The introduction of transgenic cotton within the cotton industry has allowed for increased yields due to

decreased losses from insect activities. The main pests which have been targeted through the genetic

modification are Helicoverpa punctigera and Helicoverpa armigera. The reduction in the presence of these

two species could have several ecological implications, including an increase in other lepidopteran species

more tolerant to Bt toxins that were previously suppressed by Helicoverpa spp. The results presented in this

report are part of a Masters thesis which will look at the moth communities in Bt cotton and its refuges over

four seasons. The results presented here focus on the 2015/16 season. During this season low numbers of

moths were caught, which matched the low numbers of Helicoverpa caught in the same traps. There was no

difference in the Lepidopteran communities between crops, and in particular Bt and non-Bt cotton. This was

probably due to the low sample sizes, and may also reflect a finding in other cotton communities, that

differences in Bt and non-Bt cotton communities are only found when there is high Helicoverpa pressure.

There was a difference in the number of moths found in pigeon pea and cotton, with more moths found in

cotton in January, and more moths were found in pigeon pea in February. This may reflect the phenology of

the crops where cotton is flowering and probably more attractive in January than February, while pigeon pea

tends to remain attractive and flowering later in the season.

Cotton fibre is the most important natural textile fibre, but it requires intensive scouring to disrupt the hydrophobic cuticle to allow dye to penetrate. The standard fibre qualities and amount of waxy cuticle material on cotton fibre varies across genotype. Some research has been undertaken addressing the influence of environment and management on standard fibre qualities and wax content, however no clear effect of either has been shown on cotton fibre cuticular wax despite the influence these variables have been shown to have on other standard fibre qualities and the cuticular wax content of other aerial surfaces of cotton plants. Predicted changes in climate in future will influence the ambient temperature of growing regions, likely increasing the amount of heat stress on cotton plants and may also affect water availability leading to water deficit stress. The effects of heat and water stress during flowering and early to mid fibre development period was captured for two consecutive growing seasons in a field production scenario for five upland cotton genotypes that varied in their known tolerance to both heat and water stress. It was hypothesized that stress at this time would tend to influence fibre initiation phases that might affect fibre perimeter determination and fibre lengthening, as well as wax content which is known to be deposited typically before the secondary cell wall thickening phase of fibre development. For all genotypes, water deficit increased measured cross-sectional properties with an associated increase measured in micronaire for both experiments. Increases were also seen following heat stress for fineness and maturity ratio in the second season. For fibre length, either water deficit alone or a combination of water deficit and heat stress, reduced fibre length for all but two genotypes. The exceptions were the water stress tolerant genotype which did not respond to water stress alone, and the poor water stress tolerant genotype which did not respond to either stress. Heat stress alone appeared to play the dominant role in reducing fibre length for the genotype included for its good water use efficiency. Either water deficit stress or a combination of both stress treatments, increased cotton fibre strength in one of the experiments, while only a combination of both stress types in the other experiment produced the same effect. Both heat and water deficit stress were shown to significantly influence fibre cuticular wax deposition, but the effect was genotype dependant with the greatest effect observed on the genotypes included for poor heat tolerance and poor water deficit tolerance. For these genotypes significant increases were measured in cuticular wax. In an attempt to replicate the effects of water stress seen the field experiment in a glasshouse setting, water deficit stress was applied to a white control genotype, a naturally coloured high wax green genotype, and the poor water stress tolerant genotype. The only effects of water stress on fibre properties were to increase fibre fineness and strength, and decrease length, for which a main effect of stress was measured. There were no significant effects on fibre cuticular wax content or other fibre cross-sectional properties. This was attributed to the possible differences in the severity of the stress between the two experiments. Following this, an investigation into the dyeability of fabrics made from three different naturally coloured upland cottons with varying wax content was undertaken. One common white cotton, and two un-common coloured cottons, one brown and one green, were used for experiments. It was hypothesised that following dyeing, fabrics that were not scoured would have inferior colour fastness following a standard fabric wash test. The effect was expected to be more prominent for fabric made from the higher wax content coloured cottons. Fabrics made from these cottons were subjected to either traditional NaOH caustic scouring or hot ETOH scouring which more specifically targets the waxes, before being dyed and washed.

