Muhammad Nawaz

Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering & Information Technology · Agricultural Engineering

In recent years, there has been an increasing concern regarding the impact of pesticide exposure on pollinators, particularly honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). This concern arises from their crucial role in maintaining ecological balance and global food production. Therefore, an extensive investigation has been conducted to explore the intricate relat...

Rice blast is a detrimental disease widely prevalent in the world. Many disease predictive models have been developed for Rice blast disease (RBD) in different regions, but the disease prediction modeling in semi-arid areas is less characterized. Here, we focused on developing a disease predictive model (DPM) for rice blast disease (RBD) based on e...

Background Cotton Leaf Curl Virus Disease (CLCuD) is one of the major concerns for cotton growers. The traditional approach to managing CLCuD involves the control of the vector (whitefly) population through the use of pesticides. In this study, the efficacy of nanoparticles was compared with pesticides. The present study was conducted to evaluate t...

Soil salinization is a serious concern across the globe that is negatively affecting crop productivity. Recently, biochar received attention for mitigating the adverse impacts of salinity. Salinity stress induces osmotic, ionic, and oxidative damages that disturb physiological and biochemical functioning and nutrient and water uptake, leading to a...

Application of machine learning in plant breeding is a recent concept, that has to be optimized for precise utilization in the breeding program of high yielding crop plants. Identification and efficient utilization of heterotic grouping pattern aided with machine learning approaches is of utmost importance in hybrid cultivar breeding as it can save...

Planting density (PD) is an important management practice that plays a crucial role in crop growth and weeds infestation. Weeds control methods also play an indispensable role to control the weeds infestation. Therefore, present study was conducted to determine the effect of different weed control methods and PD on growth, yield and quality of maiz...

The increased concentration of lead (Pb) in soils is a serious threat to human beings and plants all over the world. Salinity stress is also a major issue across the globe, which limits crop productivity. The use of allelochemicals has become an effective strategy to mitigate the toxic effects of abiotic stresses. Sorghum is an important crop grown...

Lead (Pb) is the most common heavy metal contaminant in the environment, and its concentration is continuously increasing owing to anthropogenic activities. Phytoremediation is a green technique used globally to remediate polluted soils. The role of weeds as potential phytoremediation agents has rarely been reported in the literature. Weeds are mor...

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is a serious problem for agriculture and human health. Under Zn deficient conditions, many physiological functions in plants are disturbed, and cellular homeostasis is badly affected. Under these circumstances, wheat crops produce fewer yields having low concentration of micronutrients in grains. In this modern era of nanotechn...

In present study, twenty different wheat varieties were evaluated for various agronomic traits including plant height, number of tellers per plant, leaf area index, spike length, number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike, peduncle length, chlorophyll index, thousand-grain weight, grain yield, and biological yield at the research are...

Agriculture waste has increased annually due to the global food demand and intensive animal production. Preventing environmental degradation requires fast and effective agricultural waste treatment. Aerobic digestion or composting uses agricultural wastes to create a stabilized and sterilized organic fertilizer and reduces chemical fertilizer input...

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is among the plants that are at risk from cadmium (Cd), a hazardous heavy metal that can be fatal due to its rapid absorption and high mobility. Being taken up from the soil and moving to the shoots and roots of edible plants, it enters the food chain and poses a health concern to people worldwide. A strategically impor...

Rapid urban expansion and a booming population are placing immense pressure on our agricultural systems, leading to detrimental impacts on soil fertility and overall health. Due to the extensive use of agrochemicals in agriculture, the necessity to meet the expanding demand for food has also resulted in unsustainable farming practices. Around the w...

Chemical fertilizer plays a vital role in increasing crop yield. However, the environmental risk and the adverse effect on soil caused by excessive chemical fertilizer can be mitigated by using organic fertilizer (green manure Chinese milk vetch) and straw returning. Therefore, this field study was conducted to determine the impact of winter crop i...

