiate awareness campaign on regular basis in order to develop awareness in people and remove the negative attitude towards special children.