Any cotton imported into Australia is treated to ensure that the consignment is free of live insects, soil and other debris (faeces, animal materials etc) and to verify that any quarantine risk material present will be dealt with during processing. The quarantine treatments used can be either or chemical (fumigation). Following previous studies AQIS have agreed to suspend the treatment of samples with gamma irradiation due to the resultant damage to the physical fibre properties. There are two quarantine treatments currently prescribed by AQIS which involves chemical (fumigation) with ethylene oxide. The two treatments involve fumigation under an initial minimum vacuum of 50 kilopascals at 1200 g/m³ for 5 hours at 50oC or at 1500 g/m³ for 24 hours at 21C.

This study has shown that the fumigation of cotton lint samples with ethylene oxide for 24 hours at 21C and 5 hours at 50C, as per AQIS requirement had no effect on the physical properties (such as length, strength and Micronaire) of the fibre. The study however found that fumigation with ethylene oxide did result in a permanent change in the colour value and subsequently the colour grade of the cotton. In most cases the reflectance value (Rd) decreased while the yellowness (+b) was unaffected, which in essence means that the fibre has become darker. This was most apparent for the Upland USDA cotton Grades 11, 21 and 31 as well as the ELS USDA cotton grades Pima 1A-3B. These changes in the reflectance values will result in the HVI instrument wrongly classifying the cotton one grade higher (i.e. worse than), for example the Grade 11 cotton will be graded 21 and the 21 will be graded 31.This will lead to the instrument failing to calibrate and it will also impossible to qualify the instrument. It is however interesting to note that the Australian cotton which is generally whiter than the US cotton seemed unaffected by the fumigation treatments, with only a slight change to the +b value, with the cotton becoming slightly yellower.

Although the results vary considerably and there are no definite trends, in general this change in the Rd value is related to a decrease in residual ethylene oxide. We surmise that the cause of this could be associated with the ethylene oxide damaging the surface wax layer causing it to become pitted and less smooth resulting in the surface of the fibre reflecting light more diffusely. As the Australian cotton is whiter, with lower +b values it seems that the damage by the ethylene oxide is not as apparent as noted with the US cottons. This hypothesis will be tested in future work.

We recommend that further work needs to be carried out on cotton to further refine our understanding of the effects of the fumigation process.

Cottonspec is a yarn quality prediction software developed by CSIRO with support from the CCC CRC, CRDC and Chinese partner mills. Validation trials conducted as part of this project showed Cottonspec was a useful mill management tool, giving spinners immediate feedback on the fibre they use in terms of yarn quality. The software program gives excellent predictions of yarn tenacity and evenness from (five) HVI properties.

Cottonspec will be launched in China later this year at a technical seminar to be held jointly by CSIRO, ACSA and the China Cotton Textile Association (CCTA).

Cottonspec has the capacity to improve the classification of Australian cotton by linking cotton fibre quality with yarn quality with theoretical modelling. The prediction algorithms favour fine, long, strong cotton, i.e. play on Australian cotton fibre characteristics. The package can be used by spinners to select the most suitable cottons that best meet the spinner’s needs, or as a quality control tool to benchmark performance against “best commercial practice”. Cottonspec can also be used as a trading tool for merchants to promote the value of a particular growth, or used by cotton researchers and grower collectives to assess and promote new cotton varieties. Cottonspec could prove to be an invaluable tool to promote Australian Long Staple (ALS) cotton to mills for production of high quality yarns. Cottonspec has excellent potential to help create demand pull from high-end mills for ALS cotton. The commercialisation of Cottonspec through an extension project will create stronger partnership with quality mills to enable feedbacks on future fibre quality demands and yarn and fabric trends; and to create demand for ALS cotton.

The impacts of Cottonspec on mill performance are demonstrated by the example of the Chongqing Sanxia No. 1 Mill, a key partner mill in the project. Established in 2005 this mill is one of the most modern mills in China. Through collaboration with the Cottonspec project the quality of yarn produced by this mill has lifted dramatically. Now the mill is among the top five mills in China in terms of quality. All of the yarn this mill produces is exported to Europe and Japan. Moreover, before the project this mill had never used Australian cotton. In 2010-2011 this mill used 3350 tons of Australian cotton, making up about 20% of its lay-downs and its management has made plans to increase this proportion in the next few years.

