There is considerable interest within the Australian cotton industry for new varieties with improved fibre quality that attract a price premium. Upland varieties that approach the long and fine quality attributes of Pima-type cottons are currently being produced by CSIRO Plant Industry (CPI).These are being tested by the Premium Cotton Initiative (PCI) which aims to identify and create markets for these new premium Upland cottons.

In this study a Long Staple Upland (LS) variety; Sicala 350B, produced by CSIRO Plant Industry, was blended in increasing proportions with Sicot 73, a standard Upland variety, also produced by CPI and subjected to spinning trials. The aim of the investigation was to examine the degree to which Sicala 350B could be used to improve the quality of standard Upland cotton in the production of fine count ring spun yarns. Three blend ratios of the two cottons; 80/20, 70/30 and 60/40 Sicot 73 and Sicala 350B, were spun into 10, 12 & 15 tex (Ne 60, 50, 40) ring spun carded yarns and examined against yarns spun from 100% Sicot 73 and Sicala 350B fibre. Processing efficiency and yarn quality results were examined in order to judge the potential of blending Sicala 350B with Upland cottons. Results indicated that a blend of 70/30 Sicot 73/ Sicala 350B did improve the yarn quality and processing performance when compared to 100% Sicot 73.

The most common definition of short fibre content (SFC) is the proportion by weight of fibre shorter than one half inch (12.7 mm). The value is of concern to textile manufacturers because it relates directly to the amount of waste extracted in combing and cotton with high values has a detrimental effect on the quality of yarn and fabric. Understanding the level of short fibre content (SFC) found in Australian cotton, particularly in new long staple, fine Australian Upland varieties is important in the current industry push towards high quality 'niche' cotton.

Two new instrument technologies for measuring fibre length distribution including SFC have been assessed in this project. The instruments are the aQura2 manufactured by Premier Evolvic, Coimbatore India and the Optical Fibre Diameter Analyser (OFDA) 4000 manufactured by BSC Electronics, Perth WA. Both automatically prepare multiple arrays of aligned fibres that are then scanned; one using a CCD camera and the other using a photo-electric method. The automatic arrangement and direct measurement of fibre arrays potentially enables more accurate assessment of the length distribution in a sample and therefore of the SFC.

During 2002 and 2003 the Australian Cotton Industry through the then CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology Division with the support of the Australian Cotton Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) and the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) conducted a survey of 31 international and domestic spinning mills to determine what their needs and perceptions were of Australian cotton. Spinning mills in Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Korea and Australia were surveyed. This survey [1] found that Australian cotton was generally well received with all countries rating neps and Micronaire, along with short fibre content as properties that needed improvement. The low level of contamination, colour, grade, spinning ability and staple length of Australian cotton created the best impressions.

The information collected by the survey was very valuable from a marketing perspective and assisted in shaping directions in research from breeding and growing through to ginning and classing.

In 2007 a further survey was carried out by Technopak (a management consulting firm in India) on behalf of the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) and ACSA. Thirty four companies in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, India and Pakistan were surveyed. This survey’s [2] findings were similar to the findings made in the previous survey conducted in 2002/03.

The aims of the current survey described in this report were to:

1. Review / benchmark the perceptions of Australian cotton against baseline data collected in the 2002/03 survey.

2. Identify / quantify potential emerging trends with regards to raw fibre / textile demand.

3. Quantify mills’ value perception of various licensing / branding programmes (e.g. Cotton USA/BMP Cotton / Supima etc.)

4. Identify points of differentiation / value perception of Australian cotton versus other cotton origins and fibres.

5. Establish the demand potential for higher quality Australian cotton.

Thirty five companies that purchase Australian cotton and a management consulting firm were interviewed, during 2009 and 2010, in regard to its quality in yarn production. A survey-interview approach, which entails person-to-person interviews conducted around a set of scripted questions, was used. Spinning companies from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong/China, India and Indonesia were surveyed as well as the last remaining cotton spinning company in Australia. The survey consisted of a series of background questions about each spinning company’s production, raw fibre use and spinning facilities followed by a series of more open-end questions about the quality of Australian cotton fibre. Information gathered during the survey interviews was enhanced by objective measurement of fibre samples gathered from bale lay-downs in mills of more than half the spinning companies surveyed.

