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Agriculture is considered as the backbone of the economy of Pakistan. However, current changes in climate have been adversely affecting agricultural productivity. In this paper, perceived impacts of climate change on agriculture and adaptation towards it have been studied in Charsadda district (lowlands) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan through extensive field surveys, involving 116 farm households. Results have revealed that climate change factors including fluctuating temperature, evidence of yearly long droughts, and a steady shift in rainfall patterns have pressured the agriculture sector and livelihoods of the local peasants. The staggering floods of 2010 and 2011 in Pakistan have evidenced severe climatic changes in Pakistan. These countrywide floods have washed fertile soil in the study area that has directly contributed to losses in agricultural yield and increased vector-borne diseases in crops. The local farmers have commonly deployed adaptive measure such as crops diversification, changing fertilizer, and planting shaded trees to minimize the impacts of changes in climate. However, these adjustments measures are perceived as not appropriate for improving farm yield. Therefore, the study suggests that improved understanding of the climate change impacts and knowledge on adapting adequately will lead to no-regret adaptation. It will also help protecting farmer’s lives and livelihoods and will boost their resilience towards changing climatic conditions. Graphical abstract .

Salt stress is the major risk to the seed germination and plant growth via affecting physiological and biochemical activities in plants. Zinc nanoparticles (ZnNPs) are emerged as a key agent in regulating the tolerance mechanism in plants under environmental stresses. However, the tolerance mechanisms which are regulated by ZnNPs in plants are still not fully understood. Therefore, the observation was planned to explore the role of ZnNPs ( applied as priming and foliar) in reducing the harmful influence of sodium chloride (NaCl) stress on the development of spinach ( Spinacia oleracea L.) plants. Varying concentrations of ZnNPs (0.1%, 0.2% & 0.3%) were employed to the spinach as seed priming and foliar, under control as well as salt stress environment. The alleviation of stress was observed in ZnNPs-applied spinach plants grown under salt stress, with a reduced rise in the concentration hydrogen peroxide, melondialdehyde and anthocyanin contents. A clear decline in soluble proteins, chlorophyll contents, ascorbic acid, sugars, and total phenolic contents was observed in stressed conditions. Exogenous ZnNPs suppressed the NaCl generated reduction in biochemical traits, and progress of spinach plants. However, ZnNPs spray at 0.3% followed by priming was the most prominent treatment in the accumulation of osmolytes and the production of antioxidant molecules in plants.

Salinity stress is considered the most devastating abiotic stress for crop productivity. Accumulating different types of soluble proteins has evolved as a vital strategy that plays a central regulatory role in the growth and development of plants subjected to salt stress. In the last two decades, efforts have been undertaken to critically examine the genome structure and functions of the transcriptome in plants subjected to salinity stress. Although genomics and transcriptomics studies indicate physiological and biochemical alterations in plants, it do not reflect changes in the amount and type of proteins corresponding to gene expression at the transcriptome level. In addition, proteins are a more reliable determinant of salt tolerance than simple gene expression as they play major roles in shaping physiological traits in salt-tolerant phenotypes. However, little information is available on salt stress-responsive proteins and their possible modes of action in conferring salinity stress tolerance. In addition, a complete proteome profile under normal or stress conditions has not been established yet for any model plant species. Similarly, a complete set of low abundant and key stress regulatory proteins in plants has not been identified. Furthermore, insufficient information on post-translational modifications in salt stress regulatory proteins is available. Therefore, in recent past, studies focused on exploring changes in protein expression under salt stress, which will complement genomic, transcriptomic, and physiological studies in understanding mechanism of salt tolerance in plants. This review focused on recent studies on proteome profiling in plants subjected to salinity stress, and provide synthesis of updated literature about how salinity regulates various salt stress proteins involved in the plant salt tolerance mechanism. This review also highlights the recent reports on regulation of salt stress proteins using transgenic approaches with enhanced salt stress tolerance in crops.

