Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Cotton Pink bollworm hits cotton in 6 States L.N. Revathy
Coimbatore , Jan. 9 COTTON crop six States have been affected by the pink bollworm. The cotton-growing belt in the North, however, has escaped the attack. Crop in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has got trapped. "Even the Bt varieties have not been spared. The intensity of the damage was greater in the non-Bt varieties,' cotton researchers told Business Line. The harvestable crop loss has been estimated at 25 and 30 per cent in the non-Bt varieties and less than 10 per cent in the Bt cotton crop. Researchers say the pink bollworm infestation would not cause a significant reduction in the overall yield, estimated at over 240 lakh bales. "This is because it affects the plant only at a late stage. It is a hidden bollworm, found inside the fruit. Since the attack has been at the fag end of the crop season, there is some dilution even in the Bt characteristics, the expression is less," the scientist said. Yet another occasional pest is the white mite or yellow tea mite or broad mite - Polyphagotarsonimus latus. This feeds on a wide variety of agricultural crops, ornamental and wild plants. The important host plants are tea, potato, brinjal, chillies, guava and papaya. Scientists say the crop damage due to white mite would be severe if it appeared in the early growing season, reducing the yield by 50 to 60 per cent. Researchers have located traces of the white mite attack in one of their trial plots, where organic cultivation practices are being followed.
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