International Journal of Agriculture Innovations and Cutting-Edge Research (HEC Recognised)

Optimization of Algal–Bacterial Biomass for Sustainable Treatment of Textile Industry Wastewater

2026-01-15T18:02:25+00:00

Textile wastewater represents a major environmental challenge due to its high organic load, salinity, suspended solids, and resistance to conventional physico-chemical treatment processes, which are often energy-intensive and generate excessive secondary sludge. Integrated algal–bacterial consortia offer a sustainable alternative by coupling bacterial biodegradation with algal nutrient uptake and photosynthetic oxygen production. In this study, the treatment performance of algal, bacterial, and integrated algal–bacterial sludge systems was evaluated using real textile wastewater collected from the inlet of the effluent treatment plant at Quetta Textile Mills, Pakistan. Indigenous microalgal strains (Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus) and a bacterial strain (Bacillus subtilis) were cultivated and applied under controlled laboratory conditions. Treatment efficiency was assessed at hydraulic retention times of 2, 4, 6, and 8 h by monitoring pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total suspended solids (TSS). Among all tested systems, the Chlorella vulgaris–Bacillus subtilis consortium exhibited the highest treatment efficiency, achieving approximately 95% overall pollutant removal within 8 h. COD and BOD were reduced from 1486 to 90 mg L⁻¹ and 800 to 45 mg L⁻¹, respectively, while TDS and TSS decreased from 9000 to 1033 mg L⁻¹ and 720 to 60 mg L⁻¹. The integrated system also demonstrated excellent sludge settleability, with a sludge volume index (SVI) of 30–35 mL g⁻¹, indicating efficient solid–liquid separation. The superior performance of the algal–bacterial consortium was attributed to synergistic interactions, where algal oxygen production enhanced aerobic bacterial degradation, while bacterial metabolism supplied CO₂ and nutrients to support algal growth. These findings highlight the potential of algal–bacterial sludge systems as an eco-friendly, energy-efficient, and rapid treatment strategy for high-strength textile wastewater, with strong applicability for industrial-scale wastewater management, reuse, and integration into circular bioeconomy frameworks.

Assessment of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Requirements for Improving Growth and Yield of Pea (Pisum sativum L.)

2026-01-10T06:07:26+00:00

Nutrient management has prime importance in the production of peas, but poor soil fertility in Pakistan hinders the smooth supply of nutrients, leading to stagnation and a decline in overall Peas productivity. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization on various attributes of pea (Pisum sativum L.) under field conditions at Tandojam Horticulture Garden during November 2024. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four treatments: level 1 (control), level 2 (N 25 kg ha⁻¹, P 50 kg ha⁻¹), level 3 (N 30 kg ha⁻¹, P 70 kg ha⁻¹), and level 4 (N 30 kg ha⁻¹, P 80 kg ha⁻¹), each replicated three times. Observations were recorded on various vegetative, reproductive and quality attributes. The results showed that level 4 (N 30 kg ha⁻¹, P 80 kg ha⁻¹) significantly enhanced plant height (cm) (63.76 cm), number of branches plant⁻¹ (11.22), number of leaves plant⁻¹ (58.00), number of flowers (20.44), pods plant⁻¹ (18.89), total soluble solids (TSS) (16.77 Brix^o), and titratable acidity (TA) (0.22 %). The level 3 (N 30 kg ha⁻¹, P 70 kg ha⁻¹) showed better results for Number of seeds pod^-1 (7.00) and pod length (8.57 cm). In this treatment, floral initiation (days) was quick (30.55 days). While control showed the highest pH (6.95). The findings indicate that integrated application of nitrogen (30 kg ha⁻¹) and phosphorus (80 kg ha⁻¹) optimizes growth, yield, and pod quality of pea, contributing to sustainable production in nutrient-deficient soils.

Evaluation of Phytopesticides as Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Synthetic Pyrethroids in Grain Protection

2025-10-29T06:08:12+00:00

Toxicity of two phytopesticides, Acours calamus, Euclaptus oil was observed Glass Film Method (GFM) in different time intervals, 5, 10 and 15 minutes, similary toxicity of pyrethroid Deltamethrin was also observed. The result showed that Deltamethrin was more toxic than phytopesticides, and Euclaptus oil was more toxic than Acorus calamus. Results demonstrated a clear dose- and time-dependent increase in mortality across all treatments. Deltamethrin exhibited the highest toxicity at all exposure periods, confirming its rapid knockdown effect. Among the phytopesticides, Eucalyptus oil showed greater toxicity than Acorus calamus oil, particularly at longer exposure durations. Mortality rates increased substantially with extended exposure time, highlighting the importance of contact duration in toxicity assessment.

