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

Integrating New Frontier Digital Twins Technology in Smart Agriculture Revolution

Imran khan jatoi — 2026-04-07

The effects of climate change on agriculture are very profound, including food security and the financial stability of developing countries. Thus, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Digital Twins (DTs) are significant in changing agriculture to a data-enabling, real-time system to develop crop management, high productivity, and climate mitigation. Such technologies are useful in predicting the time of droughts and scheduling the irrigation timetable based on climatic changes, and also in deciding on the appropriate crop rotation within a particular area. AI and IoT may be combined to create DTs to facilitate climate-resilient precision farming. This technology embraces agricultural workplaces, livestock surveillance, crop harvesting, crop protection, and predictive maintenance systems. It also changes how agriculture is practised by examining huge amounts of information to predict the impact of climate change. Precision agriculture is an AI-driven technology that uses micro-localised applications, which are informed by synthetic sensory data, drones, and satellite data. Whereas Smart agriculture combines AI, Big Data Analytics, IoT, and DT to collect, unite, and interpret information from many sources. With AI-powered models, future weather conditions, insects, and disease outbreaks are predictable, allowing for early intervention and increased crop production. Such insights culminate in better allocation of resources, optimisation of agricultural activities, and high farm productivity amidst climate change. As a consequence, the DT technology can be a game-changer in the field of agriculture in the future. In this study, DT in conjunction with IoT sensors and AI models has been explained conceptually and potentially as useful in precision agriculture to adjust to the rise in climate change by anticipating droughts, optimising irrigation, and enhancing crop control through real-time data analysis.

Evaluating the Effects of Potassium and Naphthalene Acetic Acid on Drought Tolerance of Wheat

Syed Tazneel Husnain — 2026-04-06

Wheat productivity in semi-arid and rainfed regions is severely affected by drought stress, which limits growth, physiological efficiency, and yield. “A field study was conducted during the Rabi season 2024–2025 at the University Research Farm, Koont (Pothowar region, Punjab, Pakistan) to evaluate the effects of foliar-applied Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) and Potassium Nitrate (KNO₃) on growth, physiological traits, drought tolerance, and yield performance of wheat. The experiment was conducted using a Randomised Complete Block Design (RCBD) with eight treatments and three replications. Treatments comprised: T₁ (Control), T₂ (NAA 50 ppm), T₃ (NAA 100 ppm), T₄ (NAA 150 ppm), T₅ (KNO₃ 2%), T₆ (NAA 150 ppm + KNO₃ 2%), T₇ (NAA 100 ppm + KNO₃ 2%), and T₈ (NAA 50 ppm + KNO₃ 2%). Foliar applications were applied at the tillering and booting stages. Data were recorded for chlorophyll content, crop growth rate, plant height, spike length, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, and grain yield. The results showed that the combined application of NAA and potassium significantly improved physiological and yield parameters compared to individual applications and control treatment. The highest grain yield was recorded in treatment T6 (NAA 150 ppm + KNO₃ 2%), which produced significantly higher chlorophyll content and crop growth rate. Chlorophyll content ranged from 34.06 (T₁) to 41.09 (T6). Values for T₂, T₃, T₄, T₅, T₇, and T₈ were 35.93, 37.02, 38.48, 40.11, 38.22, and 38.98, respectively. Crop growth rate increased from 8.51 g m ² day⁻¹ in control to 13.64 g m⁻² day^-1in T₆, while T₂, T₃, T₄, T₅, T₇, and T₈ recorded 10.05, 10.50, 11.86, 12.87, 11.88, and 12.45 g m⁻² day^-1, respectively. Plant height improved from 85.16 cm (T₁) to 102.81 cm (T₆). Other treatments produced heights of 89.88 cm (T₂), 93.13 cm (T₃), 95.82 cm (T₄), 98.57 cm (T₅), 95.34 cm (T₇), and 98.66 cm (T₈). Spike length plant^-1 increased from 8.33 cm (T₁) to 11.02 cm (T₆), with intermediate values of 9.07, 9.19, 9.85, 10.56, 10.01, and 10.21 cm under T₂, T₃, T₄, T₅, T₇, and T₈, respectively. Spikelets spike^-1 ranged from 13.94 (T₁) to 18.68 (T₆), while T₂, T₃, T₄, T₅, T₇, and T₈ recorded 15.00, 15.96, 17.01, 18.06, 16.97, and 17.96 spikelets spike^-1, respectively. The highest 1000-grain weight (43.40 g), grain yield (4655.85 kg ha⁻¹), biological yield (10327.94 kg ha⁻¹), and harvest index (44.84%) were obtained in T6, whereas control plots recorded 36.83 g, 3216.27 kg ha⁻¹, 8210.08 kg ha⁻¹, and 38.77%, respectively. Grain yield under T₂, T₃, T₄, T₅, T₇, and T₈ was 3459.97, 3701.05, 4195.93, 4506.53, 4351.55, and 4506.53 kg ha⁻¹, respectively. The results were statistically significant at P ≤ 0.05. The improvement in yield may be attributed to enhanced stomatal regulation, osmotic adjustment, and improved nutrient uptake under drought conditions. The improvement in growth and yield parameters under integrated treatment may be attributed to improved photosynthetic efficiency, osmotic adjustment, water use efficiency, and better assimilate partitioning under drought stress conditions. The study concluded that the integrated application of potassium and auxin is an effective strategy for improving wheat productivity under drought stress conditions and can be recommended for semi-arid and rainfed agricultural systems.

