FAISALABAD :Agricultural experts have advised farmers to take precautionary measures and adopt regular pest scouting for controlling pest attack on cotton crops especially during monsoon rainy season.
A spokesman for the Agriculture (Extension) Department said on Wednesday that cotton crop was passing through an important stage of budding and flowering and this stage attract the pests as moisture increases in the air due to rains.
He said that boll weevil, whitefly, pink bollworm (Gulabi Sundi), Lepidoperous insect (Lashkari Sundi), American Sundi are the main pests which cause heavy damage to the cotton crops.
The boll weevil attacks on flowers and bolls and destroys the cotton lint with its feces and consume its seeds while other insects also badly affect the quantity as well as quality of the production, he added.
He said that the pest attack can cause 60 percent reduction in the yield if the farmers failed to take measures for control pest attacks in-time, he said and advised the growers to regularly conduct pest scouting to save their crops from severe damage.
He said that the pest attack starts during rainy season and its severity decreases after October. Therefore, the cotton farmers are advised to listen to the weather report on radio, television or other media before watering their crops as it is imperative to get bumper yield, he added.
