CCRI director advises farmers to pick cotton sans contamination.

MULTAN -- :Director Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan Dr Zahid Mahmood on Friday issued a set of guidelines to farmers advising them to pick cotton sans any contamination to get good price in the market.

Quality of cotton depends a lot on its picking, he said in a statement issued here.

Farmers should adopt measures to keep cotton contamination-free at all stages from picking to storage and transportation.

He said that farmers should begin picking cotton only when 50 per cent of the bolls are open in a field and it should begin after 10 am so that there is no dew or moisture in the cotton flower.

Moist cotton must not be plucked from boll as it gets hot inside storage facility, changes colour, affects germination strength of the seed and leave it unable to deliver oil, Dr. Zahid added.

Bolls that are not fully opened or half opened should not be picked and picking should start from the bottom of the plant to minimise chances of mixing of contamination like leaf.

The cotton flower that fell on the ground must not be...