REVIEWING CLINICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT UNDER THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK IN PAKISTAN: PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES

The waste generated at healthcare facilities has two distinct categories: hazardous and non-hazardous waste. 10- 15% of the total waste generated at hospitals is hazardous which is termed as clinical waste. This review article has reported and reviewed the practices of clinical waste management in Pakistan’s major cities. Researches demonstrated that about 1.35 Kg / bed waste has been produced by the tertiary health care facilities in Pakistan. Studies for review process are selected through an iterative process. More than 100 research articles, National legislations, international protocols and newspaper reports are consulted and reviewed to extract the data of interest. Clinical waste management in Pakistan is the responsibility of the individual health care facility producing it under Hospital Waste Management Rules, 2005. Due to lack of proper checks and weak implementation of legislations many gaps have been identified in this review article like lack of segregation, inappropriate vehicles for transportation, poor storage and no advanced pollution control treatment strategies. Most of the hospitals lack documented waste management plan. Staff was mostly untrained and under educated. International standards for safe hazardous waste disposal are not being followed resulting in spread of diseases like hepatitis and AIDS. Cases of poor recycling and reuse of used clinical instruments is also documented. However, the condition is much satisfactory in big cities. There is an understanding to focus on the proper implementation of clinical waste management rules with strict checks. Establishment of incineration facility at major hospitals with proper maintenance, safe transportation to secure landfills and utilization of proper SOPs are suggested improvements towards safe management of clinical waste.

AZOLLA: POTENTIAL BIOFERTILIZER FOR INCREASING RICE PRODUCTIVITY, AND GOVERNMENT POLICY FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Rice is the staple food for the significant population of Asia. Due to projected population growth in this region, the demand for this food is also predicted to be increased exponentially soon. Nitrogen (N) plays a dominant role in increasing rice yield as it is the most critical yield-limiting nutrient of rice. Chemical N fertilizers which are a major source in supplying N nutrients to rice, have adverse effects on overall soil and environmental health in the long term. The application of free-floating aquatic fern Azolla as a biofertilizer can be an alternative to improve rice yield without degrading the environment. It provides a natural source of many nutrients, especially N, improves the availability of other nutrients, plays a critical role in weed suppression, enhances soil organic matter, and improves efficiency of the inorganic fertilizers while maintaining the suitable soil pH condition for rice growth, which overall contribute to rice yield increment. Therefore, Azolla application has tremendous potential to improve soil health and boost yield sustainability.

SUCCESSFUL INCORPORATION OF CRUSHED PINE (PINUS CARIBAEA) LEAVES INTO COCONUT COIR DUST NURSERY MEDIUM FOR VEGETABLE SEEDLING PRODUCTION

Different soilless media are used in vegetable nurseries for high quality seedling production. In the current research, potential of incorporating crushed pine leaves (CPL) into coconut coir dust (CCD) as an economical and sustainable media alternative for vegetable nursery trays, was investigated. CPL was used as mixtures with CCD at the ratios of 4:0, 3:1, 2:2, 1:3 and 0:4 (Treatment 1-5). Suitability of each treatment as soilless medium was investigated by evaluating their physical and chemical properties as well as biodegradability. Growth performances of the seedlings grown in the treatments were evaluated using brinjal, capsicum, ‘elabatu’ (Solanuminsanum), knolkhol and tomato. The highest water holding capacity, pH and bio-degradability (6.21ml/g; 7.38; 12.6%) were observed in CCD and lowest values were in CPL (1.30ml/g; 5.18; 8.6%). The highest air porosity and bulk density were in CPL (36.7%, 0.32g/cm3) and the lowest were in CCD (2%, 0.23g/cm3). Mixing of these two materials brought those parameters to moderate values which were appropriate for vigorous plant growth. Capsicum, knolkhol and tomato showed higher seedling vigour index, growth rate and root lengths in T2 and T3 mixtures. Brinjal showed the highest values of growth rate and root length in T3 and T4, and seedling vigour index in T3. ‘Elabatu’ showed highest values of growth rate and root length in T4 and T5, and seedling vigour index only in T4. The result concludes that, CPL can be used in nursery medium without any harm to the plants but incorporation of CPL with CCD improves the properties of growth media and assures better seedling growth.

