CCRI preparing orange farmers to tackle greening of crop, infestation

Nagpur: To minimize the damage to ambia bahar crop of orange, which flowers in February-March and fruits in October-November, the Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI) is telling farmers to be prepared to handle diseases like greening and pests such as blackly and white fly.
“In the last season, orange farmers faced problem of greening and from black fly. Hence, farmers need to protect their orchards from the two diseases which can have devastating effect on the crop,” said MS Ladaniya, CCRI director.

The institute had already released corrective measures during last season for both greening and black fly. But by then, some damage was already done. Hence, CCRI is preparing farmers in advance this time.

The new flush or flowering for ambia will come in February. The black fly attacks the tree somewhere in April and May. The pest sucks all the cell sap from the leaves. The insect then excretes a sugary solution, which in turn attracts another fungal disease called ‘kolshi’ which causes a black sooty layer over the fruits. If the farmers have not removed the sooty layer, they need to spray copper oxychloride at 3g per litre.

CCRI had conducted surveys during the last fortnight of November and first week of December at Waroda, Malasawangi, Pimpla Kinkhede and Susundri villages of Kalmeshwar taluka and in Paradsinga and Khandala villages of Katol taluka.

In Amravati district, the survey was done in Hivarkhed and Lakhara villages of Morshi taluka and Bargaon and Jarud villages of Warud taluka.

Stage susceptible to black fly (eggs and crawler stage) was observed in all these orchards. Black fly adults lay eggs on the lower surface of foliage in groups and first instar nymphs known as crawlers emerge which start feeding on the cell sap from leaves.

These two stages are susceptible to insecticides and hence, spraying should be carried out during this stage.

Sooty mold layer was also found on the foliage wherever black fly infestation was observed.

Getting ready

Orange orchards were damaged last season due to greening, a bacterial disease due to which the fruit remains half green and leaves become yellowish

Black fly and kolshi in 1980s had damaged orange orchards very badly in the region

CCRI is telling farmers to be observant and careful

It says farmers can contact the institute through helplines for any technical help or directives