Publications by authors named "Zafar Ullah Zafar"

A cutting-edge smart nano-hybrid technology, offering potential benefits for plants, has recently been developed to address the pervasive issue of heavy metal pollution. This study explored the potential of this technology in mitigating chromium (Cr) stress in rapeseed using a nano-based system that integrates 100 μM hydrogen sulphide (HS) and 50 μM manganese nanoparticles (Mn-NPs). This strategy reveals Cr-stress tolerance mechanisms through physiological assessments and transcriptome data analysis.

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Food security is threatened by global warming, which also affects agricultural output. Various components of cells perceive elevated temperatures. Different signaling pathways in plants distinguish between the two types of temperature increases, mild warm temperatures and extremely hot temperatures.

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The rapid increase in population growth under changing climatic conditions causes drought stress, threatening world food security. The identification of physiological and biochemical traits acting as yield-limiting factors in diverse germplasm is pre-requisite for genetic improvement under water-deficit conditions. The major aim of the present study was the identification of drought-tolerant wheat cultivars with a novel source of drought tolerance from local wheat germplasm.

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Plant salt tolerance is controlled by various physiological processes such as water and ion homeostasis, photosynthesis, and cellular redox balance, which are in turn controlled by gene expression. In the present study, plants of six canola cultivars (DGL, Dunkled, Faisal Canola, Cyclone, Legend, and Oscar) were evaluated for salt tolerance by subjecting them to 0 or 200 mM NaCl stress. Based on growth, cultivars DGL, Dunkled, and Faisal Canola were ranked as salt tolerant, while cultivars Cyclone, Legend, and Oscar were ranked as salt-sensitive ones.

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Salinity stress is considered the most devastating abiotic stress for crop productivity. Accumulating different types of soluble proteins has evolved as a vital strategy that plays a central regulatory role in the growth and development of plants subjected to salt stress. In the last two decades, efforts have been undertaken to critically examine the genome structure and functions of the transcriptome in plants subjected to salinity stress.

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Tannery effluent contains a number of organic and inorganic elements as pollutants which reduce plant growth. To overcome shortage of water, use of diluted industrial wastewater such as tannery effluent can be a viable strategy for improving crop growth and yield. A pot experiment was conducted to determine the effects of tannery effluent and its various dilutions on physiological and biochemical characteristics of five cucurbitaceous vegetables.

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Global food production is threatened due to increasing salinity and can be stabilized by improving salt tolerance of crops. In the current study, salt tolerance potential of 40 local wheat cultivars against 150 mM NaCl stress was explored. Salt treatment at seedling stage caused less reduction in biomass, K and P while more decline of Na in tolerant cultivars due to reduced translocation and enhanced exclusion of Na from leaves.

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The accumulation of cadmium (Cd) in leaves reduces photosynthetic capacity by degrading photosynthetic pigments, reducing photosystem II activity, and producing reactive oxygen species (ROS). Though it was demonstrated that the application of Methyl Jasmonate (MeJA) induces heavy metal (HM) stress tolerance in plants, its role in adjusting redox balance and photosynthetic machinery is unclear. In this study, the role of MeJA in modulating photosystem II (PSII) activity and antioxidant defense system was investigated to reduce the toxic effects of Cd on the growth of pea ( L.

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Drought is one of the most important abiotic stress factors limiting maize production worldwide. The objective of this study was to investigate whether photoprotection of PSII was associated with the degree of drought tolerance and yield in three maize hybrids (30Y87, 31R88, P3939). To do this, three maize hybrids were subjected to three cycles of drought, and we measured the activities of photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI).

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Background: Proline can promote growth of plants by increasing photosynthetic activity under both non-stress and abiotic stress conditions. However, its role in non-stressed conditions is least studied. An experiment was conducted to assess as to whether increase in growth of wheat due to seed priming with proline under non-stress condition was associated with proline-induced changes in photosystem II (PSII) activity.

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The contribution of one major or a combination of several physiological processes in salt tolerance was assessed in three local varieties (Blacklong, Advanta-1103, and Dilpasand) of ridge gourd [Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.] at varying salt levels (0, 75, and 150 mM NaCl).

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Melatonin is an early player in chromium stress response in canola plants; it promotes ROS scavenging and chlorophyll stability, modulates PSII stability and regulates feedback inhibition of photosynthesis conferring chromium tolerance. The development of heavy metals, especially chromium (Cr)-tolerant cultivars is mainly constrained due to poor knowledge of the mechanism behind Cr stress tolerance. In the present study, two Brassica napus contrasting cultivars Ac-Excel and DGL were studied for Cr stress tolerance by using chlorophyll a fluorescence technique and biochemical attributes with and without melatonin (MT) treatments.

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Salt tolerant wheat cultivars may be used as genetic resource for wheat breeding to ensure yield stability in future. The study was aimed to select salt tolerant cultivar(s) to identify novel source of salt tolerance in local wheat germplasm. Initially, 40 local wheat cultivars were screened at 150 mM NaCl stress at seedling stage.

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Developing drought-tolerant cultivars is mainly restricted due to poor knowledge of the mechanism behind drought tolerance. In the present work, available germplasm of Vigna radiata (mung bean) was screened for drought tolerance using multiple agronomic and physiological parameters and used to selected one drought-tolerant (NM-13-1) and one drought-sensitive (NM-54) cultivar for further studies. Plant water status and PSII activity were found to be potential physiological discriminating traits.

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In the present study, the mung bean cv. NM-13-1 was selected as drought-tolerant and NM-54 as drought-sensitive. The effects of progressive drought (16 days) on the photosystem II (PSII) activity was assessed using OJIP and JIP-test in the selected two mung bean cultivars differing in drought tolerance.

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Unlabelled: Chromium toxicity is considered as a major problem for agricultural soil that reduced crop productivity by affecting photosynthetic tissues. Exogenous application of melatonin can alleviate the adverse effects of chromium toxicity on plant growth. However, little is known about its effect on thylakoidal protein complexes responsible for conversion of solar energy to biochemical energy.

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Brassica napus plants exposed to 200 μM arsenic (As) exhibited high-level of stress condition, which led to inhibited growth, enhanced lipid peroxidation, and disrupted cellular ultrastructures. Exogenous application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) alleviated the As-induced oxidative stress and improved the plant growth and photosynthesis. In this study, changes in the B.

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Maize tolerance potential to oil pollution was assessed by growing Zea mays in soil contaminated with varying levels of crude oil (0, 2.5 and 5.0 % v/w basis).

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