The Menindee and Lower Darling Cotton Growing Association (MLD CGA) is one of a number of CGA organisation's formed throughout cotton growing areas in Australia by local growers and sponsored by Cotton Australia with the aims of;

1. To be a link between grower, community and industry.

2. To promote cotton production as a sustainable and responsible industry.

3. To be a source of information for members and the community.

CGA's do this by supporting events that are going on in their community and educating people within their district about the cotton industry, as well as promoting what the industry does, the growers and anything else on offer.

Objectives

This project has three key aspects:

1. Developing a school based traineeship for two students at Menindee central school. Traineeships run in conjunction with the Menindee Enterprise Park Education Services provides great options for students disadvantaged by isolation to access skills and training otherwise not available. It also encourages students to finish their year 11 and 12 studies and provides some full time employment.

2. Educating students studying high school level agriculture. Members of the Menindee and lower Darling CGA and Tandou LTD staff have offered their time to provide tours and awareness of cotton production. Additionally Tandou agronomists have offered to conduct training on chemical and spray application as well as advice on the school ag plot.

3. Educating and promoting the cotton industry to the general public (particularly Menindee, Broken Hill and Mildura regions) through a field day at Tandou.

The Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Cotton Growing Association (LM CGA) is one of a number of CGA organisation's formed throughout cotton growing areas in Australia by local growers and sponsored by Cotton Australia with the aims of; 1. To be a link between grower, community and industry. 2. To promote cotton production as a sustainable and responsible industry. 3. To be a source of information for members and the community. CGA's do this by supporting events that are going on in their community and educating people within their district about the cotton industry, as well as promoting what the industry does, the growers and anything else on offer.

This project aimed to increase the awareness of the significance of cotton production to the local economy of the Lachland and Murrumbidgee valley.Four bus trips were planned in this project but due to clashes only one trip followed the planned format.

Extra bus trips were planned but due to clashes they did not occur. High school students were able to participate in the Southern Cotton Expo on the 25th July with 32 Griffith High School students attending. This project paid for their transport and entry into this event. See attached photos.

Other target audiences were catered for in different ways. Researchers from NSW DPI Yanco, Wagga and CSU organised their own transport and completed a tour in early June.

Funds from this project enabled the CGA Expo to be held and provide an excellent network forum for growers, researchers and industry.

An awareness tour has been planned for early February for financial institutions from the MIA/CIA. This is in response to a request from some of the financial organisations.

To remain flexible in the format of these awareness tours is a point that future projects should take into account.

Verticillium wilt of cotton is caused by Verticillium dahliae, a soil-borne fungus that enters the roots and grows into the vascular system of the plant. Although the industry has been managing Verticillium wilt on cotton for years, a newly identified defoliating strain has been detected in Queensland and NSW.

Cotton Mealybugs have moved south from Central Queensland with confirmed sightings on the Darling Downs and in the Macintyre Valley in January & February 2017. As a new pest in these districts, 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.

The Cotton export market is highly competitive and when it comes to quality Australia needs to be the world's best. To realise this goal, the whole of the Australian Cotton supply chain must continuously improve its supply of premium upland cotton. Cotton spinning mills already recognise that Australian cotton has desirable fibre characteristics and low contamination. These attributes increase efficiency for spinners and they actively seek Australian cotton and are sometimes prepared to pay a premium. To maintain this reputation continuous improvement across the whole supply chain is essential. The Australian cotton industry and CSIRO have expanded investment in post-harvest cotton processing research. The aim is to discover ways of maintaining and enhancing the quality of cotton produced by Australian growers. Field to Fabric is a formal three day course run in Geelong, Victoria and has been attended by participants from the length and breadth of the supply chain. They have included Agronomists, Growers, Researchers, Ginners and even students studying design. The course provided participants with an opportunity to see firsthand how cotton is processed from a bale into fabric. At Geelong they have both full scale and miniature versions of the equipment used in cotton processing factories used overseas including drawing and carding machines, spinning frame, weaving machines, and dyeing facilities. Understanding how these processes occur helps participants understand the importance quality standards and how our actions impact on the chain. The Australian cotton industry will benefit from a focus on its customer's needs and a desire to exceed their expectations. . Participants receive the opportunity to interact with leading researchers on all aspects of the cotton production pipeline including global perspective, fibre properties, agronomy, picking, ginning, classing, marketing, yarn formation, fabric formation and dyeing and finishing. A strong emphasis is placed on the impacts of fibre quality on textile processing. Information is

presented by way of lectures and practical demonstrations using the modem commercial cotton spinning and processing equipment available at Geelong Facility. The course is constantly updated with all practical suggestions considered, to ensure that the course stays relevant and current.The' field to fabric 'course is one activity that the industry is undertaking to increase knowledge of cotton quality. It comes highly recommended by all who have participated.

The cotton industry relies on HVI measurements of cotton fibre quality for commercial trading. The current scoping study has confirmed the influence of cotton fibre length on the HVI Strength measurement i.e. cottons with longer fibre length characteristics appear to be artificially stronger in the HVI test than similar shorter cottons.