Introduction Nanoparticles play a vital role in environmental remediation on a global scale. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand to utilize nanoparticles in wastewater treatment due to their remarkable physiochemical properties. Methods In the current study, manganese oxide nanoparticles (MnO-NPs) were synthesized from the Bacillu...

Micronutrient malnutrition is a serious health problem in the world that requires serious attention. About two billion people around the globe are facing micronutrient malnutrition. The reduced zinc (Zn) availability in soil decreases the Zn concentration in dietary products, which is causing Zn deficiency in humans. Globally, different strategies...

The major staple food crops are intensively being used to meet the food security demand of ever-growing world’s population, though, most of the crops are less in micronutrients necessary for human nutrition. Micronutrient insufficiency poses hidden hunger and malnutrition challenges in more than two billion people globally. This may cause mortality...

Selenium (Se) is the most significant micronutrient, which is necessary for living organisms including plants, animals as well as in humans and is present in organic and inorganic forms in biomass, plants, water, and atmospheric air. The Se is beneficial to plants and mostly involved in antioxidant activity and acts as growth promoter. Amount of Se...

The liable organic carbon (LOC) plays an imperative role in soil fertility and rice production. The diverse crop rotations and straw returning appreciably improve the crop yield and soil health. Therefore, the present experiment was conducted from 2016 to 2017 comprising five treatments including winter fallow, winter Chinese milk vetch (CMV), wint...

Citation: Khan, S.; Ibrar, D.; Hasnain, Z.; Nawaz, M.; Rais, A.; Ullah, S.; Gul, S.; Siddiqui, M.H.; Irshad, S. Moringa Leaf Extract Mitigates the Adverse

Soybean is one of the most significant oilseed and vital food crops. Soybean growth and yield have been significantly affected by abiotic stresses. Heavy metal stress like Al toxicity is the most serious threat to soybean growth and yield and impairs plant growth and development. To counter the toxic effect of Al stress, breeders have used differen...

Winter cropping is an effective way to solve the low resource utilization efficiency in single rice system. In order to explore the effects of winter cropping on rice yield, economic benefits and resource utilization efficiency of single rice paddy field, two different cropping systems (single and winter multiple cropping systems) including 4 tre...

Jasmine belongs to the family Oleaceae and declared as a national flower of Pakistan. A number of insect pests like Hendecasis duplifascialus (Jasmine budworm), Contarinia maculipennis (Blossom midge), Elasmopalpus jasminophagus (Gallery worm), Glyphodes unionalis (Leaf roller), Tetranychus urticae (Two spotted mite) and Nausinoe geometralis (Leaf...

World population is rising at a rapid pace and causing significant decrease in the cultivatable land. Hence, conventional breeding technologies are unable to withstand the increasing food requirements. Plant biotechnologists come up with the CRISPR Cas9-mediated plant improvement that is entirely a new and interesting domain, which is revolutionizi...

Phosphorus is one of the most important elements for plants but limiting with time due to extensive cropping and changing environments. Optimum crop productions are on the verge of decline due to phosphorus deficiency worldwide. Phosphorus use efficiency can be improved by improving phosphorus uptake, transportation, and metabolism. In this chapter...

Objectives Present study is carried out to check the effect of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) on mitigating the heavy metal (HM) stress in wheat. Method For this purpose, IONPs were used in an attempt to ameliorate cadmium stress in wheat plants. IONPs were synthesized by using the husk of Cocos nucifera. The synthesized nanoparticles were chara...

Drought stress (DS) is a serious challenge for sustaining global crop production and food security. Nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as an excellent tool to enhance crop production under current rapid climate change and increasing drought intensity. DS negatively affects plant growth, physiological and metabolic processes, and disturbs cellular mem...

It is needful to have alternative nutritious cereal crops to feed the ever increasing population and meet food security in the long run. Triticale (Triticosecale wittmack) is used for both livestock feed and human consumption as it contains higher protein and lysine contents than other cereals. Synthetic fertilizers applied in combination with orga...

