Farmers Advisory Committee Issues Fortnightly Cotton Advisory Applicable Till Sept 30

Farmers Advisory Committee (FAC) issued a set of guidelines which will be applicable by September 30 for better care of cotton crop that has entered its critical stage of boll and flower formation

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Sep, 2019 ) :Farmers Advisory Committee (FAC) issued a set of guidelines which will be applicable by September 30 for better care of cotton crop that has entered its critical stage of boll and flower formation.

The guidelines were issued by the FAC in its 10th meeting held at Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) here on Monday.

Chaired by CCRI Multan director Dr. Zahid Mahmood, the FAC participants said that farmers must not let the crop water-stressed as the process of flower and boll formation was in operation.

The crops that have attained maturity should experience picking only when over half of the bolls are opened. Picking process should begin from the bottom of the plant to avoid chances of contamination mixing like leaflets.

Incomplete or half open bolls should not be disturbed and cotton that fell on the ground should not be mixed with the better one. Cotton be collected on a cotton cloth and the crop meant to deliver seed should be picked carefully.

After picking, cotton be exposed before sunlight to let it dry and then should undergo the ginning process.

After ginning, the seed so obtained should also be exposed before sunlight for dryness.

Experts said that farmers who have not yet completed application of proper doze of Nitrogenous fertilizers should do it as early as possible. Late sown or low height crop should get Nitrogenous fertilizers to help crop get proper height and deliver good production.

They also urged farmers who have not applied micronutrient so far to spray potassium nitrate 200 gram, magnesium sulphate 300 gm, zinc sulphate 250 gm, and boric acid 250 gm in 100-120 litres of water to increase number of bolls and boll weight.

Experts said that recent change of weather has triggered white fly attack and suggested farmers should consult officials for application of pesticides after conducting pest scouting.

They said that pest scouting should be done twice a week for Mealy Bug, white fly, and other pests and apply suitable pesticides when pest incidence is found to have reached economic threshold level (ETL).

For monitoring of pink bollworm, farmers should instal 1-2 pheromone traps per acre and monitor them daily. Capsules of sex pheromone traps be replaced after every fortnight and suitable pesticides be applied after consulting experts if they witness 2-3 pests per night.

In Balochistan, they said, attack by pink bollworm and white fly was of low intensity, however, intense attack of Thrips and Mealy Bug was reported. They advised Balochistan farmers to contact agriculture officials for advice on pesticides application in case of intense attack.

Thrips and mites attack has been reported on cotton in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and farmers have been advised to consult agriculture officials.

Heads of different wings of CCRI Multan including Dr. Naveed Afzal, Dr. Idrees Khan, Dr. Fayyaz Ahmad, Ms Sabahat Hussain, Dr. Rabia Saeed, Sajid Mahmood, and scientific officer Junaid Ahmad Khan Daha were present.