As expected the 30-39 Ne yarn count range was the most important for the spinner’s surveyed, accounting for 42% of their production, followed by the <30 Ne yarn count, accounting for 39% of the production and the 40-59 Ne yarn count, accounting for 15% of the production, with 4% in the >60 Ne yarn count range. Australian cotton made up 32% of the blend in the 40-59 Ne range, 19% in the 30-39 Ne range and 5% in the <30 Ne range. There was negligible use of Australian cotton in yarn counts >60 Ne, with this market dominated by US Pima and Egyptian cotton. However with the price and shrinking of Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton there is a potential for Long Staple Upland cottons to be used in greater quantities in the 50-70 Ne count range providing they meet certain specifications. It is felt that this is an area where the Australian Long Staple Upland (ALS) fibre could be used;

supported by the fact that the surveys demonstrated significant usage of the premium Upland SJV Ultima fibre in the 60-80 Ne market.

Despite the range of spinning systems and yarns produced in the spinning mills surveyed, the average impression of Australian cotton fibre properties was quite consistent. All countries rated neps and short fibre content as properties that needed improvement. The low level of contamination and stickiness, colour grade, spinning ability and staple length of Australian cotton created the best impressions.

Whilst it is difficult to be accurate about the exact proportion of Australian cotton that meets preferred specifications, from the 2009/10 bale lay-down test results it can be said that in general less than 50% of Australian cotton bales met spinner’s preferences with regards to short fibre content and less than a third of Australian cotton bales met spinner’s preferences with regards to nep values. Australian cotton was better in regard to Micronaire, strength, length and uniformity.

As far as contracted specifications are concerned, US Upland cotton from the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) cotton was still superior to competitive growths particularly in terms of strength and Micronaire, with Micronaire values typically lower and occurring in a narrower band of values. Australian cotton was ranked second after SJV with staple length and grade similar to SJV. Encouragingly, Australian cotton scored particularly well for key non-contracted specifications; particularly contamination, trash content and spinning ability where it was considered vastly superior to competing growths.

In regards to licensing programmes, product quality, marketability and traceability of product were the three most important characteristics of a branded raw cotton product, followed by social responsibility and environmental credentials, according to survey respondents. If these characteristics are translated into consumer brand recognition, which subsequently generates demand pull for a licensed product, then barriers to participation such as legal/compliance costs, increased paperwork and cost of raw material are negated.

Overall, the preferred method of bale packaging was clearly cotton bags, followed by polyethylene film, jute/hessian and lastly woven polypropylene. Plastic bale strapping was considered the most suitable method to tie bales followed by wire ties and metal straps.

Across all markets, Casual Attire was clearly identified as the key product growth category for both downstream textile demand and raw cotton demand. Street attire and Home Textiles also showed moderate demand growth. Inner attire and Sports attire showed strong overall demand growth; however their cotton usage was low, primarily due to replacement by manmade performance fibres. Formal/Business wear showed the lowest overall textile demand with cotton being replaced by easy care manmade fibres.

Across allmarkets, Casual Attire was clearly identified as the key product growth category for both downstream textile demand and raw cotton demand. Street attire and Home Textiles also showed moderate demand growth. Inner attire and Sports attire showed strong overall demand growth; however their cotton usage was low, primarily due to replacement by manmade performance fibres. Formal/Business wear showed the lowest overall textile demand with cotton being replaced by easy care manmade fibres.

Across all product categories, and across all markets, comfort was clearly identified as the most important textile property by survey respondents. Handle and breathability were also considered important. Interestingly, within the Home Textiles segment, natural attributes and eco-credentials were seen as more important than in other market segments.

This Guide provides you with a comprehensive summary of the key cotton crop protection issues, and is brought to you by CRDC and the Australian cotton industry's joint extension program, CottonInfo.

Excess moisture on the crop before harvest can have detrimental effects on the

modern harvest process in terms of picking efficiency and the ability to store seedcotton

safely and without degrading fibre quality. Modern ginning is also highly

automated and productive, and an excess or deficiency of moisture has significant

effects on processing efficiency, fibre quality and gin turn-out.

