Cotton Mealybugs have moved south from Central Queensland with confirmed sightings on the Darling Downs and in the Macintyre Valley in January and February 2017. This funding enabled the district growers to engage in both a webinar /and or workshops to gain knowledge and understanding of this new pest, with the imminent threat of their movement the Gwydir and Namoi valleys, the CottonInfo Team acted quickly with a range of communications. Mealybug workshops were conducted in Dalby and Goondiwindi, however to reach a larger geographical area a webinar was thought to be a suitable extension tool. John James, Director High Impact Training was engaged to provide support in developing and running of the webinar.

This research sought to determine why differences in dye uptake may occur between cottons with near identical fibre properties.

The aim of this project was to improve understanding of cotton dyeing by identifying properties affecting dye uptake aside from those routinely measured such as maturity and micronaire. This knowledge could help reduce the occurrence of off-shade dyeings, which can result in costly re-dyes or batch losses for mills and may dissuade repeat purchase from the source as the cotton may be perceived as lower in quality. This project had a focus on Australian cotton in an effort to maintain a good reputation in international textile markets. The prevailing conclusion throughout the experiments conducted in this project was that cotton base colour is the factor primarily influencing dyed colour, whether that be the colour of the raw fibre or the colour after treatment. The key properties influencing raw fibre colour were found to be fineness, reflectance, and yellowness. The biggest impacts for the cotton industry from this project relate to mills, with the work highlighting a need for more extensive colour measurement and a revision of fibre selection criteria. The work also demonstrates the importance of consistency in pretreatments and proper rotation of cotton in storage.

Mills select cotton on the basis of similar HVI properties, yet despite this control there are still cases where dyed colour differs on a time/batch basis. Inconsistent dyeing can be costly for mills in terms of both time and money, and may deter mills from repeat purchase from the source due to perception of lower quality. This project had a focus on Australian cotton in an effort to maintain a good reputation in international textile markets.

Verticillium dahliae is a highly destructive fungal pathogen that causes an annual global product loss in cotton of 20%. Currently there are no effective treatments for verticillium wilt, but bioinoculants might provide an environmentally friendly solution. This project aimed to: develop methods to study the interactions between the cotton plant Gossypium hirsutella, the pathogen V. dahliae and a rhizopheric competent fungal symbiont, Beauveria bassiana. To quantify root colonisation by the pathogen and/or symbiont in single or multiple inoculations, and to identify patterns in peptides secreted by the plant, pathogen and symbiont during single or multiple inoculations. Soil was replaced by vermiculite and the plants were cultivated using Hoagland’s nutrient solution allowing complete control over their nutrient availability and uptake. This study found that there was no significant difference in the susceptibility of two cotton cultivars Sicot F-1 and Siokra 1-4. Results indicated that pre-infection with B. bassiana cause no interference with V. dahliae’s ability to colonises and infect the plants. B, bassiana did however supress the infection of a contaminating unidentified Aspergillus. Post-infection of B. bassiana did have a significant effect on the colony forming units of V. dahliae when it was introduced as a pre-infection, this interaction also occurred when the fungi’s roles were reversed. A significant difference in peptide secretion profiles was observed when comparing UV chromatographs from different treatments.

Twice annually, the full CottonInfo team contingent meet to plan activities and receive professional development. The Cotton Info team meeting has three key objectives:

1. AOP action planning to take into account the seasonal developments and to clarify the next level of activity planning to achieve the objectives of the Annual Operating Plan

2. CottonInfo team input into the 2018-23 Strategic Plan development

3. Professional development in the area of intellectual property considerations for extension

Resourcing was sort to provide an enabling environment for the meeting and to engage an independent facilitator. This allowed all team members to focus on contribution to the activities on the agenda.

The summer edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, brings you stories about the people who are passionate about the cotton industry and how, with added support from CRDC and organisations such as Cotton Australia and Auscott, we are helping them achieve their potential. From researchers, PhD students, Nuffield scholars and the Australian Rural Leadership Program participants, CRDC is building capacity and resilience within the industry.

This edition also includes a focus on climate change research within the cotton industry. CRDC-supported RD&E has been addressing how a changing climate will affect future cotton growing, ensuring industry preparedness for future sustainability. Preparedness is also key to biosecurity and protecting the cotton industry from exotic pest threats. CRDC has been engaging with fellow plant industries to form a cohesive and collaborative front to future incursions. The cotton industry, with Plant Health Australia, recently ran Exercise Blueprint – an incursion scenario focused on cotton blue disease, a priority pest for the industry. It showed that communication is vital in the immediate period following the discovery of an exotic pest, and the industry is well placed to disseminate information and follow a clear management plan.

Australia is no stranger to successfully dealing with exotic incursions and owes much to the quality of the research that provides detailed information about threats before they reach our soil. We also owe much to the growers who continue to support researchers and trials on their farms to improve disease and pest preparedness. In this edition we catch up with Darling Downs cotton grower Graham Clapham, who in his words, ‘became famous for all the wrong reasons’ but is now highly respected and appreciated for all the right reasons. Graham had the first identified case of Fusarium wilt on his property in 1993 and has been helping researchers and the industry overcome its effects ever since.

