This project is to facilitate grower participation in CA Grower panels to provide research development and extension investment advice.The Cotton Australia grower RD&E Advisory Panels function in providing practical advice on research, development and extension (RD&E) needs and priorities within the industry. This advice forms important guidance to CRDC for strategic R&D planning, annual operation planning, development of Expressions of Interest and resultant CRDC decisions as to project investments.

Cotton Australia facilitates 4 advisory panels that are aligned with the CRDC strategic plan priorities. The panels consist of up to 40 grower, consultant or ginning Member Representatives from every cotton growing region in Australia.

Despite its widespread occurrence, the genetics of fusarium wilt resistance in cotton has still not been clearly elucidated. This is a result, in part, of the complex phenotyping involved, but also, in some cotton growing regions, the compounding effects of root knot nematode interactions with the severity of fusarium wilt symptoms. More importantly, the genetic relationships among fusarium wilt pathogens around the world are complex, suggesting that a single genetic model may not be applicable universally. To elucidate the genetics of fusarium wilt resistance against Australian fusarium wilt pathogens (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp vasinfectum VCGs 00011 & 00012), two genetic families have been used. The purpose of this paper is to present evidence that G. siurtianum and G.barbadense harbour genes of interest for the genetic improvement of cultivated cotton.

Transgenic cotton has proved to be valued by Australian cotton growers and over 80% of all cotton grown is Bollgard II. The benefits, largely accrued through a reduction in the use of insecticides, have resulted in some cost savings but markedly improved environmental outcomes. A return to a state where 10 sprays per season are required for Helicoverpa control would be unwelcome. Yet the industry is presently reliant on only one transgenic insecticidal variety of cotton - Bollgard II. Resistance to the toxins Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab present in this variety is the greatest challenge to transgenic cotton’s long term sustainability.

Work by CSIRO Entomology has shown that resistance to Cry1Ac remains rare as we have not yet encountered Cry1Ac resistance in the Bt monitoring program. However, we know that an uncommon but potent form of resistance exists in H. armigera populations in China, and it is prudent to assume it is present within Australian populations. Of more immediate concern is the presence of Cry2Ab resistance in Australian populations of this species. We have shown that a variant form (an allele) of a single gene confers resistance to this toxin in H. armigera. That allele is present at a frequency of four in every thousand copies of the gene so it is certainly available to respond to selection.

Since isolating this form of resistance in 2002, CSIRO Entomology’s ‘Bt group’ in Canberra and Narrabri has been studying aspects of the resistance to evaluate the threat it poses to the Australian cotton industry. This project has contributed much to our understanding of the Bt resistance. In addition we possessed a laboratory strain called TABOC, that was selected to be resistant to Cry2Ab, and we also examined its characteristics and compared them to the field-derived form of resistance.

We examined five of the seventeen separate isolations of Cry2Ab resistance in H. armigera to determine their genetic relationship. For all isolations tested to date, resistance was found to result from alleles at the one locus. As the characteristics such as growth and survival rates of larvae were similar for the remaining isolates, we speculate that that they too may be the same form of resistance. In contrast, the resistance present in the laboratory-selected strain TABOC proved to be the result of variants at differing genes or perhaps a constellation of genes.

We examined the performance of a representative (SP15) of the field-derived form of Cry2Ab resistance when fed Bollgard II. Because SP15 is susceptible to Cry1Ac, it performed poorly on younger cotton, but significantly better than susceptible insects on older cotton; presumably when the Cry1Ac titre had declined. Nevertheless, survival rates of resistant insects was low <10%. Importantly, in laboratory tests and when challenged on Bollgard II, larvae carrying one copy of the ‘resistant gene’ (heterozygous) proved to be susceptible to Cry2Ab. This is important as had heterozygotes proved to show an advantage, the threat posed by this form of resistance would have been markedly enhanced.

