MULTAN, June 27: Experts from Mango Research Station, Shujabad, on Monday delivered detailed lectures with presentations to agriculture extension staff on what remedial and preventive measures they should advise to growers to tackle the quick decline disease when they go into the field. The one-day workshop was organized by the National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) in collaboration with Mango Research Station, Shujabad, at the Central Cotton Research Institute here for capacity building of agriculture (extension) staff on horticulture-related problems.

Growers should not opt for excess irrigation or below the normal watering and instead give appropriate quantity of water to trees, said Shujabad station chief Abdul Haq and research officers Abdul Ghaffar and Tariq Malik in their presentations.

They were of the view that both excess or less watering contribute to fungal disease like quick decline as a result of which trees dried up. Mr Malik said excess watering could damage the roots that can isolate the trees from the soil to start phenomenon of drying up of trees.

He suggested that termites should also be controlled pleading it facilitates fungus attack in orchards and ploughing and hoeing should be avoided where they find fungus disease.

They also suggested avoiding sowing of other crops in orchards and recommended application of copper-based fungicide after monsoon.—APP