Cotton is a cash crop of many countries as it serves as a source of fiber, edible oil, and seedcake. It is grown in a diverse range of environment. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a gram positive bacterium found in different habitats but mostly found in soil. This bacterium produces endotoxin which is harmful for various insects. Numerous crystal-forming strains of Bt exist in nature, but not all of them are efficient against insect pests. Bt cotton is prevalent internationally because of less insect attack. The key objective of this research was to analyze different Bacillus thuringiensis isolates residing in soil of different cotton fields of Multan and Bahawalpur districts and to identify them on the basis of morphology. To attain this, different soil samples were collected from Multan (Gup wala, Mosey Wala, Taloki Wala, Hafiz Wala, Choudary Wala, Basti Mangla Mari, Sharkha Wala, Lawain Wala, Ghulamo Wala) and Bahawalpur district (Basti Deewan Wali, Check No 8, Basti Tariqabad, Basti Khaji Wala, Basti Khandin, Basti Rammo Wali, Sultanpur, Khurampur, Jahanpur). About 178 colonies of different bacteria from eighteen soil samples appeared on Nutrient Agar plates. The screening of colonies based on morphology yielded 18 colonies of Bt. We performed endo-toxin production experiment and confirmed the presence of parasporal crystals in identified B. thuringiensis colonies. Colony forming units of soil samples collected from Multan and Bahawalpur represented statistically significant results. Based on morphology, eight colonies of B. thuringiensis were confirmed out of eighteen colonies. Results of the current study revealed that out of 18 isolates, 8 bacterial isolates that were grown on the media had an increased elevation, a round, white, slimy morphology, and smooth edges. Toxicity test for resistance to cotton leaf worm second instar larvae revealed that two strains (BtS2, BtS7) of B. thuringiensis were toxic and showed 39.25% mortality. This study will help to identify the local Bt isolates that can be used for the indigenous insect pest control.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the world's most important cereal crop in terms of cultivated area and quantity of grain produced. It is the most communal staple food in Pakistan, followed by rice and maize. Wheat is susceptible to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stressors, which can lead to severe yield reductions. Rusts are economically the most significant biotic factor of wheat crop. Leaf rust, commonly known as brown rust, is a severe wheat disease in Pakistan that results in production losses ranging from 10% to 40%. In the present study, the experiment was conducted in MNS-University of agriculture Multan, in which screening of wheat breeding lines against the natural inoculum of brown rust and the relationship of leaf rust with different environmental parameters was done in two years of data. The disease severity (DS), Coefficient of infection (CI) and average coefficient of infection (ACI) was recorded by using Modified Cobb's scale. During 2020-2021, among 100 breeding lines, 16 breeding lines revealed an immune response, 14 exhibited moderately resistant response, 5 showed a susceptible response and the remaining were moderately resistant-moderately susceptible response. In season 2021-22, 19 breeding lines were immune, 19 showed a moderately resistant response, 4 breeding lines were susceptible and the remaining were moderately resistant-moderately susceptible. Correlation clearly demonstrated the response of disease development to environmental factors. Maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed and sunshine hours showed a positive relationship with leaf rust severity while a negative relationship was evident in relative humidity and disease severity during both year study. This study provided evidence that there is a strong relationship between environmental factors and leaf rust severity. The environmental conditions were not ideal during the early stage of the host plant that help them to withstand the building inoculum during March-April. Therefore, the breeding lines exhibiting immune and moderately resistant response could be utilized in future breeding programs to develop leaf rust resistant varieties/ cultivars to combat this menace.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a staple food for a significant portion of the world's population including Pakistan. Among all limiting biotic and abiotic factors, wheat rusts pose a substantial danger to production worldwide and can result in yield losses of over 90% in susceptible varieties or during epidemics. Yellow rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici), one of several types of wheat rust, is particularly dangerous to wheat production in Pakistan and cause disease on 70% cultivated area of wheat. Keeping in view the devastating nature of yellow rust pathogen, two-year study 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 was conducted in order to screen out wheat breeding lines against yellow rust followed by its relationship with the environmental variables. In this study, one hundred wheat breeding lines were cultivated in the research area of MNS-University of Agriculture Multan and disease was observed in the months of January-April during 2020-21 and 2021-22. Very low level of disease severity (DS) and area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) recorded in all the breeding lines. Epidemiological variables play an important role in the disease progression. Hence, out of hundred breeding lines screened in 2020-2021, 88 breeding lines were supposed to be immune to all naturally occurring race(s) of yellow rust and 12 lines were categorized as moderately resistant to moderately susceptible. Similarly, 92 breeding lines were found immune and 8 showed moderately resistant to moderately susceptible response out of 100 breeding lines during 2021-2022. The findings showed that a high proportion of wheat breeding lines showed no response towards the disease and supposed to be immune. The results from the correlation and regression analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the maximum, minimum temperature with yellow rust severity (%). While, there was a negative correlation of humidity during 2020-2021 and positive during 2021-2022. Sunshine hours showed the positive relationship with the yellow rust severity (%) during 2020-2021 and negative during 2021-2022. Current study revealed that breeding lines and pathogen were present, which was responsible for the disease in few breeding lines, while epidemiological factors were non-favorable for the disease to develop and progress at large scale. The findings of the current research clearly showed the importance of epidemiological factor which leads toward less disease development. The analysis of natural conditions with yellow rust helps to predict yellow rust outbreak and appropriate management strategies.