COLD WAVE PERSISTS, PLANTS NEED PROTECTION: PAU EXPERTS

LUDHIANA, DECEMBER 30:-----

Under the prevailing cold conditions, plantations and crops need protection. Elaborating about the care to be taken for protecting the horticultural plants and nurseries, the Head, Department of Horticulture, Dr. P.S. Aulakh said that the effect of minimum temperature in December and January is aggravated as the temperature generally turns low by 4oC than that of the soil surface. Certain plant species such as papaya, amla, mango, litchi, etc among fruits and potato, tomato, chilli among vegetables, are ever more sensitive to cold.

He said that the cover of the young plants with thatches and polythene should continue up to say mid-February. Elaborating further, Dr. Aulakh said that the practice of creating smoke screen by burning the trash collected from the orchard floor proves beneficial. The boundary plantation also protects the nursery area as well as juvenile plants against the cold winds, he said.

Another Horticulturist, Dr. W.S.Dhillon, said that tender plants growing in the nursery need extra protection against cold as the cold breeze touching them may produce harmful effects. Since the weather experts have predicted rainfall in the coming days, Dr Aulakh suggested the growers not to apply irrigation to orchards, especially of pear, peach, plum and phalsa. \'Rainfall will tend to minimize the effect of frost as the ice formation in the cells will be reduced to a great extent\', said Dr Dhillon. He shared that keeping evergreen nursery plants in good vigour, application of tiny dose of urea and light irrigation, enable them to tolerate the temperature stresses. He advised fruit growers to exercise control measures against the pathogens like Phytophthora that thrives at low temperatures. For this, the recommendations made by PAU should be followed religiously, said Dr Dhillon, adding that the potted plants need to be shifted to some covered or protected areas such as tree canopies, verandahs (for ornamentals), etc. Covering the injured stems or cut surface at the pruning points with Bordeaux paste helps protect the plants from the subsequent infections, he added.

Dr D.S.Cheema, Head, Department of Vegetable Crops, said that the nursery of onion, brinjal, tomato, chilli, etc need to be protected against cold. Over watering to the nursery beds should be avoided, especially when rain has been predicted, said Dr Cheema adding that the vegetables growing in the kitchen gardens should also be adequately protected against cold. Discussing about the vegetables growing under protected cover, Dr Cheema said that care should be taken that the low tunnels or net-house provides protection to the plants against cold breeze. The holes, in the cover, if any, should be plugged, he said. Dr H.S.Rewal, Head Department of Plant Pathology said that farmers should be vigilant to notice the appearance of yellow rust in wheat crop and resort to recommended control measures, if disease symptoms are noticed.
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