FAISALABAD: Punjab Agriculture Research Board (PARB) and the Department of Entomology, UAF on Saturday inked an agreement to kick off projects worth Rs75m on management of whitefly and pink bollworm, which are inflicting loss of billions of rupees on the national economy. A spokesman for the UAF said here Saturday that the agreement was signed by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zafar and PARB Chief Executive Officer Dr Noorul Islam Khan at the syndicate room. Chairman Entomology and Project Manager Dr Jalal Arif, Pest Warning and Quality Assurance Director General Khalid Mehmood, UAF Director Research Dr Zahir A Zahir, Professor Dr Mansoor Sahi, Dr Dildar Gogi and Dr Ahmad Nawaz attended the ceremony. Under the PARB projects, UAF, Ayub Research, Cotton Research Institute Multan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Agriculture University Multan, Nuclear Institute for Biology, Central Cotton Research Institute and NIBGE will work together to overcome the issue.
The project titled ‘Management of whitefly by integrated strategies and development of resistant cotton germplasm through genetic engineering’ will help the country overcome the issue.
Under the project titled ‘Comprehensive integrated scientific approach for the development of sustainable management strategies of pink bollworm’, the scientists will assess the rearing of PBW, weather variables and relationship.