POTENTIAL ANIMAL FEED RESOURCES BASED ON FOOD CROP WASTE SUPPORTS DEVELOPMENT OF BEEF CATTLE IN WEST SUMATERA, INDONESIA

The increase in the need for animal-based food consumption creates opportunities in the development of cattle farming in the future. But the problems in the field are a decrease in livestock productivity such as a decrease in livestock population and a decrease in livestock body weight, this is due to the lack of availability of sustainable animal feed. The solution offered is to use food crop waste as an alternative feed for livestock, so it is necessary to analyze the carrying capacity of food crop waste in an area. The purpose of this research is to analyze the potential resources of beef cattle feed based on food plant waste in West Sumatra Province and to analyze the nutritional content of food plant waste. The research was conducted in West Sumatra Province in January 2021. The method used was literature study and secondary data analysis. The data required consists of: (1) food crop production data, (2) beef cattle population data in West Sumatra Province. Data were analyzed by analyzing the carrying capacity of food plant waste. The results showed the availability of feed in West Sumatra Province 728,195.32 tonnes BKC / year, while the current total feed requirement is only 410,159.32 tonnes BKC / year. This shows the large potential for feed that has not been utilized, and this means that there is a large opportunity for Prov. West Sumatra in the future development of ruminants. The carrying capacity index of food plant waste (IDD) is 2.37, which means that it has a safe status where food plant waste is able to help support the needs of animal feed in West Sumatra Province. To increase the nutritional value of food plant waste, it can be overcome by giving a touch of waste processing technology innovations such as fermentation, silage, or ammonia. The results of this study are important as recommendations for the government regarding the sources of information on areas that have the potential to develop livestock business, which can be seen from the status of the area’s carrying capacity index or the potential availability of abundant animal feed.

ASSESSMENT OF FARMERS ADAPTABILITY ON AKHA BIOCHAR FOR WHEAT PRODUCTION IN BANGLADESH

Akha biochar has the potential to exploit by farmer in Bangladesh. This study was undertaken to assess the perception of Akha biochar to utilize for wheat cultivation in the several farmer’s field of Bangladesh. This study aims to assess farmer’s adaptability on akha biochar for enhancing wheat production in Bangladesh. The utilization of Akha biochar as a source of nutrients supply for wheat production was investigated in this study. Akha Chula produced biochar was used as a Akha biochar source and the BARI Gom 28 was used as a testing plant. Five treatments like control (nothing was added), BARC (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council) recommended fertilizer for wheat production, 5 kg/decimal biochar only, BARC recommended fertilizer plus 2.5 kg/decimal biochar and BARC recommended fertilizer plus 5 kg/decimal biochar. Same treatment was applied in three separate farmer’s field namely Mansur, Latif and Nayan. Among three farmers, Latif farmer field was highly fertile that resulted highest wheat productivity in several treatments. Result also showed that the BARC recommended dose with 2.5 kg biochar/ decimal produced highest wheat yield among the other treatments in all farmer’s field. These findings suggested that optimum level of Akha biochar amendments have potential benefits to improve soil fertility. The use of Akha biochar in addition to the chemical fertilizers in wheat production systems is an economically feasible and practical nutrient management practice. Our findings urged that reduction of chemical fertilizer application is possible with supplementation of Akha biochar. This study concluded that Akha biochar has the potential to improve soil fertility and productivity of wheat in Bangladesh.

ECOLOGICAL/CULTURAL MEASURES OF WEED MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

The weed is a plant that grows where it is undesired or in its place. Weeds are unwanted plants that are not known to be economically important. Weeds are plants that are unwanted in a given situation and may be dangerous, harmful or economically detrimental. Weeds have serious problems when it comes to agricultural production. It is estimated that weeds generally cause a 25% loss of agricultural production in the least developed countries, a 10% loss in the least developed countries and a 5% loss in most developed countries. Weeds loses are depend upon location, crop and types of soil. The study found that potential yield losses were significant for soybeans (50-76%) and peanuts (45-71%). Largest variability in potential yield losses were observed among locations in case of direct seeded rice (15-66%) & maize (18-65%). In similar cases weeds are reduced 66% yield of Chilly and the loss of N through weeds is about 150 kg per ha. Weeds losses alone in 10 major crops of India viz transplanted rice (13.8%), wheat (18.6%), direct-seeded rice (21.4%), mustard (21.4%), sesame (23.7%), sorghum (25.1%), maize (25.3%), Pearlmillet (27.6%), Greengram (30.8%), soybean (31.4%) and groundnut (35.8%). Weed control practices are extremely important to Indian agricultural production. Many more tools and practices are adopted for crop protection q like crop species, crop variety/cultivars, sowing of crop (time, rate of sowing, row spacing and method), crop rotation, trap and catch crops, cropping practice, irrigation time & method are suitable practices under cultural/ecological measures of weed management. Cropping practices are also known as environmentally responsible weed management practices. Environmentally sound weed management methods are chemical-free and weed management tools-free.

