CCRI Multan’s Cotton Boll Picker Machine Best To Counter Pink Bollworm, Says Dasti

MULTAN, (Muzaffargarh.City – 15th Feb, 2021 ) :Punjab Advisor on Agriculture Sardar Abdul Hayee Dasti heaped praise on cotton boll picker machine developed by Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan and declared it the best option to counter pink bollworm threat and get extra production by three maunds per acre. Witnessing demonstration of boll picker machine accompanying deputy commissioner Muzaffargarh Amjad Shoaib Khan Tareen at an agriculture exhibition organized by agriculture extension department in Muzaffargarh, Dasti underscored the need for utilization of the technology at large scale, says a release issued by CCRI Multan spokesman. Director CCRI Multan Dr. Zahid Mahmood informed advisor on agriculture that the leftover cotton sticks were the only sources of pink bollworm spread. He added that after the last picking of cotton, proper disposal of the remains of the crop including unripe and half open cotton bolls attached on the cotton sticks that carry the pest inside can address the problem and application of cotton boll picker manager machine has shown best results in this regard.

Terming it a good news for farming community, Dr. Zahid said farmers’ groups can apply this technology the way they do in case of thresher for wheat harvest. He said that the technology can also have their per acre production enhanced by three maunds in case the plant population matched standard and each plant have, on average, three bolls left after the last harvest. He said that the remaining bolls left after the last harvest are collected by the machine mechanically and these are then spread on the ground for exposure before sunlight to kill pink bollworm and later lint is collected from these bolls as a valuable addition to their production. He said that average per acre cost on application of machine ranged between Rs 1200-1500 including diesel which is consumed at the rate of 3-4 liters per acre. Advisor on agriculture visited different stalls set up by companies and officials also gave detailed briefing to him on two new cotton varieties developed by CCRI Multan including CIM-343 and CIM-663.