Ahmed Muneeb

Heavy metals enter river basins through industrial effluents, agricultural wastes, surface run-offs, and other human activities, negatively impacting aquatic and terrestrial life by bioaccumulating in the food chain. This problem is on a continuous rise in under-developed and developing countries, such as in Pakistan. Therefore, the current study was aimed to determine concentrations of heavy metals, essential trace elements, and macrominerals (Zn, Pb, Ni, Mn, Mg, Fe, Cu, Cr, Co, Cd, Ca, and As) in the water, sediments, and tissues (gills, liver, and muscles) of Bagarius bagarius and Bagre marinus in the Jhelum River, Pakistan. The hematological and biochemical profiles of these fish across two sampling sites (Jhelum Bridge Khushab, upstream, and Langarwala Pull—downstream) were also evaluated. Results showed greater bioaccumulation of heavy metals in fish downstream, correlating with higher concentrations of these metals in water and sediments downstream. In the case of B. marinus, the highest concentration observed was 16.59 mg/g (Ca), and the lowest concentration was 9.51 mg/g (Fe). In the case of B. bagarius, the highest concentration observed was 17.47 mg/g (Ca), and the lowest concentration was 7.95 mg/g (Mg). Increased activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were observed downstream. Hematological changes included increased white blood cells (WBCs) and decreased red blood cells (RBCs), lymphocytes, hemoglobin (Hb), platelets (Plt), and hematocrit (Hct). A significant correlation was observed among heavy metals across the water, sediment, and different tissues of B. marinus and B. bagarius. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) for both species along both sampling sites illustrated the relationship between fish tissues and metals. The current study concluded that the fish accumulated a significantly higher concentration of heavy metals downstream, which might be linked with dumping of the domestic wastes and industrial and agricultural runoff, adversely affecting both fish and human health.

The present research was carried out to determine the spatiotemporal variation in accumulation of different nutritional and medicinal components in Dicliptera bupleuroides from the Soone valley in the Salt Range of Punjab, Pakistan. Most of the biochemical attributes were higher in the spring season than those in the other seasons; this might have been due to high soil pH during spring. High amounts of minerals and high pH are necessary for the synthesis of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, and fibers. Proteins, N, dry matter, fats and nitrogen free extract (NFE) were higher in summer, which might have been due to considerable availability of macro-nutrients during this season due to high moisture content because of high rainfall during the season. Spatial variation showed that phenols and flavonoids were associated with the population from Khabeki site (despite enough minerals and moisture availability) which might have been due to physical injuries caused by grazing and cutting. Minerals, proteins and N were also associated with the Khabeki population probably due to large amounts of minerals and moisture retention in the soil of the site and prevalent optimum environmental conditions therein. Alkaloids, fats, moisture and some minerals were associated with Anga and Knotti Garden sites which might have been due to high pH and prolonged salt stressed conditions at both sites.

Man is using plants for curing different diseases for several hundred years. In Pakistan, rangelands and forests are the major sources of medicinal plants, and the residents of different areas including those of the Vanhar Valley depend upon local plants for the medication of several diseases. However, this study was planned to enlist the indigenous medicinally important flora, which will help in conservation of the vanishing knowledge about the indigenous plants of the area by proper documentation. In order to document the uses of indigenous plants, some surveys were conducted for the collection of all available species. For the documentation of uses of these indigenous plant species, 55 experts were interviewed and their knowledge was documented. A total of 41 species belonging to 25 families were recorded from the Vanhar Valley. High numbers of species of families Fabaceae, Amaranthaceae and Asteraceae were used for the cure of several diseases like sexual disorders, piles, asthma, sputum, stomach disorders, diabetes, etc. It was evident that the older people had most of the knowledge about the indigenous plants of the Valley, while the young lacked such knowledge due to the death of older people without documenting or transferring the knowledge to them. With conservation of the knowledge, these plants can be used as a low-cost and effective treatment of many common diseases.

Cardamom is known as “Queen of Spices”. It is one of the most highly priced spices in the world. The commercial part of the cardamom is the fruit (Capsule) of the plant that is used as a spice and a flavoring agent. The major quality measurement parameter of the cardamom is freshness, size, colour, aroma etc. Aroma is one of the main and crucial quality parameter for cardamom. The present practice of aroma quality estimation is done by GC, GC-MS, where different volatile oil and chemicals qualitative and quantitative tests are done. The present practice is laborious, time consuming and skilled manpower demanding process. In our present study an effort has been made to develop an Electronic Nose for rapid aroma determination of cardamom. Centres for Development of Advanced Computing, (C-DAC), Kolkata has indigenously developed the Electronic Nose (E-Nose) to estimate the quality of food and agro produces. Three-clone specific cardamom samples ware tested using this system as an exploratory study to determine the quality of cardamom and found the system is able to differentiate the samples. The principal component analysis shows distinct three clusters with principal component (PC1) 91.6% and PC2 6.8%. This paper demonstrates the quality estimation of cardamom by E-Nose.