Canola, Brassica napus L. is a minor oilseed crop in Pakistan but for various reasons is increasing in importance as its oil being healthy and to share country oil production as currently 71% of the required edible oil in country is being imported. A complex of aphids is the main pest for low crop harvests sometimes reaching to complete crop failure. Prior work has found that plant resistance and natural biological control have minimal potential in managing aphids. Insecticides have been recommended in past research to reduce aphid damage but without any 11 guide lines regarding timing of applications or action thresholds. Altering planting time of crops is an important component of pest management for avoidance of pests. This component has not been previously exploited for developing pest management of aphids in canola production systems. Study described in this thesis involves the optimization of planting date and timing of insecticide applications. Canola variety (Shiralee) was planted on mid October, early November and mid November in crop seasons of years 2008-09 and 2009-10 at Multan and Bahawalpur districts of southern Punjab – Pakistan. The experiment design was a split plot with planting dates in main plots and insecticide applications in subplots. In each planting, insects pests including aphids and other hexapods were recorded. Acetamiprid and/ Imidacloprid against aphids were applied at flowering, pod formation, maturity (one spray), flowering and pod formation (two sprays), flowering, pod formation (three sprays) and maturity and pod and maturity (two sprays) stage of the crop. Untreated plots were also maintained as treatment. Aphids were recorded from top 10cm of central shoot of five randomly selected plants from each treatment while other hexapods from the whole five plants per plot. At crop harvest yield and yield contributing components and seed oil contents were recorded. Cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae Linnaeus (Hemiptera: Aphididae); turnip aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kaltenbach) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were recorded as major/abundant among all other insect pests. Low and negligible populations of peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer, (Hemiptera: Aphididae); whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae); and armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) were observed for short duration in early vegetative stages of seedling to rosette of the crop. However, B. brassicae, L. erysimi, and pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) appeared with the onset of flowering to pod stages, respectively. Crop sown in mid October got more aphid free days (105) than crops sown on early November (98 days) and mid November (72 days). At that time of aphid’s infestation, early November sown crop had 28% plants at flowering and 72% plants at bolting stages. While mid November sown crop was 25% at flowering and 75% at bolting stages. In contrast, early sown crop (mid October) had completed almost 94% flowering and 6% of pods setting before aphid invasion. Thus, mid October sown crop escaped the aphid damage at flowering to early pod setting stage. 12 Crop sown on mid October gave significantly higher yield compared to late sown crops. Timing of aphid infestation was noted as important as severity of infestation. Both flowering and pod stages were more vulnerable to damage (yield loss) by aphids pests. These stages proved to be critical for yield-aphid relationship and ultimately for applying insecticides to manage aphids as compared to maturity stage. Frequency of insecticide applications: flowering-pod-maturity stages (with 3 applications) and flowering-pod (with 2 applications) gave higher crop yields than untreated plots and were statistically at par with treatment of single application at flowering stage for three experiments of first two planting dates at both the locations. Insecticides applications at pod and maturity stages did not increase in yield if crop was not treated at flowering stage. Thus application of insecticides at flowering and pod formation stage is an action threshold based upon crop phenology. Insecticides applications (flowering-pod-maturity) for aphids increased around 44% grain yield than no insecticides. Reduction of aphids due to insecticides increased plant height, pods per plant, numbers of seeds per pod and 1000 seed weight (with substantially more for early plantings) but did not affect oil contents of seeds in all the experiments. Cost benefit ratio of these applications was 1:7.12, 1:3.37 and 1:1.90 for early, mid and late planting time, respectively. Integrating early planting at mid October and insecticide applications at flowering and pod stage, economic losses of the pest can be avoided with an increase in income for the growers. Moreover, manipulating early planting dates and timing of insecticide applications/action thresholds can result in more cost effective and environment friendly management program. Keywords: Canola; Brassica napus; sowing dates; Insect pests; growth stages; insecticides; aphid; yield; yield components; southern Punjab; Pakistan.
آہ! جناب ڈاکٹر مقبول احمد مرحوم دارالمصنفین کی مجلس انتظامیہ کے رکن اور کلکتہ کے مشہور سرجن پروفیسر ڈاکٹر مقبول احمد قریب دو ڈھائی سال سے کناڈا میں مقیم تھے، وہاں ان کی صحت بگڑتی گئی اور آخر ۱۰؍ اکتوبر کو فون سے ان کی وفات کی اندوناک خبر ملی، اناﷲ وانا الیہ راجعون، اس طرح ایک ایسی ہستی کی کتاب زیست کا ورق تمام ہوا جس کا ہر باب وصفحہ ایک خالص عبد مومن کی تصویر اور جس کا ہر نقش تابندہ اور رشک و تقلید کے لایق ہے۔ ڈاکٹر صاحب کی پیدایش ۱۹۲۴ء میں بنارس میں ہوئی جہاں ان کے زمین دار جدامجد، اعظم گڑھ کے گاؤں راجہ پور سکرور سے منتقل ہوگئے تھے لیکن تعلیم، ملازمت، مستقل بودو باش اور میدان عمل کے لحاظ سے ڈاکٹر صاحب کا وطن کلکتہ ہی ہے، اس شہر مہاجراں کو مختلف علاقوں کی جن مذہبی، علمی اور ادبی شخصیتوں نے اپنے وجود کی برکتوں سے مثل قرطبہ و غرناطہ بنایا، ان کی فہرست میں ڈاکٹر صاحب کا نام مختلف حیثیتوں سے ہمیشہ نمایاں رہے گا۔ کلکتہ میڈیکل کالج سے سند حاصل کرنے کے بعد وہ انگلینڈ اور فرانس گئے، ایف آرسی ایس کیا، وطن واپس آئے تو اسی کالج میں معلم ہوئے جہاں پہلے متعلم تھے، بچپن سے تعلیم تک کی تکمیل کی یہ کہانی انہوں نے دل چسپ تفصیل سے اپنی کتاب ’’صدائے جرس‘‘ میں بیان کردی ہے، سرجری کے فن میں ان کو غیر معمولی شہرت حاصل ہوئی اور علم الجراحت میں ان کی چند نئی تحقیقات یورپ کے رسایل میں شایع ہوئیں تو بین الاقوامی سطح پر ان کا اعتراف کیا گیا، کلکتہ میں ان کے دست شفا اور مسیحائی کی دھوم تھی لیکن یہ ان کی زندگانی مقبول کا صرف ایک باب ہے، اس فن کو انہوں نے مال و منفعت کے حصول...
