The project, Regeneration of floodplain vegetation in response to large-scale flooding in the Condamine-Balonne and Border Rivers, was a collaboration between the Cotton CRC, QLD DERM, NSW Office of Water and the Australian Rivers Institute of Griffith University. The aims of the project were to i) describe spatial and temporal patterns in the regeneration of major riparian tree and shrub species in the Condamine-Balonne and Border Rivers following the major floods of early 2011 and ii) identify key factors, particularly hydrological, influencing these patterns.The project comprised two major components: i) a literature review and associated development of conceptual models for key riparian tree and shrub species of Australian arid and semi-arid catchments and ii) a field study program. The field study program involved surveying up to twenty-five 50m long transects across nine sites along the Weir, MacIntyre and Balonne rivers on three occasions: September and November 2011 and March 2012. Prior to the first survey all sites received significant overbank flows preceded by an extended period of drought (c. 10 yrs). Further flooding also occurred during the study period prohibiting repeated surveys at several sites. During each survey, all woody seedlings (< 1 m) present in transects were recorded and measured. Relevant environmental characteristics were also measured (e.g. soil characteristics, canopy cover, elevation etc.) and the composition of the canopy and presence of seeds recorded. Additionally, a further 70 seedlings across four sites, including Eucalyptus coolabah (coolibah), Acacia stenophylla (river cooba) and Atalaya hemiglauca (whitewood) were tagged and measured to monitor survival and growth during the study period.Seedling establishment was found to be sparse and spatially patchy. Over half of seedlings recorded during each trip were Acacia stenophylla seedlings and these were present at all sites. Muehlenbeckia florulenta (lignum) seedlings were also relatively common and widely distributed. Eucalyptus coolabah seedlings were comparatively rare but were present at six of the nine sites. Atalaya hemiglauca (whitewood) seedlings were also encountered relatively frequently. Only two Eucalyptus camaldulensis (river red gum) seedlings were observed in the entire field study. The range of seedling sizes present at each time suggest that the Acacia stenophylla seedlings observed represented single germination events on each occasion with the tagged seedling study also suggesting limited survival of small seedlings between September and March. Eucalyptus coolabah seedling sizes were also indicative of a single, but considerably earlier, establishment event. In contrast, Muehlenbeckia florulenta appears to be recruiting continuously in these habitats. Larger tagged Acacia stenophylla seedlings exhibited rapid growth over the survey period while Atalaya hemiglauca displayed slower growth and Eucalyptus coolabah seedlings showed a mixed growth response.Significant variation in the composition and density of seedling assemblages was detected between the major river catchments, driven by the abundance of Acacia stenophylla seedlings, with strong variation at the site-scale also apparent. For the September 2011 observations, total seedling density was negatively related to the time since inundation and the duration of the last flood event positively related to Acacia stenophylla seedling density and negatively related to Eucalyptus coolabah density.The results of this project indicate that large floods do not necessarily trigger major recruitment events amongst key riparian tree and shrub species in this region. Recruitment of key species (e.g. Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. coolabah) does not appear to be limited by seed availability as seeds were observed in the canopy and on the soil surface at all sites.Consequently, germination and seedling establishment in these species are likely to require floods with particular attributes (e.g. duration, timing etc.) possibly in combination with a suite of other conditions (e.g. rainfall, temperature). Understanding vegetation regeneration in these significant habitats to better inform water resources management will depend on the establishment of a well-designed long-tem monitoring program that captures recruitment patterns over a large and diverse array of sites.

Cold shock at temperatures below 11C was previously believed to delay cotton development. This paper tested whether exposure to 10C for 10 and 20 nights affected tissue viability. Experiments were conducted using plants grown in the glasshouse at the 14-node stage and plants grown outdoors at the 7-node stage. Simple tissue viability tests using tetrazolium (TTC) and relative electrical conductivity (REC) were conducted following treatments. Leaf photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence were also measured to determine whether there were changes in photosynthetic function. Plants treated with cold shock at 10 'C for 10 and 20 nights did not show any significant impact on tissue viability or cell membrane integrity in the TTC and REC tests, respectively. Photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence levels fell slightly in the 20 night treatment compared to the control, but recovered quickly outdoors at the end of the 20 nights. There was no evidence in the data that exposure to 10C for 10 and 20 nights will reduce cotton tissue viability or plant growth.

