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BackgroundNewcastle disease (ND) is one of the most deadly diseases of poultry around the globe. The disease is endemic in Pakistan and recurrent outbreaks are being reported regularly in wild captive, rural and commercial poultry flocks. Though, efforts have been made to characterize the causative agent in some of parts of the country, the genetic nature of strains circulating throughout Pakistan is currently lacking.Material and methodsTo ascertain the genetics of NDV, 452 blood samples were collected from 113 flocks, originating from all the provinces of Pakistan, showing high mortality (30–80%). The samples represented domesticated poultry (broiler, layer and rural) as well as wild captive birds (pigeons, turkeys, pheasants and peacock). Samples were screened with real-time PCR for both matrix and fusion genes (1792 bp), positive samples were subjected to amplification of full fusion gene and subsequent sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.ResultsThe deduced amino acid sequence of the fusion protein cleavage site indicated the presence of motif (112RK/RQRR↓F117) typical for velogenic strains of NDV. Phylogenetic analysis of hypervariable region of the fusion gene indicated that all the isolates belong to lineage 5 of NDV except isolates collected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. A higher resolution of the phylogenetic analysis of lineage 5 showed the distribution of Pakistani NDV strains to 5b. However, the isolates from KPK belonged to lineage 4c; the first report of such lineage from this province.ConclusionsTaken together, data indicated the prevalence of multiple lineages of NDV in different poultry population including wild captive birds. Such understanding is crucial to underpin the nature of circulating strains of NDV, their potential for interspecies transmission and disease diagnosis and control strategies.

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Newly developed strain GH-3 was tried against commercial variety Shaheen in sowing date trial over a period of three years to assess the optimum sowing time of the strain under Ghotki conditions. Accordingly 15th May was recorded as optimum sowing time for this area as maximum yield of 1979 kg haG 1 was obtained followed by 1st May and 1st June sowings that produced 1516 and 1491 kg haG 1 seedcotton yield respectively. The lowest yield (1160 kg haG 1 ) was obtained when the crop was sown on 15th June followed by 1278 kg haG 1 when sowing was done on 15th April. Strain GH-3 out-yielded commercial variety Shaheen irrespective of seasons and sowing dates.

A field experiment was laid out to assess the yield performance of two cultivars under ten fertilizer (NPK) treatments during 1992, 1993 and 1994 crop seasons at CRS, Ghotki Sindh. On an average, highest seed cotton yield of 2062 kg haG 1 was obtained when the crop was fertilized with 112, 56 and 50 kg haG 1 of N, P and K respectively followed by 112 nitrogen, zero phosphorus and 50 potash kg haG 1 where seed cotton yield of 1933 kg haG 1 was obtained. The lowest yield of 1283 kg haG 1 was produced from the control plot where no chemical fertilization was done. The highest yielding variety GH-3 produced 1751 kg haG 1 seed cotton followed by Shaheen (1657 kg haG 1).