The 2018–19 year marked the first year under the CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan 2018–23. As such, the 2018–19 year marked a crucial year for CRDC. It ensured that the first round of strategic RD&E investments under this plan help set the future direction for the Australian cotton industry – one of innovation and impact through increased commercialisation and digital transformation.

To achieve this, during 2018–19 Australian cotton growers and the Australian Government co-invested $24.1 million through CRDC into cotton RD&E, across 285 projects and in collaboration with 116 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.

The Australian Cotton Industry is now in the midst of dealing with both glyphosate resistant and tolerant weeds in the cotton system. Glyphosate, the world’s most important herbicide continues to be relied on as the primary source of weed control. The sustainability of this herbicide is dependent upon the ability to incorporate it into a diverse system and prevent the introduction and spread of glyphosate resistant weeds in the farming system.

Previous research has demonstrated how glyphosate resistant and tolerant weeds can be managed in cotton systems. This information has been packaged into management guides in WEEDpak for three species: flaxleaf fleabane, feathertop Rhodes grass and glyphosate-resistant awnless barnyard grass. This information is designed to help growers understand the ecology of these weeds as well as their management in crop and fallow. As more information is compiled from current research, these management packages will continue to be updated.

An updated version of the online glyphosate resistance risk assessment tool has been developed. This new version enables users to determine their resistance risk for grass and broadleaf weeds independently. Users can also compare different strategies for resistance prevention/management with greater efficiency.

An in-depth understanding of triggers for emergence of a number of key species, in particular awnless barnyard grass, feathertop Rhodes grass, fleabane and sowthistle has been gained. This research has shown that the smaller seeded summer grasses and asteraceae (fleabane and ) can emerge within 2-3 days of rainfall events of 10 mm or greater. This has contributed to their success in glyphosate based farming systems, and it important that fields are monitored soon after rainfall event so the control measures can be conducted in a timely manner.

Studies have been conducted on how to manage survivors of glyphosate application. This is an important part of the CMP for Roundup Flex cotton, and weed management in general. Results from trials on fleabane and awnless barnyard grass have shown that double knock applications with either paraquat or glufosinate as the second knockdown herbicide are most effective. Particularly as these plants are often larger, and well past optimal spraying time.

Minimising the numbers of weed seeds entering the seed bank is critical for sustainable weed management. Preliminary experiments on reducing seed viability have shown that this is achievable when plants have past optimal spraying time. Results have shown the glufosinate was most effective on awnless barnyard grass and feathertop Rhodes grass, and 2,4-D+picloram was most effective on fleabane. However, fleabane and feathertop Rhodes grass in particular are able to regrow and produce viable seeds. At this stage research indicates that an attempt to reduce seed viability is a short-term option until plants can be subsequently controlled with more robust methods.

Field and glasshouse trials that provide data to a spatial simulation model has been developed to determine the feasibility of eradicating patches of glyphosate-resistant awnless barnyard grass. Results to this point have shown that species such as awnless barnyard grass that are predominately selfing, have a relatively short seed bank life and are not transported by wind can be effectively managed at a patch level. Long-term management strategies that include two non-glyphosate tactics in crop and fallow have been successful in significantly reducing the seed bank and the number of emergences in the short-term. As the trial continues, the added benefits of extra eradication tactics will be determined for their effect on driving down the seed bank.

Controlling Volunteers * Time of Planting - Some Interesting Results *Plant X

The Cotton Field to Fabric Training program was initiated in 2005 with the main aim of educating and providing information to the various production sectors in the Australian cotton industry on the needs and requirements of both domestic and international spinning companies. Understanding spinners’ requirements is of utmost importance in assisting the Australian cotton industry in continuing to deliver quality cotton and maintaining a competitive position in the international market. This program currently has three initiatives which provided people in the cotton production pipeline the opportunity to gain valuable and current information and understanding of the entire cotton production pipeline; from the field to the manufacturing of fabric. The three initiatives are the: 1) Cotton Field to Fabric Course held in Geelong, 2) Cotton Field to Fabric Roadshow and 3) Field to Fabric in Schools course.

There is considerable interest within the Australian cotton industry to develop Long Staple Upland cotton (nominally referred to as ALS) varieties to obtain the high premiums paid for fine long and strong staple fibre which can be used for the production of yarns in the premium yarn count range. Previous commercial processing trials have shown that it is possible to produce fine count ring spun yarns for knitting or weaving, although the yarns produced varied considerably in quality and processing performance. The main object of this study was to determine what the LS fibre is capable of when processed by a commercial spinning mill, with the fibre quality within stipulated specifications. A further object of this study was to compare fibre quality and turnout of LS cotton ginned using saw and roller ginning systems.