The winter edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, looks at the future of cotton innovation, with the launch of the new five-year CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan.

Over the next five years we expect to see a lot of change in our industry, practically from where we grow cotton to the technology we will use to grow it. CRDC’s role is to support sustainable growth, responsible practices and profitability across a range of endeavours including building capacity. As a result, in this edition of Spotlight, we look at the new Strategic RD&E Plan, and some of the research already underway to place our industry in the box seat for future readiness - from canopy temperature sensors, to temperature inversion weather stations, weed sensing for robotics and irrigation automation technology.

In addition, this edition tackles global news of a cotton 'megapest', talking to Australian experts about what this means for the industry and Australian growers; CRDC's work with the startup community through accelerators, incubators and venture capitalists to bring beneficial new technology products and services to the industry (including an exciting new CRDC-supported initiative at this year's Australian Cotton Conference, Startup Alley); and the outcomes of the CottonInfo researchers tour from February 2018, which focused on optimising irrigation and nitrogen use efficiency and took a team of researchers out to six cotton growing valleys to meet with 440 growers and consultants.

This travel scholarship funded the attendance of one researcher to participate and present at the 2018 FUSCOM Conference. The presentation topic, "Can We Really Use a Soil Test to Manage Black Root Rot Risks?The Initial Approach" explored growers ability to use real time tests to diagnose Black Root Rot(BRR).

These tests were designed to be predictive tools for growers to enable them to make agronomic decisions in a timely cost effective manner to minimise losses as a result of BRR.

The focus of the project was the strengthening of the existing extension efforts on new irrigation scheduling technologies. A combination of tools were used and promoted as aids to improve the accuracy of depth of water required and applied and the timing of applications for optimum agronomic decisions.

At present, in the sugarcane industry extension activities are being advocated by extension deliverers towards the use of available tools for better on-farm water management. The combination of soil moisture monitoring (SMM) tools in combination with a sugarcane specific crop model (IrrigWeb) to assist irrigators gain confidence with using both tools.

IrrigWeb provides irrigators with current and local advice on sugarcane crop water use and development. The tool combines crop water use estimates with user-defined irrigation system constraints and crop cycle inputs to schedule future irrigation events. The selection of the model was based on the review of the tools for irrigation scheduling in the sugarcane industry document which was also co-funded by CRDC (Project RRDP1609) as the most highly rated by practitioners and advisors consulted with.

The 2018-19 CRDC Researchers' Handbook is a key resource for all researchers working with, or interested in applying for funding from, the CRDC. Updated annually, the Handbook outlines the key information researchers need to know, including key dates, the application process, funding and stipends available, the payment, evaluation and reporting processes and the CRDC’s intellectual property policy. These, and other critical details needed by researchers are provided in the Handbook.

The following impact assessment addresses investment by CRDC in a cluster six sustainability projects.

Sustainability can be defined as a measure of a cropping system's capacity to sustain itself in the long-term without destroying its natural resource base. This has implications not only to maintain or increase the system’s productivity over time by enhancing or protecting its productive resource base (e.g. soil, vegetation, water quality and biodiversity) but also by demonstrating its responsibility as an industry sector to other parts of the community. This is particularly important to the cotton industry as it is a relatively intensive cropping industry and uses significant amounts of water and chemicals.

The primary aim of this project has been to benchmark greenhouse gas emissions across the cotton industry and develop guidelines which potentially reduce nitrous oxide, and associated non-global warming nitrogen gases, which incur a significant penalty on profitability. Due to the episodic nature of emissions, and the difficulty in accessing furrow irrigated field sites, the use of automatic greenhouse gas sampling systems is critical for field studies, however this is not always possible due to both the long-term (1-2 yr) nature of these studies and the expense of the equipment. This project has included a detailed field study on the Darling Downs (Freeser property) to verify previous field studies, and in the final year sought to benchmark field based emissions across the industry and identify industry wide guidelines for reducing emissions.

The Freeser property was specifically selected on the basis that a mixed irrigated cropping rotation (grains-cotton) is representative of diversification in the cotton industry. The mixed cropping system provides a different set of agronomic conditions to those examined in earlier cotton studies using automatic continuous sampling chambers.

Our earlier studies estimated Emission Factors (i.e. % of N emitted as N2O expressed as proportion of N added) from irrigated cotton (only) systems at Narrabri and Dalby ranging from 0.16-0.83%. The current Emission Factor recognised by the Australian Government is 0.5%, however this is based on a limited dataset. Nitrous oxide emission data collected at the Fresser property using the automatic sampling system also suggests an Emission Factor in this range, however there is evidence to suggest that the increased inputs of carbon into soil from grain based system, whilst essential for soil structure and soil carbon sequestration, may also increase the potential for gaseous N losses, therefore N management in mixed cotton-grains system needs to be carefully considered and in many cases, significantly reduced.

