Agricultural Sciences Journal

BRIDGING COTTON RESEARCH GAPS FOR A RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE COTTON SECTOR IN PAKISTAN

2025-06-04T14:14:07+00:00

This review identifies and prioritizes key research gaps in the global cotton sector, with a specific focus on challenges facing Pakistan's cotton production. The article synthesizes gaps found in existing literature, methodologies, theoretical frameworks, data verification, and practical implementation. It highlights that the most critical issues facing Pakistan's cotton sector include genetic limitations, poor seed quality, pest management failures, and the impacts of climate change. The review also notes that these challenges are compounded by weak institutional support, insufficient investment, and a lack of effective farming practices. This analysis emphasizes that addressing these interconnected gaps requires strengthening collaborations, adopting innovative research techniques, and implementing targeted policy interventions to foster a more sustainable and equitable cotton sector.

DESIGN CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF INDIGENOUS HEATING SYSTEM FOR HYDROPONICS GREENHOUSES

2025-07-03T09:38:46+00:00

Hydroponic farming enables year-round vegetable production, however, it requires specific temperature and humidity control for optimal plant growth. In winter, when ambient temperatures drop below 16 °C, supplemental heating becomes essential. To address this challenge, an indigenous air-heating system was developed and evaluated for its effectiveness in three greenhouse types including glasshouse, fiberglass house and polythene house. Three types of fuels (wood, crop residues and solid waste) were used during experimentation. Wood shown better performance for heating of greenhouse as compared to its competitors (crop waste, solid waste) because of its higher calorific value. However, crop waste and solid waste fuels were more economical as well as abundantly available. Results showed that the glasshouse provided the most effective temperature regulation due to its higher heat transfer efficiency under higher temperature gradients. The fiberglass house demonstrated moderate performance with an average heat output of 26,000 Btu, while the polythene house was least effective, producing only 18,000 Btu with poor heat distribution. Inadequate heating in the polythene house delayed plant growth and fruit ripening. Overall, the study highlights the importance of greenhouse design in achieving efficient heating for hydroponic crop production under cold climatic conditions.

ENHANCING NUTRITIONAL PROFILE OF SOYBEAN FERMENTED PRODUCT TEMPEH BY INCORPORATING BARLEY

2025-06-10T19:26:49+00:00

Fermented foods are gaining importance among a large group of populations worldwide. Tempeh is a fermented soy-based product. Boiled soybeans are subjected to aerobic fermentation to obtain tempeh. It can be used as an alternative source of proteins for vegetarians, owing to high amounts of protein, as well as valuable prebiotics. The objective of the current study was the development of fermented soybean product combined with barley and determined nutritional profile as well as the storage condition of the product. The proximate composition of soybean indicated that it contained 10.6±0.58%, 35.00±0.58%, 3.8±1.15%, 7.2±0.58% and 10±0.58% of moisture, crude protein, crude fat, ash and crude fiber, respectively. The proximate composition of barley showed 9.6±0.58%, 2.52±0.58%, 2.64±0.58%, 13.8±1.45% and 1.4±0.58% of moisture, crude fat, crude fiber, crude protein and ash, respectively. Fermentation of soybeans with barley with different ratio (10%, 20% & 30%) was carried out to develop the product (tempeh) by using the Rhizopus oligosporus. Some proximate analysis and sensory evaluation were done at an interval of 7 days for 14 days. Results showed that the crude dietary fiber increased as the concentration of incorporated barley enhanced. Product T3 has a higher content of fibers that are beneficial for probiotics in the gut. There was a decline in protein concentration due to the replacement of soybeans with barley. The antioxidant activity of soybeans was much better than incorporated products. Sensory evaluation showed that the texture was good for all incorporated product, but the color was not much appealing as the standard product. In the context of nutritional value T3 was best having the higher value of dietary fiber which serve as prebiotics.

SUSTAINABLE USE OF FRUIT PEEL POWDERS IN QUAIL DIETS EFFECTS ON FEED INTAKE

2025-06-26T09:29:35+00:00

The research was conducted to determine the effects of feeding Coturnix japonica (a species of guinea pig) a diet containing Orange Peel Powder (OPP) and Pomegranate Peel Powder (PPP) as a feed supplement. Three treatment groups, one control group, and six sets of fifteen birds in each treatment group were randomly assigned one-day-old C. japonica birds. Powdered orange peel, pomegranate peel, and a combination of the two were employed in the therapy. Birds of the C. japonica species were fed either a corn-based diet or the same diet with group added to it. Four groups were given the same basic diet for five weeks: group A plus 5g/kg OPP (5%), group B plus 2.5g/kg PPP (2.5%), group C plus 5 g/kg OPP+PPP (5%), and group D with the basic diet alone (Control group). So, the experimental group consumed 10%, 5%, and 5% (2.5% + 2.5%), whereas the control group consumed simply the baseline diet. At the conclusion of the experiment, we randomly selected 5 birds from each repetition to collect blood samples. In order to conduct the analysis, a one-way analysis of variance was performed. Significant changes (P 0.05) were seen between OPP and PPP supplemented nutrients with baseline diet, leading us to believe that using OPP and PPP may be beneficial for the health of Japanese quail breeders.

TOWARD SMART AGRICULTURE: CITRUS FRUIT DISEASE DETECTION USING DEEP LEARNING

2025-07-23T06:07:56+00:00

Agriculture plays a vital role in Pakistan’s economy, with citrus being one of the most widely cultivated fruits. However, citrus diseases such as scab, canker, and blight cause substantial losses by reducing both the quality and yield of the fruit. Traditional methods for disease identification rely on expert inspection, which is often time-consuming, costly, and impractical for large-scale monitoring. To overcome these limitations, this study presents a deep learning–based approach for automated detection of citrus canker. A dedicated dataset was collected using a Nikon D-5300 DSLR camera, pre-processed, and annotated to ensure accurate model training. We employed Faster R-CNN integrated with InceptionV3 and ResNet50 networks to detect canker-affected regions with high precision. The proposed method not only accelerates disease diagnosis but also reduces dependency on human expertise. By merging agriculture with advanced deep learning, this work contributes towards efficient, timely, and cost-effective disease management for citrus production.