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The seasonal abundance of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), was investigated from January 2016 to December 2018 in Tandojam, Pakistan, through pheromone trapping. Results showed that adult moths were present throughout the year in Tandojam. Moth abundance varied among months due to differences in weather conditions and host availability. The greatest moth populations were observed from August to November. Peak abundance occurred in September 2016 and 2017 (103.8 and 95.8 moths/trap, respectively), and in October 2018 (156.6 moths/ trap). The lowest populations were recorded in June 2016 and 2018 (4.3 and 2.3 moths/trap, respectively), and in February 2017 (1.5 moths/trap). Trap catches were positively correlated with temperature and relative humidity, but negatively correlated with sunshine, in all three years. Rainfall was positively correlated with trap catches in 2016 and 2017, but negatively correlated in 2018. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the combined effect of all weather factors on population fluctuation of pink bollworm. The R2 values indicated that weather factors cumulatively explained 76.4, 91.4 and 69.4% of variability in the abundance of pink bollworm in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. The results of the study allow pest managers to focus treatment during the time of year when moths are most abundant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize is third important cereal crop in Pakistan and its area is expanding at steady pace by substituting various crops in its non core area. This increase in area demands a parallel rise in availability of promising varieties and effective seed production system. Maize and Millets Research Institute, Yusafwala, Sahiwal, Pakistan has developed a new full season white maize open pollinated variety (OPV) "Gohar-19" using half-sib selection method. The variety was tested at various agro-ecological zones throughout the country against well-known white maize OPV "Pearl" as check. Gohar-19 gave 30.8 and 10% higher yield as compared to the check under National Uniform Yield Trials (NUYT) at various research stations of Punjab, Pakistan during 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. The variety was also found to be moderately resistant to Fusarium moniliform which causes stalk rot in maize. It has stay-green quality so can also be used as fodder after harvesting of cobs. Ridge sowing with 30" row to row and 8" plant to plant distance is recommended for obtaining higher grain yield of Gohar-19 in both spring and kharif seasons. The variety may contribute in improvement of local seed system as increasing the availability of good quality seed at the reasonable price to farming community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Plant bugs (Lygus spp.) and thrips (Thrips spp.) are two of the most economically important insect pest groups impacting cotton production in the USA today, but are not controlled by current transgenic cotton varieties. Thus, seed or foliar‐applied chemical insecticides are typically required to protect cotton from these pest groups. Currently, these pests are resistant to several insecticides, resulting in fewer options for economically viable management. Previous publications documented the efficacy of transgenic cotton event MON 88702 against plant bugs and thrips in limited laboratory and field studies. Here, we report results from multi‐location and multi‐year field studies demonstrating efficacy provided by MON 88702 against various levels of these pests. RESULTS: MON 88702 provided a significant reduction in numbers of Lygus nymphs and subsequent yield advantage. MON 88702 also had fewer thrips and minimal injury. The level of control demonstrated by this transgenic trait was significantly better compared with its non‐transgenic near‐isoline, DP393, receiving insecticides at current commercial rates. CONCLUSION: The level of efficacy demonstrated here suggests that MON 88702, when incorporated into existing IPM programs, could become a valuable additional tool for management of Lygus and thrips in cotton agroecosystems experiencing challenges of resistance to existing chemical control strategies. © 2018 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. The present study describes a breakthrough with regards to development of a transgenic trait for control of hemipteran and thysanopteran pests of cotton which are not sensitive to existing transgenic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Change in sowing time of crops is one of the important tools of integrated pest management that helps to escape or reduce the attack of certain insect pests. The present experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of three different sowing times viz. early (April), medium (May), and late (June) on the performance of five transgenic cotton genotypes ((IR-443, IR FH-901, IR-448, IR NIBGE-1 and IR-1513) against sucking and bollworm pests. The results revealed that the early sown (April) genotypes rendered higher jassid infestation compared to medium (May) and late sown (June) genotypes. The highest incidence of thrips and whiteflies was recorded on the late sown genotypes followed by medium sown genotypes. Bollworms (Pink and spotted) infestation did not reach to the Economic Threshold Level (ETL) in any of the early, medium or late sown genotypes, however, the late sown genotypes showed the highest bollworms occurrence. Significantly higher yield (kg/ha) was produced by the early sown (April) genotypes followed by medium sowing (May). Among all the transgenic cotton genotypes tested in early, medium and late sowing dates, IR-443 proved to be significantly the most efficient genotype in term of showing the lowest pest incidence and highest cotton yield followed by IR-FH-901. The studies manifested that sowing of the latter two cotton genotypes in April (early sowing) could be very effective to deal with major pest population and getting higher yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Understanding of mungbean yellow mosaic disease resistance is crucial to develop resistant varieties to combat worldwide threat of the disease epidemics. This study was aimed to determine nature of disease resistance in terms of number of genes governing it and genetics of related traits. Experimental site was located on 31.43°N and 73.06°E with an elevation of 186 m, and evaluation trials were conducted during spring season due to high disease epidemics in this season. Two contrasting genotypes, that is, NM 6‐68‐2 (resistant) and NM 1‐32‐1 (highly susceptible), were crossed to raise six populations, that is, P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 for evaluation under protected and unprotected field conditions using chi‐square test and