Search

The present study aimed to assess the relationship of soil properties in salt-affected soils. The soil samples were collected from 14 districts of Pakistan. Soil salinity and sodicity are the common features of the arid and semiarid regions. The effects of the salt's interactions with soil micronutrients have not been well studied. Therefore, saline and non-saline soil samples were collected from different locations. The microelements (Fe, Cu, Mn, and Zn) were fractionated into water-soluble, exchangeable, carbonate, Fe + Mn oxide, organic, and residual fractions. Univariate and multivariate analysis (PCA) was carried out to determine the linear relationship between soil properties and micronutrients fractions. Results showed that the magnitude of micronutrients appeared to be affected by the salinity in soils. In saline soil, the Fe fractions differed in the order of residual > organic bound > Fe + Mn bound > carbonate bound > exchangeable > water soluble. Iron fractions varied in the non-saline soils as residual > Fe + Mn bound > organic bound > exchangeable > carbonate bound > water soluble. Copper concentration was higher in the residual and carbonate forms, and the amount was lower in the exchangeable and water-soluble forms under both saline and non-saline conditions. The water-soluble Mn fraction was lower, and the residual Mn fraction was proportionately higher than other forms of Mn in soils. Zinc was found mostly in the residual fraction in both saline and non-saline soils. The mobility factor of micronutrients in non-saline soil was greater than in saline soil. PCA revealed that organic matter (OM) and pH directly affected the fractionation of Cu, Mn, Zn, and Fe in soil. Thus, it could be inferred that salts can bring changes to the composition of micronutrients depending on the nature of the soil and the magnitude of salts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare workers in Pakistan are still fighting at the frontline to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and have been identified as the earliest beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccination by the health authorities of the country. Besides, the high vaccination rates of frontline healthcare workers (FHWs) are essential to overcome the ongoing pandemic and reduce the vaccines hesitancy among the general population. The current research employed the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate the COVID-19 vaccination behavior among FHWs in Pakistan as well as the predictors of such behavior. Following the epidemic control and prevention policies, a sample of 680 FHWs were accessed to fill in the questionnaire evaluating the components of the TPB. Moreover, the potential role of anticipated regret (AR) and perceived susceptibility (PS) on COVID-19 vaccination behavior was also assessed. The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) results revealed that the TPB components, as well as the AR, have positive associations with the COVID-19 vaccination behavior. The results further confirmed that PS positively affects the anticipated regret, attitude (ATT), and subjective norm (SN) to vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2. The perceived susceptibility also has a positive association with COVID-19 vaccination behavior through the mediation of anticipated regret, ATT, and SN. Our findings highlighted the importance of COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers, which can be applied to reduce vaccine hesitancy among the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee burnout has become an important issue in most of the organizations. However, the previous literature investigating the role of ethical leadership have received relatively little attention in relation to employees' burnout. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of ethical leadership on employee burnout, and the mediating role of employees' trust in the relationship between ethical leadership behavior and employee burnout in the public sector hospitals of Pakistan. This research utilized a survey strategy and data was collected from 203 doctors through the convenience sampling technique. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 in order to test the hypothesized model. This research found a(i) negative and significant relationship between ethical leadership and employee's burnout, (ii) positive and significant relationship between ethical leadership and employees' trust (iii) negative and significant association between employees' trust and employee's burnout, and (iv) that employees' trust mediates between the relationship of ethical leadership and employee's burnout. Findings of this research show that organizations should promote ethical leadership behaviors thereby fostering employees' trust leading towards minimizing employees' experiencing burnout. Lastly, limitations and suggestions for further research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is an important crop of Pakistan occupying an area of 2.74 million hectare and production of 6.802 million tons. Rice is not only an important staple food crop of Pakistan but it is also an export commodity earning precious foreign exchange for the country. However, rice is a water intensive crop compared to other cereal crops. In view of climate change, water management for agriculture encompasses all technologies and practices leading to water productivity enhancement to address increasing irrigation water demand and declining water resources. One of such technology known as laser land leveling was introduced in Pakistan in 1980s. More recent introduction is of another water efficient technique known as The Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) technology evolved by International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). AWD intervention in conjunction with laser land leveling is made through Water Productivity (WAPRO) project in Muridke tehsil of district Sheikhupura Punjab Pakistan. This study has