The successful commercialisation through the extension project ‘Commercial Ready Cottonspec’ will enhance the cotton industry's current drive towards the production of high quality fibre that is differentiated by its inherent quality and the information around its quality. The combination of industry understanding and demand pull from stragegic partner mills in China for high quality Australian cotton will help fulfil the industry's ambitions to develop a high quality product.

Australian cotton is purchased for a premium as it meets spinner’s requirements on the basis of quality and consistency. Coarse (high micronaire) fibre, high nep counts and excessive short fibre content are aspects of Australian cotton that spinners would like to see improved. Fibre quality in the field is affected by a large number of interacting factors: variety, seasonal conditions, crop and harvest management. This project continues explicit and important research employing a

combination of both in-field and post-harvest research efforts to improve the quality of Australian cotton, key strategies of both the CRDC and CRC. Improving the understanding of the links between agronomy and textile performance will allow us to better refine in-field crop management recommendations to ensure cotton produced meets or exceeds market expectations.

Specific objectives were to: (i) Improve the understanding of the effects of crop stress on micronaire and its components fineness and maturity. (ii) Reduce neps in the field through development of monitoring approaches to identify instances where crops have an increased risk of neps. (iii) Identify management practices that improve the consistency of cotton taken from the field. (iv) Conduct research to establish the value (price and textile value) of blending/segregation of lint quality based on quality attributes. (v) Identify other unique fibre quality attributes of Australian cotton to enhance its market value. (vi) Maintain research capability and activities into fibre quality research from the ‘field to fabric’.

This project was successful in providing new knowledge on fibre quality issues through:

Improved understanding of the changes in crop management practices and climate that affect micronaire and its components of linear density and maturity.

A new methodology to predict micronaire using temperature around boll filling was developed.

A potential in-field approach to estimating the influence of harvest aid timing on final micronaire

at harvest was developed by measuring the quality of immature bolls at the prior to the time of harvest aid application.

Demonstrated in-field blending of cotton seed attempting to raise quality; no benefits were identified.

Research was undertaken to assess whether end of season management could be employed to

improve the consistency of fibre quality. In these studies no improvements were identified

through the use of late season application of Mepiquat Choride, missing last irrigation, or defoliating earlier.

The effects of early defoliation on fibre immaturity and textile performance was quantified and

related to measurements of crop status. Results showed that the current industry recommendation of application of harvest aids at 60% bolls open is adequate to limit impacts on yarn strength and dye uptake.

Despite differences in micronaire resulting from differences in defoliation timing machine spindle

harvesting did not interact with harvest aid timing to further increase neps. On average machine spindle harvesting contributed 53 neps over hand-harvested cotton.

Multiple linear regression models for yarn strength which included yarn manufacturing variables

card or comb, count (12, 15, 20 tex), twist (knit or weave) and HVI fibre quality

parameters performed well. Models performed better when alternatives to micronaire, such as gravimetric linear density, were used, although models using laser diffraction ribbon width were best. This information has contributed to the development of Cottonspec.

Continued to raise the awareness of the effects of climate and management on fibre

quality through the Geelong ‘Field to Fabric’ course, FIBREpak, myBMP, the cotton production manual, and various other industry forums.

Ongoing on-farm research into fibre quality will be most likely be supported through the ongoing project ‘Agronomic Management for Better Fibre and Textile Quality’ supported by CSIRO and the CRDC. New research will include undertaking the first systems experiments investigating the value of



the use of premium varieties with modified ‘fibre friendly’ agronomy and processing compared with standard practice. Other research will include: Developing improved understanding of fibre properties that increase neps in fibre, yarn and fabric. Finer fibres are sought by spinners, but efforts to reduce fineness may increase their propensity to nep; Undertaking research to develop an improved understanding of the value of late season bolls to final yield and quality; and (3) Evaluating methods to enable growers and ginners to predict quality at the end of season to assist with harvest preparation and gin settings through online micronaire and neps predictors, and scoping opportunities for in-field measures of quality.

IrriSAT is a weather based irrigation water management and benchmarking service

that uses satellite imagery to better determine site specific crop coefficients that are

needed to accurately calculate crop water use figures. The system uses local weather

stations to measure sunlight hours and intensity, cloud cover, rainfall and wind

which are all used to calculate a reference crop water use in the past 24 hours. This

information when combined with the satellite-determined crop coefficient for a

particular crop allows a site specific crop water use figure to be calculated for an

individual field.

