Cotton is a major cash crop cultivated throughout the world for fiber, feed, fuel and food. Globally, it ranked 1st for fiber and 2nd among the oilseed crops. It is cultivated in around 60 countries of the world with an approximate production of 119.8 million bales annually. During its life cycle, cotton is exposed to about 75 destructive diseases from sowing till harvesting. These stresses are responsible for about 50% yield losses annually with a worth of $ 50 billion in the world. Among them, Cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuVD) is one of the significant factors responsible for yield reduction worldwide. This disease is caused by cotton leaf cur virus which is mainly acquired and transmitted by the vector Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci). This virus belongs to the family Geminiviridae and genus Begomovirus. Geminiviruses consist of small circular, single stranded DNA encapsidated in a twinned icosahedral pattern. These are either monopartite or bipartite. Bipartite begomoviruses are composed of circular single stranded DNA-A and DNA-B, both these components are essential for the infection in New World while some bipartite begomoviruses are also present in Old World, but differences are still present. Monopartite begomoviruses are composed of circular single stranded DNA-A and satellite molecules (DNA α-satellite and β-satellite), these are essential components for the severity of disease in the Old World. Efforts are underway to develop new strategies to protect the cotton plants against CLCuVD and its viral causal agents. This review helps the reader to better understand the biology of Cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV), its behavior/interaction with the host Whitefly as well as recent developments being made for the control of cotton leaf curl disease.

An experiment was conducted at Jute Research Regional Station (JRRS) of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), Kishoreganj during August 2009 to January 2010 to determine the effect of different plant growth regulators on seed yield and quality of olitorius jute using late jute seed production technique. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Seven growth regulators with different brand names such as Bionik, Litosen, Okozim, Mirakulan, Planovit, Flora and Yield were used in the experiment. All the yield contributing characters increased due to the application of growth regulators over the control. The highest seed yield (2.91g/plant) was obtained with Bionik which was followed by Mirakulan> Okozim> Litosen> Planovit> Yield> Flora> control. The highest of 33.49% seed yield was found in Bionik over control. In terms of quality of seeds, the plant growth regulator `Bionik' performed the best.

Thirty six candidate cotton varieties developed by different breeders of Pakistan were tested consecutively for two years (2017 and 2018) and at six locations of Province of Punjab in national coordinated varietal trials (NCVT).  The trials were conducted to explore seed cotton yield potential and fiber properties against two check varieties (CIM-602 and FH-142/IUB-13).  As per claim of the breeders, the samples of all varieties for both the years were sent to four designated biotechnological laboratories for conducting biochemical tests also. The results revealed highly significant differences among the varieties for both the years. During the year 2017, on an average of six location, top ten high yielding varieties recorded were MNH-1026, BH-221, BS-18, CEMB-100, MNH-1020, FH-444, CEMB-101, ICI-2121, Bahar-07 and IUB-69 which yielded 3202, 3058, 3051, 2948, 2923, 2888, 2880, 2870, 2783 and 2753 kg/ha seed cotton yield respectively. When the results of 2018 trial were looked at, averagely top ten high yielding varieties were BS-18, ICI-2121, MNH-1026, RH-Afnan, CIM-343, CIM-663, NIAB-898, FH-490, MNH-1020 and NS-191 with 2893, 2749, 2748, 2745, 2614, 2608, 2607, 2604, 2594, and 2512 kg/ha of seed cotton yield respectively. However, on an average of both the years (2017 and 2018), top ten high yielding varieties were MNH-1026, BS-18, ICI-2121, BH-221, MNH-1020, CIM-343, CIM-663, FH-490, FH-444 and NIAB-898 producing 2975, 2972, 2810, 2761, 2759, 2681, 2671, 2670, 2652 and 2629 kg/ha of seed cotton respectively. As regards fiber properties, almost half (18 candidate varieties) could qualify all fiber standards set by Punjab Seed Council including 12 varieties which were given relaxation of 1mm in staple length by the Expert Sub Committee of the Punjab Seed Corporation. The biochemical test results received from all four laboratories revealed that on an average of four laboratories and two years, the trait purity range recorded was from 42 to 96 percent, whereas, quantification of Bt toxin ranged from 0.81 to 2.62. From the present study, it was concluded that almost 15-20 candidate varieties have the potential to be included among already approved varieties for commercial cultivation in the province of the Punjab

In this work, Fuller's earth modified with sodium dodecyl sulphate was investigated for removal of Acid blue 29 dye from waste water samples. The effect of various parameters on batch adsorption experiments and various kinetics, isotherms and mass transfer mechanisms were studied. About 98.5 % adsorption efficiency was achieved within 60 min at pH 3. The pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm model were found best fit to the adsorption data with correlation value (R 2 = 0.999). In statistical evaluation, the individual as well as the interaction effect of various factors on adsorption was investigated and it was observed that concentration, pH and adsorbent dose are the significant factors with p values of 0.0001, 0.004 and 0.006 respectively. The coefficient of determination (R 2 = 0.930) shows that % adsorption is highly dependent on the studied factors and their interactions. The adsorbent shows higher adsorption capacity of 1514.3 mg g-1 with 3 regeneration cycles.