Experts Warn Of Pink Boll Worm Attack As Cotton Crop Nears Maturity

Director Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan warned farmers to get ready with suitable remedies and material against pink bollworm that usually hits cotton in Punjab early due to early maturing varieties and attains intensity after September15

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Sep, 2019 ) Director Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan warned farmers to get ready with suitable remedies and material against pink bollworm that usually hits cotton in Punjab early due to early maturing varieties and attains intensity after September15.

In a release issued here Wednesday, Dr Zahid Mahmood advised farmers to pluck 100 green cotton bolls of the age of 14 to 28 days which are neither soft nor hard to know about the intensity of pink boll worm attack.

Farmers should then cut these bolls parallel to length and count the number of pink bollworm inside and the bolls affected by it.

Suitable pesticides should be applied without any delay after consulting officials provided the pest incidence was found to have reached the economic threshold level (ETL).

He said that while counting pink bollworm, farmers should give importance to live bollworm as those, which, after breaking egg shell, eat fruit, die inside.

In case of incidence of second stage live bollworms in fruit or flowers, farmers should apply pesticides the way they do on traditional varieties in case the bollworm incidence reached ETL. He advised farmers to perform pest scouting at least twice a week.