Farmers Advisory Committee issues recommendations for cotton growers

MULTAN: The Farmers Advisory Committee has asked the growers to decide the time of cotton picking keeping the weather conditions in view and carry out the picking process in the field when more than half of the bolls are opened in the fields.

If any new herb is found in the field, destroy it immediately to prevent its further spread. These recommendations were issued in the sixth meeting of the FAC which was held under the chairmanship of Central Cotton Research Institute Director Dr Zahid Mehmood here on Tuesday.

It was informed in the meeting that at present the crop was moving towards maturity so at this stage the crop should not be deprived of fertilizer and water.

If the nutritional requirements were met and the size of the bolls was improved, then for a crop which had 8 to 10 bolls per plant and its height had stopped, the growers should apply half a sack of urea per acre through irrigation. The growers should water their crop again after a week.

The experts said that due to the reduction in temperature, the fruit has been reduced and new fruits are developing. Therefore, the farmers should irrigate the crop with half sack of urea or calcium ammonium nitrate.

It was informed in the FAC meeting that to alleviate the deficiency of minor elements in cotton fruit, to reduce caries and to increase the size of bolls, the farmers had to use 300 grams of magnesium sulphate, 300 grams of zinc sulphate, 200 grams of boric acid, 400 grams of potassium nitrate or potassium sulphate powder.

The FAC recommended that the growers dissolve 1kg urea with all these substances in water separately and use at the rate of 100 liters per acre of water.In case of Jassid attack, the growers should apply notifran at the rate of 60gram per leaf per acre, fertilica mide 60gram or flonicamide 60gram or nitin pyram 60gram per 100 litre per acre. In case of severe infestation of milli bug, the growers should dissolve klothnaden in 30ml and bifenthrin in 50ml or profenofos in 80ml in 20 litre water and conduct spray on the affected plants. If the colour is turning black, then the farmers should use a mixture of tebuconazole and trifluxi strobin at the rate of 65gram per 100 litre water per acre.

It was informed in the meeting that after knowing the germination of healthy and quality seeds of good germination, the farmers should store them in airtight space by putting them in dry in cotton cloth bags.

The sixth FAC meeting was attended by heads of different departments, including Dr Muhammad Naveed Afzal, Dr Muhammad Idrees Khan, Dr Fayyaz Ahmed, Miss Sabahat Hussain, Dr Rabia Saeed and Sajid Mahmood. The seventh meeting of the Farmers Advisory Committee will be held on September 1.