Biodiversity for food security

Biodiversity plays a crucial role for agriculture and food production. Humans depend on the variety of food, shelter, and goods for their livelihood. However, humans put increasing pressure on species and their environment.

As a result, numerous plants and animals are at risk, as well as essential natural processes such as pollination by insects and the regeneration of soils by micro-organisms.

To feed the growing population, agriculture must provide more food. It will also be essential to increase its resilience by protecting a wide array of life forms with unique traits, such as plants that survive drought or livestock that reproduce in harsh conditions.

Sustainable agricultural practices can both feed people and protect the oceans, forests, prairies and other ecosystems that harbour biological diversity. Every year on October 16, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day in commemoration of its founding on that day in 1945.

The World Food Day theme for 2004, was "Biodiversity for Food Security" as recognition to biodiversity's role in ensuring that people have sustainable access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives.

Why not GM Crops

By Ijaz Ahmad Rao _ Bahawalpur

Biotechnology has received far greater acceptance in the discipline of medicine, energy and industrial sector as compared to the field of food and agriculture; the main reason behind it is a lack of awareness of common man. That is why modern biotech industry is keep changing and redefining itself during the last two decades. The use of genetic engineering in agriculture is a complex issue that presents both potential benefits and risks to human society and the environment, with implications at the local and global levels. Today a heated global debate has erupted over the use of modern crop biotechnology; Government, journalists, communities and farmers in developing countries are deliberating about the same challenge as those in other countries.

Biotechnology for raising farm yield

By Muhammad Amjad Ali and Amjad Abbas

LOW productivity in agriculture is a major cause of poverty, food insecurity, and poor nutrition in low-income developing countries. Agricultural biotechnology offers great potential as an instrument for achieving food security and poverty reduction.. It uses advanced plant-breeding techniques to introduce beneficial traits to the crops grown for food and fibre.

The need for food security and economic value of agricultural products highlights their significance for all countries of the world, no matter at what stage of development they may be. It has been estimated that around 70 per cent of poor and food-insecure people reside in rural areas and depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Whether in rural or urban areas, poor people spend as much as 50–70 per cent of their incomes on food.

Future of Bt Cotton in Asia

By Ijaz Ahmad Rao

Bahawalpur

Fast pace in cash crops production is a dream for any agrarian economy; many ancient civilizations rose by diverting rivers and irrigating arid lands to grow crops like wheat, maize, rice, cotton – Asian countries especially Indian subcontinent and China are those who are well known for its cotton made fiber for centuries.

Cotton is a powerful engine for our economy growth; the cotton lint, cloth, yarn and garments are a big source of foreign exchange and accounts for around six percentage of our GDP; cotton made ups and textile exports embrace more over $ 7.3 billion to the national economy which is around two thirds of the country’s export earnings. Cotton is grown over eighty countries primarily for fiber, but seeds render an important source of food for livestock and humans. Life of million of small farmers, daily wage workers and many small medium business are on the fortune of this single crop therefore the success or failure of cotton crop has influence not only exports but also on socioeconomic sectors of various stakeholders - fine quality of cotton production is the inherent comparative advantage of our textile sector; so have to take into account the present challenges faced in its production and value-added fields and preparing for the future changes in its technologies.

Genomics to improve farming

By Ijaz Ahmad Rao

Biotechnology is having an increasingly important impact on various sectors and disciplines. Combined with genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, biotechnology can greatly aid our ability to confront the challenges of production, management, and sustainability of agriculture and economic development.

It can enhance crops yield and quality, develop stress-tolerant crop varieties, improve nutritional content of foods and neutralise effect of food contaminants, and find new ways to face threats to bio-security.

These issues were discussed at a recent international symposium on “Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics: Recent Trends in Biotechnology” held by the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (MMG), University of The Punjab, in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, National Biotechnology Commission, Core Group in Biological Sciences.

More than 190 delegates, some from Europe, participated in the symposium whose main objective was to provide new ways to use animal, plants and microbes, in order to improve quality of environment and economic sustainability of a country, to commercialise indigenous technologies and to help bridge the gap between global scientific communities in terms of existing and expanding frontiers of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics.

Coccidiosis In Poultry Can Be Controlled By A Local Vaccine- Claimed

M. Mazhar Ayaz and Masood Akhtar

Immunoparasitology Laboratory

Department of Veterinary Parasitology

By Scientists Of University Of Agriculture-Faisalabad

Coccidiosis in one of the major menace for poultry industry causes heavy economic losses world wide. The disease is commonly called as Red Dysentry (Khuni pachish). Coccidiosis may be Intestinal or caecal caused by intracellular protozoa, belonging to the genus Eimeria (Phylum Apicomplexa).

The disease is characterized by bloody diarrhoea, emaciation, ruffled feather and loss of apatite. More or less about 300 species of genus Eimeria has been known and recorded in birds and mammals. It is estimated that the economic losses due to the disease are about US$ 450 million and due to medication are about US$ 100 million in the United States. In countries like Pakistan, where the farming is substandard, the disease becomes more serious and causes heavy economic losses; although the exact losses due to coccidiosis in Pakistan are not known due to the lack of statistical indices but these will be definite in million of rupees.

Seven species of genus Eimeria (E.) including E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. necatrix, E. mitis, E. praecox and E. brunetti are generally accepted to be the causative agent of avian coccidiosis. E. tenella and E. maxima are considered to be the most important to the poultry industry from consideration of their ubiquity in broiler chicks, innate pathogenicity and immunological features. In Pakistan E. tenella is the most prevalent and pathogenic species.