The methodology for this study utilised one cotton parent cut to produce a range of samples with different fibre length characteristics. Detailed single fibre testing confirmed that fibre strength and elongation values for the samples prepared at different lengths were the same i.e. the sample preparation technique of cutting the cotton sliver did not introduce any other unexpected damage of the cotton. The HVI measured strength values did vary between samples exhibiting a clear dependence on fibre length. Combining these two observations, it was concluded that the observed variation in the HVI strength values must be an artefact of the instrument test method.

The source of this error has been identified. The natural variation is the individual lengths of fibres with a cotton samples is such that in the HVI test some of the fibres will not fully span the distance between the two sets of breaking jaws. Thus the instrument will always have a tendance to slightly underestimate the breaking strength of the beard. Existing protocols to account of this through the current general calibration processes has been shown to be inadequate as the effect is dependent on the specific fibre length properties of individual cottons.

A first principle approach for correcting for this error was developed based on a detailed examination of both the internal operation of the HVI Strength Module and knowledge of the shape of the fibre length distribution. This resulted in the identification of a simple correction factor. Application of this correction factor removed the effect of fibre length on the corrected strength values.

This study also identified that the HVI Fibre Elongation values also contain a significant bias due to fibre length.

Adoption of the outcomes of this work will allow a more accurate determination of fibre strength and elongation which are important fibre quality parameters.

A newly identified defoliating strain of Verticillium wilt has been detected in Queensland and NSW. In this special CottonInfo ealert, we bring you the key things you need to know and do about this strain.

The objective of this project was to further investigate the relationship between cotton cellulose’s crystalline structure and the fibre’s tensile properties, as affected by chemical, genetic and/or environmental effects. In the end, because of time constraints, the variation in tensile properties as a result of these effects was not explored. Instead a select, well described group of fibre samples, controlled for micronaire, but with a wide range of tensile properties, in particular elongation, was selected for examination.

Whilst the application of IR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to analyse the structure of cellulose is not new, this study utilised techniques not previously applied in the examination of cotton’s crystallite structure. These included the application of the Australian Synchrotron SAXS/WAX beamline to aligned arrays of single mature and immature fibres and the use of a confocal micro-Raman microscope with a polarizing lens to identify and measure different areas within single fibres. More routine measurements of fibre bundles using Fourier Transform Infrared Attenuated Transmission Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and Raman spectroscopy were also made.

This project has identified new analytical techniques to survey the structural properties of single cotton fibres. Investigations using these techniques revealed that the cellulose unit cell ‘a’ and 002 lattice dimensions correlate closely with fibre tenacity and elongation as measured by Favimat, and that the 040 and 101 lattice dimensions correlate closely with fibre maturity as measured by Cottonscope. The clarity of these relationships was clear and surprising given that work by other researchers has previously not been able to separate mature, commercial samples on the basis of these structural properties.

Further survey work is required to confirm these relationships. Understanding the extent and variation of these structural properties in new cultivars and in relation to the biochemistry and genetics driving maturation of the cotton fibre cell wall will be important in developing better quality cotton fibre, particularly in terms of tenacity (strength) and elongation.

The summer edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, reports on the achievements of research and innovation, and takes a look at the future direction of cotton RD&E. This edition includes the outomes of recent assessments undertaken to measure the economic impact of research, which show high returns to growers: such as the CRDC-supported QDAF planting date trial in Central QLD, which is found to have delivered a benefit cost ratio as high as 17:1 (a $17 return to growers for every $1 invested).

Also in this edition, we shine the spotlight on the three CRDC-led projects under the Australian Government's Rural R&D for Profit programme - Smarter Irrigation for Profit; More Profit from Nitrogen; and Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture - and the key outcomes that they have acheived thus far. These include: the implementation of automated irrigation on farms, greater knowledge around N use and efficiency, and an understanding of the efficiency gains that could be achieved through the update of digital agricultural technologies.

Additionally, we provide an update on the continuing development of CRDC's Strategic Plan for 2018-23, and share the stories of the cotton growers and entrepreneurs who have taken part in our series of innovation and start-up science workshops and programs.

Refuge crops are used in the cotton industry to dampen the expression of resistance in Helicoverpa moths, and are an integral part in the use of transgenic cotton varieties; as such it is important to confirm refuge assumptions. This experiment sampled 11 Conventional Cotton and 11 Pigeon Pea fields in January and February to compare the survivorship of Helicoverpa spp. It was found that both the attractiveness and productivity of Pigeon Pea and Conventional Cotton refuges were highly variable. Pigeon pea was more attractive for egg lays when flowering, but this attractiveness did not translate into more moths. Conventional Cotton Fields which were attractive in January, remained attractive throughout the sampling period, and were more reliable at producing moths than other fields; however there were many fields that were consistently unattractive. Overall there was no difference in Helicoverpa productivity between Conventional Cotton and Pigeon Pea refuges, contrary to the established notion that Pigeon Pea is twice as effective as unsprayed conventional cotton.