The doctrine of Khul’ has, within the course of last few years, assumed a great deal of importance in Pakistan because literacy rate in women is increasing rapidly and their dependency on men is decreasing. Now, women can easily make their own decisions with free consent due to their some awareness about their rights, especially regarding dissolution of marriage. Majority of women is still ignorant about dissolution of marriage on the ground of Khul’. Therefore, it is very necessary to explain all different aspects of “doctrine of Khul’” for ensuring justice in our society. The present research has mainly explored the grounds of judicial Khul’ and other relevant incidents in the light of Pakistani Case Law based on Islamic family Law. The research is based primarily on the decisions of superior courts of Pakistan. The decisions of family courts of Pakistan have been included in the discussion. The relevant provisions of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 and the Family Courts Act, 1964 have also been debated. The difference between Khul’ and other modes of dissolution of marriage have also been elaborated briefly.
Calcium carbide (CaC2) has occupied an important position among different sources of ethylene (C2H4) for improving growth and yield of vegetables. Calcium carbide dependent C2H4 can cause noteworthy improvements in growth, yield and fruit quality of vegetables but its effect on physiological and morphological parameters of vegetables is completely concentration dependent. Under critical environmental conditions, an abrupt release of C2H4 from CaC2 can impede growth and yield of a crop as it initiates leaf, flower and fruit senescence and finally great loss of yields. However, CaC2 dependent released C2H4 can be more constructive and worthwhile for non-conventional production of vegetables if it is applied along with salicylic acid (SA). Salicylic acid not only impedes C2H4 biosynthesis but also plays a crucial role in plant physiology as a stress hormone. As comparative effects of C2H4 released from CaC2 and SA are not thoroughly investigated particularly for production of vegetables with improved quality, therefore, a series of laboratory, pot and field studies were conducted to scrutinize the effectiveness of CaC2 dependent C2H4 with and without application of SA for seed germination, physiological, morphological, yield and quality parameters of sweet pepper. Experiments were conducted in three sections. Section I, II and III consisted of four laboratory, three wire-house/pot and two field experiments, respectively. From first experiment of section-I, polyethylene and paint were selected as the most effective materials for coating CaC2. In second experiment of section-I, it was observed that CaC2 up to 14 mg plate-1 induced early seed germination with 100% germination rate and better seedling growth parameters but application of CaC2 ˃16 mg plate-1 inhibited seed germination and seedling growth parameters of sweet pepper. Similarly, results of third experiment of section-I revealed that SA concentration ≤0.4 mM can be used to improve germination percentage and seedling vigor of sweet pepper. In last experiment of section-I, it was noted that SA alleviated injurious effects of CaC2 with ˃16 mg plate-1 on seed germination and seedling growth parameters. In section-II, data revealed that 20 mg CaC2 kg-1 soil while 0.3 mM SA can be used for maximization of sweet pepper productivity. In last pot trial, effect of CaC2 with and without SA was investigated on growth, yield and fruit quality of sweet pepper under salinity stress. It was observed that detrimental effects of excessive C2H4 from CaC2 on physiology, photosynthesis, growth and yield of sweet pepper were mitigated by the foliar application of SA under saline conditions. On the basis of preliminary trials of section I and II, two field experiments were conducted on two different locations (section-III). Results of both field experiments showed that application of CaC2 along with foliar application of SA improved photosynthetic activity by 7-77%, plant water use and carboxylation efficiency by 10-211%, antioxidant and enzyme activities by 15-53% and finally fruit yield by 5-34% with a significant increase in fertilizer use efficiency compared to that of plants without SA and CaC2 application (control). Additionally, quality parameters related to chemical composition of sweet pepper fruits were also improved by the application of CaC2 with foliar application of SA. These parameters are very much required for improvement in shelf life. In short, results confirm the synergistic role of SA and CaC2 for improving physiology, growth, yield and quality of sweet pepper. Our results suggest that application of 200 mg plant-1 polyethylene coated CaC2 with foliar application 0.1 or 0.3 mM SA is relatively more economically beneficial and effective than application of 200 mg plant-1 polyethylene coated CaC2 without foliar application of SA. Moreover, results also indicated that SA treated plants were tolerated abrupt release of C2H4 from applied CaC2 to a greater extent.