I fully appreciate the opportunity I have had to participate in such a Program and

hence I extend my thanks to my sponsors, Cotton Research and Development

Corporation, Auscott and Cotton Seed Distributors. I particularly am grateful that

they continued to support me as I moved away from cotton. The cotton industry

of Australia is fortunate to possess such organisations that see the value in

'grooming' young leaders to tackle rural issues.

My aim is to be involved in the cotton industry in Australia again in the future,

perhaps as part of my 'extra curricular activities', when the right opportunity

presents itself. It would be great to put some of my leadership learnings into

practice at some level within the Australian cotton industry.

In conclusion I want to list six key messages Ito0k away from one session we

had specifically on leadership that I found quite constructive and am aiming to

putinto my everyday thoughts:

I. Plan, Plan, Plan

2. Make sound and timely decisions

3. Understand strengths and weaknesses

4. Lead by example

5. Keep your team informed

6. Consequences are real

Black root rot, caused by Thielaviopsis basicola, is a significant disease threat to cotton, especially in cooler areas and seasons. In just over a decade it has come to affect more than half of the cotton farms in southern Queensland and New South Wales and it is currently found to be present in every surveyed farm. While management strategies based on cultural practices can reduce the severity of the disease and of crop losses, yield can still drop by up to 40% annually and further loss can occur due to increased susceptibility of black root rot- infected plants to other diseases. Thus, there is considerable scope for new disease control methods based on an improved knowledge of the biology of the pathogen and its interactions with cotton. The black root rot fungus occurs as strains that are specific to particular host plants, and must establish a special relationship with living cells of the host root before root rotting can occur. This suggests that there are highly specific biochemical and genetic interactions between the fungus and cotton that are involved in the infection progress. The longer term aim of our multidisciplinary group of researchers is to identify key factors in the molecular interactions between T. basicola and cotton roots, to determine whether such interactions could be exploited in disease management. Identification of host-specific interactions during infection could be used to find components of resistance that will increase the efficiency of breeding varieties with enhanced resistance.

In the seed project completed in June 2007, our group developed methods for investigating the interactions between the fungal pathogen and its cotton host, as well as tools for genetic manipulation of the pathogen and for proteome analyses of both the pathogen and cotton roots. The main outcomes in technique developments were (1) the establishment of a genetic transformation protocol for the production of a large number of fungal mutants and the establishment of a procedure to select those mutants affected only in their pathogenicity towards cotton, (2) the establishment of extraction protocols for the purification of both T. basicola and cotton root proteins, (3) the development of a method to produce two dimensional protein electrophoresis maps for both T. basicola and cotton roots, which resulted in successful production of reference protein maps for both the fungus and cotton roots and (4) the development and optimisation of reliable systems for the study of T. basicola interactions with different host plants, which allowed the comparison of the interactions of cotton with pathogenic versus non-pathogenic strains of T. basicola.

The techniques developed in the seed project will be adopted in current and future research with the aim of identifying factors responsible for changes in pathogenicity, especially those involved in host-specific interactions. In addition, the protein maps (total cell proteins, also called proteome) will be used in order to identify proteins (and thus, genes) involved in the infection process and to find if the disease could be blocked by reducing plant stimulants that enhance the pathogen, or by inducing plant resistance to the disease. The long term objectives of this project were to find out whether there are host-specific triggers to certain stages of the pathogen infection and whether it is feasible to exploit key steps in the infection process for the development of resistance or other control measures, such as soil amendments.

The development of tools in this seed project allow research into the T. basicola-cotton interactions, which could lead to discoveries towards ways of controlling the disease and thus increasing cotton yields, by either breeding cotton towards disease resistance or by producing more effective soil amendments against T. basicola.

An efficient and world standard computing system at ACRI has benefited all research

programs through their use in data processing, storage, statistical analysis, modeling and the development of end-user packages. In addition the network located at ACRI provide printing services and communication which includes e-mail and website. These services have underpinned the quality of research conducted at ACRI and personnel rely heavily on continued and uninterrupted access to computing support to this IT. In instances many initiatives for the cotton industry instigated by researchers and extension officers rely solely on access to the computing support provided by this project. These services are imperative to the proper functioning of ACRI institute and is separate to IT overheads provided by CSIRO and NSW DPI.

This project enabled ACRI to operate its computing services as a whole. Supporting IT in this way is the most efficient and cost effective means for the cotton research effort at ACRI.

This support:

- provides ACRI with cutting edge IT technologies making it a world class research facility for dedicated cotton research.

- goes beyond generic services provided by research institutions based in capital cities

- ensures timely access to IT services at ACRI.

- avoids duplication and fragmentation of IT resources for research activities by different institutions based at ACRI.

- ensures that ACRI has an IT champion in place leveraging significant resources from the CSIRO and NSW DPI.

- enables cotton researchers at ACRI to focus on research alone and not on IT issues.

