The Cotton Field Awareness Map is an industry initiative which has been designed to highlight the location of cotton fields. The service is provided free of charge with the purpose of minimising off-target damage from downwind pesticide application, particularly during fallow spraying.

This project provides for CRDC support to the Cotton Map initiative. This initiative provides ongoing support for an online tool that enables cotton growers to communicate the location of cotton to reduce the risk of off-target damage associated with misuse of Group I herbicides.

Farmers, farm managers, resellers, consultants, agronomists, applicators and contractors are encouraged to input their cotton fields. Users can also access the Cotton Map to check the location of the paddocks they may be planning to spray to assess the proximity of the nearest cotton crop. Since the introduction of Cotton Map, reported herbicide damage to cotton has remained below 3%, compared to 11% in 2009 (before introduction of Cotton Map).

This project supports the ongoing development of IPM in cotton by targeting emerging pest issues, and inappropriate management which may threaten IPM. Key outcomes were:

1. Green vegetable bug (GVB) uses broad leaf weeds as hosts on cotton farms and in refuge areas. GVB prefer to feed and oviposit in legume crops such as mungbean, pigeon pea and soybean. Management of these weeds and crops on farms could influence risks of problems in cotton. Parasitism rates by the egg and nymphal/adult parasites are generally low. 2. Information summarising effects of the new registered compounds (e.g. Shield) and the lower rates of dimethoate has been incorporated into the ‘Impact of insecticides and miticides on predators in cotton’ table in the Cotton Pest Management Guide 2010-11. 3. Leaf damage resulting in reduced leaf area at or after cutout is unlikely to affect yield unless it is high – probably > 50% leaf loss in the upper canopy (top 6-9 nodes). Damage in the boll fill period before cutout may reduce yield. A tentative leaf loss threshold of 30% to 40% could be used. Results are relevant in assessing effects of leaf loss due to locusts and cluster caterpillar. 4. The efficacy and IPM fit of two fungal biopesticides BC639 and BC667 was evaluated. Both reduced abundance of aphids compared with the control by about 10-50% but the results were erratic and slow. However, the bio-pesticides are more selective than most commercial options – hence the conservation of beneficials may be greater. 5 The spread of CBT from the transplant colonies (= ratoon plants) was greater than from the inoculation colonies (= influxes from host outside the field). Transmission rate increased from < 10% with 1-2 aphids to > 50% with 5-15 aphids. If single aphids infest plants the latent period is 3 to 3.5 weeks but could be a little as 9 days with greater infestations. In the latter case, early management of aphids would be required to reduce the risk. 6. Pale cotton stainer (PCS) females are more damaging than males or mating couples. Females caused up to 50% yield loss and reduced germination success when feeding on young bolls. Feeding on older bolls did not reduce boll weight, but did affect boll opening, harvestability and germination. 7. Bemisia tabaci B-Biotype dominated whitefly populations during 2008-09, with virtually no B. tabaci Eastern Australian Natives, few greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) and no B. tabaci Q-Biotype found. Volunteer and ratoon cotton, sowthistle, marshmallow, turnip weed, noogoora burr and paddy melon are hosts through winter. This project provides new information to make better decisions about management of emerging pests. Many outcomes have been delivered to industry through presentations, published resources and the WWW. Benefits to the industry are more rational decisions on the need to control pests and awareness of risks for different control options to obtain a better management balance between control and environment.

In pesticide science, research and modelling by private companies exceeds that carried out by public organisations (e.g. USDA & EPA in the USA) – e.g. Paul Hendley (Syngenta) presented or was a co-author on 10 papers at the ACS meeting. Also consulting firms (e.g. Waterborne Environmental, Inc) now are major providers of environmental research. Aerial movement of pesticides and non-active components of pesticide formulations (e.g. solvents) have become important areas of environmental assessment. Models (eg Pesticide Root Zone Model (PRZM), , Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT)) have become standard tools in risk assessments, evaluating management and in regulation.

Assessing water quality benefits of investments in improved land management (e.g. incentives to land holders) is a high priority (e.g. for USDA), just as is occurring in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) catchments in Australia. Combined stream monitoring, catchment modelling and remote sensing are evolving as the preferred method, just as they are in the GBR catchments.Attend American Chemical Society (ACS) Agrochemicals Division International Research Award Symposium, ‚Don Wauchope and Friends--Reflections on the Future of Pesticide Environmental Chemistry‛ Washington DC and present a paper, and visit various USDA offices.

