In recent years late season populations of stinkbugs (green vegetable bug and green stink bug) have caused considerable damage in some cotton crops (Simpson et al. 2000, Khan and Bauer 2001). Over the past cotton season, in different valleys including the South Burnett and Macquarie, I or 2 insecticide sprays were required to manage Green vegetable bug (GVB). In Australia, the insecticides currently registered for control of stinkbugs are mostly non-selective and are disruptive to a wide range of beneficial species. Use of these insecticides during stage II of the insecticide Resistance Management Strategy (IRMS) therefore undermines IPM programs aimed at conserving beneficials. Therefore, the development or evaluation of less disruptive control tactics for stinkbugs is urgent. No soft chemicals are currently available, through a number of products registered for control of other pests are. One way of making existing chemicals less disruptive is by lowering their dose, but this is not always effective. In Brazil, a mixture of salt and lower dose of chemicals is being used to enhance efficacy of the chemicals to control GVB in soybean (Corso and Gazzoni 1998, Hugh Brier pers. communication 2001). The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of existing chemicals mixed with table salt and to measure their impact on beneficial insects.

Unknown weeds may be identified from a collection of seed, seedling and adult pictures, or by leafing through the collection. The seedling collection has been structured with seedlings with similar leaf shapes grouped together.

The adult collection places weeds in the same order as they occur in the seedling collection. The seed collection is listed by seed size against a common scale, and secondly by real seed size.

The Assassin Bug, is a natural enemy that is showing considerable promise in controlling Heliothis and plant-sucking bugs in cotton. This paper is based on the collective results from several experiments where we examined the potential of this predator as a biological control agent in cotton. in recent field experiments, assassin bugs provided significant levels of heliothis and mind control and suggest that this predator may be a useful tool within an IMP program.

The Australian Cotton Cooperative Research Centre in association with the Cotton Research and Development Cooperation have funded a number of soil inventory projects which have produced enormous amount of soil data. The data have been incorporated into a queriable database using the Microsoft Access. Customised operations built into a Database Assistant enable variable queries to answer various soil quality questions that may be asked by researchers, farm managers, consultants and farmers, in retrieving appropriate soil data and information for a specific region/area and purpose. The soil data are geo-referenced and therefore are amenable to further Geographical Information System analysis

The Australian cotton growers for the past 5 years have come to realise the important role beneficial insects play in managing pests in their cotton farms. With a strong push by the cotton industry to adopt a true integrated pest management (IPM) programs, beneficial insects are increasingly assuming a major role in the cotton system. As a result, techniques required to maximise both the abundance and activity of this beneficial insects will continue to be a priority in the cotton industry. The use of beneficial insect refuges and most importantly the use of food supplements (food sprays) will become major tools in the Australian cotton industry as growers acquire more knowledge about a true IPM and the role of beneficial insects. The development of food sprays and the advent of the predator to pest ratio in particular has already educated growers about the need to conserve beneficial insects in the cotton system, and how to utilise them in cotton pest management programs.

Beneficial insects play a vital role in the cotton ecosystem and are a realistic management tool in Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Protecting and enhancing natural predators and parasitoids can greatly reduce pest levels. Secondary pest outbreaks can also be reduced when selective insecticides are used in conjunction with natural enemies in cotton. Additionally, time between spraying can be extended therefore reducing insecticide resistance. Numerous laboratory and field studies have shown that adult Trichogramma wasps are highly susceptible to most broad-spectrum insecticides, in particular synthetic pyrethroids. Trials assessing the influence of insecticides on immature stages of Trichogramma spp developing within the host egg have shown that the egg protects the parasitoid from toxic compounds. However Suh et al. (2000) noted that the first wasp to emerge from an egg has an increased chance of being killed by the insecticide residue on the egg surface as it chews through the chorion. Therefore wasps that emerge from the egg once the exit hole has been made, may avoid insecticide ingestion, thereby increasing their survival rate. The aim of this study is to evaluate the toxicity of insecticides on adult and developing Trichogramma pretiosum.

Cotton production in Australia is a high-tech industry. Genetically engineered cotton varieties, precision agriculture with self-steer tractors and variable rate applicators, and satellite generated yield predictions are all indicators of technologies being adopted by the cotton industry. In contrast, debate over the usefulness and useability of computer-based decision support systems (DSSs) and simulation models continues even after 25 years of their development for and promotion to the Australian cotton industry (Hearn and Bange, 2002).

Cotton planted into cereal stubble has numerous benefits over conventional planting methods, such as reducing soil erosion, reducing pesticide and nutrient movement, and improving soil condition (Waters and Sequeira 2000). The main focus of the current research is to identify the potential benefits of stubble in insect pest management and determine if different types of cereal stubble have an impact on pests and natural enemy numbers.

In the past three years two biological control agents, new to Australia, have been discovered attacking cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii. The agents are the parasitic wasp (parasitoid), Lysiphlebus testaceipes and the spotted amber ladybird, Hippodamia variegata. The parasitoid was first found attacking cotton aphids on the Darting Downs in the 2000/01 season and the ladybird in 2001/02. Both insects are now spread throughout the cotton growing areas of eastern Australia.

Due to ongoing drought there has been a decline in both investment dollars and human resources in this cotton growing area. Also a number of the extension officer's positions had been vacant throughout many of the cotton valleys for a period of time. This had impacted on the Cotton CRC's ability to extend new research from the scientific community to the industry's growers.To overcome this issue, an alternative approach to ensuring growers were being informed of the latest research and best management practices was developed; the extension model. As such, project 5.01.23con was initiated, employing the services of an independent consultant in the Lower Balonne region (St George, Dirranbandi & Thallon) on a part time basis to extend new research and outcomes to growers in this area. In project 5.01.23con, this independent consultant, Dallas King (via Balonne Agricultural Consultancy) was contracted for two years to provide this service to the Lower Balonne region.The CRC traditionally used an alternative model of extension officers for this role this new model (part time and in based in the local area) has proved to have better retention which has enhanced sustainability of the position for the CRC (as detailed in previous project reports).