PAKISSAN.com

Cotton is one of the important cash crops of Pakistan and is a major foreign exchange earner. Pakistan cannot afford to lose cotton crop. Due to shortage of water, the government has planned special steps to encourage the farmers to grow more cotton and take all appropriate measures to increase the area. Both federal and provincial governments are persuading the farmers to give up rice cultivation in the marginal areas especially where subsoil water is unfit and plant cotton, which require less water. The major features of the Cotton Production Plan 2001 are;

Cotton-wheat rotation is followed in major areas by the farmers. A light irrigation after wheat harvest will help the farmers to prepare land for cotton growing. Deep tillage should be discouraged because it requires more water. The irrigation to cotton plant should be given only once instead of double irrigation. All efforts should be made to preserve moisture as far as possible.

The farmer should use certified seed from known sources. The seed should be acid delinted and Sulfuric acid @ 1 litre for 10 kg of seed. Seed should be thoroughly washed and it is advised to use sinker seed instead of mixture and floater. The seed rate should be adjusted according to germination of seed so that recommended plant population of 25 to 30 thousand plants is obtained.

The farmers should plant virus resistant varieties like CIM-482, CIM-446, CIM-443, FH-901 & MNH-552, which are relatively early maturing and will be less affected due to water shortage. Other varieties recommended for cultivation are CIM-448, CIM-1100, FH-900 & BH-118. Virus tolerant include Niab-Karishma, Niab-78, CIM-109 & BH-36.

Cotton should be planted from 1^st May to 15^th June with the exception of districts of Layyah, Bakhar Mianwali and Khushab where cotton can be planted from mid April. Sowing before 1^st May in other districts of Punjab was completely banned. Early planting in March helps the cotton bollworms in multiplication & further spread to main areas.

Farmers with ensured water supply, should plant cotton on bed & furrows. Other farmers should plant with drill and convert flat sowing into bed & furrows either before 1^st irrigation or immediately after 1^st irrigation. This will help to economize the irrigation water. It may be mentioned that both bed & furrows saves water upto 40 %.

To get good crop, weed control is extremely important. Since there is water shortage, weed control becomes more important. Farmers are advised to use weedicides before sowing. Weedicides can be sprayed with a volume of 150 liter per acre. Sprays should be given before 9 am or after 5 pm when the temperature are relatively milder.

It is recommended that plant population of 25-30 thousand plants per acre should be maintained under present water shortage condition. Plant to plant distant should be 6-9 inches and row-to-row distance should be 2.5 feet. Thinning should be completed before 1^st irrigation within 20-25 days of planting.

Post planting irrigation depends on the varieties. For early maturing varieties, 1^st irrigation should be given after 30-40 days of planting and for late maturing varieties; it should be given after 40-50 days of planting. Subsequent irrigation should be given 15-21 days interval.

Short duration varieties should get nitrogen from 46-49 kg/ha and phosphorus @ 23 kg/acre. Farmers, who have applied full doze of phosphorus to wheat crop, need not to apply any phosphorus to cotton crop. However, soil analysis is the best criteria to determine fertilizer requirement. Use of zinc and boron also help in production but again the basis should be on soil test. Nitrogen application in Punjab must be completed by mid August because late applied of nitrogen delays crop maturity and increase pest attack.

Seed treatment of insecticides will help to delay the 1^st spray and allows the natural enemies to play their role in control of pests. Farmers should also give attention to alternate host plants, which provide protection and feed to cotton pests. Destruction of such plants also helps to reduce the infestation of cotton pests. However, if chemical sprays become inevitable then spray only after population reaches at economic injury level. Economic threshold levels of different cotton pest are given in Table-1.

Name of insects	Economic threshold levels
Jassid	1 adult or nymph per leaf
Whitefly	Adults/nymph or both 5/leaf
Thrips	8-10 insects/leaf
Aphids	15/leaf
Spider mites	Spray on visible damage or 10-15 spider mites/leaf
Pink bollworm	a) During early season before boll formation, the presence of rosette flowers, b) Monitoring of PBW with sex pheromones c) Infestation in bolls should be determined by dissecting 100 susceptible bolls (14-28 days old, which can be easily pressed between index finger and thumbs) d) 5 larvae per 100 bolls
Spotted bollworm	a) 3 larvae/25 plants b) 10% damage to squares
Helicoverpa armigera	5 brown eggs or 3 larvae or collectively 5/25 plants
Army worm	a) Hand picking of egg masses b) Localized chemical treatment

Note: Sample size: 20 plants/field (approx. 5 acres) for sucking pests and 5 consecutive plants taken from 4 or 5 random spots for bollworm.

It is extremely important that spray must be done properly in the morning hours to get good control. Spray during hot hours does not help in control of cotton pests. Spray machinery must be calibrated and full doze of pesticide should be given. Selection of pesticides for target pests is also important. For the control of whitefly, farmers should spray in the morning hours, at least one hour before sunrise or two hours after sun rice. After that, the activity of whitefly in the cotton field reduces and spray results in poor control of whitefly.

Cotton picking should start when dew has dried on cotton plants. Lower bolls should be picked first to reduce the contamination of cotton with leaves and dust. Before storing, which should be ensured that cotton has been completely dried otherwise it can result in heat up of cotton thus damaging the lint and seed. Farmers should not mix bad cotton with good cotton. However, there is a bid market of bad cotton as well.

COTTON PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

FOR THE YEAR 2001 CROP

Name of insects