In many instances where insects develop resistance to an insecticide or to a Bt toxin, individuals carrying the resistance are less fit than susceptible ones. Thus in the absence of the selective agent (in our case host plants other than Cry2Ab-expressing toxin Bollgard II) resistant insects perform poorly. Parameters such as survival and growth rates, fertility and fecundity can be affected in individuals carrying ‘resistant genes’. Such ‘fitness costs’ of resistance tend to retard the evolution of resistance as on non-challenging environments (in our situation, H. armigera growing on refuge crops, weeds or alternative hosts) the frequency of resistance declines. We challenged SP15 under a range of conditions aimed to expose the presence of fitness costs – growth on pigeon pea, conventional cotton during diapause and when exposed to different temperature regimes – however, no costs were detected.

Finally, a component of this project concerned the mechanism of Cry2Ab resistance. An unexpected problem was encountered when this was addressed. The purified Cry2Ab toxin proved to be ‘sticky’ and adhered to cellular material and components of the substrates used to examine its binding. Nevertheless, progress was made in comparing the array of proteins expressed in gut cells that may lead us to identify the causes of resistance.

In earlier research, vetch was shown to be the best legume for N fixation, and it is now grown commercially as part of the cropping system on some farms across most cotton growing regions. After nine years of research on a cropping systems experiment conducted at the Narrabri Australian Cotton Research Institute growing vetch as a green manure crop provided not only substantial nutritional benefits to cotton and improved soil structure, but also gave a greater economic return. This article reports the economic benefits of incorporating legumes into cotton cropping systems. Envelope&gt;� �

he summer scholarship project was awarded to Tami Mills (BSc), currently enrolled in Masters in Engineering Technology Agriculture, at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba. The scholarship commenced on 20th November, 2007 and was completed on 20th April 2008. Scholarships funds were administered through The Condamine Alliance.This project was in collaboration with CRC Project 2.1.02 &quote;Capturing our understanding of soil water balance and deep drainage under irrigation in models&quote;, a project funded in partnership with Cotton Catchment Communities CRC, CRDC, Condamine Alliance and QMDC (led by Dr Mark Silburn).The EM38 was easy to use and gave results that were highly correlated with soil moisture contents to a range of depths. Although multiple measurements are required to account for spatial variability, the measurements are quite easy to make. The collection of 192 ECa measurements (32 points at 3 heights in 2 modes in one location) took approximately half an hour.The data indicate that for each situation (head, mid, tail, row, ditch) 4 measurements are typically required in vertical mode to get an average that is within 5 mS/m of the true mean. In horizontal mode, 15 measurements are typically required for the same accuracy. The greater number of samples required in horizontal mode is presumably because the surface soil has more variability due to cracking and roughness. In larger areas, it will be important to consider the spatial distribution of water, salt and clay in the soil when sampling.When the soil is close to saturated with water, the accuracy of the results may be less than at other times. Because we only had calibration data from drained upper limit and drier, the accuracy is not known. However, similar calibration problems would exist regardless of the sensor or method used. Collecting data near saturation is extremely difficult because of problems such as vehicle access and physically removing soil samples from soil coring tubes.Raising the EM38 to sample to a range of depths was very effective. Good correlation was obtained for both orientations and all heights. Interestingly, at 0.4 m height, the variability of measurements in the horizontal mode was less than at the soil surface, so there appears to be considerable potential for using the EM38 in horizontal mode at 0.3 to 0.5 m height to measure the water content of shallow surface layers of soil.Temperature, time of day, size of the cotton plants, and other potential effects on the readings from the EM38 were non-significant.The EM38 monitoring highlighted how wet the soil was until late March. Some of this was due to rainfall soon after the irrigation in late January, but it appears that the irrigation was going to be somewhat earlier than necessary. The soil moisture deficit in late January was small when compared with later in the season.The data collected by the EM38 agreed to a large degree with the predictions from the HowLeaky? Model, which estimated that during two periods in the season, a significant amount of deep drainage occurred (100 mm). This is of concern both in terms of water wastage and the potential for it to contribute to the rise of salty groundwater and surface salinity.

The Menindee and Lower Darling CGA in conjunction with Tandou Ltd sought to develop linkages with local high schools, community and industry, with the following intentions:

Be a link between the grower, community and industry,promote cotton production as a sustainable and responsible industry,

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

We do this by supporting events that are going on in our community and educating people within our district about the cotton industry, as well as promoting ourselves, what we do, our growers and anything else that we have to offer.     

