Pakistan is a God gifted country. It has vast
diversity in its soil and climate, which is suitable for the production of
fruit, vegetables, flowers and other crops. Many different types of fruits of
high value are produced in the country. Citrus is the largest group of fruits
being produced in the country. It has high potential of export and to fulfill
the needs of the country. The origin of citrus is southeastern Asia, including
from Eastern Arabian to Philippine and from Himalayas to south of Indonesia.
Citrus fruits are famous in the world due to its distinct flavor and
therapeutic values. These are rich source of vitamin C and minerals like
calcium, phosphorus and iron. Its juice is very pleasurable, tasty and
soothing. It also used as fresh and for the production of many products and by
products. Frozen concentrated orange juice is of great demand in the world
market due to its flavor and taste.
Citrus is at the top among all the fruits for
its production and trade. It is grown in more than fifty-two countries of the
world. Its world wild production is 108 million. Brazil is the largest producer
of citrus world wild followed by USA, China and Mexico. Pakistan has prominent
position among citrus producing countries. Pakistan is among top 13 citrus
producing countries. In the country area of 185 thousand hectares in under
citrus cultivation with the annual production of 1.67 million tones. Major
citrus growing areas of the country are districts of Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin,
Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh and Sahiwal. It is also grown in grown in other
districts of Punjab, Singh and NWFP. Sargodha district and its accessories are
main sites of citrus industry of Pakistan. There 200 fruit pack houses and
three juice extraction units used fro export of citrus fruit and juice.
We have favorable agro climatic conditions,
more area for production, cheap labor, more water for irrigation but in our
country per hectare yield is less than other leading countries of the world and
has negligible share of 1.90% in world export of citrus fruit. Major
reason of low production of citrus industry are attack of diseases and insects,
alternate bearing, unavailability of disease free planting material, lack of
technical knowledge in farmers, lack of infrastructure and improper post
harvest handling. Diseases, pest and post harvest losses are major factors
which hinder the production and export of citrus. About 60 years ago there were
no citrus disease but no 30 economically important viruses and virus like
diseases has been recognized world wild. Citrus decline is a major disorder,
which is the result of wrong agronomic practices, improper nursery management
and diseases caused by different pathogens. These diseases are common in
nursery and also in orchards and also transmitted by grafting. Citrus tristeza
closterovirus (CTV) is a major virus disease. During attack of this disease
initially branches and leaves become dry. Then after sometime whole plant will
dry.
Gummosis is a serious disease of citrus
prevailing through out the world. In Pakistan it is present in many orchards.
It is caused by Phytophthora species which the roots of nursery and adult
plants. In nursery it caused foot rot, Root rot, fibrous root rot and causes
20% loss to the plants. Its symptoms are shown on leaves, stem and fruits but
main symptom is gum formation on the stem of affected plants. Roots become
fibrous, leaves show nutritional deficiencies. Water socked lesions are formed
at the base of leaves and then spread on whole plant. Another
important citrus disease is citrus canker. This is cause by bacterium
Xanthomonas axonopodis Pv. Citri occurred all over the citrus growing areas.
Young plants are more attacked than matures ones. When disease is sever,
defoliation, die back and fruit drop occur and fruits of infected plants are
unmarketable.Different insects like Citrus psylla, Citrus leaf miner, Citrus
white fly, Citrus red scale and Citrus mealy bug attack on citrus crop,
decreases its production and quality. This inferior quality citrus crop cannot
be exported because importing countries are imposing strict regulations to save
their country from different insects and diseases. If we became successful in
controlling these insects and diseases attack then we can earn lot of profit
from our citrus crop. Different methods used to protect our citrus crop from
different pest and diseases are ( i)Use of sterile and pathogen free soil for
nursery.(ii)Use of resistant rootstock if possible.(iii) Obtaining the healthy
nursery plants for planting.(iv) Removal citrus hedges because these act as
reservoirs for pest build up. (v) Maintain proper spacing between plants for
proper management practices. (vi) Pruning and destruction of infested plant
portions.(vii) Removal of weeds like cactus, gardenia etc from the
nursery.(viii)Use of sticky and slippery bands to control insects.(ix)Use of
pheromone traps for insects. (x) Use of natural enemies like lady beetle,
lacewing and syrphid flies that feed on insects.
Chemicals like Dimethoate, Imidacloperd,
Bifenthrin, Amidaclopard, Curacron, Strepotmycine, Terrazole can be used to
control different insects and diseases. But the use of chemicals should be
avoided because excessive use of chemicals leaves chemical residues in the
fruits. Such fruits are rejected at international level because residues of
chemicals cause bad effect on health. According to an estimate 30-40% of our
fruits and vegetables have pesticide residues and about 17% are unable to eat
due to high marginal residual limit. Therefore our focus should be on
integrated control of these different barriers of production. Citrus industry
experience substantial post harvest losses due to careless and improper handling
during its harvesting, storage, transportation and marketing, which causes
bruises and different injuries to fruits, results in various disorders and
fruit decay during storage and marketing system. Our farmers do not give more
attention on the harvesting and post harvest handling due to which large amount
of our precious produce wasted. Manual harvesting is most common method for
harvest of citrus fruit world wild. Plucking is also used in all types of
citrus fruits except mandarins, which are to be picked by clipping. During
harvesting fruits should not be drop on the ground because it causes injuries
and disease attack. After harvest fruits should be placed in bags and not on
the ground. Transportation should be done in refrigerated vans. Proper handling
and cool chain transportation is very important because about 40% of products
are wasted due to improper post harvest handling.Proper management for
diseases, pests and post harvest handling are most primal steps to boost citrus
industry. Some suggestion are (i) Scientific knowledge should be dissemination
through all possible means to educate the farmers.(ii)Promotion breeding
programme to generate some CVs. of high quality and of local importance. (iii)
Provision of capital facilities to small growers. (iv)Training of farmers for
pre and post harvest handling. (v) Establishment of cool chain
infrastructure.(vi) Establishing a well-developed and strong market of
international levels.
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