COTTON LEAF CURL VIRUS- NEED NOT TO BE AFRAID OF

More than 15 young farmers of the district have been able to reap a good harvest from the american cotton crop which had been affected badly by a Cotton Leaf Curl Virus in early stages of development without depending on the use of costly pesticides and resorting to an indigenous method of providing nutrition in the form of a locally prepared mixture of some chemical-based fertilisers.

The above-normal production of the cotton in the fields of these farmers has also attracted the attention of the officials of the Agriculture Department, and Scientists from HAU, Hisar.
"I had sowed BT cotton in their fields this time as its farming appeared quite lucrative despite the fact that such a crop required good care and use of costly pesticides," claimed Ashin, hailing from Nidani village and engaged in farming. But after spending about Rs 3,500 on the seeds and other inputs, I got stumped when I noticed that the entire crop in the field was found to be affected by Curl Leaf Virus one day after the plants had acquired a height of about nine inches, he told Manbir Singh and Ranbir Singh, the trainers of Kisan Khet Pathsala.
Though he felt quite demoralised and was even open to the suggestion put by some others that the crop affected acutely by the pest (virus) was required to be uprooted and replaced by crop like bajra as there was hardly any option left for him. But, according to Manbir, both Ashin and Krishan, who had reported this problem, agreed to work on the home-made remedy suggested by him. The farmers prepared a local solution containing one litre of water, five grams of zinc sulphate, 25 grams of urea and 25 grams of DAP and sprayed it in the field for at least five times and this worked wonder as the plants became healthier and provided heavy cotton bulbs. Each of the plant had around 69 cotton bulbs to ensure a production of about 680 kg of crop from the field having about 2,054 plants.

Similarly, Krishan will be getting a production of 780 kg from his field after adopting this technique.Dr RD Kaushik and Dr Yashpal Malik of the Krsihi Vigyan Kendra who visited the field have congratulated the farmers and the Kisan Khet Pathshala for this achievement.

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Education

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