This guide shows some of the more typical damage symptoms seen in Australian cotton from exposure to a range of herbicides. Images were obtained from experiments where known rates of herbicide were applied to irrigated cotton at specific growth stages. The symptoms of herbicide damage displayed by cotton plants are affected by the type of herbicide, the herbicide rate, the crop growth stage, and environmental factors such as soil moisture, temperature and humidity. Under different conditions, crops may not display the symptoms of damage indicated in these photos.

The apple dimpling bug (ADB), Campylomma liebknechti (Girault) is a sucking insect indigenous to Australia. The insect has been recorded on cotton crops in all cotton growing areas in Australia, but its pest status is not fully understood (Bishop, 1980). Adams and Pyke (1982) and Chinajariyawong and Water (1990) has reported cotton square loss associated with ADB infestations. ADB has also been observed feeding on the eggs of two spotted mites in the cotton field (Wilson et al. 1998). Khan and Mensah (1998) also reported that, provision of Helicoverpa eggs to ADB females increased their fecundity and nymphal development. Some cotton growers and consultants consider ADB as cotton pest and therefore control them with synthetic insecticides when numbers exceed current CottonLOGIC threshold. Others especially those practising IPM sees ADB as a beneficial insect. The pest and predator status of ADB, therefore, has brought jinxed conceptions about the true status of this insect in the cotton production system. This mixed attitude towards ADB, shows that there is a substantial gap in our knowledge of the ecology, biology and pest status of this insect. We have undertaken detail studies of the basic biology, behaviour, dynamics and pest status of ADB so that the true status of the insect can be clarified and also made, where appropriately suggestions as to measures required to manage this insect in the cotton system. This paper, reports some aspects of the life cycle, sources of ADB to cotton fields, sampling, economic thresholds and seasonal phenology of ADB. In addition, we have investigated the predator status of ADB in relation to Helicoverpa spp. eggs on cotton crops.

In Australia, premature senescence (PS) is occurring with increasing frequency in cotton crops on soils with high levels of available K. However, by the time PS is noticed, it is generally too late to take corrective measures and the use of plant tissue testing as a diagnostic tool has not been widely successful in predicting K deficiency (Kirby and Atoms, 1985). Therefore, it is important to detect beforehand susceptible crops, so that timely action can be taken

An energy assessment establishes energy saving opportunities. Measuring (or estimating) energy use enables comparison with industry benchmarks and, in turn, identifies high energy use areas. Reducing energy use is both profitable and environmentally beneficial.

The add and semi-add regions of the world are being relied upon to provide increasing amounts of agricultural products. This is being facilitated by the increasing dependence on irrigation. In many cases irrigation inefficiency has led to water loss through deep drainage (DD) and groundwater recharge. In the irrigated cotton-growing areas of southeast Queensland and north western New South Wales, irrigation efficiency is increasingly becoming an important natural resource management issue because of the increasing number of instances where perched water tables are causing problems with respect to water logging and in isolated instances soil salinisation (Triantafilis et al 2002).

The current cotton industry IPM guidelines promote the use of predator/prey ratios when making pest management decisions. This involves assessing the numbers of key predators within the cotton crop. Many species of insects and spiders are known to feed on heliothis eggs and larvae, but few studies have quantified the contribution that each species makes in controlling heliothis in the field. Such studies are understandably difficult to undertake. It may, however, be worthwhile to give each potential species of predator a rating so that crop consultants and farmers do not waste time counting species of minor importance, and can focus on sampling those species that are most likely to feed on heliothis. The aim of this study was to evaluate predation of heliothis eggs in INGARD cotton planted adjacent to lablab, and to identify the key predatory species.

In a nutshell the answer to this question is profitability. Area Wide management (AWM) has worked very well on my farm. One of the reasons l know this is because of the bench marking used in Michael Boyce & Co comparative analysis. Our farm is continually in the top 20% for low growing costs and the top 20% for yields. Profit and sustainability is what really drives us all otherwise I wouldnt have kept going since 1978. Profit at the expense of sustainability is short sighted to say the least. AWM is a tool that helps to keep costs down and keep our farms sustainable. AWM is really well suited to Integrated Pest Management (hereafter called IPM)it should be remembered that IPM is not only about insect control it is about varietal selection, positioning of Ingard fields, trap cropping, nitrogen rates and timing maximising beneficials, product selection and evaluation. It is interesting to note that in 1999 -2000 the Macintyre Valley as a whole has had an average of 6 sprays on the conventional cotton and 1.5 sprays on INGARD. I know there is a lot of different reasons for this outcome but it must be noted that this was the first year that IPM and AWM have been widely used.

Interest in Area Wide Management is increasing within the Australian Cotton industry. The increasing costs of chemical control, coupled with increasing levels of resistance to conventional chemistry and an awareness of the potential impacts of sprays on the neighbouring environment have led many growers to consider new approaches to pest management. Area Wide Management (AWM) is an approach that 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 PM strategies like those outlined in the Integrated Pest management Guidelines for Australian Cotton (Mensah and Wilson 1999). To assess the benefits of IPM implemented within an AWM group, we undertook an economic evaluation of cotton field productivity and profitability in relation to pest pressure. The work reported here examines the interaction between pest pressure and the associated spray programs. It provides supporting material for the economic evaluation presented in a separate paper in these proceedings by Ziaul Hoque et al (2000).

Alternative technologies for insect pest control are becoming increasingly important as a result of increasing insecticide resistance in the cotton pest Helicoverpa armigera the move towards ecologically sustainable agriculture. Two biotechnological approaches under investigation are insect resistant transgenic crops and insect viruses engineered for increased speed of kin. An important limiting factor for both approaches is the availability of efficacious insecticidal insert genes that can be inserted into the crop or virus. Juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) is an attractive candidate, especially for transgenic insect viruses. JHE acts to control juvenile hormone and hence is a key controller of metamorphosis and maturation of reproductive tissues in a range of invertebrates. A form of JHE specific for Iepidopterans has already been isolated and engineered into an insect virus, demonstrating insecticidal properties against Helicoverpa species. Infection of Iepidopteran larvae with a baculovirus engineered to produce a large increase in JHE causes a reduction in juvenile hormone level, leading to aberrant moults and the end of feeding behaviour. Here we describe a project that aims to isolate a more versatile JHE, which should be effective against a range of chewing and sucking pests.

Prior to the 1992-1993 cotton season, Australia was considered to be free from the fungal disease of cotton known as Fusarium wilt. The disease is caused by a soil-inhabiting fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp vasinfectum (Fov), and two different strains of the causal pathogen have since been described in Australia (Kochman, 1995; Davis et al 1996; Kochman, et al 1998; Bentley et al these proceedings). These strains, described as Vegetative Compatibility Groups (VCGs) 01/11 and 01/12, have caused severe losses to cotton production in Australia, particularly in susceptible varieties. Fov is now considered by many growers, ginners, consultants and other industry personnel as the most important constraint to sustainable cotton production in Australia to have developed in recent years