Bioassays were conducted to investigate the effect of milk powder additives on the performance of a heliothis nucleopolyhedrovirus (Gemstar) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Dipel SC) on mungbeans and cotton. Larval mortality increased when the calf feeding supplement, Denkavit , was added at I kg/ha to both Gemstar and Dipel SC. Other powder additives and a liquid formulation, Amino Feed, were mostly equivalent to Denkavit. While Envirofeast and Pred Feed would not be considered for use solely as an additive to Gemstar or Dipel SC, the data indicate that improved performance from Gemstar could be expected if added to these food sprays. The mode of action of these additives has not been determined

The obvious symptoms of waterlogging response in cotton are leaf chlorosis (yellowing) and dropping squares & bolls. In addition, Huck (1970) showed that tap root growth stopped within 30 min of reducing the oxygen in the soils, and that the growing point of the root was completely dead within 3 hrs. In other plant species, these responses have been associated with the effect of ethylene, produced in response to lack of oxygen (Pratt, 1953; Jackson, 1984; 1985; Jackson & Drew, 1984; Raskin & Konde, 1984; Stead, 1985; Voesenek & Blom, 1989; Osborne, 1991;Reid & Wu, 1991; Brady & Speirs, 1991; Voesenek et al, 1992; Drew, 1997). Ethylene is known to accelerate premature senescence, defoliation and boll dehiscence in cotton (Hall et al, 1957; Kirzek, 1986), but the involvement of ethylene in cotton's response to waterlogging has not been demonstrated. AVG (aminoethoxyvinylglycine)is an inhibitor of ethylene production. It can be used to indicate the involvement of ethylene production in physiological processes. Improvements in commercial production of AVG provide an exciting opportunity to explore the importance of ethylene production in plant responses to waterlogging in the field. To achieve meaningful results, dose-response tests are necessary to establish the concentration of AVG that is high enough to inhibit ethylene formation while low enough to minimise nonspecific and possibly toxic effects to the plants from AVG itself(Jackson, 1991).

Australia-wide insecticide resistance surveying of cotton aphid populations identified pirimicarb, organophosphate, endosulfan and pyrethroid resistance. Resistance levels were often high to extreme and have been linked to field control failures for the first time. Resistant cotton aphids have the potential to seriously impact the Australian cotton industry and their resistance management should now be an industry priority

Machinery contributes around 54% of the cotton farm input costs. Research conducted by the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA ) into on farm energy efficiency has found that for cotton production: * There is significant variation in energy use between cotton enterprises and this is largely due to irrigation. * Energy usage was 3.7 to 15.2 GJ/ha at a cost of $80 to $310/ha. *275 to 1,404 kg CO2 equivalent/ha of greenhouse gas emissions are generated.

The ovicidal and larvicidal activity of Tracer Naturalyte Insect Control and conventional ovicidal standards was investigated on Helicoverpa spp. under Australian conditions. Two trials were carried out; the first used laboratory reared Helicoverpa armigera eggs, and the second used Helicoverpa spp. eggs naturally laid on field cotton. The results showed that Tracer killed 10-30% of eggs and 20-80% of hatching neonates. The ovicidal activity of Tracer was slightly less than conventional ovicidal standards (Larvin, Ovasyn and Lannate'), however, the combined ovicidal and larvicidal action was generally equivalent to , or greater than the standards. These data show that Tracer should be applied at the brown egg stage to utilise both the ovicidal and Larvicidal action of this product.

Cotton crops in Australia are visited by a wide range of beneficial insects. These include generalist predators and specialist parasitoids which attack key pests. The potential value of these beneficial insects has not been widely exploited in cotton pest management due to lack of understanding of their impact on pests, lack of techniques to maximise their abundance and effectiveness and indiscriminate use of broad-spectrum insecticides on cotton crops against major pests. The adoption of within field monocultures in the cotton production system in Australia also discriminate against and reduce the activity of beneficial insects because they lack ecological diversity (Hagen and Hale, 1974). In such agroecosystems, pest populations increase, minor pests become major pests and non-pests become pests. This is because the food, hosts, prey, and hibernating or over wintering sites of the natural enemies are reduced thus affecting biological control (DeLoach 1971; Mensah, 1997; 1999). Natural enemies of cotton pests usually have different food requirements in the larval and adult stages to develop and survive through the season. In contrast, adult pests particularly Helicoverpa spp. can nominally lay their eggs without any feeding, relying only on food reserves transferred from their larval stage (Beirne 1967). Helicoverpa spp. are highly migratory and can rapidly infest cotton crops and lay their eggs. Unless natural enemies are present and well established in high numbers before the pest arrive, they cannot respond rapidly enough to control these pests (Fitt, 1989; Mensah, 1997, 1999).

Water pumping is 46% to 75% of the total direct energy use as large quantities of water are pumped for irrigation. How efficiently this happens depends on the efficiency of the pump stations. Performing a pump test highlights opportunities for significant improvements in pump efficiency and therefore significant cost savings.

Put simply, Area Wide Integrated Pest Management is the combined effort of a number of farmers and their advisers to manage pests using all the tools available with minimum impact on beneficial insects, the environment or their neighbours.

Responsible cotton production - this is the future. Increasingly the growing of cotton will need to be conducted in a way that minimises its perceived impact on the environment and greater community. This will need to involve a greater understanding of the interactions that occur within our cotton production system such that we start to maximise the synergies that can be achieved by optimising the components that interact. A top down approach of looking at important driving influences such as economics and linking this to rotation and agronomy planning can provide some important clues as to the direction cotton growers can take their production systems in the future. The farming systems approach aims to link some or all of the various components (soil, insects, weeds, disease, water, economics) into a single framework. Many components of a sustainable system have been researched and are ready to be applied to a package.

The Improving Energy Efficiency on Irrigated Australian Cotton Farms project aims to deliver an industry-wide awareness campaign that provides tailored energy efficiency information and tools to irrigators and their advisors. This activity received funding from the Department of Industry as part of the Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program.