Keywords: Wheat, Potassium, Naphthalene Acetic Acid, Foliar application, Grain yield, Growth attributes, Rainfed agriculture, Drought stress, Water Use Efficiency, Crop Growth Rate.

Auxin-Induced Rooting and Seedling Quality Enhancement in Seedless Lemon (Citrus limon L.) under Nursery Conditions

Marium Khaskheli — 2026-04-06

Seedless lemons (Citrus limon L.) are valued at the global level for the character of seedless. However, these cultivars are often characterised by poor rooting capability and low survival rates. In order to resolve this issue, the present study was conducted during the spring season of 2024 at the Nursery of Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tandojam, to evaluate the influence of auxin treatments on the sprouting and seedling growth of seedless lemon cuttings. A factorial experiment in a Completely Randomised Design (CRD) was laid out with four replications, comprising two varieties (Persian lime and Malaysian lemon) and four treatments: IBA gel dip, NAA powder dip, IBA gel + NAA powder dip, and control. All the seedling-related parameters, such as sprouting percentage, number of sprouts, days to sprouting, rooting percentage, root depth, seedling quality index, sturdiness quotient, shoot biomass and root biomass, were significantly affected by the auxin treatments. However, varieties and their interactive effect with auxin treatments were only significant for a few sprouting and rooting-related parameters. The statistical results revealed that the maximum sprouting percentage, number of sprouts per cutting, rooting percentage and minimum days to sprouting were observed in Persian lemon with the NAA powder dip method. The Dickson Quality Index, Sturdiness quotient, and biomass of shoot and root were not significantly affected by the varieties or their interactive effect with auxin treatments. However, Auxin as an independent factor had significant effects on all these parameters. The highest DQI, SQ, and biomass of shoot and root were observed with NAA powder dip treatments. However, the Number of sprouts and root depth traits were significantly influenced by treatments alone, with IBA gel dip resulting in more sprouts and the deepest roots. The findings suggest that NAA powder dip is the most effective treatment for enhancing rooting and overall seedling vigour in seedless lemon cuttings, particularly in the Persian variety.

Determination of Phytochemicals in Medicinal Plants Collected from Adjoining Areas of Lahore through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy

Faiqa Ghaffar — 2026-04-09

In the present research work, some medicinal plants from the adjoining areas of Lahore were investigated for their phytochemical screening and FTIR analysis. Four samples of medicinal plants Cichorium intybus (Kasni), Foeniculum vulgare (Sonf), Solanum nigrum (Makoh)and Polygonum aviculare(Anjbar)were selected. The main objective of the present study is to identify the phytochemicals through FTIR instrumentation, which encourages Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by minimising waste and chemical usage. Phytochemical testing of extracts of leaves of C. intybus, S. nigrum and roots of F. vulgare, and P. aviculare was carried out in four different solvents (Methanol, chloroform, n-hexane and aqueous solutions). The purpose of this study is to help in the formulation of herbal medicines and their quality assurance, and to make innovations to support industries in developing plant-based products contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Phytochemicals identified were steroids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, phenols, tannins, saponins, cardiac glycosides, proteins and reducing sugars. Functional groups were identified in the leaves and roots of medicinal plants like esters, alcohols, alkenes, nitrites, amino acids, carboxylic acids, ethers, aromatics, organic halogens and carbohydrates. In this study, an effort was also taken to understand the importance of functional groups as bioactive components for treating various illnesses, and which functional group is responsible for a certain medicinal property of a medicinal plant. This study investigates the application of phytochemical screening and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for the identification of phytochemicals in a selected medicinal plant, addressing the limited analytical data available for such species, and recommends further research to explore their therapeutic potential.