BackgroundThe ethnic groups in Gilgit-Baltistan have been utilizing local resources in their centuries-old traditional healing system. Most tribes within these ethnic groups still rely on traditional healing systems. We aim to understand the current status, uses, and abundance of medicinal plants, associated traditional knowledge, and trade.Materials and methodsThe study incorporated over 300 local community members (70% men and 30% women) in focused group discussions, semi-structured interviews, and homework assignments for 8th to 12th grade students to document traditional knowledge (TK) in six districts in Northeast Pakistan. We calculated various indices such as informant consensus factor, use value, relative frequency of citation, and CoKriging. These indices, along with repetitively used medicinal plants, were used to analyze differences in studied locations.ResultsMost of the community members still rely on traditional medication in the study areas. However, we found the highest number of medicinal plants used in Skardu and Gilgit compared to other districts and these two districts also represent trade centers and a highly populated area regarding medicinal plants. Results indicate connection amongst the surveyed villages signifying mixing of knowledge from different sources, with certain areas more influenced by traditional Chinese medicine and others more by Ayurveda and Unani.ConclusionTK is mostly retained with elder community members; however, those directly linked with market value chain retain rich knowledge on traditional use of the medicinal plants from the region. Major trade centers in the region also coincide with a high density of medicinal plant occurrence, knowledge, and higher utilization. Therefore, with the increasing trade in medicinal plant in the region, there is potential for rejuvenation of this knowledge and of plant use in the region.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13002-018-0281-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Pakistan inherits a multilingual heritage. Along with Urdu, 70 different languages are spoken. The 1973 Constitution officially recognizes Urdu as Pakistan's only national language. Purpose: Until today, the adoption and promotion of Urdu as a medium of educational instruction has remained a point of controversy. Existing research lacks the voice of academicians on the issue. Research Design: The present investigation focused on the voice of 100 university professors selected randomly. As part of the Ph.D. Data analysis: Research, data was gathered using a standardized Likert Summative Ranking Scale. Result: Data analysis revealed that there is a highly significant positive relationship ( p = 0.000) between the use of national language and nation-building. Conclusion: This means, academicians across Pakistani universities strongly believe in the use of national language in all lifestyles to realize the dreams of nation-building. It will help to achieve socio-cultural, developmental, strategic, academic, and identity goals amicably.

Pesticides threaten the environment and increase amounts of resistance by pests. Ecologically friendly biological control of pests is being considered in scientific and political spheres. Fruit flies cause huge economic losses to more than 81 fruit and vegetable species. They are major pests in tropical and subtropical areas. This study used pupae of melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett), as a host and Dirhinus giffardii (Silvestri) as the parasitoid, the biological control agent. During host-parasitoid interaction at different conditions of exposure, the rate of parasitism of a host by D. giffardii differed significantly in time. Least parasitism was of 1-day-old pupae (13.41 ± 1.10) exposed for 6 hours. Greatest percentage of parasitism was to 3-day-old pupae (43.5 ± 1.12) exposed for 24 hours. Few pupae younger than 3 days old were parasitized. Parasitoid emergence rate from pupae increased from 6 hours (21.49 ± 1.46), to 12 hours (28.30 ± 2.00), and 24 hours (33.93 ± 0.66). Percentage of emergence of 3-day-old pupae was 28.40 ± 0.59 at 6 hours, 29.51 ± 0.45 at 12 hours, and 34.11 ± 0.224 at 24 hours. To maximize in vivo production of parasitoids, 5-day-old female D. giffardii should be provided pupae ≤3 days old. Results contribute to further understanding host-parasitoid interaction important for sustainable and integrated pest management practices throughout the world.

Apricot, a deciduous, perennial having tree habited species is a member of family Rosaceae. Thousands of poor farmers and their families in the area rely on apricot for their livelihood. Seventy-one countries across the globe produce a total of 3.95million tons of apricot annually. Pakistan stands on 6th and produces 0.178million-tons. Out of its total more than 60% comes from Gilgit-Baltistan. Present allometric study of leaves was conducted for the first time. Research revealed that mean leaf width is 7.456cm, mean length is 8.508cm and mean leaf area recorded was 64.82cm 2. On an average leaf reach to its growth climax in a period of 60±5 days. In 24 hours times, mean growth in length increase was 14.18mm followed by 12.42mm in width and 108mm 2 areas. Average height of trees recorded was 11m and trunk width at breast height was 40cm wide. Large number of land races with unique germ plasm continues to deplete due to mercerization of only a single variety by the government and other organizations. There are more than 40 varieties grown in the area. Strategies are critical to sustain such a great resource of germ plasm.

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