been conducted with the aim to determine the irrigation water use efficiency at rice farms as a result of adopting AWD and laser land leveling technology by the respondent farmers. The data were collected from the three selected villages using focused group discussions and individual interviews of 21 beneficiary rice producers. Out of 21 farmers, 7 farmers were selected each from head, middle and tail of the water channels located at Joyianwala, Saikhum and Kathianwala villages. The baseline data were collected in July 2017 while post technology adaptation data were collected in December 2018 from the same beneficiary farmers. The data collected were analyzed using MS-Excel. The analysis of the data reflected that although canal water was available but about 80% at head, 50% at middle and 20% at tail. Thus remaining irrigation water requirement i.e. about 20% at head, 50% at middle and 80% at tail was met through tube well operation. The result from before and after AWD technology and laser land leveling technology adaption shows that 24.24% tube well operation time was reduced at the head, 19.4% reduced at middle and 24.4% reduced at tail. The reduction of hours in operating tube well results in dual benefits of savings in the quantity of irrigation water extraction particularly keeping in view the climate change scenario and saving in cost of energy that is used for tube well operation ultimately adding to profitability of the farmers. These results are in line with a number of earlier studies. The respondent farmers also claimed improvement in paddy yield but along with AWD technique and laser land leveling there might be other agronomic factors adding to yield improvement as this study did not isolate yield and AWD technology and laser land leveling from other factors that may be studied in future research studies. The laser land leveling is already attracting huge investment from the government but AWD technology is yet to get its place in government priority. It is therefore recommended that AWD technology should be up-scaled to address water constraints in agriculture sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is based on empirical data on temperature and rainfall change from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of North-West Pakistan to illustrate that climate change is no longer theoretical. It is real and becoming self-evident. Climate assessment 1981-2010 and future scenario 2010-2040 for KP noted little shifts in the annual average rainfall. However seasonal shifts are rather significant. In all the districts, spring and summer rains are showing an increasing trend whereas fall and winter rains are continuously declining. This shows that spring and summer are becoming wetter and fall and winter are becoming dryer till 2040. Nearly two-third or more of the total rains are received during spring and monsoon. In decadal scenario, it is likely that annual average precipitation will continue to increase till 2030 and start declining during 2030-2040 in all the seasons. The temperature scenarios also present a noticeable change. An average increase in temperature in KP is 1.8°C during 2010-2040. In the Northern districts (mountain areas) it is the 1.9°C closely followed by Central with 1.8°C and the South 1.6°C (where South is already a heat surplus zone). These trends are crucial in terms of disasters with likelihood of spring / monsoon floods and winter drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to investigate the concentrations of potential toxic metals (PTMs) in agricultural soil (n = 25) and their bioaccumulation in wheat crop (n = 25) collected from alongside the Kurram River, Pakistan. The highest concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in soil samples were 0.16, 19.5, 14.7, 46.5, 13.5, 14.5, 14.0, and 19.7 mg kg−1, respectively. In the edible tissues of cultivated wheat crop, the highest concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 0.15, 10.00, 8.75, 22.25, 11.00, 11.25, 10.50, and 7.50 mg kg−1, respectively. The selected PTM concentrations in soil samples were observed within their respective permissible limits set by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) China, while in wheat crops, the Cr and Pb concentrations were above the permissible limits of both FAO and SEPA China. The results showed that the orders of PTMs were Fe > Zn > Cr > Cu > Ni > Pb > Mn in soil and Fe > Ni > Mn > Pb > Cr > Cu > Zn in wheat. The highest PTM concentrations were reported in the sample collected near dumping sites. The results of different soil pollution indices including geo-accumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), and enrichment factor (EF) indicated that the soil of the study area was moderately to severely contaminated. The ADI values of wheat crops were less than 1, while the HQ varied among different PTMs with the highest value of 2.118 for Pb, and the lowest for Zn (0.007). The results indicated that anthropogenic intervention has made a substantial contribution to soil contamination with PTMs and subsequent uptake by wheat, which may exert potential human health risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the knowledge in the area pertaining to the Disaster Risk Reduction under overall domain of adaptation to climate change. Understanding occurrence and impacts of hydrometeorological disasters on people's well-being and which livelihood assets are significant for identifying coping strategies to deal with disasters are important ingredients to increased resilience of communities living in disaster prone areas. This study relies on the data collected using the Community-based Risk Screening Tool - Adaptation and Livelihoods (Cristal) to map major risks and vulnerabilities along with coping strategies then ascertaining their relationship with community-based livelihoods assets. According to results, there are three frequent disaster risks in the study area which comprise avalanches, landslides and floods. These disasters inflict a