In 2014, three key aspects were developed

This project has three key aspects that we aimed to deliver on:

1. To continue our work with two trainee students from Menindee Central School in terms of completing their traineeships and helping to get them job ready through training and/or the purchasing of equipment for the future careers. This programme encourages students to finish year 11 and year 12 as well as continuing with further education whether it be in the form of a trade or further formal studies.

2. Getting local school students and community member to the lake to get a first-hand experience of a cotton farm, as well as to learn about agriculture in general. This exposes people for within our community (Menindee and Broken Hill) as well as further away (Mildura, Riverland etc.) to the farm and what we do. There is always a focus to senior school students to help show them all of the career options that are available in cotton but we welcome anyone with open arms.

3. Educating and promoting the general public on the cotton industry and specifically our grower, Lake Tandou. This is commonly done by supporting local events either through time, equipment or money and representing the CGA at these events where possible.

Deep drainage (DD) - water that passes beyond the root zone - is an important process in irrigated cropping soils to ensure leaching of salts through the soil profile to deeper soil layers, the vadose zone (the zone between the rootzone and the watertable) or to groundwater. Salt can either be naturally present within some soils or be added through low quality irrigation water. Furthermore, excessive DD may cause water table rise to the rootzone with associated salts, so precluding the growth of salt sensitive species.DD is also an economic negative, as costs of pumping and storage are not realised in increased yields or possible increased area under production. The loss of irrigation waters to DD is particularly important in drought years where the rare water resource must be carefully utilised to ensure crops attain maximum yield per unit volume of applied water.The study reported here focused on DD water losses and the quality of those lost waters (in terms of salinity) on 7 irrigated cotton farms (all but one under traditional furrow irrigation management) in the upper Murray Darling basin (UMDB) near the towns of Boggabilla (2 sites), Dalby, Goondiwindi, Macalister, Pampas and St George.Many regarded the advent of low volume irrigation devices (eg lateral moves) with their known capacity to increase water use efficiency (bales of cotton/unit water applied) as a &quote;win win&quote; situation; making minimum water go further, particularly as DD is almost zero. However, minimal or no DD equates to a reduced leaching fraction. This in turn can lead to a potential for increased rootzone salinity.This project commenced in 2008 and monitored DD across irrigated cropping lands in the UMDP. There were 7 sites with lysimeters installed (each a commercial, irrigated cotton field) giving a total of 21 lysimeters. At each site, a lysimeter was installed near the head ditch, mid field and tail ditch in each field. One of these sites was irrigated with a lateral move and the remaining 6 with traditional furrow irrigation. One of the 6 furrow irrigated fields immediately adjoined the lateral move site, facilitating comparison of the two irrigation techniques in terms of DD. The water quality (salinity level) of all DD leachates was monitored at all sites. Several hydrological models were tested, to investigate their capacity to predict DD.Lastly, monitoring continued of the 16 &quote;wet&quote; inspection bores in the St George irrigation area (SGIA) to investigate their continuing dynamics and links withsurface water events. Principal results were:(i) In 2008-09, DD was collected only at the Macalister site under a rainfed barley crop; all other sites being fallow. Five sites (including the lateral move site) were irrigated in 2009-10 with DD values up to 104 mm measured, though most values were &lt;20 mm and the lateral move (as always) being zero. All sites were under irrigated cotton in 2010-11 (high cotton prices) but DD collected were very low (all &lt;12 mm) showing the incidence of very few irrigation events at all sites because of good and frequent in-season rains.(ii) The DD data and related soil Chloride sampling under the lateral move and in the adjoining furrow irrigated field suggest salt build-up under the lateral, due to the lack of DD (ie no leaching fraction). It is emphasised that the chloride data sets to date are small and sampling will continue in both fields to mid-2013 (just before a new Project ends) to assess further these soil chloride trends.(iii) As found previously, the EC of the leachates collected in the lysimeter collection bottles continued to be far greater than the EC of the irrigation waters applied to each field. This is seen as highlighting the potential for adverse off-site effects of poor water quality from DD. The maximum increases (60 fold) continued to occur at the St George site.(iv) Testing of the four hydrological models (SODICS, HowLeaky?, SaLF and SIRMOD/FAO-56) provided results at variance to the lysimeter-measured, DD values. The simulated outputs, though based on field collected parameters, had no relation to the magnitude, or seasonal or in-field trends of the lysimeter DD data. More work is required to fully investigate these anomalies. In particular, the simulations may benefit from more detailed inputs of evapotranspiration, rain and irrigation volumes that better reflect seasonal variability of irrigated cotton production.(v) Groundwater dynamics of the 16 &quote;wet&quote; inspection boreholes in the SGIA have been monitored since 1972 by manual dipping and since early 2007, by loggers set to log water levels on a 12 h interval. In the early to mid 1980s, the groundwater level in 50% of all the 16 wet inspection bores rose a range of 0.5 to 19 m towards the ground surface. Though these rises could have many causative factors, local growers linked them to the filling of on-farm water storages at approximately that time. These water levels have generally stayed at these elevated levels. Importantly, the water levels and their dynamics of the wet inspection bores illustrate more localised (small) groundwater mounds, rather than a broad groundwater mound under the SGIA. Two of the boreholes with the shallowest water levels showed a distinct rise in level, associated with the heavy rains and floods of March 2010 and January 2011. This result illustrates the continuing connectivity between surface water events and groundwater levels, at least for shallow, unconfined aquifers in the SGIA.