Plant abiotic stresses endanger crop production and food security to a growing degree under the present climate change scenario. This calls for effective measures to be deployed to increase the level of agricultural production to meet the needs of soaring world population. Application of osmo-protectants and soluble sugars were reported to counter...

Arsenic (As) contamination in the soil adversely affects crop productivity, grain quality, and human health. A pot experiment was performed to assess the sole and combined effects of Si and biochar on growth, physiological and antioxidant defense mechanisms, yield, and grain quality of maize. Soil treatments comprised of control (no treatment), As,...

Nitrogen (N) is an important macro-nutrient required for crop production and is considered an important commodity for agricultural systems. Urea is a vital source of N that is used widely across the globe to meet crop N requirements. However, N applied in the form of urea is mostly lost in soil, posing serious economic and environmental issues. The...

Heavy metal (HM) contamination is a serious concern across the globe, and in recent times, HMs’ intensity has significantly increased, posing a serious threat to crop growth and productivity. Heavy metals pose serious health issues in humans by entering the human food chains. Therefore, it is direly needed to reduce the effects of HMs on plants and...

Salinity stress (SS) is a challenging abiotic stress that limits crop growth and productivity. Sustainable and cost effective methods are needed to improve crop production and decrease the deleterious impacts of SS. Zinc (Zn) nano-particles (NPs) have emerged as an important approach to regulating plant tolerance against SS. However, the mechanisms...

A pervasive melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) reveals a crucial role in stress tolerance and plant development. Melatonin (MT) is a unique molecule with multiple phenotypic expressions and numerous actions within the plants. It has been extensively studied in crop plants under different abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, cold,...

ABSTARCT Synthetic pesticides are excessively consumed to control crop pests but abundant use of chemicals may implicate the whole ecosystem badly in the end. Despite the growing concern, few natural products are commercialized for pest control whilst on-farm use of existing botanically-based pesticides remains a small, but growing, component of cr...

Improvement of salinity tolerance in rice can minimize the stress-induced yield losses. Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of Asia’s most widely consumed crops, native to the subtropical regions, and is generally associated with sensitivity to salinity stress episodes. Salt-tolerant rice genotypes have been developed using conventional breeding methods; ho...

Cultivated sunflower holds a very narrow genetic base and the efficient utilization of available genetic diversity is very important for a successful breeding program. In the present study, 109 sunflower genotypes were assessed for diversity paneling through a combined approach of morphological and molecular markers analysis. Morphological paramete...

Salt stress is one of the leading threats to crop growth and productivity across the globe. Salt stress induces serious alterations in plant physiological, metabolic, biochemical functioning and it also disturbs antioxidant activities, cellular membranes, photosynthetic performance, nutrient uptake and plant water uptake and resulting in a signific...

Drought stress (DS) is a serious abiotic stress and a major concern across the globe as its intensity is continuously climbing. Therefore, it is direly needed to develop new management strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of DS to ensure better crop productivity and food security. The use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has emerged as a...

Ramie is one of the most significant fiber crops and contributes to good quality fiber. Drought stress (DS) is one of the most devastating abiotic factors which is accountable for a substantial loss in crop growth and production and disturbing sustainable crop production. DS impairs growth, plant water relation, and nutrient uptake. Ramie has evolv...

Lentil is one of the most valuable pulse crops in the world that is enriched with a good quantity of mineral and protein. Sowing methods and irrigation application are an important agronomic consideration to get maximum production of lentil crop. Therefore, this study was conducted in RCBD with a two-factor split plot to determine the impact of var...

Background Salinity stress (SS) is a serious detrimental factor for crop growth and productivity and its intensity it is continuously increasing which is posing serious threat to global food security. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) priming has emerged as an excellent strategy to mitigate the adverse impacts of SS. However, the role of H2O2 priming in mit...

Legumes are an imperative source of food and proteins across the globe. They also improve soil fertility through symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF). Genome editing (GE) is now a novel way of developing desirable traits in legume crops. Genome editing tools like clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system permits a defin...

