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M illions of people in the world feeding on cereals like wheat and rice (FAO, 2012). After wheat, rice is utmost imperative essential crop of Pakistan. It contributes approximately 0.6 percent in GDP. During 2018-2019 rice was sown on 2810 thousand hectares with production of 7202 thousand tons (Pakistan Economic Survey, 2018-2019). World's population increasing day by day, therefore, food need is also increasing, while the natural resources are same (United Nations, 2012). Malnutrition is a very popular issue of poor communities and due to reduced bioavailability, micronutrients deficiency is also becoming serious issue (Huang et al., 2002). In the soils of Zinc (Zn) deficient areas, Zn deficiency Abstract | Zinc (Zn) is an important microelement not only for animals, plants but for humans as well. Its importance cannot ignore for the plants to improve overall quality and yield. The overall physiology, quality and biochemical parameters also enhanced with optimum application of Zn. By keeping in mind, the facts, it was hypothesized that the use of ZnO (a cheap source of Zn) impregnated urea for rice may enhance grains (paddy) yield. Three types of urea were prepared including Zn coated, bio-activated Zn coated and Zn blended urea at the 1.5% rate of formulate. The bio-activated Zn coated urea was prepared by inoculating the powdered organic material with Zinc solubilizing bacterium and then this material was mixed with ZnO. This bio-active Zn was coated on urea at 1.5% rates to formulate. Moreover, Zn blended urea was prepared by mixing powder ZnO with urea. The comparative efficacies of different types of Zn impregnated urea were compared with ZnSO 4 to grains yield, physiology and biochemistry of rice under field conditions. The results showed that 1.5% bio-activated Zn (ZnO) coated urea performed better in promoting yield and biochemical parameters. About 15 to 20% increase was observed in yield physical, biochemical and quality parameters. This suggests that the application of bio-activated Zn coated urea @ 1.5% is greatly active in enhancing quality and yield of rice crop.

In advanced agriculture, non-conventional farming has been popularized very much. It is offering innumerable merits based on its practical application and societal acceptance. Current study was conducted to compare the impact of different farming systems cropping years and storage period on storage quality performance of Kinnow mandarin. Certain physiological characteristics of Kinnow mandarin including physiological loss of weight (PLW %), fruit rottening (FR %), chilling injury (CI %) and peel pitting (PP %) were studied during long cold storage (up to 90 days) at 4-6°C. Significantly the lowest fruit rottening, chilling injury and peel pitting were observed in integrated Kinnow whereas the lowest physiological weight loss was found in the organically grown fruits. The results also revealed that the intensity of physiological rottening of Kinnow mandarin was significantly increased with the increasing of storage period (15-60 days). However, negligible changes were observed at the storage after 60 days. The organic and integrated Kinnow showed better and comparable physiological characteristics during cold storage. It can be perceived through reviewing the competitive performance of non-conventional (integrated and organic) fruit that there were prevailing equal opportunities of adopting and transferring into integrated and organic Kinnow production in Pakistan.

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