Background Wheat is a cool seasoned crop requiring low temperature during grain filling duration and therefore increased temperature causes significant yield reduction. A set of 125 spring wheat genotypes from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT-Mexico) was evaluated for phenological and yield related traits at three locations in Pakistan under normal sowing time and late sowing time for expose to prolonged high temperature. With the help of genome-wide association study using genotyping-by-sequencing, marker trait associations (MTAs) were observed separately for the traits under normal and late sown conditions. Results Significant reduction ranging from 9 to 74% was observed in all traits under high temperature. Especially 30, 25, 41 and 66% reduction was observed for days to heading (DH), plant height (PH), spikes per plant (SPP) and yield respectively. We identified 55,954 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using genotyping by sequencing of these 125 hexaploid spring wheat genotypes and conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for days to heading (DH), grain filled duration (GFD), plant height (PH), spikes per plant (SPP), grain number per spike (GNS), thousand kernel weight (TKW) and grain yield per plot (GY). Genomic regions identified through GWAS explained up to 13% of the phenotypic variance, on average. A total of 139 marker-trait associations (MTAs) across three wheat genomes (56 on genome A, 55 on B and 28 on D) were identified for all the seven traits studied. For days to heading, 20; grain filled duration, 21; plant height, 23; spikes per plant, 13; grain numbers per spike, 8; thousand kernel weight, 21 and for grain yield, 33 MTAs were detected under normal and late sown conditions. Conclusions This study identifies the essential resource of genetics research and underpins the chromosomal regions of seven agronomic traits under normal and high temperature. Significant relationship was observed between the number of favored alleles and trait observations. Fourteen protein coding genes with their respective annotations have been searched with the sequence of seven MTAs which were identified in this study. These findings will be helpful in the development of a breeder friendly platform for the selection of high yielding wheat lines at high temperature areas. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-019-1754-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

With the progression of advancements in technology, several innovations has been made in the field of communications that are transiting to Internet of Things. In this domain, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are one of those independent sensing devices to monitor physical and environmental conditions along with thousands of applications in other fields. As air pollution being a major environmental change that causes many hazardous effects on human beings that need to be controlled. Hence, we deployed WSN nodes for constant monitoring of the air pollution around the city and the moving public transport buses and cars. This methodology gave us the monitoring data from the stationary nodes deployed in the city to the mobile nodes on Public Transport buses and cars. The data of the air pollution particles such as gases, smoke and other pollutants is collected via sensors on the Public transport buses and the data is being analyzed when the buses and cars reach back to the source destination after passing through the stationary nodes around the city. Our proposed architecture having innovative mesh network will be more efficient way of gathering data from the nodes of WSN. It will have lots of benefits with respect to the future concept of Smart Cities that will have the new technologies related to Internet of Things.

Pumpkin is an important vegetable, which has potential to be used as medicinal and functional food. Not only the pulp but also the peel and seeds of pumpkin are good sources of phytochemicals and minerals. Pumpkin peel, flesh, and seeds were dried to obtain powders, and 80% of methanolic extracts were prepared for further analyses. Among three fractions of pumpkin, higher content of total phenolics (224.61 ± 1.60‐mg GAE/100‐g powder) and total flavonoids (139.37 ± 1.07‐mg CE/100‐g powder) were recorded in pumpkin seeds as compared with peel and flesh, whereas higher carotenoids (35.2 ± 0.49 mg/100‐g powder) and β‐carotene (6.18 ± 0.04 mg/100‐g powder) were present in pumpkin flesh extract, when compared with peel and seeds. Pumpkin flesh, as compared with peel and seeds, contained higher values of Na, K, and Fe (17.87 ± 0.22, 1592 ± 20.3, and 41.50 ± 0.45 mg/100‐g powder, respectively). Valuable amount of Zn (15.21 ± 0.07 mg/100‐g powder) was present in pumpkin seeds powder. Practical applications Pumpkin parts (peel, flesh, and seeds) own high nutritional significance due to the presence of total phenolics, flavonoids, total carotenoids, and appreciable amount of macroelements and microelements. Organic waste generated as a result of pumpkin processing could effectively be utilized in different food products for the development of functional and medicinal foods. Notably, pumpkin seeds are high in zinc content, and in this situation of COVID‐19 pandemic, scientific community is well aware of oxidation and mediating role of zinc for activation of enzymes in the body. Phytochemicals present in pumpkin peel, flesh, and seeds can fight against antiaging and enhance immunity. These low‐cost powders from pumpkin parts can be used as a potential source of functional foods and nutraceuticals in food and medicinal industries.