heavy damage to the livelihood assets including crops, water, houses and other physical infrastructure. In order to overcome these losses, communities apply short-term coping strategies by spending limited means and hard-earned cash reserves. These unsustainable strategies further exacerbate vulnerabilities and give way to new ones. Taking empirical example of Chitral, the study recommends to formulate policies and encourage investment to substitute short term coping strategies with long term climate change adaptation measures in order to minimize impact of devastating disasters in future. There is a need for improved governance of irrigation water management, channel management and effective management techniques for on-farm water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers argued that increasing global temperature will result in waning glacier based freshwater availability in future. River Indus fed by glaciers is critical for Pakistan as it is irrigating its 80% of agricultural land. Shigari Kalan watershed is one of the water sheds located in Skardu, Northern Pakistan, which also contributes to River Indus flowing to Pakistan. The aim of instant research is to evaluate the correlation amid temperature and the rate of glacier/snow melt which could have future implications for water availability in the River Indus flowing into Pakistan for which data pertaining to snow/glacier melt from the Shigari Kalan watershed was regularly monitored during the period spread over September 2015 to November 2015 and March 2016 to September 2016. Results showed that in the flow discharges of the stream during summer months was much higher with peak in June. The snow/glacier melt increases with air temperature from 12.5 C onwards and at 20C onwards it gets exponential rate. From the results it transpires that the effect of global warming in Himalaya and Karakorum Mountains has already set in. Any further increase in global temperature as predicted in many studies will further increase glacier melt rate which could result in extinction of glaciers in the long run. Such a situation will have serious implications for Skardu and water availability in River Indus and thus for Pakistan whose major water requirements are met from snow/glacier melt from the River Indus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize, an important staple food crop, is grown on largest cropped area every year for food and fodder in Pakistan. Nonetheless, its yield is low with almost half of the national average in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The study aims to find outoptimum sowing time for a suitable variety (OPV or hybrid) in Peshawar. Field experiment was conducted at Agronomy Research Farm, the University of Agriculture Peshawar during summer 2016. Experiment was a randomized complete block with split plots in three replications. Factor one was sowing dates (June 18, 30, July 15, 29 and August 5) as main plot treatment. The second factor was maize selected varieties (i.e. Azam, Jalal, Babar, CS-200, CS-220, SB-92K97, SB-909, SB-989, and SB-292) as subplot treatment. Experimental unit was 3.5 m x 3.6 m accommodating 5 rows at 0.7 m distance. Fertilizer was applied 200, 120, 80 kg ha-1 (N, P and K) to Hybrids and 120, 90, 60 kg ha-1 (N, P, K) to open pollinated varieties (OPV) during seed bed preparation. Data analysis showed that emergence m-2 affected by varieties only. Both crop phenology (i.e. days to tasseling, silking & maturity) as well as morphology (i.e. plant height, ear height, including ear length) was affected (p<0.05)by sowing dates. Likewise, yield traits (i.e. rows per ear, grains per ear, thousand grain weight) were also adversely affected by sowing dates, which decreases both biomass and grain yield. Varieties did differ in phenology (i.e. emergence, silking, tasseling, maturity) and morphology (i.e. height, leaf area, ear height, cobs per plant and its weight) that showed differences in biomass and grain yields. The study suggested that a delay in sowing of maize crop from June in the region after Wheat or Berseem harvesting has a significant decrease (p<0.05) in production. Nonetheless, sowing made in August is unable to mature grains properly. The yield losses rate relatively expands from July 15 onwards for maize in Peshawar valley. Sowing maize later from June month in season is superior to opt for hybrid maize variety SB-909 and SB-92K97 in the Peshawar region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in temperature and hydro-meteorological patterns due to climate change are believed to be impacting farming communities in different ways. From a gender neutral perspective, climate change implications affect members of communities alike. From a gender perspective however, impacts of change vary from place to place, household to household and for individual members of the household due to a multiplicity of factors including expectation of individual members of a household to take additional responsibilities in difficult times. Taking empirical evidence from the hazard affected region of Chitral Pakistan, we argue that climate change vulnerabilities are contextually determined, are place based and impact individual members of households differently. As an unavoidable coping strategy, the affected communities are compelled to send male members away from home in search of alternate sources of livelihoods. This compels women to take additional responsibilities at farm household and the community levels. These responsibilities give birth to new vulnerabilities for women. Female members are forced to contribute to communal tasks traditionally performed by male member. Therefore, differentiated analysis of climate change impacts, based on gender roles and responsibilities, is crucial to understand impacts of climate change on different segments of the society even individual members of the same households. