A senior cotton researcher has recommended certain measures including eradication of weeds to control a new cotton pest 'mealy bug'. Director, Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan, Muhammad Islam Gill, told APP on Saturday that last year the mealy bug attack on the cotton crop was noticed and this year too it has recurred.
He said the districts where it has emerged include Multan, Vehari, Jhang, Khanewal and Rajanpur. He disclosed that there are as many as 120 host plants of this pest.
Islam Gill, the recipient of Presidential award "Tamgha-e-Imtiaz", said that weeds in the cotton fields or along the banks of the water courses are the best nourishing plants which ought to be extirpated, set ablaze or be buried under the soil.
He warned the growers that this kind of pest can also travel from an affected field or plant to a pest-free fields. So, the movement of workers and machinery from the affected fields to the healthy ones must be restricted.
He recommended two consecutive sprays of insecticides prescribed by the agriculture experts within a week will be effective to control the overlapping generations of the mealy bug.
He said this pest usually attacks plants of border areas so these must be sprayed more effectively. He asked the farmers to avoid growing ornamental plants like Lantana, China rose and cotton rose etc as these are the most favourite hosts for the mealy bug. Islam Gill said that at the moment the cotton crop badly needs rain, the divine irrigation, to offset the shortage of canal water in the cotton belt.
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