A field experiment was conducted to determine the sensitivity of wheat to water stress and changes in water relations and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under water stress conditions applied at different growth stages. The experiment comprised of two wheat cultivars and four water stress treatments, maintained by withholding water at tillering, anthesis, and at both stages. Water stress caused reduction in leaf relative water contents, water potential, osmotic potential, turgor potential, growth and yield components of both the wheat cultivars. The results indicated that high value of relative water contents were associated with increased yield and yield components. Consecutive stresses at both growth stages caused severe reduction in yield and yield components in both cultivars of wheat. Keywords: Water stress; water relations; growth; Triticum aestivum; yield components. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v36i3.9264 BJAR 2011; 36(3): 455-468

Limited water availability hampers the sustainability of crop production. Exogenous application of glycinebetaine (GB) and salicylic acid (SA) has been found very effective in reducing the adverse effects of water scarcity. This study was conducted to examine the possible role of exogenous GB and SA application in improving the growth and water relations of hybrid sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under different irrigation regimes. There were three levels of irrigation, viz. control (normal irrigations), water stress at budding stage (irrigation missing at budding stage) and water stress at flowering stage (FS) (irrigation missing at FS). GB and SA were applied exogenously at 100 and 0.724 mm respectively, each at the budding and FS. Control plants did not receive application of GB and SA. Water stress reduced the leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), crop growth rate (CGR), leaf relative water contents, water potential, osmotic potential, turgor pressure, achene yield and water use efficiency. Nevertheless, exogenous GB and SA application appreciably improved these attributes under water stress. However, exogenous GB application at the FS was more effective than other treatments. Net assimilation rate was not affected by water stress as well as application of GB and SA. The protein contents were considerably increased by water stress at different growth stages, but were reduced by exogenous GB and SA application. The effects of water stress and foliar application of GB were more pronounced when applied at FS than at the budding stage. Moreover, exogenous GB application was only advantageous under stress conditions.

A field experiment was conducted to study the response of two maize hybrids to external K application under saline field conditions (ECe 5.71-8.91 dS m-1). The data showed that there was an increase in the different growth and yield components with the increase in the external K. The increase was more pronounced when K was applied at the rate of 175 kg ha-1 with respect to control treatment. The enhanced growth and yield of these hybrids under saline conditions might be due to the response of K application, resulting in reduced Na uptake. The results indicated that the hybrids Pioneer 32B33 perform better than Dekalb 979 and economical yield can be obtained when potassium was applied at the rate of 125 kg ha-1.

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INTRODUCTIONSalinity stress reduces the plant growth productivity and efficiency of crops around the world (Machado & Serralheiro, 2017) and affects more than 800 million ha of land in the world which is equal to 6% of the whole world (FAO, 2011). Crops grown on salt affected areas undergo high osmotic stress, ionic toxicities, poor physical conditions of soil and decreased production (Shrivastava & Kumar, 2015). Salinity is one of the major environmental issue influencing plant development and efficiency (Ahanger et al., 2017;Allakhverdiev, Sakamoto, Nishiyama, & Murata, 2000). It has been estimated that in salinity stressed soils, the concentration of Na + and Clis higher accompanied with the decreased concentration of K + and K + : Na + ratio thus adversely affecting the plant growth (Saqib, Akhtar, & Qureshi, 2004). Salt stress affects plant ARTICLE INFO

Limited water availability is a severe threat to the sustainability of crop production. Exogenous application of glycinebetaine (GB) has been found very effective in reducing the adverse affects of water scarcity. This study was conducted to examine the role of exogenous GB application in improving the yield of hybrid sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under different irrigation regimes. There were three levels of irrigation: Control (four irrigations), three irrigations (irrigation missing at budding stage) and two irrigations (irrigation missing at budding and grain formation stage) in the experiment. While GB was applied exogenously at 100 mM GB each at budding and grain formation stages, the Control treatment did not receive any GB application. Data regarding yield, yield components and quality parameters showed that water stress reduced the head diameter, number of achene per head, 1000-achene weight and yield. Nonetheless, it was significantly improved by the exogenous GB application. Among the qualitative characteristics, protein contents were significantly increased by water stress at different growth stages but were reduced by exogenous GB application. Whilst oil contents were reduced by drought at different stages, GB application, however, did not ameliorate the negative effect of drought stress on achene oil contents. The effects of water stress and foliar application of GB were more pronounced when applied at vegetative stage than at the reproductive stage. Moreover, exogenous GB application was only advantageous under stress conditions.

Rational drug use study is important for the patient care, and also act as a measure of the quality of care which is provided to patients, this study was conductedin the outdoor departments of 20 selected health facilities out of total 36 facilities of province Punjab, Pakistan by applying the core indicators of WHO.Average number of drug prescribed was 3.2 per prescription, percentage of generic drugs was 29.7%, percentage of antibiotic prescribed, injection prescribed, and percentage of drugs from NEDL were 64%, 0%, 96.5% respectively while ciprofloxacin was the most commonly used antibiotic. Average consultation time was 2.58 minutes; average dispensing time 88.5 seconds, percentage of drug actually dispensed was 82.9%, percentage of drug adequately labeled 96.9%, percentage knowledge of correct dosage 24%. Availability of NEDL or formulary was 90%,percentage of availability of key drugs in stock was 64.3%.Overall condition of rational use of medicines was not satisfactory in hospitals; this study will promote the rational use of medicines and good clinical pharmacy practice in hospitals of province Punjab, Pakistan by identifying the problems in rational use of drugs.

Pheromone trapping was used to monitor populations of the moth Helicoverpa armigera at five cotton‐based agro‐ecological sites – river, vegetable, orchard, forest and clean cultivation (areas under only cotton cultivation) – in the Bahawalpur district, Pakistan. Three locations at each site were chosen and three pheromone traps at each location were installed in cotton fields. Moth catches were recorded at 15–20 day intervals from 24 October 2004 to 19 December 2006. In 2004, the river sites showed the maximum trapped population of H. armigera (0.22/trap) followed by 0.165 per trap at the vegetable sites. Orchard, clean cultivation and forest sites had zero moth catches. In 2005, the river sites again showed the highest trapped population (0.57/trap), followed by clean cultivation (0.45/trap), vegetable (0.44/trap), orchard (0.40/trap) and forest (0.29/trap). The moths appeared during July to December and March to May. In 2006, sites showed non‐significant difference, with a population range of 0.47 to 0.97 moths per trap. On average, river sites peaked at 0.49 per trap, followed by vegetable (0.38), clean cultivation (0.47), orchard (0.35) and forest (0.25) sites. The peak was observed on 3 April 2006, and moths appeared during February to July and October to December. The minimum temperature in river, forest and clean cultivation sites; the maximum temperature in orchard sites; and the average temperature in river, orchard, forest and clean cultivation sites showed significant positive correlations with trapped moth populations. Relative humidity showed significant negative correlation with population at the orchard sites in 2005. All weather factors during 2004 and 2006 showed non‐significant correlations with the moth populations. No model was found to be best fit by multiple linear regression analysis; however, relative humidity, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature and maximum temperature contributed 8.40, 10.23, 2.43, 4.53 and 2.53% to the population fluctuation of the moth at river, vegetable, orchard, forest and clean cultivation sites, respectively.