The project's prime aim was the direct quantification of DD across a wide, yet representative range of cotton soils and management systems, while concurrently assessing both salt balances of collected leachates and around-lysimeter soils, as well as crosschecking the measured DD data with less expensive, indirect methods of predicting DD. Secondly, to monitor irrigation efficiencies in terms of recent technology utilisation in the cotton industry

This report builds on and applies the first three stages of the study, Exploring Between Community Resilience &amp; Irrigated Agriculture in the MDB,1 to address the following questions:What are likely to be the social and economic impacts of changes production due to permanent reductions in irrigation water for different communities at different geographic scales?What factors are likely to mitigate or exacerbate impacts arising from reduction in irrigation water?How might communities be assisted to respond to such changes?

I attended the International Cotton Genomics Initiative meeting in Brazil on 18,19, 20 September, 2006. I replaced Curt Brubaker who, because he had left CSIRO, was unable to attend. This meeting was attended by approximately 200 cotton molecular researchers world-wide.

I presented our work on microarray analysis of genes involved in early fibre development as a plenary talk. My presentation included work done by the CRDC funded Post Doc and formerly a PhD student, Adriane Machado. As well as presenting our work a further aim of this travel was to participate in any efforts to initiate sequencing of the Cotton Genome, make contacts and learn about work going on in other parts of the work, particularly genes involved in controlling cotton fibre parameters, but also, generally, cotton molecular biology. My presentation on our work was well received. Our work is progressing well and other laboratories, particularly those in China and the US, are also making big efforts in molecular biology to identify genes important for fibre development. As an international effort, we are attempting to correlate fibre phenotypes with molecular markers and, ultimately, genes. A cross between hirsutum and the barbadense lines has been made to and continued selfing to the F5 generation. These recombinant inbred lines (RILs) are now having the cotton fibre phenotype determined. Marker analysis of these lines is now undersay using SSLP DNA markers. In this way cotton fibre genetic characters (QTLs) will be linked to molecular markers. We are participating in this project with colleagues from France, Belgium and the USA. We will identify genes that are highly expressed in the lines showing superior cotton fibre phenotypes. Scientists involved in this project also met at the ICGI conference and planned the next steps.

The major development from this meeting was the decision to proceed with an attempt to develop a genome sequencing project for cotton. I was elected as one writing committee member on an eight-member committee; Danny Llewellyn is one of approximately fifty consulting members. We have written a draft white paper (attached) outlining the important outcomes for cotton breeding and cotton research with a complete cotton genome sequence. These include enhancing our understanding of fibre, growth and development, the effects of polyploidisation and the practical development of DNA markers for cotton breeding. The topic of cotton genome sequencing has been discussed at several meetings including previous research conferences held by ICGI. At the Brazil meeting there was strong support for organising a community effort on cotton genome sequencing. At the end of this meeting there was a decision to proceed with developing a proposal for cotton genome sequencing which can be supported world-wide.