One hundred & seventy people were given training in soil assessment and management Hands-on training in soil management was given to one hundred & seventy members of the Australian cotton industry at a series of 11 courses between October 1997 and September 1999. The courses were held in the Narrabri, Warren, Moree, Emerald, Dalby, Wee Waa, Goondiwindi, Gunnedah, Theodore. Walgett and Bourke districts. The main aim of the courses was to demonstrate how to use 'SO!Lpak for Cotton Growers, Third Edition ' *, with emphasis on soil sampling for yield map interpretation. Soil monitoring for farm accreditation schemes also was discussed. Most of the soil inspections were carried out via 1.5 metre deep backhoe pits, which usually were dug in * McKenzi e, D .C. (ed.) 1998. SOILpak for Cotton Growers, Third Edition. 395 pp. (NSW Agriculture, Orange.) triplicate. The courses focussed on the needs of Private Consultants and Government Advisers associated with the cotton industry - a summary of course attendees is shown in Table 1. Details are in Appendix 1. David McKenzie also demonstrated soil description

PROJECT OBJECTIVES 1. To assess the performance of the new distributor across a wide range of outlet numbers,, flow rates and tank pressures with both conventional gas and Cold-flo product., 2. To assess the performance of the new distributor in conjunction with a range of metering, devices (ie. both controllers and regulators).,

Project Objective Year 1: To order and purchase a new file server and install it at ACRI.

The aim of this project is to evaluate annually a large number of cotton breeding lines and cultivars for yield and quality characteristics in Queensland in collaboration with the CSIRO cotton breeding programs at Narrabri. The following trial program provides the milestones for this project. 1. Australian Cotton Cultivar Trials ( 4 irrigated sites - Brookstead on the Darling Downs and Theodore, Biloela and Emerald in central Queensland, plus 2 dryland sites- Dalby on the Darling Downs and Biloela in central Queensland. 2. Short Season Trials on the Darling Downs (1 site - Brookstead) 3. Full Season Trials in central Queensland (2 sites - Biloela, Emerald) 4. Hot Area - Material Trials in central Queensland (1 site - Emerald) 5. lngard Variety Trials (Emerald in central Queensland and Brookstead on the Darling Downs)

To ensure the viability of cotton research into the ears of agronomy, entomology and pathology by NSW Agriculture staff at the Australian Cotton Research Institute

This project was to provide the basic technical support at the molecular level for CSIRO' s cotton breeding program to develop new transgenic cotton varieties with improved agronomic characteristics. During the three years of the project, which was a continuation of a previous CRDC project in the same area, the three technical staff supported by the grant carried out extensive screening of transgenic breeding lines (over 500,000 samples) containing the insecticidal INGARD gene, the CryIIA gene and the herbicide resistance gene Roundup Ready and various combinations of these genes in a variety of elite backgrounds. This screening work allowed the cotton breeders at Narrabri to identify those plants containing the novel genes that could be advanced in the breeding process. This is obviously an essential component of the more conventional parts of the breeding process related to the carrying out of crosses and the evaluation of the agronomic performance of the lines and directly contributed to the release of five transgenic IN GARD cultivars in 1996 and a sixth cultivar in the 1998 season. On-going screening as part of a new CRDC project will have contributed to the development of new IN GARD cultivars for the next decade and the two gene Bt varieties to hopefully be released in 2000 or soon after. The same technical team has also produced many hundreds of new transgenic cotton plants containing both experimental genes aimed at improving the pest and disease tolerance of cotton and potentially new commercial traits such as tolerance to the herbicide bromoxynil that are still in the evaluation phase

The ACGRA discussed what the goals, objectives and directions it should be following in terms of research into soils, tillage and engineering issues. It was felt that agronomy and soil-tillage engineering issues should be amalgamated under a "farming systems" title that provided for a more multi-discipline approach to farming practices closely related to land preparation and soils issues

Twelve cotton defence-response genes were analysed to determine if there is any similarity between the response of the plant to fungal pathogens or symbionts. The defence-response genes representing the enzymes phenylalanine ammonium lyase (PAL), chalcone synthase (CHS) and chitinase did not appear to be activated in mycorrhizal cotton roots, in contrast to what is observed in other plant-mycorrhiza interactions. Other defence-response genes with unknown function which were activated in myc01Thizal cotton roots deserve further investigation. One which has sequence similarity with a putative signal transduction protein may provide insights into the mechanism by which the defence response is regulated in mycorrhizal cotton roots.

This thesis assessed the effectiveness of a formulation of a chemical activator in bringing about systemic resistance to diseases in cotton in the light of reports of its action in other plants.

The objectives of this project were: 1. To identify candidate pathogens for the biocontrol of purple nutsedge ( Cyperus rotundus). 2. To determine the potential of candidate pathogens as augmentive and inundative biocontrol agents of purple nutsedge in cotton. 3. To determine the feasibility of using combinations of pathogens either as a "cocktail mixture" (to broaden the spectrum of weeds affected) or applied at different times (to determine possible synergistic interactions in terms of weed control). 0 2 4. To define the conditions under which potential biocontrol pathogens are most likely to succeed and not succeed. 5. To work with weed scientists to determine how biocontrol might best be integrated into weed management systems.