In Pakistan most of the salt affected areas are located in the heart of its agriculturally important tract of the Indus plain. Growing conventional crops in these problem lands is not economical but these could be utilized gainfully by growing salt tolerant trees or shrubs. However, there is a need to identify suitable species for such conditions. The present study was, therefore, undertaken to evaluate the performance of some local and exotic trees, belonging to Acacia species, in salt affected soils of Pakistan. Five species of Acacia, i.e., Acacia ampliceps, A. stenophylla, A. machonochieana, A.sclerosperma, and A.nilotica were grown along with an Australian halophytic shrub Atriplex lentiformis in a field where salinity ranged from 4-25 dS m -1 . After three years of growth, A. ampliceps and A. nilotica showed markedly higher growth as compared with the other species examined. Although A. ampliceps grew well under saline environment, its maximum growth was observed under -1 (12--1 medium to high salinity levels (8-16 dS m -1 ), while Acacia sclerosperma and A. machanochieana were only populated on low salinity patches (4-8 dS m -1 ). Analysis of plant leaves, for nutrient contents, showed that the concentrations of Na + and K + ions in the Acacia species were comparatively less than those in Atriplex lentiformis. However, Acacia nilotica had comparatively higher nitrogen and phosphorus than the other Acacia species examined. On the other hand, the concentrations of Na + and K + were higher in Atriplex lentformis while the concentrations of Ca 2+ were higher in Acacia sclerosperma as compared to the other Acacia species and Atriplex. At the end of the experiment, complete soil analysis was carried out which showed that the soils on which Acacia species were grown, N, P, and K contents increased to some extent.

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Himachal Pradesh during the year 2008 to 2009. The experiment consisted of 19 treatments with three replications. The pomegranate trees cv. kandhari kabuli under investigation were subjected to foliar spray of biostimulants viz. vipul, spic cytozyme, homobrassinolides, biozyme crop plus, vipul + homobrassinolides and control. The study was conducted to determine the effect of plant biostimulants on cracking and quality of fruits. Cracking is a disorder where fruit surface cracks mainly due to heavy irrigation or rain after long dry spell. This may occur due to varietal characters, orchard soil management, inappropriate levels of water at maturity stage, light, temperature and micro-nutrient deficiency. The results revealed that the highest fruit length, diameter, weight, volume and minimum fruit cracking were recorded in trees treated with spic cytozyme (4 ml/l). The highest intensity in ground and over colour were observed with the application of Vipul 15 ml/l.

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Pruning has been practiced for ages in controlling tree size because it has much less stimulating effect on shoot re-growth. The pruning is done to restrict excessive vegetative growth and to maintain a balance between leaf/fruit ratio, fruit size, fruit colour and other quality attributes. Excessive tree vigour can reduce flower bud formation, fruit set and result in reduced fruit quality. Summer pruning by removing the vigorous growing shoots increase the light intensity in cropping zone and colour intensity. Late summer pruning also reduce the growth due to reduction in photosynthetic capacity and ultimately carbohydrate reserve by reducing the leaf area index and the spread of the canopy.