The salts of many essential plant nutrients are soluble in water and may be applied to plant leaves directly as a foliar fertiliser. This practice has become widespread in the American and Australian cotton industries over the past 20 years as a means of correcting crop nutrient deficiencies and supplying nutrients to plants during peak demands when root uptake may not be adequate to meet plant demands. The efficacy of these foliar fertilisers, and the yield and quality benefits that may be obtained is debatable. Variable plant responses to foliar

fertilisers have been recorded, ranging from yield increases of 30% to a reduction in photosynthesis and leaf functioning. Knowledge about the precise mechanisms of penetration of foliar applied chemicals is limited, and the factors contributing to the effective uptake of foliar applied nutrients are insufficiently understood to explain the highly variable yield responses recorded. This review will examine the factors affecting the penetration and uptake of foliar applied nutrients, and discuss the potential of this practice to supply nutrients to

developing crops and supplement soil fertilisation in a commercial system.

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 &quote;best commercial practice&quote;. 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&#39s 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&#39s ambitions to develop a high quality product. 28 of 28

This project initially set out to advance the industries capacity to manage water quality through the development of constructed wetlands. Background knowledge included positive results regarding increases in biodiversity and improvement in water quality from pilot-scale wetlands. However, it was identified that the predominant concern of the industry was water availability because of dryer than average climates. Additionally, it was established that irrigators were more interested in whether or not the quality of their tailwater actually required improvement, but had no straightforward methods to attain this insight.As a result this project developed a simple water quality test kit to analyse irrigation water. In a pilot study, 20 water quality test kits and protocols were distributed within the industry, including some properties growing crops other than cotton. Key water quality parameters including, turbidity, temperature, EC, pH, carbonate hardness, total hardness and nitrite, nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and chloride ion concentrations were recorded during irrigations.Although the feedback from participants was positive, the amount of data returned was not sufficient to enable a full analysis of water quality. We expect that reduced on-farm staffing levels, as a consequence of very limited water availability, were too restrictive to allow sufficient resources to be made available for the trial.Analysis of preliminary results indicated that at least 15 to 30 % of nitrogen was lost to the tailwater systems as nitrate. This indicates that significant economic gain can be made through improving the efficiency of nutrient use. The main benefit of the water quality kits was that they provided a quantitative approach for environmental management. Site-specific water quality measurements could be collected that were directly related to local practice. Any change in practice, that affects nutrient use efficiency, could be assessed, thereby informing and quantifying environmental management systems such as BMF. Economic value of improvement in practice can be readily determined from tailwater quality data thereby providing further impetus for improvements.The water quality tests provide the cotton and irrigation industry with a simple tool to seek, measure and record economic and environmental improvement.

With an increase in cotton production and the expected influx of new people into the industry, understanding spinners' requirements will be of the utmost importance to assist the Australian cotton industry to continue to deliver quality cotton and maintain a competitive position in the international market. The 'Cotton Field to Fabric' course is delivered in three formats that gives people in the cotton production pipeline the opportunity to gain valuable and current information and understanding of the entire cotton production pipeline; from the field to the manufacture of fabric. The 'Cotton Field to Fabric' course provides information on all aspects of cotton production highlighting to each sector within the industry the importance and their influence on quality. The three formats (initiatives) are; 1) the three day formal course, which has been presented eleven times since 2005 and has been very successful with over 280 people attending the course; 2) the Roadshow, which has been held twice since 2005 to 343 people and involves short workshops in local cotton growing areas in NSW and Qld and 3) a one day course for secondary school students and teachers.The success of this program and its initiatives is very much dependant on the support from the cotton industry. The three initiatives that make up this project all have a different focus but are all aligned with essentially the same message. All participants obtain a clearer understanding of the entire cotton production and textile processing pipeline. In the past this has led to, and hopefully will continue to, a number of growers and commercial operations changing their practices to ensure that resources are better utilised and fibre quality is not compromised to ensure that yarn and fabric manufacturers' needs are met. This together with other initiatives such as Best Management Practices and research in other areas should contribute to the sustainability and growth of the industry.

CRDC's Annual Operational Plan for 2017-18 (AOP): the fifth (and final) annual operational plan under the CRDC's Strategic R&D Plan 2013-18.