Ginning in Australia starts with seed-cotton delivered as a module to the gin. The

module is opened by a series of beaters and the seed-cotton transported by air

through ducts to one or a series of pre-cleaners that remove large trash, e.g. sticks,

stones, unopened bolls, before the gin. If the seed-cotton is too wet pre-cleaning

may be preceded by passage through a drying tower or chamber where the seedcotton

is dried with large volumes of dry heated air. Drying wet cotton improves the

cleaning ability of the seed-cotton and improves classing grade. At the gin lint is

separated from the seed after which it travels by air through one or two lint cleaners

for further cleaning and preparation. Moisture can be added to dry cotton prior to the

gin stand at either the pre-cleaning stage, although addition at this point is not usual

in Australia, or after the conveyor distributor above the gin stand, which although

more typical in modern gins is not standard in Australia. Lint from the gin stands is

consolidated at the battery condenser at which moisture is typically added via sprays

or humidified air to ease the high pressure required to press each bale and to

improve gin turn-out and bale weight.

This report reviews current literature and Australian industry behaviour with regards

to the management of moisture in cotton from harvesting through to the bale storage

in warehouses. Its aim is to provide ginners with an up-to-date and concise

collection of information on the subject of measuring and managing moisture in

cotton during early stage processing and shipment.

Publications reviewed for this report include:

- A number of popular monographs on fibre and cotton fibre properties;

- Beltwide Cotton Conference Proceedings;

- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service

(ARS) publications and project descriptions including the most recent Cotton

Ginners Handbook (December 1994);

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- Papers from peer reviewed journals including the Journal of Cotton Science,

Textile Research Journal, Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural

Engineers (ASAE), now American Society of Agricultural and Biological

Engineers (ASABE), and the Journal of the Textile Institute;

- US patents describing recently introduced moisture sensors and moisture

management systems;

- Trade journal articles and opinion pieces from The Australian Cotton Grower,

Delta Farm Press and The Cotton Gin and Oil Mill Press;

- Marketing and technical information published by businesses that supply plant

and technology for moisture measurement and replenishment in gins.

Information on Australian industry behaviour and attitudes toward moisture

measurement and restoration was gathered as part of; the Best Management

Practice (BMP) Gin Audits of 28 of the 34 gins operable in Australia, conducted

earlier in 2007; the Australian Cotton Industry Ginning Survey conducted on 17 of the

34 gins operated in 2006; plus collected notes from discussions with growers, pickers

and ginners over the last five years.

The first section describes current knowledge of the physical and chemical

relationships between cotton and water and the generic methods and standards used

to measure cotton fibre (lint), seed-cotton and fuzzy seed moisture. The next three

sections describe the effects of moisture on fibre quality at harvesting and module

building; during cleaning and ginning; and in the bale at pressing and warehousing.

The last section describes the range of commercial sensors and systems currently

available to measure and control moisture in cotton.

Within highly mechanised agricultural productions systems such as the Australian cotton industry, operational energy inputs represent a significant cost to growers. Overall, it has been estimated that machinery may contribute 40-50% of the cotton farm input costs. In this project, a framework to assess the operational energy inputs of various production systems and the relative performance of a grower within an adopted system is developed. This framework is later implemented and incorporated into a user-friendly energy assessment tool (a Betta version web-enabled online energy calculator, EnergyCalc).

EnergyCalc divides energy usage of cotton production into six broadly distinct processes, which includes fallow, planting, in-crop, irrigation, harvesting and post harvest. This enables both the total energy inputs and the energy usage of each production processes to be assessed. In addition to the default energy use data provided, the software also allows the user to enter their own site-specific data so that they can benchmark their performance with peer farmers and best practices to identify opportunities for reduced energy costs.

