Issue being addressed A complex of soil pests can cause crop establishment problems in newly sown cotton crops even where seed dressings are used. These occasional pests are difficult to detect prior to planting without sampling. However, as the primary control tactics for soil insects need to be applied prior to or at sowing it is important to check for soil pests that may cause problems to identify fields that may be of risk.

Outline/Question The effectiveness of the Bt refuge strategy relies not only on the production of susceptible moths in refuge crops, but also the movement of these moths within the Bt cotton landscape. However, as this is not a closed system, there is the potential for refuge crops to be contaminated with resistant alleles through the movement of resistant moths from Bollgard crops back into these areas. We investigated whether Cry2Ab resistance affects flight capacity of female Cotton Bollworm moths?

Using information generated from research, the CottASSIST web tools can help cotton growers and consultants refine their management decisions.

Irrigators want to improve water use efficiency (WUE) in terms of bales per megalitre with the intention of maximising their profitability or $/ML. Irrigation benchmarking is crucial if an irrigation enterprise is going to improve its WUE. Knowing how irrigators are performing compared to their region or industry enables continuous improvement in water management.

This project will improve industry capacity to adopt best management practice and improve water use and energy efficiency, through the provision of training, technical support and extension material.

Developed by CSIRO, IrriSat is a weather based irrigation scheduling service. It uses satellite imagery to better determine site specific crop coefficients (Kc) that are needed to calculate crop water use.

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) causes serious losses to cotton production in many countries, such as India and Pakistan. For example, CLCuD cost the Pakistan industry about US$5 billion (1992-1997) and during the 2009-1010 season losses of 100% were seen in India. CLCuD is also present in Sudan, Egypt, Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria and China. CLCuD is not present in Australia and represents a serious biosecurity risk.

Cotton seed and boll rots are caused by a number of organisms including fungi and bacteria. Recently we isolated the bacterium, Pantoea agglomerans, from rotten bolls. A survey on boll rots across cotton growing areas this past season revealed that up to 90% bolls carried this bacterium. The same bacterium was identified in the USA as a causal agent of boll rot.

Adaptive irrigation control (1) Adaptive control strategies have been developed for real-time management of irrigation. A closedloop or timing (2) actuator hardware to adjust irrigation application

CBT is the most serious viral disease of cotton in Australia and is transmit-ted by cotton aphids (Aphis gossypii). CBT symptoms include reduced, plant height, leaf size, petiole length, inter-node length and boll size. Stunted, bunchy plants are common. Usually a period of 3-8 weeks lapses between when the infection occurs and when symptoms first appear. Affected plants often occur in patches or on crop edges and are associated with areas of highest aphid activity. The extent to which yield is affected depends on the proportion of plants infected and how early infection occurs.