Benchmarking studies using a range of cotton monoculture and cotton-grains rotation soils were completed using an intact soil core laboratory incubation approach to estimate both seasonal and maximum potential N2O and total N gas loss (excluding NH3) using fertiliser enriched with the stable isotope 15N. The incubation study also provided information to develop a simple laboratory based diagnostic assay to determine the N2O loss potential and seasonal emissions for widespread use without having to undertake expensive sampling procedures in the long-term.

I. To evaluate the risk of Q-biotype whitefly for Australia: Q-biotype identifications in Australia have not been verified by other methods or researchers. According to research in the US, it is unlikely that they would occur in the field in the presence of predominantly and in the absence of high spray regimes. It is also believed that high temperatures and other environmental conditions affect Q-biotype’s ability to establish. Despite the lower risk factors, it is, however, important to continue monitoring for Q-biotype as they are considered a bio-security risk. While their presence may not have immediate implications for BollGard II cotton in the field, it would for glasshouse breeding and research facilities as well as for horticulture and floriculture industries (eg. especially glasshouse/greenhouse situations). To determine the risk to cotton production the Q-biotype honeydew characteristics would need to be investigated.

II. To gain hands-on knowledge about whitefly management in cotton: Whitefly management in Arizona relies largely on neonicotinoids (imidacloprid) and insect growth regulators (buprofezin and pyriproxifen). The Q-biotype is resistant to all three. Imidacloprid resistance by the B-biotype is increasing in both cotton and vegetable crops. While the cotton industry is managing whiteflies quite successfully, the vegetable industry often still employs older, harsher and cheaper chemistry as IPM in vegetables is not viable. This practice may increase resistance in whiteflies as they move between crops. There are implications for areas of Australia where the cotton and horticultural industries overlap (eg. St. George, Emerald, Burdekin) with respect to whitefly management and resistance buildup. For example, intense selection in the horticultural industry could render products ineffective in the cotton industry.

III. To assess the importance of horticultural industries in whitefly management (eg. vegetable and ornamentals): It is difficult to efficiently manage whiteflies in cotton in areas where vegetable growers use different management strategies. James Bethke suggested that poinsettia was a most likely source of introduction for Q-biotype whitefly in Australia as plants reared for the Christmas season may have been propagated from overseas stock. Sources of commercially sold poinsettias in Australia would need to be verified and it would be advisable to sample poinsettias for Q-biotype incursions as this plant species is an excellent whitefly host.

IV. To learn field techniques for whitefly research experiments: The field studies will help us to design better whitefly experiments with realistically defined parameters to understand the pest’s lifecycle and effect of mortality factors in Australian cotton growing systems.

V. To assess and improve on current Australian whitefly resistance testing based in Toowoomba: Zara Ludgate and Richard Lloyd identified several issues with the techniques they use that can be improved by changing some of their procedures. This should help to make resistance testing more efficient and reliable.

The cotton aphid, (Aphis gossypii), is a pest of increasing concern in Australian cotton. Cotton aphid is considered a pest due to yield reduction if a heavy and persistent infestation occurs. Cotton aphid honeydew is frequently a problem late in the growing season due to honeydew contamination of boll lint. Further cotton aphid is a vector of cotton bunchy top (CBT), a disease of cotton that under certain conditions, can cause serious yield loss.

Cotton aphid is typically managed by using insecticides, however over time cotton aphids have developed resistance to insecticides used against it, most recently to neonicotinoids (Confidor).

A more sustainable approach to aphid management would be to use beneficial arthropods like ladybugs, hoverflies and parasitoids to reduce aphid populations. Unfortunately, little is known about the biology and ecology of these natural enemies, so it is difficult to include their presence in cotton fields into pest management practices.

This project focussed on understanding more about the biology and ecology of the aphid parasitoid Lysiphlebus testaceipes. This parasitoid wasp was introduced to Australia in 1982, but wasn't detected in large numbers in cotton districts until 1997. Overseas the parasitoid is considered an important biological agent, but in Australia there is limited information on its importance as a natural enemy of cotton aphid.

The purpose of my visit was to attend the conference in Auckland New Zealand. At the conference I presented a paper entitled: “The IPM of mirids in Australian cotton: understanding why and when pest managers spray for mirids” which was based on research undertaken in the “Mirid Predation” project (CRC number: 1.10.01). I also talked to other researchers about my current work in the refuge project, particularly mate choice by Helicoverpa.

As I am hosting the ASSAB conference in April 2010 in Narrabri, the second purpose of my visit was to prepare for the Narrabri conference through meetings with organisers of the Auckland conference and ASSAB council members. I also advertised the Narrabri conference by giving a short presentation designed to encourage delegates to attend the Conference in Narrabri.

Each year, Crop Consultants Australia - with support from CRDC - conduct a qualitative survey of cotton consultants regarding their practices and attitudes, as well as those of their cotton grower clients. The resulting report provides valuable information to the Australian cotton industry regarding on-farm practices , helping to benchmark the industry's performance in a range of key areas over time. This report looks at the 2011-12 cotton growing season.