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Spot blotch is a severe biotic menace of wheat caused by Cochliobolus sativus (syn. Bipolaris sorokiniana). Spot blotch is liable to major yield losses in warm humid regions. A genome-wide association study using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) markers was conducted to identify genomic regions associated with spot blotch resistance in a diversity panel of 159 spring wheat genotypes. In total, 87,096 GBS markers covering the whole genome, with an average polymorphism information content value of 0.276, were applied. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis indicated that the LD decay extent was approximately 100 Mbp. The panel was evaluated for disease severity (DS) and area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) for 2 years. In total, 24 marker-trait associations (MTA) were identified for DS and AUDPC of spot blotch, with 11 on chromosome 5B, 3 on 3A, 2 on 6B, and 1 each on 1A, 2A, 1D, 2D, 4B, 5A, 7A, and 7B. A marker on chromosome 7B significantly explained 14% of the phenotypic variation of spot blotch severity as well as 11% of AUDPC. Five markers—three on chromosome 5B, one on 3A, and one on 7B—were associated with both DS and AUDPC with R2 ranging from 8 to 12%. Significant MTA can be utilized to develop wheat germplasm with resistance to spot blotch.

Phytoremediation is an ecofriendly technique to clean heavy metals from contaminated soil by the use of high biomass producing plant species. Chelators can help to improve this biological technique by increasing metal solubility. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted to determine the effect of the chelators EDTA and citric acid (CA) in phytoremediation of Ni contaminated soil by using Brassica napus (canola). Two cultivars of B. napus, Con-II (tolerant) and Oscar (sensitive), were selected after screening and exposed to NiSO4 at 30 ppm at the time of sowing. CA (10 mM) and EDTA (1.5 mM) were applied either alone or in combination with each other after two weeks of Ni treatments. Different parameters like morpho-physiological and biochemical data were recorded after 15 days of chelate application. The results highlighted the successful use of chelating agents (CA and EDTA) not only to ameliorate Ni stress but also to enhance Ni accumulation which is prerequisite for phytoremediation. The basal application of 10 mMCA and 1.5 mM EDTA concentration proved to be effective for the growth of plants. The combination of chelating agents failed to show any synergistic effects.

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This research work was executed to determine chemical composition, anti-oxidant and anti-microbial potential of the essential oils extracted from the leaves and stem of Daphne mucronata Royle. From leaves and stem oils fifty-one different constituents were identified through GC/MS examination. The antioxidant potential evaluated through DPPH free radical scavenging activity and %-inhibition of peroxidation in linoleic acid system. The stem’s essential oil showed the good antioxidant activity as compared to leaves essential oil. Results of Antimicrobial activity revealed that both stem and leaves oils showed strong activity against Candida albicans with large inhibition zone (22.2 ± 0.01, 18.9 ± 0.20 mm) and lowest MIC values (0.98 ± 0.005, 2.44 ± 0.002 mg/mL) respectively. Leaves essential was also active against Escherichia coli with inhibition zone of 8.88 ± 0.01 mm and MIC values of 11.2 ± 0.40 mg/mL. These results suggested that the plant’s essential oils would be a potential cradle for the natural product based antimicrobial as well as antioxidant agents.