Daily Times

An agriculture expert has advocated energetic propagation of seedless citrus varieties to sizably expand area under its cultivation for exportable surplus that can attract dollars to Pakistan via exports.

Dr. Muhammad Rafiq Akhtar, director agriculture information Punjab, stressed, it was time the plants of new varieties of seedless kino be prepared in bulk as early as possible in nurseries and be provided to farmers at lower price to improve financial standing of farmers and fetch foreign exchange through exports either by orchard owners themselves or the exporters.

Seedless kino emerged on Pakistan agriculture landscape only after its natural mutations were observed and tested for many years and fruit and its production potential analyzed and matured.

In Punjab, it was the work of scientists from Citrus Research Institute (CRI) Sargodha working under the umbrella of Ayub Agricultur Research Institute (AARI) Faisalabad.

Spring season Feb-Mar is best for grafting of seedless kino, said Dr. Rafiq in an advisory detailing technicalities involved in preparation of seedless citrus plants and grafting.

Plants of new varieties of seedless kino are available at limited places and in very low number in Punjab, he said and asked farmers to exercise caution in selecting grafting wood for their citrus orchards. Farmers can also consult AARI and CRI scientists for assistance in this important selection of graft wood.

Graft wood should be obtained from the plant of the age of 7-8 years that is best in production and quality, produces zero seed fruit and possesses resistance against diseases. Weaker branches of old plants should be avoided.

Detailing specifications of graft wood and root stock, he said, graft wood should be 10-15 mm thick or at least match the thickness of a pencil and length should be 15-20 cm with 3-4 eyes or buds. The graft wood should be 6-9 month old, has white line, shoud have round shape with no thorns.

Root stock should be 10-15 mm thick and 3-4 feet long. For nursery cultivation, seed bed structure should be 4 feet wide and six feet long, should be at a height of 15cm from land level. Seed should be planted 10mm in depth and seed rows should be 15cm apart.

After shifting to nursery, plant to plant distance shuld be 25cm while rows should have a distance of 20-30cm. Two feet space should be left after every four rows so that farmers face no difficulty in grafting plants or cleaning the space.

Grafting is easy when juice starts running through plants and their crust is removed easily.