The annual FUSCOM panel forum provides an opportunity to share updates on all pathology research projects, providing peer support and project review to researchers. This event also helps to provide direction on RD&E priorities and identify opportunity for collaboration between projects. Supporting ongoing industry disease collaboration continues to be identified as a priority.

This project evaluated and demonstrated nitrogen fertiliser and irrigation management strategies, including variable rate fertiliser applications, rotational cropping with legumes and matching fertiliser rates to crop demands to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from commercial irrigated cotton systems in three climatic zones – Central Queensland (Emerald), the Gwydir Valley (Moree) and the Liverpool Plains (Gunnedah) in Northwest NSW.

Advanced breeding selections initially selected at Biloela outyielded CSIRO selections initially selected at Narrabri. In contrast, the Biloela selections were low yielders when tested in New South Wales (NSW). The highest yielding lines on the Darling Downs were those selections which were initially selected on the Downs.

The cotton industry in southern NSW has expanded from negligible areas less than a decade ago to 70,680 ha harvested in 2014, 44,201 ha in 2016, and predictions of 90,000 ha in the 2017/18 season, with plantings into Victoria. Three gins have opened in the south; one each at Whitton (2012), Carathool (2014) and Hay (2015). Since cotton production first moved to the south, growers have reported having to control thrips during establishment, and mirids and green vegetable bug (GVB) mid season.

We know that early sprays against thrips can disrupt the natural enemy complex, potentially leading to outbreaks of secondary pests such as spider mites, aphids and whiteflies and that thrips themselves are predatory on mites (Wilson et al. 1996, 1998; Milne and Walter 1998). The risk to reducing natural enemies is further increased if follow-up sprays are made targeting mirids or GVB.

Previous research has shown that cotton has high potential to recover from thrips damage (Wilson et al. 2003, 2009). However this is influenced by thrips density and duration of populations, with recovery poorer from high density populations that persist longer. Sufficient crop compensation is also less likely in shorter season regions, however, data was lacking for the southern regions, and growers and agronomists were unsure whether the Industry thrips thresholds based on data from the northern regions would hold in the south. Similarly, thresholds for mirids were based on data from the Darling Downs region and thresholds for shorter season cotton areas were half those of full season areas (Khan et al. 2004, 2006), but again data was lacking for southern regions.

Another concern for the southern cotton area was the relatively higher incidence of western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis on a range of horticultural crops and the potential for it to be a larger component of the thrips species complex on cotton. WFT was first identified in Australia in 1993 (Malipatil et al 1993) and spread across Australia over the next decade. Given high levels of insecticide resistance for WFT (Herron and James 2005, Thalavaisundaram et al., 2008, Herron et al., 2010, Marshall and Herron 2016), there was concern that it could be a far more significant problem in the south than was experienced in the northern cotton production areas.

The significant expansion and investment in cotton in southern NSW (Hillston, Condobolin, Griffith, Coleambally and Berrigan) led to the commissioned project Moving in and out of cotton – Identifying farming systems issues in southern NSW irrigation areas (Sykes et al. 2013) and a subsequent extension think-tank held in Griffith in April 2013 identifying the need for southern research capacity and focusing on early crop establishment as priority issues. The rationale being that the shorter growing season allows for less leeway in crop establishment and harvest, and for higher crop establishment costs. Thrips is a key pest at crop establishment. Analysis of the crops that entered the Cotton Grower’s Association crop competition in 2013 highlighted that growers were applying at least 2 and up to 6 insecticides, largely to control sucking pests such as thrips, mirids, GVB and mites (O’Keeffe pers com).

The distances from the Australian Cotton Research Institute (ACRI) and other northern research centres preclude regular visits or high input research experiments, hence the need to develop some local cotton research capacity. NSW DPI has a major research station based at Yanco with researchers and research development officers with experience working in a range of irrigated cropping systems and available to work in cotton.

This project assisted members of the Dawson Valley Cotton Growers to attend AgTECH CH17 on Wednesday 8th November 2017, stay over in Emerald for the evening to then participate in the CHCGI organised field day the following day. The aim of AgTECH was to gain exposure to the future of technology in farming and irrigation. The field day that was held on the following day allowed growers to visit on farm and see irrigation solutions that have been implemented on farm. Growers reluctance to adopt new technologies could be overcome by visiting early adopters and listening to their first hand practical experience of irrigation innovations.

FUSCOM provides a great opportunity for researchers, interested consultants and growers to keep up to date on the progress of current plant disease related projects in the Australian cotton industry. It also provides the chance to co-ordinate the efforts of researchers, extension officers and industry personnel to achieve the same goal of successful crop protection.

Soil compaction is a hidden and continuing constraint to cotton productivity due to increasing size and weight of equipment and is estimated to be in the order of >$30M in lost revenue. Growers recognise compaction is an issue and address this by adopting pseudo-controlled traffic farming systems, however the incompatibility of equipment used by different crops restrict options for a fully matched CTF system. Identifying the extent of compaction is problematic: penetrometers measure soil strength which is dependent on soil moisture making interpretation difficult.

