Proper Picking Of Cotton Flowers Preserves Quality, Says CCRI Director

Proper picking of cotton flowers preserves quality, says CCRI director

Director of Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan Dr Zahid Mahmood on Friday said that farmers must adopt proper technique to pick, transport and store cotton flowers to preserve their quality

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2022 ) :Director of Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan Dr Zahid Mahmood on Friday said that farmers must adopt proper technique to pick, transport and store cotton flowers to preserve their quality.

In a statement issued here, the CCRI Multan chief asked the farmers to avoid picking cotton flowers when they were moist or wet. He said that picking should start when almost 50 percent of the cotton bolls were open exposing the white flowers. Avoid doing so even if they were half open, he warned.

Picking should start during day time, at 10 a.m., when dew in cotton flowers had dried up. He warned the farmers against picking moist or wet cotton flowers pleading that it would affect their colour in storage facilities and weaken the germination strength of their seeds.

Moreover, the cotton seed could also lose oil content to a great extent and could hardly be utilized in ghee preparation, he said.

Picked cotton flowers should be put on cotton cloth, but not in the form of big piles, rather in smaller ones allowing the air to pass through.

He further said that only the cotton flower should be plucked to minimize the chances of contamination from its leaves or other parts.

Plucking should start from the lower part of the plant and move to the top. Cotton flowers found on the ground should not be mixed with those plucked by hands.

Cotton flowers plucked from bolls affected by pests should be kept separate from the rest to ensure quality, he said.

Cotton pickers should keep their heads covered so that their hair do not fall in the cotton, compromising its quality. The picked cotton should be placed at a clean and dry place and their moisture level should not be more than eight percent, the CCRI director said.

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