Strigolactone (GR24) is a phytohormone, involved in reconfiguration of plant development pattern in response to salinity stress. Current experiment was carried out in vitro conditions to study the role of GR24 on sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv. OLIVER-P) under saline and non-saline growth mediums. Two salinity levels [0 mM (control) and 150 mM NaCl] were maintained in growth mediums for callus induction along with four GR24 levels (0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 mg L−1) in Somatic Cell Genetic Lab, Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. Results of this study showed that among GR24 levels, 0.01 mg L−1 proved to be ideal dose as it improved callus fresh weight (30.59%), dry weight (45.26%), free protein (55.87%), Ca2+ (13.04%) and K+ (11.76%) contents under non-saline, while superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), free proline and glycine betaine (GB) contents by 38.1%, 67.87%, 124.01%, 63.38% and 76.12%, respectively, under salinity stress mediums. However, water potential (Ψw), osmotic potential (Ψs), turgor potential (Ψp), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were reduced up to 32.65%, 39.80%, 40.74%, 65.78% and 30.76%, respectively, due to different levels of GR24. Overall, high saline conditions caused a significant reduction in concentration of callus biomass, Ψw, Ψs, soluble protein, Ca2+ and K+ ions than non-saline mediums. These results reflected that GR24 application could be an effective approach to mitigate hazardous impacts of salinity in sunflower production. Further, the molecular techniques of processes in which GR24 may play a key role in different commercially vital crops is extreme important and may carry new leads for future experimentation in this exciting area of plant hormones.

Salt stress severely limits the productivity of crop plants worldwide and its detrimental effects are aggravated by climate change. Due to a significant world population growth, agriculture has expanded to marginal and salinized regions, which usually render low crop yield. In this context, finding methods and strategies to improve plant tolerance against salt stress is of utmost importance to fulfill food security challenges under the scenario of the ever-increasing human population. Plant priming, at different stages of plant development, such as seed or seedling, has gained significant attention for its marked implication in crop salt-stress management. It is a promising field relying on the applications of specific chemical agents which could effectively improve plant salt-stress tolerance. Currently, a variety of chemicals, both inorganic and organic, which can efficiently promote plant growth and crop yield are available in the market. This review summarizes our current knowledge of the promising roles of diverse molecules/compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), molecular hydrogen, nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), melatonin, chitosan, silicon, ascorbic acid (AsA), tocopherols, and trehalose (Tre) as potential primers that enhance the salinity tolerance of crop plants.

Cadmium toxicity in the soil is an alarming issue, and among innumerable approaches, microbe-facilitated nanoparticle application for alleviation of Cd stress is a well-accepted technique. The present study explored the efficiency of combined TiO 2 -NPs and Staphylococcus aureus M1 strains for Cd mitigation in wheat plants. Results depicted that Cd stress attenuates the growth attributes while the collective application of NPs and microbes significantly upsurges the growth attributes as contrasted to Cd treatment. Combined TiO 2 -NPs and microbes application increased the total chlorophyll (12), a (10), b (11), and carotenoids (13%) under Cd (50 mg kg − 1 ) compared to microbial treatment. MDA (4), H 2 O 2 (3), and EL (5%) were significantly down-regulated with combined TiO 2 -NPs and microbes application under Cd (50 mg kg − 1 ) compared to microbial treatment. CAT (17), SOD (7), POD (8), and APX (29%) were increased with combined TiO 2 -NPs and microbes application under Cd (50 mg kg − 1 ) comparison to microbial treatment. Cd accumulation in roots (34), shoots (23), and grains (27%) were significantly reduced under Cd (50 mg kg − 1 ) with combined TiO 2 -NPs and microbes application, contrary to microbial treatment. Subsequently, combined TiO 2 -NPs and microbial strains Staphylococcus aureus M1 application is a sustainable solution to boost crop production under Cd stress.

The upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor has been recognized as an important wastewater treatment technology among anaerobic treatment methods. The objective of this study was to perform literature review on the treatment of domestic sewage using the UASB reactor as the core component and identifying future areas of research. The merits of anaerobic and aerobic bioreactors are highlighted and other sewage treatment technologies are compared with UASB on the basis of performance, resource recovery potential, and cost. The comparison supports UASB as a suitable option on the basis of performance, green energy generation, minimal space requirement, and low capital, operation, and maintenance costs. The main process parameters such as temperature, hydraulic retention time (HRT), organic loading rate (OLR), pH, granulation, and mixing and their effects on the performance of UASB reactor and hydrogen production are presented for achieving optimal results. Feasible posttreatment steps are also identified for effective discharge and/or reuse of treated water.