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Deforestation in the Himalayas is generally seen as caused primarily by population growth. Based on interviews and the analysis of satellite images, we critically examine this view using Basho Valley in the Western Himalayas of Pakistan as a case study. Our findings indicate that the forest of Basho has been reduced by at least 50% after the valley was opened up through the construction of a link road in 1968. Large-scale legal and illegal commercial harvesting was carried out after the construction of the road. While legal commercial harvesting was stopped in 1987, illegal harvesting has since continued with the involvement of the Forest Department. The findings of this study do not support theories in which deforestation is attributed to rapid population growth. Instead, mismanagement and illegal commercial harvesting endorsed by the Forest Department have been the main causes of deforestation in Basho Valley. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Globally, the rapid growth of the population over the past century has put enormous pressure on freshwater resources. Pakistan, as a developing country, also faces a freshwater crisis. Rawal Lake, an essential freshwater reservoir near Pakistan's capital, has been showing signs of deterioration for the past few years. Therefore, a brief study was planned to analyze the water quality of the lake and the associated recharge streams. Twelve physical and chemical parameters were selected along with the total bacterial and Escherichia coli count. Five sampling points were selected for water sampling. Results showed that the Mallpur stream significantly has higher pH, total suspended solids, and total dissolved solids values than the other sampling points and was not within the permissible limits of the World Health Organization. In the case of total bacterial count and Escherichia coli count, except Spillway, water samples showed higher concentrations than the permissible limits of world health organization. However, the mineral content such as Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrogen, Potassium, Chloride, and sulphate concentration at all sampling points are within the permissible limits of the world health organization's drinking water standard. Results also showed that the water sampled from the Korang River tributary has more deterioration in physicochemical properties as well as in total bacterial count than the Mallpur tributary. Due to the deterioration of the water quality parameter, it is suggested that Rawal Lake water is not suitable for human consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topography of a place has a significant impact on soil characteristics that ultimately influence soil iodine levels. Lower Himalayan region (LHR) in Pakistan has a wide range of climatic and geological variations. Hence, an investigation was conducted to analyze the iodine concentration and other physicochemical properties of soils in two LHR districts, Haripur and Mansehra. Spatial analysis indicated a decrease in iodine levels in the mountainous regions in comparison to the flat portions of LHR. Soil samples obtained from different locations across Haripur had a stronger affinity for iodine due to variations in solubility and adsorption of iodine to soil clay components, which can be attributed to lower pH, higher organic matter, and a higher cation exchange capacity (CEC). In contrast to the plains of Haripur, elevated locations in the Mansehra district had decreased levels of iodine, along with a higher soil pH and reduced soil organic matter. The soil erosion and depletion of soil micronutrients in the hilly region of Mansehra may be attributed to the unfavorable soil conditions and excessive precipitation. Presence of clay, iron (Fe), and aluminum (Al) in the soil led to a rise in iodine levels. Iodine concentrations exhibited an inverse relationship with soil acidity. Study revealed a direct correlation between soil iodine levels and their cation exchange capacity (CEC) and clay content. This study aims to gather fundamental data for the chosen regions of LHR to address illnesses caused by iodine deficiency., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Antibiotics discovery was a significant breakthrough in the field of therapeutic medicines, but the over (mis)use of such antibiotics (in parallel) caused the increasing number of resistant bacterial species at an ever-higher rate. This study was thus devised to assess the multi-drug resistant bacteria present in sanitation-related facilities in human workplaces. In this regard, samples were collected from different gender, location, and source-based facilities, and subsequent antibiotic sensitivity testing was performed on isolated bacterial strains. Four classes of the most commonly used antibiotics i.e., β-lactam, Aminoglycosides, Macrolides, and Sulphonamides, were evaluated against the isolated bacteria. The antibiotic resistance profile of different (70) bacterial strains showed that the antibiotic resistance-based clusters also followed the grouping based on their isolation sources, mainly the gender. Twenty-three bacterial strains were further selected for their 16s rRNA gene based molecular identification and for phylogenetic analysis to evaluate the taxonomic evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB). Moreover, the bacterial resistance to Sulphonamides and beta lactam was observed to be the most and to Aminoglycosides and macrolides as the least. Plasmid curing was also performed for multidrug resistant (MDR) bacterial strains, which significantly abolished the resistance potential of bacterial strains for different antibiotics. These curing results suggested that the antibiotic resistance determinants in these purified bacterial strains are present on respective plasmids. Altogether, the data suggested that the human workplaces are the hotspot for the prevalence of MDR bacteria and thus may serve as the source of horizontal gene transfer and further transmission to other environments., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.