After initial successful trials using IrriSAT in the Gwydir region during the

2010/2011 irrigation season this project extended and expanded the trial to cover

additional cotton growing regions in the Namoi and Walgett areas. During the

2011/2012 irrigation season approximately 80 000 ha of irrigated cotton was

monitored with the IrriSAT system over these three cotton growing areas. Issues

with non-transmission of satellite data from one of the main NASA satellite sensing

systems (Landsat 5) used by IrriSAT limited the trials ability to provide real-time

irrigation scheduling information throughout parts of the irrigation season, however

the water use and yield benchmarking components of the system where able to be

assessed and provided useful information to trial participants which allowed them

to assess the performance of their water management strategies and benchmark their

performance between fields and also between regions. Strong relationships between

yield and IrriSAT determined crop evapotranspiration were found which were

consistant across regions, providing confidence that the IrriSAT system has further

potential to be used as an initial forecasting tool for predicting yield potential. The

results also showed there was a wide variation in water use productivity between

fields, growers and regions. This information can then be used for respective

strategic analysis of decisions regarding water management.

The IrriSAT system when adopted widely across the cotton industry will place the

industry in a unique position at the forefront of water management technologies.

The IrriSAT system provides water management information over large areas at low

cost to improve water use productivity. The IrriSAT system also allows the

benchmarking of water use and production across fields, farms and catchments

when combined with yield data at the end of season. This benchmarking

information has been seen as a valuable tool for improving water use efficiency and

resource use efficiency. This project has provided benchmarking data available

across three catchments and over approximately 80 000 ha of cotton during the

2011/2012 irrigation season. This information has been provided to irrigators to

allow them to directly compare their performance against others in the industry and

also look at options for improving their own water use productivity. Continued use

and expansion of the approach has the potential to led to wide scale change in water

use management across a range of scales from individual fields to regions.

Nitrogen use workshops form part of the Cotton Research and Development Corporations Extension and Outreach project; “Carbon Farming in the Australian Cotton Industry”.

Agricultural advisory firm Back Paddock Company, in partnership with Cotton Info were contracted to deliver a round of workshops in cotton areas of eastern Australia to assist the CRDC in meeting its extension objectives under the CFI:

• Up-skill cotton & grains industry advisers, extension networks and key influencers about emissions management and nitrogen use in cotton production

The key performance indicator used to measure extension efforts in this area at the conclusion of the project is as follows;

• 75% *of cotton growers and 90% of advisers have an improved

understanding of the CFI, emissions management and sequestration in

cotton farming.

• 75% *of cotton growers and 90% of advisers understand how N2O

emissions can be reduced.

• 25% *of industry implementing plant tissue analysis to monitor crop

nutrition balances to meet crop nutrient demand.

(As measured by CRDC fund Cotton Grower Practices and Cotton Consultants surveys conducted at the beginning and the end of the project)

A knowledge system model to improve the effectiveness of the transfer of(irrigation) information to growers was developed and tested. Knowledge can be described as information combined with experience, context, interpretation, and reflection. A frequent misconception is to equate it with information. The knowledge system depends on the way in which information is applied. Industry extension programs need to facilitate opportunities for knowledge sharing and transfer. This is significantly more complex than typical irrigation extension programs. The central feature of the model was to employ more of the five extension models rather than only the two commonly used. The main vehicle was the concept of cohesive, self-directing groups that form the core around which activities under the other models are conducted. This was achieved by production of an innovative Cotton

& Grains Irrigation Workshop Series containing 7 modules; establishment of a pathway for accreditation in irrigation management; development of a model for delivering commercial

irrigation services; production of a range of information resources; creation of a dedicated

irrigated cotton and grains web site.

