Sorghum (Sorghum bicolour L. Moench) productivity is greatly affected by drought which is a major abiotic stress factor around the world. Sorghum being an important crop that is used as human food, animal feed as well used for industrial purposes, is widely grown throughout the world. This important crop is considered more tolerant to drought. However, pre-flowering stage of sorghum plant is more sensitive to drought stress and as a result causes severe reduction in grain yield due to the influence on plant reproductive organs and processes. The availability of genetic variation and effectiveness of selection within the genotypes, are factors that greatly improves drought stress resistance. Additionally, markers assisted selection procedures to identify genetic factors involved in plant responses to drought stress facilitate pyramiding of favourable alleles in breeding programs. In sorghum, drought stress at pre-flowering stage is more common but limited studies have been conducted considering this stage. Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate the effects of drought stress at pre-flowering stage and to determine variations in different traits i.e. pollen fertility in sorghum core collection. In addition, experiments were performed to map chromosomal regions controlling these traits. Also, selected accessions were screened at seedling stage to analyse polymorphisms for selected drought controlling genes. The sorghum core collection consisting of 107 sorghum accessions from Africa and Asia were evaluated under drought stress at pre-flowering stage. Under drought stress the average leaf drying score (LDS) ranged from 5 to 85% among accessions. Pollen fertility (POFE) was measured by acetocarmine staining which showed significant differences among accessions under drought stress. Drought susceptibility index (DSI) was also calculated which showed difference in yield under drought stress and well water conditions. Based on different selection criteria including leaf drying score (LDS), pollen fertility (POFE) and drought susceptibility index (DSI) the sensitive and tolerant accessions were selected, which can be used for the improvement of drought tolerance in sorghum in breeding programs. In this study, association analysis was used to map Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) associated with drought stress. Using 98 SSR markers data the association analysis was performed and 17 QTLs were identified residing on chromosomes SBI-01, SBI- x 02, SBI-04, SBI-08, SBI-09 and SBI-10 under well water conditions. While under drought stress, 9 QTLs were identified on chromosomes SBI-01, SBI-02, SBI-03 and SBI-10. On chromosome SBI-02, two QTLs identified were physically localized and were homologous for genes encoding DNA binding and ATP binding proteins. The identification and analysis of these QTLs could help in dissecting genetic and physiological basis of drought tolerance in sorghum. Experiment was also conducted to analyse eight sorghum accessions that were exposed to osmotic stress produced by polyethylene glycol. The accessions showed varied response to drought tolerance at seedling stage in terms of root length and root dry weight. The most promising drought tolerant accessions showed greater root length and root dry weight. The same accessions were also screened for selected drought controlling genes i.e. NAC1, DHN1, WRKY11 and BADH to identify polymorphisms among drought sensitive and tolerant accessions. Furthermore, no polymorphism was found among accessions for different genes primers at genomic level revealing that these genes expressed only under stress conditions. Further analysis must be carried out to investigate the expression pattern of these genes as well as to determine their functional and biological importance in sorghum drought tolerance. The work presented in this thesis is devoted to identify and study various traits that are associated to drought tolerance in Sorghum. This thesis discusses in detail the phenotypic evaluation of different drought controlling traits as well as genetic analysis to identify the chromosomal regions responsible for expression of these traits.
مصنف نے ناول میں ایسے کلرکوں کا ذکر کیا ہے جو سالہاسال سیٹ پر براجمان رہتے ہیں اور کام بھی کوئی نہیں کرتے۔ ولیم ایسے کلرکوں کو سخت ناپسند کرتا تھا اور بات پہ بات وہ اپنے کلرک نجیب شاہ کو اس کے حلیہ کے بارے میں آگاہ کرتا رہتاتھا۔ مگر نجیب شاہ پہ اس کا کوئی اثر نہ تھا۔ولیم کا خیال تھا کہ شاید پندرہ سال کے بعد تمام کلرک ایک جیسے ہی دکھنے لگتے ہیں۔مصنف نے دونوں کرداروں کے ذریعے کلرکوں کا طریقہ کار بتایا ہے۔ ان کا رہن ،سہن آدھے سر سے گنجے پیٹ ضرورت سے زیادہ باہر جو مسلسل بیٹھے رہنے کی وجہ سے باہر نکل آیا ہوا تھا، عینک کے شیشے موٹے موٹے جو کہ کبھی صاف بھی نہیں کرتے یا پھر سر کا تیل عینک کے شیشوں کا دھندلائے رکھتا ہے۔یاکچھ اس طرح سے مصنف بات کو رخ دیتے ہیں کہ کلرک چاہتا ہے کہ عینک صاف نہ ہونا ہی بہتر ہے۔ بے رونق چہرہ ایک تو ایماندار نہ ہونا اور دوسرا چہرہ مسلسل استرے کے استعمال سے اس قدر سخت کہ کراہت کا احساس ہوتا ہے اور سب سے زیادہ کراہت کا احساس تب ہوتا ہے جب ناک کے بال بھی نتھوں سے باہر جھانک رہے ہوتے ہیں۔کلرک دیہی علاقوں میں یہ عہدہ سرکاری ملازمین کی نچلی سطح پر ہوتا ہے۔اگر برطانوی حکومت کی بات کی جائے تو انھیں ولیج افسر کہا جاتا تھااور یہ انتہائی با اثر ہوتے تھے کہ تاریخ میں یہ لوگ حکومت کے لیے کان اور آنکھ کا کام کرتے تھے۔دیہات میں زمینی کاروائی اور دیکھ بھال والا ہوتا ہے۔ماضی میں بھی یہ لوگ اتنے با اثر رہے ہیں ،موجودہ صورتحال میں بھی انہیں زیادہ اثرورسوخ مل گیا ہے اور یہ لوگوں کا ایسے فائدہ اٹھاتے...
