Two key hormones, ecdysone and juvenile hormone, control metamorphosis and moulting in insects. Stated simply, the role of juvenile hormone in insect development is to determine the type of moult that is undertaken by the insect. The presence of juvenile hormone maintains juvenile characteristics and prevents development of the adult form (Kumaran, 1990). Very low levels of juvenile hormone are found in the insect immediately preceding a larval to pupal moult, while absence of juvenile hormone in the insect leads to a pupal to adult moult. There are at least six fonts of juvenile hormone that occur alone or in combination across different insect orders and developmental states. Juvenile hormone III is the most commonly detected form across insect orders. However, there is some evidence that in the higher Diptera such as D. melanogaster JHIII is a precursor for an alternative form of the hormone, juvenile hormone III bisepoxide (Richard et al 1989).

Cotton is the most important textile crop due to its cellulose-enriched mature fibres, single celled hairs derived from ovule epidermis at anthesis. Despite the great potential for increasing cotton productivity through genetic engineering of fibre development, little progress has so far been made in this area. This is in sharp contrast to the success of pest and herbicide resistant transgenic cotton that have already made a large impact on agriculture in both the U. S. and Australia (1). The major impendence to fibre engineering is due to our poor understanding of the biology of the cotton fibre, particularly, the identities and functions of genes controlling various fibre development processes. Cotton fibres are metabolically active cells in utilising hexose or its derivates from phloem-imported sucrose for its initiation, elongation and cellulose synthesis (2,3,4,5). Sucrose synthase (SuSy)is the key enzyme in cotton fibre to break down incoming sucrose into fructose and DDP-glucose (2,3). The latter is the immediate substrate for cellulose synthesis (6). However, previous evidence on the role of SuSy in cotton fibre development is largely correlative in nature (2,3,4). Here, by using reverse genetic approach, we have now demonstrated that SuSy indeed plays a crucial role in cotton fibre initiation, elongation and cellulose synthesis.

The CSIRO Advanced Lines Trial(ALT) has been run cooperatively by CSIRO and DPIQ for 26 years and is used as the last stage in our breeding line evaluation. Early generation testing following single plant selection involves unreplicated progeny rows at the Australian Cotton Research institute, further progeny row tests and multiple row replicated trials at a limited number of farm sites. At each stage, lines with poor seedling vigour, disease susceptibility, poor fibre quality or low yield are removed from further testing. The ALT involves 13 irrigated sites in all major cotton growing regions in Australia. Management is normal commercial practice including full insect control Entries in the ALT include promising breeding lines and commercial standards. Ingard varieties are included in the ALT even though the trials are conventionality sprayed. Their performance indicates yield potential relative to their conventional counterparts and also gives an indication of the insect pressure experienced. Plots consist of three or four rows from 10 to 14 metres long and four replications are used. The centre rows of all plots are harvested with a modified picker, the seed cotton weighed and a subsample is taken for ginning at Biloela or Narrabri and fibre quality analysis at Narrabri. The most promising lines are retained in the scheme and also seed increased. In this way, by the time good performance is confirmed, sufficient seed is available for large scale testing and final seed increase for cornmercial use.

Plant diseases are currently threatening the productivity and sustainability of the cotton industry. Regular disease surveys in NSW have enabled accurate observation of the changing distribution and severity of diseases over time. The relative risks are low for bon rots, Alternaria leaf spot and bacterial blight, medium for seedling disease and Verticillium wilt, and high for black rootrot and fusarium wilt. Issues that need to be addressed include regional differences, potential new threats, and the complexity of pathosystems (pathogens x hosts x fields x regions). Research should include (1) continued investigation of factors contributing to the spread and severity of diseases and (ii) further development and evaluation of tools for integrated disease management.

