Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) is an important constraint in successful production of mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) in many countries, including Pakistan. The MYMV spreads by insect vector whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius). The use of resistant cultivars is the most effective management tactics for MYMV. Twenty mungbean varieties/lines were screened against insect vector of MYMV under field condition in the current study. Resistance levels for varieties/lines were assessed through visual scoring of typical disease symptoms. Furthermore, the impacts of two insecticides ‘Imidacloprid’ and ‘Thiamethoxam’ and two plant extracts, i.e., neem (Azadirachta indica), and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) were tested on the suppression of whitefly. Field screening indicated that none of the tested varieties/lines proved immune/highly resistant, while significant variations were recorded among varieties/lines for resistance level. All varieties/lines were systemically infected with MYMV. The varieties ‘AARI-2006’ and ‘Mung-14043’ were considered as resistant to MYMV based on visual symptoms and the lowest vector population. These varieties were followed by ‘NM-2006’ and ‘NL-31’, which proved as moderately resistant to MYMV. All remaining varieties/lines were grouped as moderately to highly susceptible to MYMV based on visual symptoms’ scoring. These results revealed that existing mungbean germplasm do not possess high resistance level MYMV. However, the lines showing higher resistance in the current study must be exploited in breeding programs for the development of resistant mungbean varieties/lines against MYMV. Imidacloprid proved as the most effective insecticide at all concentrations to manage whitefly population. Therefore, use of the varieties with higher resistance level and spraying Imidacloprid could lower the incidence of MYMV.

Food production and waste recycling are the two major issues faced globally with rapidly increasing population. Recycling organic wastes to crop amendments could be a possible solution to these issues. Earthworms transfer organic waste to compost, which is used to grow crops and increase crop productivity. This study assessed the impact of vermicompost produced from the residues of six desert plant species, i.e., (Ziziphus mauritiana, Aerva javanica, Calligonum comosum, Sacchrum benghalens, Calligonum polygonoides and Prosopis cineraria) combined with farmyard manure (5 t ha-1) on growth, yield and photosynthetic activity of maize crop. Earthworm species Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826) was used to prepare vermicomposting of all tested plant species. The desert species were collected from natural habitats, chopped, dried, mixed with FYM and then earthworms were released to prepare the vermicompost. The earthworms were excluded twenty days after release and resultant was considered as compost and used in the experiment. Results revealed that application of P. cineraria vermicompost resulted in the highest plant height (75.33 cm), stem diameter (22.66 mm), cob length (17.66 cm), number of grains/cob (374.67), 1000-grain weight (260.41 g) and grains yield (3.20 t/ha). Application of P. cineraria vermicompost resulted in the highest uptake of macronutrients, i.e., N (91.01%), P (22.07%), K (80.41%), micronutrients, i.e., Fe (19.07 ppm), Zn (40.05 ppm), and phenolic contents (150). Application of P. cineraria vermicompost also resulted in the highest quantum photosynthetic yield (0.42 mole C/mole of photon), chlorophyll florescence (355.18 moles of photon m-2s-1) and electron transport rate (310.18 micro mole m-2s-1). It is concluded that vermicomposting has the potential to improve growth and yield of maize crop. Particularly, application of vermicompost obtained from P. cineraria can be used to improve the growth and yield of maize crop. Nonetheless, field trials are necessary for a wide scale recommendation.

S pinach is one of the most important crops among all vegetables that belongs to family Chenopodiaceae. It is well known due to its taste and presence of essential elements like magnesium, iron, calcium, manganese, folic acid and Vitamins (A, B, C, and E) (Tewani et al., 2016) Spinach play a crucial role in food and medicine industries. It is used as curing agent against constipation, dyspepsia, anemia, neuritis, obesity, bronchitis and high blood pressure (Kumar et al., 2013;Bassey and Khan, 2015) Spinach crop is susceptible to various bacterial, fungal and viral diseases. Among all fungal diseases Alternaria leaf spot is a potential extortion to the Abstract | To check the efficacy of fungicides and plant extracts against leaf spot disease of spinach caused by Alternaria alternata five plant extracts and five fungicides were evaluated under in vitro and field conditions by using complete randomized design (CRD) and randomized complete block design (RCBD). In plant extracts moringa (Moringa oleifera) showed minimum fungal growth (20.790) mm followed by ginger (Zingiber officinale) (25.910), garlic (Allium sativum) (28.087), neem (Azadirachta indica) (29.010) and aloevera (Aloe barbadensis miller) (29.538) mm as compared to control plates, while in chemicals Tilt showed minimum fungal growth (7.982) followed by Score (10.865), Antracol (11.395), Radomil Gold (11.965) and Blue Copper (14.390) mm as compared to control. In the greenhouse, the most effective fungicide and plant extract were applied as tilt and moringa alone and their combination. The plants treated with tilt + moringa was found effective as compared to alone applications. tilt + moringa showed minimum disease incidence (15%) followed by Tilt (18.33%) and moringa (32.33%) as compared to control. While under the field conditions same combination of Tilt + moringa expressed minimum disease incidence (18%) followed by tilt (20.83%) and moringa (34.50%). By these findings it is recommended to farmers that, Alternaria leaf spot disease of spinach can be managed by using tilt fungicide and moringa extract.

M ango (Mangifera indica L.) is an agroindustrial fruit crop that belongs to the family Anacardiaceae and it is believed to be the king of all fruits ranking 8 th position in terms of productivity globally. The mango is considered as most delicious fruit grown around the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. It is a main component of the diet in most of the countries of the world (Mukherjee and Litz, 2009), and is considered an important fruit crop because of its high nutritional and medicinal value, it is a good source of vitamins such as carotene, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin (Archibald et al., 2003). It has been estimated that mango ranked 2 nd after citrus in terms of area under cultivation and production in Pakistan. According to a statistical report, Pakistan produces approximately Abstract | Mango anthracnose is the most ravaging biotic stress to the successful production of mango fruit across the globe. Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is an etiological agent of this disease that adversely affects the quality as well as quantity of produce. The occurrence of disease at pre-and postharvest conditions is a common phenomenon which is responsible for potential economic losses. It has been studied that the hot and humid climatic conditions are conducive for the outbreak of disease. Therefore, integrated management of mango anthracnose is essential. It has been estimated that approximately 25 to 30% loses in mango production are due to anthracnose and stem end rot. Previous investigations revealed that the disease incidence may reach up to 100% on fruits under humid conditions. Many management strategies such as chemical control, biocontrol, use of Phyto-extracts and nanotechnological approaches have been introduced to combat this disease. The synthetic fungicides are used to curb the disease incidence. Pathogen have developed resistance against various chemicals that are generally utilized to overcome this disease. Because of its antifungal potential against mango anthracnose, among these strategies, nanotechnology is a rapidly evolving discipline that is gaining the attention of researchers.