KVK, Wyra – Cotton sowing with pneumatic planter at Wyra

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll around the seeds of the cotton plants. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor percentages of waxes, fats, pectin and water. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls increased the dispersal of the seeds. The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, Egypt and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico followed by Australia and Africa. The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable, and durable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times as fabric remnants dated to the fifth millennium BC found in the Indus Valley civilization and 4200 BC in Peru. Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use and is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today. Current estimates for world production are about 25.0 million tons or 110.0 million bales annually, accounting for 2.5% of the world's arable land. India is the world's largest producer of cotton. A pneumatic planter is a single-seed planter that used an air vacuum to sow seeds into the soil for a variety of crops and soil types but was often used for sowing cotton seeds. Pneumatic planters can place seeds and fertilizer at a specific depth and with uniform spacing, which can help seeds germinate more uniformly and produce vigorous seedlings. The high-density planting system (HDPS) in cotton is referred to as narrow row spacing system and uses short duration semi compact cotton varieties. This method limits the boll number, maximizes the no. of bolls per unit area and helps to get high yield in the shortest area possible. As the number of bolls per plant are few, the fruiting window or flowering period is short and plants mature early with synchronous bursting producing cotton fibre with good quality. Usually, 25000 plant population per acre are maintained with spacings of 90x15 cm or 80x20 cm or 75x25 cm. There can be a yield of 12 – 14 quintals and reducing the problems of labour shortage and incidence of pink boll worm. It increases production and net return per unit area. In view of this, KVK, Wyra is encouraging farmers to use pneumatic planter for cotton sowing as it provides uniform spacing and over come labour shortage also.