The overarching objective of this study was to investigate the role of microfinance in fisheries sector and its development: a case study of Ibrahim Hyderi District Karachi East Sindh. This study was based on primary data and samples of 120 small scales of fishermen were selected through random sampling method. Interview schedule was used as a tool of data collection. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistical techniques like means, percentages and frequencies distribution etc. The results of this study showed that total cost reported by fishermen was Rs.7665 per day. Whereas, the average yields of fishermen was 37.5 Kg per day at the rate of Rs.400/ Kg. Moreover, the net return earned by fishermen was estimated to be Rs.7335 per day .For return to investment, overall input-output ratio was calculated 1:1.95 and cost benefit ratio was calculated 1:0.95. It is clear that microfinance played a significant role in the development of fisheries sector in Ibrahim Hyderi District Karachi East Sindh. However, since a decade microfinance has been providing small loan and small business loan for fish catching equipment purpose. Our results suggest that ZaraiTaraqiati Bank Limited, Commercial Banks and Microfinance banks should supply credit on flexible terms and conditions which is helpful for small scale fishermen to increase their income and improve life standard. Government of Pakistan should support small scale fishermen through the allocation of proper incentive structure and supply of loans on affordable interest rates. It may be a helpful to strengthen fisheries sector performance and raise the per capita income of a fisherman.

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Phosphorus (P) is an essential macroelement supporting maize productivity and low-P stress is a limiting factor of maize growth and yield. Improving maize plant tolerance to low P through molecular breeding is an effective alternative to increase crop productivity. In this study, a total of 111 diverse maize inbred lines were used to identify the favorable alleles and nucleotide diversity of candidate ZmNAC9, which plays an important role in response to low P and regulation in root architecture. A significant difference was found under low- and sufficient-P conditions for each of the 22 seedling traits, and a total of 41 polymorphic sites including 32 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 9 insertion and deletions (InDels) were detected in ZmNAC9 among 111 inbred lines. Among the 41 polymorphic studied sites, a total of 39 polymorphic sites were associated with 20 traits except for the dry weight of shoots and forks, of which six sites were highly significantly associated with a diverse number of low-P tolerant root trait index values by using a mixed linear model (MLM) at −log10 P = 3.61. In addition, 29 polymorphic sites under P-sufficient and 32 polymorphic sites under P-deficient conditions were significantly associated with a diverse number of seedling traits, of which five polymorphic sites (position S327, S513, S514, S520, and S827) were strongly significantly associated with multiple seedling traits under low-P and normal-P conditions. Among highly significant sites, most of the sites were associated with root traits under low-P, normal-P, and low-P trait index values. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) was strong at (r2 > 1.0) in 111 inbred lines. Furthermore, the effect of five significant sites was verified for haplotypes in 111 lines and the favorable allele S520 showed a positive effect on the dry weight of roots under the low-P condition. Furthermore, the expression pattern confirmed that ZmNAC9 was highly induced by low P in the roots of the P-tolerant 178 inbred line. Moreover, the subcellular localization of ZmNAC9 encoded by protein was located in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Haplotypes carrying more favorable alleles exhibited superior effects on phenotypic variation and could be helpful in developing molecular markers in maize molecular breeding programs. Taken together, the finding of this study might lead to further functions of ZmNAC9 and genes that might be involved in responses to low-P stress in maize.

Nutrient restrictions and large-scale emergence of diseases are threatening the maize production. Recent findings demonstrated that there is a certain synergistic interaction between nutrition and diseases pathways in model plants, however there are few studies on the synergistic genes of nutrients and diseases in maize. Thus, the transcriptome data of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrients and diseases treatments in maize, rice, wheat and Arabidopsis thaliana were collected in this study, and four and 22 weighted co-expression modules were obtained by using Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) in leaf and root tissues, respectively. With a total of 5252 genes, MFUZZ cluster analysis screened 26 clusters with the same expression trend under nutrition and disease treatments. In the meantime, 1427 genes and 22 specific consensus quantitative trait loci (scQTLs) loci were identified by meta-QTL analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition and disease stress in maize. Combined with the results of cluster analysis and scQTLs, a total of 195 consistent genes were screened, of which six genes were shown to synergistically respond to nutrition and disease both in roots and leaves. Moreover, the six candidate genes were found in scQTLs associated with gray leaf spot (GLS) and corn leaf blight (CLB). In addition, subcellular localization and bioinformatics analysis of the six candidate genes revealed that they were primarily expressed in endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, nucleus and plasma membrane, and were involved in defense and stress, MeJA and abscisic acid response pathways. The fluorescence quantitative PCR confirmed their responsiveness to nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition as well as GLS treatments. Taken together, findings of this study indicated that the nutrition and disease have a significant synergistic response in maize.