Don’t keep cotton stalk in fields after harvesting crop, Malwa farmers told

Moga, February 27

The Agriculture Department has issued an advisory to the cotton growers in Moga, Faridkot, Muktsar, Bathinda, Mansa and other districts of the Malwa region on ways to manage pink bollworm in the off-season.

The basic idea is to reduce the carryover of the pest to the next season’s crop. Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, Plant Protection Officer, Moga, said that after the harvest of cotton, the pest spends the winter season in a state of sleep in cotton stalks, the crop residue. After the change of weather in March and April, the insect emerges from the tuber as a butterfly and prepares to lay eggs again on the crop residue.

He said, “For the prevention of pink bollworm attack, farmers should take some measures in February and March so that it does not attack the crop. The piles of cotton stalks should be used as fuel for burning purposes. The cotton stalks should not be kept in the fields.”

He said the movement of cotton stalks carrying unopened or half-opened bolls from the infested areas to new areas should be strictly avoided. By the end of March, all seeds should be removed from sowing machines, he said. — TNS 

Shred infested residue in field

The cotton stalks infested with pink bollworm should be shredded in field itself before sowing the next crop to kill larvae. — Dr Jaswinder Brar, plant protection officer

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