Principal Researchers: Dr M. Bange, Ms. S Deutscher, Mr D. Linsley, Mr S. Johnston, Mr. D. Richards, Ms. L. Thakur, Ms L. Clancy

Cotton growers continue to face increasing pressure to manage resources more cost effectively and to be more accountable for the impact their decisions have on the surrounding environment. In addition to this there are significant changes in technology such as new transgenics (Bollgard II and Roundup Flex) and an increasing need to improve fibre quality and water use efficiency. There was a dedicated commitment by research organisations in the industry (CSIRO, CRDC and Cotton CRC) to develop tools and techniques for decision making from the best information available from research to help all sectors of the industry to meet crop production, social and environmental imperatives. The CSIRO Cotton Management Support Systems team based in Narrabri has evolved to meet these challenges. The team’s mission is to develop, validate and deliver to the cotton industry up-to-date and scientifically grounded decision tools and extension information packages that are accepted as the benchmark for improving the profitability and sustainability of cotton production.

This two year project combined two projects previously supported by the CRDC and one by the Cotton CRC that contributed to the development of decision tools for the cotton industry. This project alone was the principle project that supported the cotton industry’s investment in decision support development. Successful achievements included:

• Delivery of an operational plan for decision support development.

• Prototypes of CottonLOGIC and EntomoLOGIC were developed to meet future needs of the industry.

• HydroLOGIC was upgraded to provide greater reporting flexibility.

• NutriLOGIC was enhanced to included a greater range of nutrients and improve useability.

• A diapause and moth emergence calculator was developed.

• The Crop Development Tool was upgraded to include vegetative growth rate for assisting with growth regulant decisions. Its useability was also improved.

• A water quality calculator to estimate the impacts of water quality on crop growth was delivered.

• ‘CottBASE’ a database of pre-run simulations of the OZCOT model was developed.

• Members of this project team assisted in developing the technical specifications of the new Cotton Catchment Communities CRC’s website.

• An industry advisory committee was facilitated.

• Training and support for the decision tools was provided.

• Web statistics showed significant adoption and use of these tools during the course of the cotton season.

There is consensus both locally and internationally that the measurement of cotton grade i.e., colour, trash and grade, by the traditional subjective classing should be replaced with objective measurements by high volume instrumentation (HVI). There are however, a number of technical and operating issues to overcome before objective measurement of fibre properties is accepted with confidence by the cotton trade.

One measure is to allow the classing sector to be assessed independently via rigorous round-robin trials so that individual classing houses can correct technical and operational shortcomings in their HVI practice. In this way the industry as a whole can work towards a better prediction of Australian classing grade by HVI measurement.

To this end the Cotton Classers Association of Australia (CCAA) has decided to conduct formilised round-robin trials with the results analysed and interpreted by CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology. The aim of the trials is to identify and remedy any significant differences in colour and trash between classing houses and HVI lines (types).

An initial round-robin trial (Appendix 1) was conducted during August 2004 and involved five classing houses and a research institute. Nineteen HVI lines and 250 samples were tested on the basis of colour only. This trial found significant differences between classing houses rather than between HVI types.

The CCAA decided to conduct a follow up round-robin trial incorporating formal checks on HVI operating software and calibration procedure by anUster technician and with the inclusion of HVI trash measurements.

The results of this trial are reported here.

This project initially set out to advance the industries capacity to manage water quality through the development of constructed wetlands. Background knowledge included positive results regarding increases in biodiversity and improvement in water quality from pilot-scale wetlands. However, it was identified that the predominant concern of the industry was water availability because of dryer than average climates. Additionally, it was established that irrigators were more interested in whether or not the quality of their tailwater actually required improvement, but had no straightforward methods to attain this insight.As a result this project developed a simple water quality test kit to analyse irrigation water. In a pilot study, 20 water quality test kits and protocols were distributed within the industry, including some properties growing crops other than cotton. Key water quality parameters including, turbidity, temperature, EC, pH, carbonate hardness, total hardness and nitrite, nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and chloride ion concentrations were recorded during irrigations.Although the feedback from participants was positive, the amount of data returned was not sufficient to enable a full analysis of water quality. We expect that reduced on-farm staffing levels, as a consequence of very limited water availability, were too restrictive to allow sufficient resources to be made available for the trial.Analysis of preliminary results indicated that at least 15 to 30 % of nitrogen was lost to the tailwater systems as nitrate. This indicates that significant economic gain can be made through improving the efficiency of nutrient use. The main benefit of the water quality kits was that they provided a quantitative approach for environmental management. Site-specific water quality measurements could be collected that were directly related to local practice. Any change in practice, that affects nutrient use efficiency, could be assessed, thereby informing and quantifying environmental management systems such as BMF. Economic value of improvement in practice can be readily determined from tailwater quality data thereby providing further impetus for improvements.The water quality tests provide the cotton and irrigation industry with a simple tool to seek, measure and record economic and environmental improvement.