Publicise the outcomes of the LWA/CRDC/MDBC ‘Pesticides in the Riverine Environment’ program and the cotton industries BMP program, and learn about the state-of-the-art in pesticide science and modelling for application in Australia. Specifically:

- To attend & present an invited paper (‚What drives pesticide runoff: An empirical journey to a framework for pesticide runoff using some of Don's ideas‛) to the ACS Symposium,

- To attend a symposium at the ACS AGRO meeting on ‘Simulation modeling of pesticides in the environment’, in memory of US-EPA's Larry Burns.

- To visit & present seminars with USDA pesticide scientists at Beltsville Maryland and Tifton Georgia.

Providing Australian cotton protection from biotic threats and environmental stresses requires informed surveillance and management. One such threat is the fungal disease, Verticillium wilt, caused by the pathogen Verticillium dahliae. Verticillium wilt remains a severe disease in Australian cotton, with more virulent strains causing significant yield losses (Chapman et al. 2016). This disease would be better managed if potential pathways for transmission of Verticillium could be identified. Overseas publications report other species of Verticillium that can be transmitted by insects (Kalb et al. 1986, Huang & Harper 1985, Price 1975). The aim of this study was to identify if any insects could digest and then transmit V. dahliae.

A pilot study (to optimise the methodology required) and four experiments (Experiment 1, 2 and 3 exposing insects to a pure fungal culture of V. dahliae, and Experiment 4 exposing insects to the diseased cotton plant tissue (leaves with symptoms of Verticillium wilt)) were undertaken to assess if insects found on or in the soil around the cotton plant could transmit V. dahliae. Results showed that the pathogen was transferred externally on the insects: Corticaria subtilissima (minute brown scavenger beetle), Anthicus australis (ant- like beetle), Elateridae (wireworm), Dicranolaius bellulus (red and blue beetle) and Creontiades dilutes (green mirid). In addition, the pathogen survived the digestive tract of several insects: Dicranolaius bellulus (red and blue beetle), Iridomyrmex (small meat ant), Corticaria subtilissima (minute brown scavenger beetle), Anthicus australis (ant-like beetle) and Elateridae (wireworm). The faecal matter isolations and subsequent recovery of V. dahliae from these insects are evidence that they are capable of transmitting the V. dahliae pathogen.

The findings suggest that insects are a potential source of pathogen transmission within Australian cotton crops. While insects could spread V.dahliae, additional research is needed to establish if they can be inoculated by Verticillium wilt plants, and to fully understand the relationship between the pathogen and these potential vectors to inform the surveillance and management of this key biotic threat.

This travel scholarship funding enabled one australian researcher to attend and present posters at two international conferences, the International Mycological Congress 11 (IMC 11) and the International Congress of Plant Pathology 2018 (ICPP 2018), and to do a lab exchange in Dr Libo Shan’s lab at Texas A&M University.

This report underpins the aim of this research project, which is to provide initial objective understanding of the influence of various sleepwear and bedding on the sleep microclimates. The complex phenomenon that is human sleep has been studied widely over a number of decades, yet is still not fully understood. As humans, we spend around one third of our lives sleeping. The amount of sleep needed for optimal health in young adults and adult humans is 7–9 hours per night, reducing as we get older (Hirshkowitz et al., 2015). However, for athletes, it is suggested that additional sleep hours are needed for recovery and preparation for competition, meaning that 9–10 hours of predominantly nocturnal sleep is ideal (Bompa and Haff, 2009). However, there is a strong body of evidence that suggests few athletes achieve this optimal amount of sleep. Further, research has shown that non-athletes sleep more than athletes (Walters, 2002) and athletes commonly suffer from poor sleep quality (Samuels, 2009).

It is clear that sleep loss can negatively affect athletic performance and recovery. However, whilst the results of research on the effects of sleep loss on athletic performance vary, particularly in terms of physical output, it is clear that sleep loss reduces cognitive performance, impairs mood, heightens fatigue and decreases vigour. In addition, decision-making is impaired, task performance in speed and accuracy is reduced, and post-exercise recovery is impaired by poor sleep quality. All of these support the premise that optimal sleep patterns promote peak performance outcomes.

There has been a great amount of sleep research that has studied sleep phases, their timing and cycles, with an abundance of evidence in support of the benefits of optimal sleep. Many of these studies have focused on factors that affect sleep time and sleep quality, such as age, psychological conditions, culture and environmental factors.