The project will engage with the cotton industry using discussion around soil pits in each cotton region to determine the extent of soil compaction as a constraint or cost to productivity with respect to water, nitrogen and energy use efficiency and subsequent yield and fibre quality. A recent survey of a limited number of growers suggested that 35 % of growers need to be able better identify soil compaction and have access to new strategies to “avoid” compaction, while the remaining 65 % would like novel strategies to ameliorate compaction and understand which strategies were more effective than others. These results indicate that the cotton industry appreciates that soil compaction is an issue and are looking for strategies to minimise the effect in the first instance and to determine which remediation practices are the most effective.

Soil compaction is seen as a negative in farming systems, perhaps we need to reassess the issue. Agricultural industries need to utilise soil compaction for benefit; as in a fully matched controlled traffic farming (CTF). Soil compaction is a constraint to productivity when it is allowed to occur in a random fashion, for example a non CTF system. This enables soil between traffic lanes to be managed optimally for water and nutrients and for crop growth. There is opportunity to manage or minimise the effect of soil compaction in cotton systems as growers tend to be land “rich”, providing an opportunity to ameliorate the effect of a wet pick by increasing the time between cotton in any one area.

The project plans to determine how growers currently identify soil compaction and the extent of the problem and to identify current strategies for minimising compaction in the first instance and then determine what growers are implementing to ameliorate/mitigate the effect of compaction. A key component in this is, how do growers decide which strategy to adopt and what is the criteria of success or otherwise of the outcome? By minimising compaction in the first instance the necessity for amelioration is minimised, which will reduce the cost of production. This should translate into greater water and fertiliser use efficiency and less greenhouse gas emissions. The industry will be able to optimise resource use to maximise productivity per ML of limited water. A key component of the project will be understanding how soil constraints are prioritised within the farming and management system.

This projected funded the purchase of an autoclave, which was identified as a critical capital asset for ACRI, with multiple NSW DPI and CSIRO research projects utilising the unit for cleaning and decontamination of laboratory glassware, media and waste. NSWDPI and CSIRO have discussed and reviewed usage patterns to identifying that the current autoclave unit could only achieve a maximum of three cycles per 24 hours, so the only viable solution is to procure an additional 100 litre autoclave unit.

Additional autoclave capacity will support the analysis of key pathology issues and identification of potential solutions for disease control leading to delivery of improved integrated disease management strategies for cottongrowers.

Fertiliser is commonly spread in a typical cotton farming system and evidence suggests that the spreaders being used have not been calibrated properly meaning that these machines are not operating at maximum efficiency. This workshop was developed to offer technique and training for accurate measurement and calibration of a number of fertiliser spreaders to optimise application.

The Cotton Grower Association through a targeted attempt, managed to secure a number of different types of spreaders which were subsequently tested and adjusted to ensure maximum efficiency. Manufacture representatives were present from Amazone, Landaco, Bredal and Agrispread and this allowed for adjustment on the day which lead to some very productive changes.

The cotton sector is a leader in farm WHS because growers have used evidence-based information to develop practical and effective systems to manage WHS. In some instances WHS can be complex due to conflicting interpretation of WHS standards e.g. advice on practical machinery guarding, bunding for diesel tanks, access to distribution tanks/ irrigation gates etc. This leads to less than optimal uptake and compliance by growers. It is widely accepted that for increased adoption of safety practices to occur, WHS systems need to be convenient, result in cost efficiencies and assist with meeting compliance and legislation requirements.

There is also a requirement to ensure that all workers are competent to undertake the tasks required, with a safety induction being critical to assist in this process. Consequently, enhancing the ease with which contractors can be inducted will assist growers.

With the increasing uptake of smart phone and tablet computer technologies by growers, this provides an opportunity to develop alternate approaches that may further streamline the process to improve WHS.

This project developed a Work Health and Safety (WHS) application (app) for use in smart phones (both i phone and android) and tablet computers, that will provide visual examples and summary information and visual examples of best practice hazard control for the common scenarios and risks that are known on cotton farms. Typically this will involve areas / facilities such as: fuel storage; chemical storage; workshops; pump stations; irrigation structures /channels; confined spaces; airstrips; farm traffic management systems; and machinery safety.

Growers will be able to cross reference best practice requirements from these areas/facilities in real-time and be able to rapidly ascertain issues that require attention. WHS information from these apps will then also be linked directly into the on-going development of the platform (as has been achieved with the Energy Calc Lite app that is currently under development for growers). This process will ensure growers can not only read but also have a visual example of what constitutes best practice and known (accepted) hazard control and will eliminate misinterpretation or any double handling of information as it can be integrated directly into their WHS records. Additionally, the approach will provide scope for further expansion into other WHS related issues over time.