This project employed Tony Pfeiffer, an experienced Network manager permanently based at ACRI to enhance operation of IT at ACRI. While Tony is employed by CSIRO he is available to all people at ACRI to provide immediate computing assistance. He works closely with CSIRO IT and NSW Department of Primary Industries to coordinate further investment in computing services and infrastructure at the site. With the increase in computing power and staff at ACRI, the need for sustained technical support directly to the user has expanded. The systems manager now supports 63 CSIRO, 49 NSW Ag and 10 others computer users. The computer systems manager also supports the network servers (backup and communication) and phone system at ACRI.

As a result of cessation of funding to ACRI costing to CSIRO, NSW DPI and Cotton CRC was undertaken. In future researchers and other members of ACRI will cost the unique and enhanced computing services provided at ACRI as part of their project budgets.

12 Main recommendations were made in consultation with panel and research institutes around the major future challenges for the cotton industry. These included:

*Drought and reduced research funding

*need to prioritise

*Staff resources

-retirements,capacity retention,succession planning

-winding up of CRC for Tropical Plant Protection

-infrastructure issues

-geographical constraints on research on fusarium wilt

Floodplains along river systems of the northern Murray-Darling Basin contain a diversity of wetland habitats, maintained through highly variable patterns of flood inundation. However, in catchments such as the Border Rivers, the development of irrigation farms on floodplain areas and subsequent flow regulation has reduced the extent and frequency of floods and led to a Due to the flow variability of the system, irrigators use on-farm water storages to store water until required for irrigation. With the decline in natural wetlands, these water storages may now represent a key form of artificial aquatic habitat within the Border Rivers. A conceptual model was developed to explore the drivers affecting the biodiversity of on-farm storages. It is believed that ring tanks with a greater selection of habitat types and more complex morphology will support a more abundant and diverse animal community. Potential management options to improve storage biodiversity include adding coarse woody debris to the banks, planting aquatic vegetation and limiting recycled tailwater to only one storage on the property.

AWARDS SEASON, To Plant or not to Plant, Nitrogen Trial in a Nutshell

The topic of this travel fellowship was the water-energy-emissions nexus in irrigated agriculture. This fellowship allowed me to meet with world class researchers working on various aspects of this topic, extending my network of industry contacts. A key benefit was the exposure to the latest research and ideas, which will provide an opportunity for these to potentially be adapted to the Australian situation. Similar research carried out as part of my PhD studies is pertinent to the major challenges facing irrigators both in Australia and internationally. Given the current global focus on water and food shortages in conjunction with a drive to reduce emissions, this fellowship provided a timely opportunity to explore the links between these factors in irrigated agriculture.

The countries visited were Turkey, Israel, the UK and US. The irrigation industry in each of these countries is very different in terms of scale, technology, legislation and state of research. In Turkey I met with researchers from three universities, several of whom were working on energy in irrigation for pumping. Discussions with Dr Bilal Acar and Dr Ramazan T opak were useful in terms of understanding their approach to quantifying energy consumption.

In Israel, the highly technological state of irrigation and water resources management was evident everywhere. I had the opportunity to travel from the relatively fertile north to the extremely arid south of the country, witnessing throughout the abrupt changes in landscape and methods of adaptation. The high input irrigation sector was explored in nurseries/greenhouses, horticultural, viticultural and broad acre production systems.

In the UK, my experiences focussed on water and carbon accounting and climate change impacts, where there is a lot of interest in these areas, both on the part of researchers but also driven by consumer demand through supermarkets as well as government departments.

The USA gave me the chance to discuss the issues surrounding biofuel development, as well as to meet with several irrigators to explore their methods of coping as water availability declines. A particular highlight was meeting with Professor David Pimentel at Cornell University, who was the pioneer of research into energy in ecosystems and agriculture in the 1970s, and continues his research to this day.

1

This travel fellowship has allowed me to both contribute my ideas and learn from others regarding the issues facing irrigated agriculture internationally, and to explore the potential impacts of climate change on this vital sector of the agricultural industry. A better understanding of these challenges will help with the development of strategies to adapt to changes brought about by a changing climate and related policies.

6th Pacific Rim Conference, held at the Fairmount Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC, Canada from

the 30th of October to the 3rd of November 2005.

The poster, 'Evaluation of border cell number and Cry protein expression from root tips of

Gossypium hirsutum(Oliver G. G. Knox and Gupta V. S. R. Vadakattu), was well received and

generated plenty of interest amongst the 90 attending delegates as well as some interesting

debate. The poster presentation has been converted to a short paper for inclusion in

the conterence proceedings, due for publication April 2006.

A projects overview 2006 -07 of the Social and Institutional Research Program

The Australian cotton industry has been able to remain competitive in a global commodity market due to a number of factors, including: its ability to produce high quality cotton, grow world-leading yields, maintain low levels of contamination, and provide reliable shipments. Increasingly these advantages are being eroded, as competing growths improve their yield and quality, and pay more attention to managing contamination. Furthermore, the introduction of transgenic cotton varieties, and the increased speed with which technology can be adapted and adopted has lead to improved yields world-wide. It is likely that Australia's competitive advantages will not be as large, nor last as long as they used to. To maintain its place as a preferred supplier, the Australian cotton industry needs to continually improve on its performance in the areas noted above, and ideally, further differentiate its product so that it remains the product of choice in a discerning market.