Heat stress (HS) is a serious environmental stress that negatively affects crop growth and productivity across the globe. The recent increase in atmospheric temperature caused by global warming has increased its intensity, which is a serious challenge that needs to be addressed. Plant growth and development involves a series of physiological, metab...

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is one of the most important legume crops that provide high protein contents compared to any other crop. Drought stress is one of the most devastating abiotic factors that pose severe threats to crop growth and production. Soybean growth and production are hindered by drought stress which is continuously declining yield and...

Cold stress is one of the most limiting factors for plant growth and development. Cold stress adversely affects plant physiology, molecular and biochemical processes by determining oxidative stress, poor nutrient and water uptake, disorganization of cellular membranes and reduced photosynthetic efficiency. Therefore, to recover impaired plant funct...

Due to increased industrialization, arsenic (As) in the soil has become a serious issue for wheat production since past few decades. We investigated the role of Azospirillum brasilense and trans-zeatin riboside (tZR) in the mitigation of arsenic toxicity in wheat for 2 years (2018–2019 and 2019–2020) in pot experiments. Wheat plants grown in soil a...

Due to increased industrialization, arsenic (As) in the soil has become a serious issue for wheat production since past few decades. We investigated the role of Azospirillum brasilense and trans-zeatin riboside (tZR) in the mitigation of arsenic toxicity in wheat for 2 years (2018-2019 and 2019-2020) in pot experiments. Wheat plants grown in soil a...

Rice is an important cereal crop worldwide that serves as a dietary component for half of the world's population. Climate change, especially global warming is a rising threat to crop production and food security. Therefore, enhancing rice growth and yield is a crucial challenge in stress-prone environments. Frequent episodes of heat stress threaten...

Neem coating of urea is considered as imperative strategy to improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE) and reduce N losses. Similarly, sowing methods (SM) also fundamentally influence the growth, yield and NUE of wheat. Therefore, the current investigation was aimed to determine the impact of normal and neem coated urea, on the yield performance of...

Drought stress at any stage of maize causes a marked reduction in growth and yield formation. Thiourea (TU), a well-known plant growth regulator, can ameliorate the abiotic stress by regulating the crop growth and development; however, little is known regarding its role in improving drought tolerance in maize. Therefore, this study was performed to...

Weeds are major threat to global wheat production and cause serious threat to food security. Likewise, water scarcity is also a major threat to food production and its intensity is continuously soaring up across the globe. Organic mulches have potential to reduce weeds growth and conserve the soil moisture thus ensures the better crop growth and yi...

In order to meet the dietary requirements of the rising human popula-tion with diminishing water resources, there is the need to adopt tech-niques that optimize crop yield under reduced water conditions.Therefore, a greenhouse experiment was carried out to determine theeffect of mulching and reduced irrigation on wheat production. Theexperiment inc...

Industrial pollution has been continuously soaring and causing serious threats to the soil, water, and air quality. The increase in industrialization has not only covered the large areas, but also created a large quantity of wastewater which is difficult to handle. The water produced from different industries is getting its place in the agriculture...

Zinc appeared to be an important modulator with specific functions in plant physiology and increase resistance against different abiotic stresses. Many advances regarding role of zinc under abiotic stress in plants have been made since its revelation, therefore, present study was intended to understand the ameliorating role of zinc on morpho-physio...

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is well reported problem around the globe causing severe reduction in crop yield and quality. The intake of inadequate foods low in Zn is the major cause of Zn deficiency in humans, especially in developing countries. The deficiency of Zn causes many irregularties in both plants and humans. The Zn deficiency considerably red...

Optimum usage of fertilizers is an important factor that defines the fate of crop yield by confirming the accessibility of nutrients in soil. Imbalance use of fertilizer not only reduces the crop productivity but also adversely affects the soil properties. A one-year experiment was carried out to explore the impact of different levels of farm yard...

Optimum usage of fertilizers is an important factor that defines the fate of crop yield by confirming the accessibility of nutrients in soil. Imbalance use of fertilizer not only reduces the crop productivity but also adversely affects the soil properties. A one-year experiment was carried out to explore the impact of different levels of farm yard...