PROMOTION OF ORGANIC AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE THROUGH THE USE OF BIO-FERTILIZERS

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) belongs to the family Leguminosae. It is commonly growing in tropical and subtropical regions now and is one of the most important plant resources as cuisine materials. Antioxidative activity of tamarind seeds was investigated. An ethanol extract prepared from the seed coat contained antioxidative activity as measured by the thiocyanate and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method. Essential oils are highly odorous droplets found in minimal quantities in the flowers, stems, leaves, roots and barks of aromatic plants. They are not recognized as true oils as the vegetable oils, but highly fluid and volatile. Experts recognize an essential oil by its aroma and test the oil characteristics such as vaporization and crystallization point using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). DSC has emerged as a powerful experimental technique for determining thermodynamic properties of biomacromolecules. Volatile components of tamarind leaves and seed locally grown will be isolated by Microwave Assisted Extraction (MAE). The presence of essential oil as the volatile components will be investigated to determine whether this method is effective or not to extract the oil from tamarind leaves and seed. The parameters that will be measured are the time for the oil droplets formation and the optimum temperature for the extraction of oil. At the end of the extraction, amber color oil was obtained. Results showed that the time for the oil droplets formation increasing with the increasing weight of sample for both tamarind leaves and seed samples. The optimum temperature for the extraction obtained was 125ºC with the yield of 1.2 mL of seed oil. The vaporization and crystallization point of oil are presented in the DSC curve and the specific heat capacity of the oil are calculated.

EFFECT OF FOLIAR APPLICATION OF VERMIWASH ON GROWTH AND QUALITY OF BRINJAL

The experiment was conducted at Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Jamalpur, Bangladesh during the period of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 to investigate the effect of vermiwash on growth, yield and quality of brinjal and to find out suitable foliar dose of vermiwash for optimizing the yield of brinjal. There were five treatments comprising T1= Chemical fertilizer (CF) + foliar spray of distilled water (control), T2 = CF + foliar spray of 10% vermiwash, T3 = CF + foliar spray of 20% vermiwash, T4 = CF + foliar spray of 30% vermiwash and T5= CF + foliar spray of 40% vermiwash. Results revealed that, vermiwash treated brinjal plants showed better growth and yield parameters than the control plants. The highest average brinjal fruit yield (29.99 t ha-1) was found in T3 treatment i.e., foliar spray of 20% concentration of vermiwash and the lowest (26.35 t ha-1) came from control. On the other hand, nutritional quality (moisture content, TSS, β carotene and nutrient content) were seen to be higher in vermiwash treated treatment compared to control treatment. The study suggests that, 20% concentration of vermiwash could be used as effective foliar spray for eco-friendly and higher yield of brinjal.

UTILIZATION OF SOLID OR LIQUID WASTES IN AGRICULTURE

Now-days increasing solid or liquid wastes are major problems in developing country therefore utilization of all these wastes are required because of its impact on the environment and as well as on agriculture. These wastes are decomposed and stabilized through composting, vermicomposting, anaerobic digestion, recycling and reuse. Solid wastes act as an organic fertilizer, nutrient supplier, and media for nursery and also helps in improving the physical, chemical and microbiological activity in agricultural soils. Reuse of wastewater helps in reducing water crisis in agriculture. Poultry wastes are used as organic fertilizer, feed for livestock, biogas production, products for commercial purposes.

STUDY OF PROCESSING THE SHELLS AS EMBELLISHMENT MATERIAL WITH BEADING TECHNIQUES

There are 4 shell processing in the creative industry world is an innovation of surface embellishment design with the application of beading techniques. Utilization of each character shells good surface shape and color, further for processing shell clams that such kind of scallop and abalone, where both types of shells have significantly differenced and produce variations. This research methods using the comparative method by examining the results of exploration based on shell shape characters, modular composition, color characters and application techniques. The results of this study are information that these two types of shells are innovations of variations in material embellishment by means of processing, proper techniques and utilizing the character of each shell will provide more value as a surface design. It’s hoped to be beneficial to the creative industry worlds as a variety sustainable material.