The Australian Future Cotton Leaders program framework was managed by Cotton Australia. The program involved three key stages over 14 months: Stage 1 􏰁 Leadership development Stage 2 􏰁 Individual skill development Stage 3 􏰁 Leading change Program Overview An overview of the Australian Future Cotton Leaders program is outlined below. This customised program is the result of an industry briefing regarding the issues and requirements regarding human capacity building in the current Australian cotton industry. A key focus of this program was participant􏰀 knowledge and skill application via their individual leadership project in the industry. This real time, real industry leadership project is what stands this program apart from other content based leadership programs currently in the market place. A comprehensive suite of elements make up the Australian Future Cotton Leaders Program. This is based on the initial brief provided by industry in terms of the ultimate industry goals of this program. We align these elements to the leadership maturity continuum and ensure participants are introduced to them at the most appropriate stages of the program. All elements place demand and accountability on participants in and outside of the face to face workshops as we are encouraging participants to become leaders and to operate in this way throughout the program. For development, it is essential that they actually do this in their industry context. This way we can ensure there is a higher chance they will continue to contribute to their own and hence their business and industry development post this program. In addition, some of the elements require limited funding, so hence greater value is achieved for the cotton industry from the program budget.This project jointly funded by Cotton Australia supported the Future Cotton Leaders Program over a 14 month period. Fifteen participants graduated from the course in 2014, that involved three developmental stages, Leadership Development, knowledge and skill application, and leading change. The benefits to the industry included a cohort of emerging leaders with increased knowledge and understanding of how the cotton industry works and where they can contribute/assist? To enterprise and industry development.

Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) has undertaken research, within its Cotton Industry Workforce Development Project, into defining cotton agribusiness sector (resellers, suppliers of goods and services and service providers’ particularly private agronomists / consultants) needs for professional cotton industry personnel. These have been defined as primarily to assure the sector of the availability and retention of skilled and engaged staff; followed by continued professional development, to support both their retention and increased skill levels.

A potential strategy to assist in responding to this challenge has been identified, and is termed the Cotton Professional Personnel Program. The Program revolves around a central concept of establishing a ‘Network’, which connects cotton agribusinesses directly with potential employees, in this case school and university aged students. This is proposed to be through a range of strategies including:

 Internship programs

 Graduate programs

 Mentoring programs, and

 Scholarship programs.

Project GSA1401 – A proposed Cotton Professional Personnel Program Page | 3

Commercial-In-Confidence

Previous work indicates willingness for key cotton agribusinesses to support such a Program. Most respondents from a core representative group stated their intention to directly engage with the Program. As a result the concept of a pilot project to trial the Program was developed from the previous work in a bid to assure the industry that such a Program would be valued and would work in practice.

A pilot project has been suggested as a way of 'ground truthing' the extent to which the cotton agribusiness sector will embrace the proposed Cotton Professional Personnel Program. . A survey of key cotton agribusiness respondents was undertaken to gauge the level of interest and buy-in to the pilot project.

As a result of this survey 9-12 respondents could reasonably become collaborators in the pilot project. All respondents were prepared to engage in all aspects of the Program subject to further workshopping of the finer details. This also means that the draft of the Program will need to be developed beforehand, so it can be reviewed with the invited collaborators, prior to trialing.

As there was agreement to the core elements of the proposed Program, this is best finetuned operationally through a structured project management process. This will involve creating systems and processes that can be refined in an initial workshop with the collaborators, and then managed into a truly operational and functional system to be trialed on-ground.

The ultimate outcome of the pilot is then expected to be a Cotton Professional Personnel Program which has stronger fit with the needs of cotton agribusiness sector, the Cotton Workforce Development Strategy and ultimately provide a more stable cotton industry through an assured supply of key professional personnel.

The survey Key findings are:

 All respondents believe that the proposed Cotton Professional Personnel Program would be valuable both for their own organisation and for the wider cotton industry, resulting in a positive impact.

 All saw value in the Program supporting engagement between employers and students (school and universities) to seek future employees and in engaging with key universities notably CSU, UNE, USQ and UQ.

 It was noted that there are strong synergies with the CCA Young Member Network – and that administrative and operational factors would need to be addressed, ideally in a common manner, across the whole industry using the Program as some form of catalyst.

 All respondents were prepared to host a school or university student placement at their organisation, on the basis that finer detail would be determined on project commencement.

 A range of specific placements with details regarding operations were identified.

 All respondents were willing to participate in a mentoring program.

 They saw it being valuable in its own right, while assisting in / informing the better structuring / planning of an industry program could also inform their own programs.