For example, it is clear that skin temperatures and sweating levels during sleep can significantly affect sleep quality, such as if the skin temperature is too high or too low, or if the rate of skin temperature change is too rapid, and sweating function changes during phases. This implies that stable ambient and/or bedding microclimates would support good sleep patterns. It follows that the thermal properties of bedding, both in steady-state and also in transient ambient temperature conditions, are important for achieving quality sleep. Therefore there is a need to characterize the various sleeping systems for high-quality sleep.

However, there is a lack of research that has studied the sleeping microclimates, which are greatly influenced by the type of sleepwear and bedding that is used, and their effect on sleep quality. This gap in research knowledge of the effect of different types of sleepwear and bedding materials on the sleep microclimates needs to be filled.

Present literature review covers the fundamental elements of human sleep and provides a specific focus on the sleep of athletes. Further, it offers evidence of the benefits that sleep can have on athletic performance and recovery, and how a study on the sleeping micro environments can further develop the current body of sleep research that is seeking to improve the sleep quality of humans.

The 2019-20 year marked the second year under the CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan 2018–23. The strategic RD&E investments that CRDC made in 2019-20 under this plan are helping to continue to drive the Australian cotton industry towards a future of innovation, increased commercialisation and digital transformation.

In 2019–20, Australian cotton growers and the Australian Government co-invested $20.0 million through CRDC into cotton RD&E, across 234 projects and in collaboration with 99 research partners. The investments were made in the five key areas identified in the Strategic RD&E Plan: increasing productivity and profitability on Australian cotton farms; improving cotton farming sustainability and value chain competitiveness; building the adaptive capacity of the Australian cotton industry; strengthening partnerships and adoption; and driving RD&E impact.

In this report, we bring you an update on our progress towards our strategic goals – our investments, our innovations, and our intended impacts – two years into our Strategic RD&E Plan 2018–23.

This project built on the past decade of investment in NRM research by providing a

National NRM technical specialist who lead and assisted the industry develop and

implement annual national CottonInfo NRM campaigns, identify NRM R&D gaps

and opportunities and facilitate the capture of NRM R&D into the cotton industries

myBMP program, industry guidelines, tools and products.

Industry NRM research workshops such as the 2015 Riparian Researcher and the

2016 Responsible landscape Management forum provided important opportunities

for researchers and industry leaders to discuss NRM research outcomes and

workshop NRM R&D gaps and opportunities for CRDC investment.

The establishment of two long-term riparian vegetation condition/land management

practice monitoring sites on a cotton property in southern QLD, provides an

important longitudinal dataset on practice change as well as impacts on key riparian

condition indicators identified for the cotton industry by CRDC riparian researchers.

Through Collaboration with CottonInfo’s REO’s, regional NRM bodies and industry

groups (eg WINCOTT) an innovative initiative focusing on ‘social network of

women’ implemented across 7 cotton valleys has resulted in over 300 people with

improved knowledge of riparian BMP and the confidence to implement these

practices.

The development and release in 2016 of a Birds on Cotton Farm App, provided the

industry with an important tool for the identification, management and monitoring

of birds in cotton landscapes, with almost 200 sightings of birds across cotton

landscapes recorded to date by users.

The launch of the Cotton RiverCare program and appointment in 2016 of a National

Cotton RiverCare champion has enabled the industry to extend ‘good riparian

stewardship’ to industry and non-industry including 1200 followers on social media.

Extension of Cotton NRM R&D at CottonInfo industry meetings, forums and

national and international conferences including the International River Symposium

in Brisbane in 2016.

Over 50 CottonInfo extension tools and products on NRM BMP produced and

residing on the NRM page of CottonInfo.

The Association of Australian Cotton Scientists aims to facilitate a biennial cotton research conference that provides an opportunity for the Australia’s cotton research and extension community to come together and present research results, network and discuss ideas. The purpose of this sponsorship was for second biannual Australian Cotton Research Conference, which was held in at the University of Southern Queensland’s Toowoomba campus in September 2015 . The three day event was themed “Science Securing Cotton’s Future” and was attended by over 230 delegates from across Australia as well as attendees from the USA and India, with presentations made by 137 people across a broad range of disciplines. The event focused on the presentation and discussion of scientific concepts, methodologies and results with a specific aim of enabling networking between researchers from a broad range of organisations and disciplines. The event also served to recognise achievement by teams and individuals in science and extension within the Australian cotton industry.