Global decline in Apis bee population has shifted research towards the exploration of Non-Apis bees. A lot of work has been done on the role of Non-Apis bees in pollination services, stability of ecosystem and their synergistic effects on pollination of Apis bee. These aspects have not yet been studied regarding the local Non-Apis bees fauna of Pak...

Drought stress affects plant growth and development by altering physiological and biochemical processes resulting in reduced crop productivity. Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient that plays fundamental roles in crop resistance against the drought stress by regulating various physiological and molecular mechanisms. Under drought stress, Zn appl...

Cropping system throughout assessment exhibits importance for the crop production and cultural practices profitability. This field study was undertaken in semi-arid climate to devise suitable system. Wheat was sown in winter season while, summer crops include; cotton, maize and mungbean, which were sown under conventional tillage (CT), permanent be...

Quinoa is gaining importance globally owing to its nutritional quality and its adaptability under variety of conditions. However, limited information is available on the impact of planting techniques on growth, morphology, and yield and biomass accumulation under irrigation conditions. To the date, no ideal planting technique (sowing method) has be...

The progressive increase in the earth’s temperature due to anthropogenic activities is a major concern for humanity. The ensuing heat stress (HS) severely impacts plant growth, endangering ecosystem quality and world food security. Plant growth, physiological processes and final amount of edible products are affected by HS to an extent that reflect...

Precise choice of potassium (K) source and application method does matter for its cost-effectiveness. This study was aimed to evaluate the best source and method of K fertilizer application to improve cotton productivity and profitability under an arid climate. Three different K sources (KNO3, K2SO4 and KCl) were applied at 100 kg ha⁻¹ by four meth...

The major problem in cotton-wheat cropping system is delayed harvesting of cotton which results in late planting of wheat. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted on relay wheat in standing cotton that comprised of three different seeding densities (100, 125 and 150 kg ha-1) and four seed soaking durations (0, 6, 12 and 18 hours). The experimen...

Rapeseed, mustard, peanut, sunflower, soybean, sesame, safflower, castor, and cotton seed are important oilseed crops sown worldwide. The USA, Brazil, China and Argentina are amongst the leading countries in oilseed production. Developing countries import edible for daily consumption. Using conventional production practices is the major cause of lo...

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third important cereal crop after rice and wheat grown around the globe. Byproducts obtained from maize grains are having high value of calories from seed. Feeding of maize grains has intensely increased in poultry and livestock industries. It is a high-yield commodity crop as well as a source of food security in many dev...

Bio-fuels are considered to be cheap, sustainable and more environmental friendly. Management considerations including sowing method and suitable cultivar have considerable effect on the dry matter yield of plants which in turns influenced the bio-fuel yield. Field experiment was conducted during 2016 and 2017 17 to assess the impact of sowing meth...

Restoring soil fertility is essential to sustain crop production in order to meet the needs of the ever-blooming population. In this light, the present investigation was conducted on the same soil for two consecutive years (2014–2015 and 2015–2016) in Punjab, Pakistan, to determine the influence of press mud compost (PMC) and mineral fertilizers (N...

Excessive and inappropriate use of fertilizers is a key factor of low sugarcane yield and degradation of soil. A two-year (2013–14 and 2014–15) field study was conducted to assess the impact of combined application of organic and inorganic fertilizers on sugarcane at research farm of Shakarganj Sugar Research Institute, Jhang, Pakistan. Experiment...

Nickel (Ni) is a naturally occurring metal, but anthropogenic activities such as industrialization, use of fertilizers, chemicals, and sewage sludge have increased its concentration in the environment up to undesirable levels. Ni is considered to be essential for plant growth at low concentration; however, Ni pollution is increasing in the environm...

Wheat is regarded as a main staple crop in Pakistan because its contribution to the daily diet of a common man is 60%. Late sowing of wheat not only reduces yield but also affects efficiency of other production factors but it is not possible to absolutely avoid late sowing. Moringa leaf extract (MLE), exogenously applied either through seed or plan...