FAISALABAD - The cold weather could affect vegetables, crops and orchards especially mango plants during winter. Therefore, the gardeners and farmers should take immediate steps to protect their plants from the cold. A spokesman for the Agriculture (Extension) Department said here on Saturday that the cold was injurious to mango plants, especially during frost days. Therefore, the farmers should be alert and water the mango orchards repeatedly during winter as drought could aggravate the situation for mango plants. Responding to a question, he said that drought was dangerous for mango plants and badly affected them if the temperature touches 4 degree. The cold could destroy the mango nurseries if it was less than 4 degrees centigrade. However, the large plants were less affected due to their high immunity, so it was important to adopt appropriate strategies to deal with this situation to reduce the risk of damage. After planting orchards, the farmers should take care for their protection from the effects of severe weather by adopting guideline set for this purpose by the agri scientists. He said that mango, “King of Fruits”, was found in our country in a number of varieties. Pakistan was also producing exportable varieties of mangoes which were second to none in their quality, taste and delicacy across the globe. He said that Punjab had an important place in terms of mango cultivation and production as more than 60% of national mango production was produced in Punjab. Therefore, first priority of the farmers and gardeners should be to save mango plants from cold weather. He said that on severe cold nights, when the temperature reached at freezing point, the plants emitted heat rapidly and cooled down due to which water in the plant cells froze and chemical ingredients either lost their balance or their effect. The cold mostly affected soft and delicate parts of the plant while in case of frost, the mango leaves got burnt, bark of the stem burst and the small plants dried up. He advised the gardeners to take precautionary measures immediately to protect the mango orchards from harmful effects of winter. They should also contact the agronomists or field staff of agriculture department for further guidance in this regard, he added.