Seven case studies are presented. It is found that overall, the total energy inputs for these farms was significantly influenced by the management and operation methods adopted, and ranged from 3.7-15.2 GJ/ha of primary energy, at a cost of $80-310/ha and 275-1404 kg CO2 equivalent/ha greenhouse gas emissions. Among all the farming practices, irrigation water energy use is found to be the highest and is typically 40-60% of total energy costs (wherever water is pumped). Energy use of the harvesting operation is also significant, accounting for 20% of overall direct energy use. If a farmer moves from conventional tillage to minimum tillage, there is a potential saving of around 10% of the fuel used on the farm. Compared with cotton, energy used in the production of other irrigated crops on these farms is generally half of cotton. This is due to less intensive management required for these crops, leading to the lower number of farming operations (passes) carried out (generally about 10, in comparison with 17-18 for cotton) and reduced irrigation requirements.

The opportunities for further work are also identified. EnergyCalc is currently being populated with generalised performance data obtained from various sources which may not be specific and accurate to the Australian conditions. Opportunities therefore exist to further test and improve the accuracy of the model. Wide promotion and use of this tool is also critical. Conceptually, EnergyCalc may also be extended to other Australian rural industries to conduct on-farm energy audits and recommend strategies to reduce energy input costs. This will provide an opportunity for co-investment from these industries for continuing development of the tool.

The commonly used Micronaire value for cotton is related to both fibre fineness and

maturity. 'RDC and the CCC CRC have been funding work at CSIRO Textile and Fibre

Technology to develop new technologies to measure fibre finess and maturity separately

i.e. to overcome the deficiency in the micronaire measurement. One difficulty is that there

are no internationally recognized standard cotton samples that can be used for calibrating

new instrumentation. Researchers at the CSDA and Texas Tech University have tackled this

problem by coordinating the development of a standardised set of cotton samples specifically

for this purpose.

The broad aim of the project is that CSIRO would collaborate with the two US groups and act

as a third independent test laboratory to validate the procedures and results obtained in the

US. This is particularly important as it is envisaged that the set of well characterised cottons

with their assigned values of fibre maturity and fineness will last for in excess of 10 years as

the primary calibration internationally for all other 'new' techniques for measuring cotton

fineness and maturity.

The project has been extremely successful. Working in collaboration with the US groups the

Australian initiative has identified a significant systematic error in the results obtained by the

US groups. The cause of the error has been identified. It relates to the limited resolution of

the techniques being employed to image the cotton fibres. Further an alternative approach

has been identified to overcome this problem.

CSIRO has established an effective breeding program that continues to deliver high yielding and high performing varieties containing transgenic traits for more sustainable and profitable insect and weed control. To stay competitive globally, new varieties must be developed more rapidly and efficiently and this can only be achieved through the adoption of biotechnology and modern molecular marker techniques. Over the last 15 years the Canberra Biotech team has augmented the efforts of CSIRO's breeders to allow the introduction of Monsanto's Ingard, Roundup Ready, and later Bollgard II and Roundup Ready Flex traits into elite germplasm that has had a significant impact on the economics and environmental footprint of cotton. As the conventional variety suite is expanded each new variety must be converted by repeated backcrossing to BG II/RRF (or any new transgenic trait introduced into the program) and this requires extensive molecular screening to follow the traits (all three genes segregate independently) through segregating populations. This is carried out in Canberra by high throughput biochemical and DNA screening methods that detect the Bt protein or site of insertion of the transgene, effectively molecular markers for each of the traits. Molecular markers for disease, yield or quality determinants could be used in a similar way in our conventional breeding to reduce population sizes before extensive field testing is needed and would accelerate CSIRO's output if the right markers could be found. Some markers reportedly linked to good fibre quality have been published, but we need to establish that they are relevant to our germplasm. Yield is also critical to cotton and if we had a better understanding of the genetic determinants of yield we might more effectively select for varieties with both high yield and quality or manipulate yield by GM to keep Australian cotton ahead of its competitors.

CRDC's Annual Operating Plan for 2014-15 (AOP): the second annual operating plan under the CRDC's Strategic R&D Plan 2013-18.

This CD brings together all of the research, publications, tools and key scientific references from thirteen years of work on the National Riparian Lands Research and Development Program onto one handy, easy to access product. The material is organized against eight management issues for those users that want to understand a particular riparian issue and how the science that has been undertaken supports the recommended practical guidelines.