More rains won't benefit cotton: CCRI

Multan: Dry weather friendly cotton plant won't benefit from more rains at this critical stage of maturity, Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Director Muhammad Arshad said on Friday. Talking to APP, he said cotton crop could absorb Thursday night's rain, however, further rains would be injurious to the plant.

'More rains could make the soil so wet that tractors would not be able to move in the fields for pest-scouting. Even manual spray would not be possible', he observed. The expert advised the farmers to drain out extra rainwater from the fields as it might damage the plants.

To a question, he said rains might not significantly decrease the onslaught of mealy bugo, adding that intermittent spray of prescribed chemicals could control it effectively. He said with optimism that the country was likely to achieve its cotton output target of 14.14 million bales, officially fixed for the year 2007-08.