Water being an essential component for plant growth and development, its scarcity poses serious threat to crops around the world. Climate changes and global warming are increasing the temperature of earth hence becoming an ultimate cause of water scarcity. It is need of the day to use potential soil amendments that could increase the plants’ resistance under such situations. Biochar and gypsum were used in the present study to improve the water use efficiency (WUE) and growth of Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench (Lady’s Finger). A 6 weeks experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions. Stress treatments were applied after 30 days of sowing. Plant height, leaf area, photosynthesis, transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance and WUE were determined weekly under stressed [60% field capacity (F.C.)] and non-stressed (100% F.C.) conditions. Stomatal conductance and Tr decreased and reached near to zero in stressed plants. Stressed plants also showed resistance to water stress upto 5 weeks and gradually perished at sixth week. On the other hand, WUE improved in stressed plants containing biochar and gypsum as compared to untreated plants. Biochar alone is a better strategy to promote plant growth and WUE specifically of A. esculentus, compared to its application in combination with gypsum.

Background Treatment tolerability and treatment environment are two major spheres of infertility care that may associate with women’s emotional health and coping mechanisms. Aim The present study aimed at assessing the relationship between infertility treatment quality and various aspects of emotion-focus coping, problem-focus coping, and avoidance coping mechanisms. Method The study was completed by using standardized tools and data from this descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study were collected from 350 women undergoing infertility treatments in private reproductive healthcare centers in Quetta, Pakistan. Findings Treatment tolerability was found to be positively associated with positive reframing (p < 0.02) and negatively associated with the use of emotional support (p < 0.03); acceptance (p < 0.01); humor (p < 0.03); behavioral disengagement (p < 0.01) and venting (p < 0.01). The quality of the treatment environment demonstrated a negative correlation between religious coping (p < 0.02) and behavioral disengagement (p < 0.01), whereas it showed a positive correlation with active coping (p < 0.03) and planning (p < 0.02). The linear regression analysis demonstrated that treatment tolerability significantly increased with positive reframing (R2 = 0.118, F(304) = 2.22, p < 0.03). Behavioral disengagement significantly decreased with better treatment environment (R2 = 0.111, F(304) = 2.09, p < 0.02). Discussion We discussed the findings keeping in view the role of social, cultural, and economic factors related to infertility care in the context South-Asian culture, and recommendations are made to promote women’s mental health and coping by improving some specific aspects of infertility treatment quality. Conclusions High treatment tolerability may associate with some useful aspects of emotion-focus coping, such as positive reframing, whereas low treatment tolerability may associate with avoidance coping, such as behavioral disengagement and venting. Besides, the quality of the infertility treatment environment enables women to use problem-focus coping mechanisms, such as planning and active coping.

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Abstract-This study deals with the consumptive water use of some selected crops of Pakistan, including major crops, such as cereals and oil seeds and minor crops including vegetables, fruit, tobacco, tea etc. Water footprints have been calculated using CROPWAT 8.0 (developed by Land and Water Division of FAO). The software bases its calculations on Penman Monteith equation. The study enables us to assess the use of water not in a conventional way of water withdrawal but in terms of water footprint (WF) which characterizes the use of water that does not return to its source or origin in a small time scale. The study compares the water footprint values obtained in current research, with the WF averages globally for the same crops. It has been observed that sorghum, barley, millet and oil crops such as ground nut, soybean and sunflower notably use high quantities of water in the local conditions as compared to the global averages of the same. Most of these are estimated at a higher side of WF, as high as double of the global averages. Most of the crops in Pakistan indicate water footprint either equal to or greater than the global averages which can be attributed to various factors, most important is principally arid conditions, dry subtropical climate, poor irrigation techniques and water management systems and also low yields lead to higher WF calculation. There have been observed only three crops, viz. wheat, potato and tobacco whose water footprint is lower than the global averages. Tobacco has a water footprint smaller than global average based on the fact that in Pakistan tobacco is the crop whose yield exceeds the global average yields, so its high per unit area production translates into low water footprint. A reduced water footprint is a recommended condition wherein the entity under question uses the least possible amount of water thus demonstrating sustainable use of water.

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Abstract-Wastewater (WW) generation is inevitable in rapidly growing and urbanizing societies resulting in significant damage to the quality and quantity of fresh water resources. The study was intended to harness the reuse potential of sewage WW using integrated wastewater treatment process. Composite sample of sewage WW was collected from inlet of sewage wastewater treatment plant. The WW sample was batch wise subjected to activated sludge process (ASP), ozonation, UV irradiation, H 2 O 2 oxidation and sand filtration separately for different time intervals (i.e. 0 to 60 min) and concentrations of H 2 O 2 (0.1 to 1.0 mlL -1 ), followed by the integration of all the processes at their optimum conditions. Batch experiments were performed in pyrex containers using 1.5L sample except for ASP that is 20L. Efficiencies were measured in terms of COD, color and TSS removal along with changes in pH and temperature. Biological diversity of WW was also determined using cultural techniques followed by biochemical tests. Color reduction was much higher and faster than COD in all the tested treatment processes. Ozonation was the fastest process to remove 78% color in 30 minutes however, ASP was more economical for the same efficiency but requires high hydraulic retention time (HRT). Increase in UV irradiation time reduced COD and color by 54 and 69% after 60min respectively. Sand filter efficiently removed 97% TSS with marginal reduction in COD. Integration of 4 hr ASP, 24 min ozonation and 10 min UV exposure with 1 ml L -1 H 2 O 2 dose yielded 98 and 100% COD and Color reduction respectively.

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Cauliflower is a cool-season crop and temperature plays a critical role in curd induction. As on the basis of temperature requirement they are classified into early, mid and late season groups. However, most of the genotypes require an optimum temperature of 20-25