Pre –Brooding Management of chicks

By Mohsin Shabbir
University of Agriculture,Faisalabad,Pakistan

DEFINITION

All the managemental practices before brooding or before receiving the chicks in other sense various measures, which we provide in preparation for new-hatched chicks arriving at our farm.

We will study different factors, which play very important role in the process of pre-brooding management and main purpose of this process is to avoid different diseases, which cause great economical losses due to poor managemental practices, Prevention is most and best economical method of disease control. Prevention is best achieved by the use of sanitation and biosecurity programmes.

Poultry house sanitation begins with a clean sanitized house prepared well in advance of arrival of chicks. Each house should remain empty at least two weeks after, it is disinfected and fumigate .The effectiveness of sanitizing a house is depended upon the extend of the cleaning before the germicide is applied. This cleaning helps to control disease because,

a) It reduces number of pathogenic organisms.

b) Remove material that helps in multiplication of pathogens.

c) Expose surface to the disinfectant and fumigants.

The Incredible Egg

The Incredible Egg

1. Dr. Mohammad Tufail Banday
Associate Professor, Skuast (K)
2. Dr. Sheikh Adil Hamid
M.v.sc. Scholarh

Human beings require a well balanced diet containing proper amount of proximate principles which include proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water to enable them to live and thrive. Nutritionists know that all foods contain at least one of these six nutrient groups. Eggs have been regarded as one of nature’s perfect foods.

The table egg is the most nutritious, yet relatively cheaper natural food having one of the highest digestibility coefficients. Eggs contain all six of these nutrient groups. Eggs are one of the best protected foods available to man in a form originally packed by nature. They cannot be adulterated because of their outer covering or the shell. Their judicious use in the diets can effectively combat nutritional imbalances against the vulnerable groups particularly nursing mothers, infants, children and convalescent persons.

Both eggs and milk are considered to be the two best protective foods because they are concentrated sources of nutrients viz proteins, energy, vitamins and minerals. When the dietary value of egg is compared with that of milk, we find egg is richer in proteins, fats, vitamin A, B12 , riboflavin and folic acid than milk on per unit basis. Similarly eggs are rich sources of iron which is deficient in milk and other foods except leafy vegetables .Again egg is rich source of vitamin D as compared to milk which is important for bone development for children. Eggs are given in persons suffering from conditions such as Kwashiorkor, anemia, typhoid, tuberculosis; post operative stages, pregnancy etc.

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Useful tips for wheat production

Wheat

Useful tips for wheat production

1. Moisture should be conserved during monsoon by using deep tillage technology.

2. Resistant improved wheat varieties should be planted.

3. Treat the seed with recommended fungicides to control seed borne diseases.

4. Irrigations at the time of tillering and grain formation are critical.

5. Planting must be finished before Nov. 30 to obtain maximum yield.

6. Nitrogenous and Phosphatic fertilizers should be used in a ratio of 1:1 or 1: 1-1/2 .

7. Potassium fertilizer must be used if wheat is planted after rice or sugarcane and in sandy soils which had continuously been irrigating by tube well water.

8. Weeds must be destroyed by using chemical weedicides.

9. Harvesting should be done few days earlier in case of semi dwarf improved varieties to avoid shattering damages.

RECOMMENDED VARIETIES, PLANTING TIME AND SEED RATE FOR DIFFERENT PRODUCTION ZONES.

The Role of Cotton in Pakistan

Pakistan is the fifth largest producer of cotton in the world, the third largest exporter of raw cotton, the fourth largest consumer of cotton, and the largest exporter of cotton yarn. 1.3 million farmers (out of a total of 5 million) cultivate cotton over 3 million hectares, covering 15 per cent of the cultivable area in the country. Cotton and cotton products contribute about 10 per cent to GDP and 55 per cent to the foreign exchange earnings of the country. Taken as a whole, between 30 and 40 per cent of the cotton ends up as domestic consumption of final products. The remaining is exported as raw cotton, yarn, cloth, and garments.

Cotton production supports Pakistan’s largest industrial sector, comprising some 400 textile mills, 7 million spindles, 27,000 looms in the mill sector (including 15,000 shuttleless looms), over 250,000 looms in the non-mill sector, 700 knitwear units, 4,000 garment units (with 200,000 sewing machines), 650 dyeing and finishing units (with finishing capacity of 1,150 million square meters per year), nearly 1,000 ginneries, 300 oil expellers, and 15,000 to 20,000 indigenous, small scale oil expellers (kohlus). It is by any measure Pakistan’s most important economic sector. Not surprisingly, government policy has generally been used to maintain a stable and often relatively low domestic price of cotton, especially since 1986-87 through the imposition of export duties, in order to support domestic industry.

Pests & Farm Chemicals

Pests & Farm Chemicals

Cotton

Major Insecticides are given below with their time of attack and recommended Pesticides and dosage.

It is hoped that this information will be of great use to the farmer in plant protection.

Pest	Time of attack	Remedy (common Name)	Dosage/Acre
American Bollworm	Starts attack with flower formation and last till the end	Endosulfan	600 ml
		Chlorphrifos	1000 ml
Jassid	Attacks the crop during the whole period.	Endosulfan	1000 ml
		Bromophos	400 ml
		Chlorphrifos	1000 ml
		Dimethoate	400 ml
		Fenitrothion	500 -700 ml
		Isothioate	1300-1500 ml
		Methamidophos	400 ml
Whitefly	Attacks the crop during the whole period.	Endosulfan	1000 ml

PESTICIDES RECOMMENDED FOR COTTON PESTS CONTROL
UNDER DIFFERENT SITUATIONS