The use of strip crops planted beside, or near, cotton is being promoted as part of the cotton industry's' integrated pest management (lPM) guidelines. Strip crops may be used to act as a trap crop for heliothis (Helicoverpa spp.), or as a nursery for beneficial insects and spiders. Chickpea has been used as a spring trap crop for heliothis, and Iucerne has been used as a summer trap for green minds and a nursery for beneficials. To date summer trap crops for heliothis have not been widely tested on the Darling Downs. Lablab (Labiab purpureus) has been proposed as a trap crop for heliothis because it is hardier than Iuceme and may be better suited to dryland regions. In addition to attracting heliothis, lablab may act as a nursery for beneficial insects and spiders. While chickpea is highly attractive to heliothis, it is not attractive to a very important group of beneficial insects - wasp parasitoids. The heliothis egg parasitoid Trichogramma and the larval parasitoid Microplitis are rarely found in chickpea. This is unfortunate, because chickpea trap crops could potentially generate millions of these useful wasps that could move into subsequent summer crops. However, lablab may act as a nursery for beneficial arthropods (including parasitic wasps) that may move into cotton and attack some pests, including heliothis. The aim of this study was to evaluate lablab as a trap crop for heliothis, and as a nursery crop for beneficial insects and spiders.

As the uptake of the Round Bale (RB) picking system has been widespread and rapid it is not a matter of whether or not the industry should adopt this technology rather a process of determining its impacts evaluating impacts against previous harvesting systems and developing strategies to optimise operating performance.

As new insecticides for cotton pests are developed, it is important that the cotton industry has its own independent assessment of their effect on beneficial fauna. This research allows an understanding of the role and fit of new products in integrated pest management. At the same time existing products are being advanced with lower rates (half and quarter) being trailed as a means of reducing a product's impact on beneficials while still achieving satisfactory pest control. Here we detail the effects of new and existing products on some common beneficial arthropods and pests in cotton, using a common industry standard product for comparison.

The silverleaf whitefly (SLW), Bemisia tabaci B-biotype was first discovered in Australia in 1994 (Gunning et al , 1995). This biotype is a major pest of cotton and other crops in many overseas counties and is a considerable threat to cotton in Australia. Another indigenous biotype of B. tabaci (IBW), that is not considered a pest, is common in Queensland. This paper reports the results of sampling for these biotypes in the cotton areas of Queensland during the past two years'

Endosulfan has proved to be a cheap and efficacious insecticide. It provides ongoing value in the protection of conventional and transgenic cotton crops against Heliothis and other Insect pests. However, endosulfan has been associated in the past with off-site residue problems that threaten its ongoing registration. There are two primary areas of concern in this regard. The first of these is with respect to environmental impacts of endosulfan contamination of downstream waterways. The second centres on concerns regarding endosulfan residues identified in locally grown beef through consumption of contamination of pastures. The cotton industry has responded to the concerns surrounding endosulfan usage by developing and achieving widespread adoption of Best Management Practices for Minimising the Impact of Pesticides. Whilst these practices should reduce the risk, the seriousness of the concern with respect to the two issues identified above requires development of mechanisms to directly address contamination. Many of the problems with endosulfan residues would be avoided if water at risk could be quickly decontaminated. This could be achieved by on-farm bioremediation of tail water with specialised enzymes (proteins that catalyse chemical reactions). This paper describes early progress in a CRDC and CRC supported CSIRO project that is working towards this goal. A more detailed description of this work will appear in Sutherland et al , 2000a, b (I, 2).

This paper explores some specific short-term impacts of reductions in water available for cotton irrigation. It is noted that longer term impacts are much more difficult to determine. A participative 'triple bottom line' approach for assessing change is proposed, as a way to making better decisions based on improved information about the short and long term social, economic and environmental consequences. The Centre for Ecological Economics and Water Policy Research has been undertaking research and developing tools to support such an approach.

Excessive wheel slip and engine speed can waste fuel.
Tractor Performance Monitors (TPMs) have the ability to show fuel use parameters which an operator or grower can use to check their fuel consumption for an operation. This fact sheet uses the GreenStar 3 display to illustrate the key settings and calibrations needed to show accurate fuel use consumption and associated indicators.

In June 1997 a Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) funded project was initiated in the Emerald Irrigation Area (EIA), for the development of management strategies to minimise off-site movement of pollutants(sediment, nutrient and pesticides) at the paddock or fun scale (Waters et al. 1998). In particular, the goal was to apply plot scale research thongs at the paddock scale and to assess the practicality and feasibility of adoption of these management practice by farmers' Planting cotton into standing wheat stubble was one management option which proved to be highly effective at reducing pollutant movement. A further unexpected finding was an early season reduction in insecticide sprays on cotton that was planted into the standing wheat stubble. This finding has generated interest from growers and researchers because of the need for environmentally friendly pest management measures in this area which is characterised by high levels of insecticide resistance in pest populations. Over the past two seasons there has been an increase in the number of glowers planting cotton into standing wheat stubble in the EIA. Growers have been enthusiastic to assess the potential for the rotation to reduce reliance on chemical sprays and also to reduce off-site movement of pollutants in run off The wheat cotton rotation (W-C) has resulted in a reduction of up to three early season sprays in 1997/98 on several farms in the district in what was regarded as a high pest pressure season. The 1999/2000 season was a low pressure season and Heliothis numbers in the wheat cotton crops were not significantly different to conventional cotton crops in the EIA. Whilst a W-C has proven to be highly effective in reducing pollutant movement in runoff; further monitoring needs to be carried out over a number of seasons to assess the full effectiveness of the W-C as a means of reducing reliance on chemical applications. This paper will outline the development of W-C in the EIA and its potential use as a tool for Heliothis management

The title of my paper reflects the overriding precedence of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in the future of pest management for Australian cotton. Bt cotton, whether with one gene or two, win only ever be a component of sustainable IPM systems, not an answer in itself. IPM seeks to utilise a diverse array of pest control tactics to achieve pest management without excessive reliance on pesticides. Many of the components of IPM systems are used in Australian cotton production (sampling, thresholds, soft pesticides, cultivation of crop residues, planting windows, pest tolerant varieties, beneficial insects). Based on research over the last decade we are now seeing greater efforts to maximise biological sources of mortality for pests (the cotton plant itself, beneficial insects, weather) and an increasing willingness on the part of growers to co-operate in area wide management systems for key pests. These developments, supported by production of the Australian Cotton CRC's IPM Guidelines for Australian Cotton (Mensah and Wilson 1999), suggest that IPM will progressively become the norm for Australia. Pesticides are, and will remain, a part of ERM, but with greater reliance on less disruptive compounds and more objective decision making associated with their use.

Judging by the media headlines over the past three years, the dominant issues for sustained use of the Murray-Darling Basin's natural resources are sanity and security of water supply under the Cap on diversions. The average reader could be excused for thinking that there is a simple trade-off between environment and industry - we can't have a healthy river system unless we get rid of cotton or rice production, or we can't continue the remarkable growth in the regional economy unless access to surface and groundwater is maintained or continues to grow. Growers and natural resource management agencies are apparently on a collision path and the resolution is compensation.