In the present study, antibacterial and antioxidant [1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity] activities of a weed, slender amaranth (Amaranthus viridis L.) were investigated. Extracts of different plant parts were prepared in n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate. Antibacterial activity was measured by using 100 mg mL-1 concentration extracts against 4 deadly phytopathogenic bacterial species viz. Pseudomonas syringae Van Hall, Ralstonia solanacearum Smith, Erwinia carotovora (Jones), Holland and Xanthomonas axonopodis Hasse. In antioxidants assays, 10, 20 and 30 mg mL-1 extracts were used keeping DPPH as control. In these bioassays, ethyl acetate fraction of A. viridis leaf exhibited the best antibacterial and antioxidants activity. Ethyl acetate leaf fraction showed the highest inhibition zone diameter (IZD) where it caused 21 mm IZD against P. syringae and 19 mm IZD against E. carotovora. This extract also showed 22, 52 and 84% antioxidant activity at 10, 20 and 30 mg mL-1 concentrations, respectively. Previously there is no report available that describes antibacterial activity of root extract of A. viridis against P. syringae. Moreover, antioxidant activity of stem and root extracts in n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate was investigated first time in the world. It was concluded that the biological activities observed during the present investigation may be due to the presence of bioactive constituents that can be harnessed as natural antibacterials and antioxidants.

HIGHLIGHTS  Antifungal activity of Amaranthus viridis leaves was evaluated against five phyto-pathogenic fungi.  Ethyl acetate leaf fraction reduced the fungal growth up to 48%.  GCMS analysis revealed 1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, mono (2-ethylhexyl) ester) showing 58.5% peak area.

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Drought is a harmful and slow natural phenomenon that has significant effects on the economy, social life,agriculture and environment of the country. Due to its slow process it is difficult to study this phenomenon. RemoteSensing and GIS tools play a key role in studying different hazards like droughts. The main objective of the study wasto investigate drought risk by using GIS and Remote Sensing techniques in district Khushab, Pakistan. Landsat ETMimages for the year 2003, 2009 and 2015 were utilized for spatial and temporal analysis of agricultural andmeteorological drought. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) andrainfall anomaly indices were calculated to identify the drought prone areas in the study area. To monitormeteorological drought SPI values were used and NDVI was calculated for agricultural drought. These indices wereintegrated to compute the spatial and temporal drought maps. Three zones; no drought, slight drought and moderatedrought were identified. Final drought map shows that 30.21% of the area faces moderate drought, 28.36% faces slightdrought while nearly 41.3% faces no drought situation. Drought prevalence and severity is present more in the southernpart of Khushab district than the northern part. Most of the northern part is not under any type of drought. Thus, anoverall outcome of this study shows that risk areas can be assessed appropriately by integration of various data sourcesand thereby management plans can be prepared to deal with the hazard.

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