Potash deficiency hits tomato crop in Una
Our Correspondent
Una, January 17
The standing tomato crop, spread over 50 hectares of land in Fatehpur, Charatgarh and Sasan villages of Una district, has been hit badly by a new phenomenon. The leaves start drying from the edges and the plant gradually dries up, said local farmers Avtar Singh and Vijay Singh.
Tomato is cultivated in large quantity in these villages. Dr AR Khan, vegetable scientist and in charge of Una Krishi Vigyan Kendra, said the problem was reported to them two days ago by some farmers and immediately, a team of experts, headed by him, reached out into the field to assess it.
The other three members of the team are plant soil scientist Dr Ajay Sharma, pathologist Dr BK Sharma and entomologist Dr Sanjay Sharma.
Dr Khan said after examining and discussing the issue with other scientists of Agriculture University, Palampur, the problem was diagnosed as deficiency of a potash nutrient in the soil. He said the farmers had been advised to give a foliar spray of potash sulphate at the rate of 150 gm in 10 liters of water.
After the tomato crop, the farmers should first get their soil tested and follow the recommendations of soil scientists, he stated.
The scientist advised farmers not to use insecticides in this case as it may further damage the crop.