Effectiveness of Cultural Practices in Managing Helicoverpa Armigera Infestation in Tomato Varieties of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

2026-01-18T10:19:11+00:00

Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) is a highly destructive polyphagous pest of the tomato crop in the world, which is responsible for significant economic losses and augmenting dependence on chemical pesticides. The management of this pest is thus of great relevance in integrated pest management (IPM) systems with the view of mitigating the environmental risks and production costs. The current experiment was aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the target cultural practices in combination with the varietal susceptibility in the field conditions in Peshawar, Pakistan, between March and May 2021. The experiment was designed with the help of a randomized complete block design (RCBD) to compare the effect of early sowing, deep ploughing, weeding, hand picking of larvae, removal of infested fruits, and pupal bursting on two tomato varieties, Rio Grande (preferred) and Sahel (less preferred). Early sowing (T2) was the most effective treatment, which suppressed the population of eggs by 26.0 and 17.7 in Rio Grande and Sahel, respectively, when compared to the control. In the same way, the population of the larvae dropped by 24.6 percent and 9.2 percent in Rio Grande and Sahel, respectively. Yield parameters were much better with T2, and the number of fruits rose by 13.1 and 10.8 percent under T2 compared to control plots (Rio Grande and Sahel, respectively). Mean plant yield rose to 1.27 kg (Rio Grande) and 1.42 kg (Sahel), which is an 8.5 percent and 11.8 percent increase in yield, respectively. On the whole, Sahel responded less to infestation and was more responsive to treatments. These results reveal that an ecologically friendly and sustainable approach to the management of H. armigera involves early sowing, as well as low-preference or resistant varieties. The incorporation of these cultural practices in the IPM programs will assist in minimizing the reliance on pesticides, as well as improve the yield of tomatoes and the sustainability of production.

Method Development and Validation for the Determination of Clodinafop-propargyl (EC/WP Formulation) by HPLC-UV-Visible Technique

2026-01-31T13:47:55+00:00

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major staple food in Pakistan and contributes about 1.6% to GDP. In Pakistan, the area under wheat is approximately 9.16 million hectares, with an overall annual production of 27.46 million tons. It meets the main dietary requirements and feeds about 220.8 million people in the country. The infestation of different weeds is a serious problem for wheat crop production in Pakistan. Generally, it causes a yield loss of about 40% to 60%.

Background: Herbicide samples are tested to determine their active ingredients (a.i.), but various methods yield different results. Thus, the main purpose of the current study was to develop and validate a Clodinafop-propargyl determination method by using the HPLC-UV-Visible technique.

Methods: The HPLC-UV-Visible technique used for the quantification of Clodinafop-propargyl contents in the herbicide sample was validated in the Pesticide Quality Control Laboratory (ISO/IEC: 17025), Bahawalpur. This method validation process includes: Use of Blank, Use of Reference Standard, Specificity, repeatability, reproducibility, Detection Limit (LOD), Quantification Limit (LOQ), Linearity, Measurement Uncertainty, Ruggedness and recovery.

The detection and quantification limits of the current method were 2.4 and 8.0ppm of Clodinafop-propargyl, respectively. The repeatability, however, was 0.1547 %, and the reproducibility (calculated T- was 0.653 thar was less than T-tabulated (i.e., 2.262). The Linear curve was found for the concentration ranging from 200 to 1000 ppm Clodinafop-propargyl, showing R² of 1. As for recovery is concerned, it was 100.030% for Clodinafop-propargyl in the herbicide sample. The Clodinafop-propargyl concentration was detected with complete recovery without any interference from other materials in the sample. The Z-scores for all PT samples were within an acceptable range. The coefficient of correlation (1%) exhibited a strong correlation between actual Clodinafop-propargyl contents and observed contents.

Conclusions: Based on the above findings, it is assumed that the performance of the method under study was excellent. Therefore, this method can be effectively employed for Clodinafop-propargyl estimation in herbicides.

Agriculture 6.0 Leveraging AI, IoT, Machine Learning, and Blockchain for a Sustainable Future

2025-12-29T13:20:23+00:00

The Internet of Things (IoT) and smart computing technologies have transformed every facet of the twenty-first century. There are numerous applications for these technologies, ranging from real-time crop conditions, water quality, and soil moisture monitoring to the use of drones to support responsibilities like bug application. An era of agriculture 6.0, sometimes referred to as sustainable and smart agriculture, has been ushered in by the broad integration of modern Information Technology (IT) and traditional agriculture. Smart agriculture addresses automation and intelligence in agriculture. However, information security issues cannot be ignored, given how contemporary digital technology has advanced agriculture. The article starts by giving a summary of the advantages, disadvantages, and difficulties of agriculture's progress from 1.0 to 6.0. In addition to identifying problems and presenting the demands and future opportunities in agriculture, this study concentrated on layered architectural design. Furthermore, we suggested a thorough overview for agriculture 1.0–6.0 that incorporates fog computing, blockchain technology, IoT, AI, ML, and software-defined networking.