generation mean and variance analysis. It was discovered that disease resistance was governed by two major genes with additive effects. Disease resistance can easily be incorporated through backcrossing and direct selection following hybridization. Direct selection should be practised at earlier generation for plant height, chlorophyll contents and number of seeds per pod due to preponderance of additive effects whereas at later generations for seed yield per plant, 100 seed weight, harvest index, number of pods per plant and pod length due to involvement of duplicate epistasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) being a leguminous crop is a rich source of protein for human being and animal. Gram pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera) causes more than 75 % of the yield losses in case of severe attack and ranks as a major pest of the crop. Insecticidal control is the mostly adopted technique to manage this insect worldwide. Keeping in view, a comparative study was carried out using Radiant® 120 SC (spinetoram), Belt® 480 SC (flubendamide), Runner® 240 SC (methoxyfenozide), Emamectin® 1.9 EC (emamectin benzoate) and Kosher® 50 EC (lufenuron) at their recommended doses against gram pod borer in chickpea field. Two foliar sprays were made at twenty days interval. Post treatment observations were made after 1, 3 and 7 days. The results revealed that all the insecticides caused significant reduction of the larval population and ultimately increased the grain yield in comparison with control. After seven days of application, Radiant gave highest mortality of 85.71% followed by Belt (79.99%), Emamectin (74.99%) and Kosher (62.49%) whereas Runner was least effective with mortality of 50%. Maximum yield was also obtained in plots treated with Radiant with grain yield of 1533.34 kg/ha followed by Belt (1386.66 kg ha-1 ) compared to control (593.34 kg ha-1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aphids are considered as major menace in limiting the crop yields. Keeping in view the losses caused by aphids, the present study was conducted to investigate comparative effect of different companion crops viz., barley, berseem, lucerne, wheat, maize, fennel seed, onion and garlic on aphid population in canola sown as border and intercrop. Results showed that minimum aphids population (46.00 and 49.50 aphids plant-1) was observed in garlic sown as border and intercrop with canola and gave an enhanced grain yield of 1796.30 Kgha-1 and 2222.22 Kgha-1, respectively., Whereas canola plots with barley sown as border and intercrop showed significantly higher numbers of aphids (299.67 and 299.83 aphidsplant-1) with a lower grain yield of canola 602.42 Kgha-1 and 648.14 Kgha-1, respectively. While canola alone produced 740.75 and 787.02 Kgha-1 harboring 299.17 and 243.17 aphids plant-1, respectively in border and intercrop. It is suggested that the aphid infestation can be minimized by the use of companion crops like garlic, onion and fennel seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mention of trade names or commercial products in this Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois) and Lygus hesperus Knight are among the most important pests affecting production of cotton in the United States. Lygus spp. use a cell rupture feeding strategy. However, the precise stylet-probing behaviors of adult Lygus spp. are not well understood or quantifiably related to cotton damage. The long-term goals of our research are to: 1) relate stylet probing to damage, and 2) quantitatively compare L. lineolaris feeding among resistant and susceptible host plants. The specific objectives of this study were to apply the latest technology in electropenetrography (EPG) to record adult, prereproductive Lygus spp. feeding, to identify and characterize all the waveforms, and to hypothesize their biological meanings. We used a third-generation AC-DC electropenetrograph to record nonprobing and probing waveforms of adult bugs on pinhead (<3mm) cotton squares, and constructed a waveform library from the output. Recordings were obtained with both AC and DC applied signals and at different input impedances (106-109 Ω). Three nonprobing waveforms were identified and visually correlated: Standing still (S), walking (W), and antennation (A). Probing waveforms were classified as: cell rupturing (CR), transition (T), and ingestion (I). T waveform is the first finding of an X wave for a nonsalivary sheath feeder in Hemiptera, implying that tasting/testing/acceptance behaviors can be performed by a cell rupture feeder. While waveform I is not performed in every probe, when performed, its appearance and structure were affected by applied signal and input impedance. Overall, time spent in nonprobing behaviors was longer than time spent on probing behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Madaris have played a significant role in educating the masses and preserving Islamic values and traditions. Due to this major contribution, Madaris got a remarkable position in the history of Islamic society. Beneficence of Madaris is realized in Pakistan at each level of society because of offering free educational services across the country even in far flung areas where government has not established schools yet. However, Madaris, nowadays, are being criticized on national as well as international level for their outdated educational system and alleged linkage with militants as per critics' opinion. In this paper, important issues of Madaris have been discussed and recommendations have been made accordingly. The objective of the paper is to analytically discuss the system of Madaris and to bring forth the reformative measures in order to pace shoulder to shoulder with modern educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complete 6 x 6 diallel mating design was followed to assess the genetic components for different traits in maize (Zea mays L.). Parents and F1 generations were sown in RCBD with three replications in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan during 2012. The data regarding plant height, leaf area, number of kernels per ear, stomatal size, stomatal frequency, leaf venation and 100-grain weight in maize were recorded at maturity to assess the genetic components and combining abilities. Analysis of variance was done to assess the significance of genetic differences among genotypes. Graphical approach used for diallel studies showed that most of the traits studied were under control of additive gene action. Plant height, leaf area, stomatal frequency and stomatal size were found under control of non-additive gene action. Whereas ear diameter, ear length, number of kernels per ear, number of kernels per row, leaf venation and 100-grain weight were under control of additive gene action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]