Wheat is one of the best-domesticated cereal crops and one of the vital sources of nutrition for humans. An investigation was undertaken to reveal the potential of novel bio-inoculants enriching micronutrients in shoot and grains of wheat crop to eliminate the hazards of malnutrition. Sole as well as consortia inoculation of bio-inoculants significantly enhanced mineral nutrients including zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) concentrations in shoot and grains of wheat. Various treatments of bio-inoculants increase Zn and Fe content up to 1–15% and 3–13%, respectively. Sole inoculation of Bacillus aryabhattai (S10) impressively improves the nutritious of wheat. However, the maximum increase in minerals contents of wheat was recorded by consortia inoculation of Paenibacillus polymyxa ZM27, Bacillus subtilis ZM63 and Bacillus aryabhattai S10. This treatment also showed a maximum bacterial population (18 × 10 4 cfu mL -1 ) in the rhizosphere. The consortium application of these strains showed up to a 17% increase in yield. It is evident from the results that the consortium application was more effective than sole and co-inoculation. A healthy positive correlation was found between growth, yield, and the accessibility of micronutrients to wheat crops at the harvesting stage. The present investigations revealed the significance of novel bacterial strains in improving the nutritional status of wheat crops. These strains could be used as bio-inoculants for the biofortification of wheat to combat hidden hunger in developing countries.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate risks associated with climate change vulnerability and in response the adaptation methods used by farming communities to reduce its negative impacts on agriculture in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThe study used household survey method of data collection in Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, involving 116 randomly selected respondents.FindingsPrevalent crops diseases, water scarcity, soil fertility loss and poor socio-economic conditions were main contributing factors of climate change vulnerability. The results further showed that changing crops type and cultivation pattern, improved seed varieties, planting shaded trees and the provision of excessive fertilizers are the measures adapted to improve agricultural productivity, which may reduce the climate change vulnerability at a household level.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of this study was the exclusion of women from the survey due to religious and cultural barriers of in Pashtun society, wherein women and men do not mingle.Practical implicationsReducing climate change vulnerability and developing more effective adaptation techniques require assistance from the government. This help can be in the form of providing basic resources, such as access to good quality agricultural inputs, access to information and extension services on climate change adaptation and modern technologies. Consultation with other key stakeholder is also required to create awareness and to build the capacity of the locals toward reducing climate change vulnerability and facilitating timely and effective adaptation.Originality/valueThis original research work provides evidence about farm-level vulnerability, adaptation strategies and risk perceptions on dealing with climate-change-induced natural disasters in Pakistan. This paper enriches existing knowledge of climate change vulnerability and adaptation in this resource-limited country so that effective measures can be taken to reduce vulnerability of farming communities, and enhance their adaptive capability.

Groundwater is one of the major sources of freshwater supply for drinking and domestic purposes. This study evaluates the hydrogeochemical processes, groundwater quality for human consumption, associated health risks from fluoride F− and nitrate (NO3−), and sources of dissolved solutes in a highland watershed in northern Pakistan. Groundwater samples (n = 51) were gathered and analyzed for a range of physicochemical parameters. To evaluate contamination, indices such as the nitrate pollution index (NPI) and fluoride pollution index (FPI) were applied, along with a composite groundwater pollution index to assess overall water quality. The findings revealed that total dissolved solid, turbidity, F−, and K+ levels exceeded health-based thresholds in 20%, 1%, 4%, and 2% of samples, respectively. Among the water sources, handpumps were identified as the most contaminated. According to the NPI and composite index, 96% and 92% of the samples did not show significant contamination, respectively. However, the FPI results highlighted that 59% of the samples exhibited low F− pollution, while 41% fell under medium pollution levels. While NO3− ingestion posed no notable health risks, F− exposure presented significant concerns, with 58.8% of the samples posing risks, particularly for children. The dominant hydrochemical facies were Ca-Mg-HCO3, with the main influence on water chemistry by rock-water interactions and reverse ion exchange processes.