Interest in Integrated Pest management (IPM) and Area Wide Management (AWM) continues to increase within the Australian Cotton industry. The costs of chemical control, coupled with pests developing increasing levels of insecticide resistance and an awareness of the potential impacts of sprays on the neighbouring environment have led many Australian cotton growers to consider new approaches to pest management. AWM an approach which acknowledges that pest and beneficial insects are mobile, and that the management regimes to control pests imposed on a given field are likely to alter the abundance of beneficial organisms and levels of insecticide resistance in the surrounding locality. By communicating and coordinating strategies, growers within an AWM group have better opportunities to implement ERM strategies like those outlined in the Integrated Pest Management Guidelines for Australian Cotton (Mensah and Wilson 1999).

It is widely recognized that &quote;Plant diseases are a man-made problem&quote;. Our current farming systems are 'pathogen-friendly'. All of the pathogens that cause diseases of cotton are favoured by one, or in most cases, several of these farming system features. Our current cotton farming systems are ruining cotton health!

Area-wide pest management (AWM) has had a high profile introduction to the cotton and grains industries on the Downs since 1998 and prior to that in the cotton industry in Emerald. All Cotton-growing valleys in Australia now have at least one group taking an area-wide approach to their insect pest management. To a large extent, this movement has been as a result of the work undertaken on the Darting Downs.

Cottonseed oil is highly polyunsaturated and is routinely hydrogenated to achieve greater stability for cooking applications and functionality for margarine production. The combination of trans-fatty acids that result from hydrogenation, and naturally high levels of saturates make hydrogenated cottonseed oil nutritionally undesirable because both components are implicated in raising blood cholesterol. Increasing consumer attention will be focused on these negative features of hydrogenated cottonseed oil in the future as a result of the likely introduction of compulsory labelling of trans and saturated fatty acid content. The recent development of nutritionally-improved forms of competing vegetable oils (e. g. sunflower, rapeseed, soybean) will create a situation of increasing market discrimination away from the current cottonseed oil.

The nature of agricultural production has changed dramatically over the past decade, with more changes in the pipeline. Where producers once chose between grassfed livestock or cereal crops, or a combination of both, as their primary income source, they are now faced with a plethora of enterprise choices as a means of supporting their businesses and families. Traditional practices have given way to innovative and lateral activities that enable producers to spread their financial risk across a multitude of enterprises. While this has been an exciting development worthy of strong community support, it often brings with it new problems. Countering the upside of better land utilisation and financial risk management are 'boundary' issues, particularly those that negatively impinge from one production system to another either on the same property or within a region. Agricultural-chemical 'trespass' is the starkest example of this, with the cattle/cotton production interface the most publicised. Until two or three years ago, individual agricultural sectors were quite satisfied to develop their own quality assurance (QA) programs to maximise quality and safety attributes for customers. While a number of these programs were extended to include environmental and/or animal welfare matters, little effort was made to ensure 'seamlessness' across enterprises, even though multiple-enterprise properties were becoming an increasingly common feature of the agricultural scenery. Fortunately this is changing, albeit slowly. Resulting from rumblings in the bush, the cattle, sheepmeat, grain and wool industries, for example, are now sharing common 'modules' across their QA schemes. These cover 'management' and 'chemical use/storage'. The beef-cattle/cotton industry interface is in desperate need of similar co-operation.

Genomics is the discovery and study of many genes simultaneously on a genome - wide scale. The completion of the genome sequence of Arabidopsis thaliana (a model dicot) heralded the beginning of the genome era for plant biology. The development of genomic tools, such as microarray technologies are profoundly changing and accelerating research in many areas of biology including plant biology. DNA microarrays consist of thousands of target CDNAs robotically arrayed on glass slides. Flourescently labelled CDNA samples, from different tissues or different conditions, are then hybridised to the arrays. By analysing the fluorescence of the hybridised spots on the microarrays we can assess the gene expression changes of 1000's of genes simultaneously. Microarrays provide a powerful tool for discovery of plant genes involved in important biological processes such as growth, development and defence, to name but a few. Genomics-based characterization of plant genomes has the potential to revolutionize plant science.