Prophet Hood consists of guidance from Allah to humankind. It is a Allah given blessing and a favor that is bestowed on an individual chosen be Him to convey His message, which cannot be acquired or earned otherwise. There has never been a human being so well-respected, loved and followed as Muhammad (SAW), the final messenger of Allah. There has never been a person who has changed world history so dramatically as Muhammad (SAW) and his message. The Prophet (SAW) was the single most important person in the history of the world. Knowledge of the Prophetic Biography is necessary for every Muslim and sharing it with everyone is a responsibility. The importance of a complete biography of the Messenger as available to us cannot be under estimated in this troubled time since both Muslims as well as Non-Muslims have serious knowledge gap when it comes to even approaching the nature of the Final Prophet and the Ultimate Messenger of God sent to all of humanity, who came to restore the primordial religion of Man, the submission to Allah and His Commands. Muhammad (SAW) serves as: - Allah’s messenger and prophet to all mankind as an example of human behavior and noble character Therefore, in studying his life-story we should derive lessons and morals that can help us in our lives today.
Zinc (Zn) deficiency in sandy soils is one of the major reasons of low chickpea yield in Pakistan. Soil Zn deficiency is often associated with human Zn deficiency due to low Zn concentration in the edible plant parts. For this, a series of experiments were conducted to: (i) optimize the Zn application through seed treatment in desi and kabuli chickpea, (ii) charectrize desi and kabuli chickpea genotypes for genetic diversity and grain Zn bioavailability, (iii) evluate the role of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB, Enterobacter sp. MN17) in combination with Zn application in improving the productivity and grain biofortification of desi and kabuli chickpea, (iv) study the mechansim of Zn induced tolerance against heat and drought stresses in desi and kabuli chickpea. For optimization, Zn was applied through seed priming and seed coating. Among seed treatments, seed priming with 0.001 M Zn and seed coating with 5 mg Zn kg-1 seed significantly improved stand establishment and early seedling growth of both chickpea types. Zinc application, through either method, improved the stand establishment, grain yield, and grain biofortification. The use of PGPB together with Zn application was more effective in improving the stand establishment, grain yield and grain Zn biofortification. The response of chickpea types differed in Zn and Zn+ PGPB application. In kabuli chickpea, Zn application is more effective through seed coating + Enterobacter sp. MN17, while in desi, Zn application through soil application + Enterobacter sp. MN17 was the best in improving the productivity, profitability, bioavailable Zn and grain quality. The results of genetic diversity revealed low to moderate genetic diversity (0.1488 for desi and 0.1041 for kabuli) among the tested chickpea genotypes (n = 16) of Pakistani origin. However, there was significant variation for yield and grain quality. The highest grain yield, grain Zn concentration and bioavailable Zn was recorded in desi genotype NIAB-CH-2016 and in kabuli genotype Noor-2013. Abiotic stresses suppressed the growth of chickpea, and under Zn deficiency the suppressive impacts were more severe. However, adequate supply of Zn (1 µM) improved the tolerance against the drought stress (35% water holding capacity) and heat (35/30°Cday/night) stresses in chickpea owing to the improvement in the activities of enzymatic antioxidants, photosynthesis, and accumulation of free leaf proline. In conclusion, Zn fertilization and Zn + PGPB improved the stand establishment, productivity and grain biofortification of chickpea. The chickpea genotypes of Pakistani origin had low to moderate genetic diversity for grain yield and bioavailable Zn. Adequate supply of Zn improves the chickpea growth and performance under abiotic stresses.