The project was teminated by CRDC after two years and therefore could not meet its final objectives. Good technical progress was made and the resources and information that were obtained remain available for the future. One particular benefit of the project was seen by the CRDC review. held in January 1995. as being that the knowledgeledge gained would assist in resistance management for Bt. In an unexected way it did this by highlighting the need for us to create a genetic ma Heliothis armigea. In the case of CSE36C. The re-existence of a genetic ma of the related American species. Heliothis virescens. Allowed us rapidly and cost-effectively to decide whether endosulfan resistance was due to a mutation in the GAB~ gene. Our abilty to use information from the American species relied on the ha1) y and unusual coincidence that endosulfan resistance is sex-linked (i.e. its chromosomal location ii/. Armigera is known). This is a rare. If not unique. Situation and almost certainly we will not have this advantage when we are faced with H. armigera resistant to Bt cotton. Creating a genetic map iii/.armigera before Bt resistance appears in the field would eliminate reliance on luck and greatly facilitate characterisation and detection of resistance genes when they a ear. It would do this by providing markers which could be used to determine the chromosomal location of any resistance genes. Even at the crudest level this would be a ve1y valuable tool. It is therefore one of the most cost-effective steps that the cotton industiy can take as insurance against Bt resistance.

The cotton plant has two main sets of traits that contribute to its resistance to pests: (1) chemical (e.g. gossypol) and morphological defences (e.g. okra-leaf) and (2) compensatory mechanisms for regrowth (e.g. bud dormancy). Defences are aimed at damage avoidance, while compensation refers to the ability of the plant to recover after damage. This project investigated compensatory growth in cotton on the grounds that a better understanding of the underling mechanisms could assist in better pest management practices. In two years of experiments we have advanced considerably in our understanding of cotton responses to three main types of damage: i) fruit damage, as caused by Helicoverpa and mirids; (ii) leaf damage, as caused by mites; and (iii) tip damage, as caused by earlyseason pests. Important physiological and morphological responses of the cotton plant have been identified that will be used to improve the capacity of the CERCOT cotton model to predict crop responses to pest damage. We envisage that such an enhanced version of CERCOT will be the core of the next generation of packages for pest management in the Australian cotton industry.

Capacity Sharing is an institutional arrangement and property rights structure for allocating water among multiple users of water resource systems which include storage reservoirs. It provides each user, or group of users, of reservoir water with perpetual or long-term rights to a percentage of reservoir inflows and a percentage of total reservoir capacity or space in which to store those inflows, and from which to control releases.

The aim of this book is to help cotton growers, field consultants and agronomists correctly identify the wide range of pests and beneficials that can be found in the crops they manage. Accurate identification is one of the foundations for making sound pest management decisions. When pests are correctly identified, the relevant thresholds can be applied and appropriate control measures selected. For beneficials, correct identification means that their potentially important role in regulating pest populations can be utilised more effectively

Instrument fibre tests indicate that there is no difference between the fibre from transgenic Bt cotton and non transgenic. However there is assumed concern from the spinning and textile sector. To overcome any doubts, and to improve confidence in the Australian transgenic varieties, a full commercial evaluation needs to be undertaken. Similar work with non transgenics has been supervised by the 1Fibre Research Management Group' (TexSkill, Rocklea, Bonds, University NSW, CRDC - plus occasionally CSD, CSIRO and Dr Stuart Gordon). In the past this group has organised parallel assessment by Schlatborst (Germany) and further testing by Zellweger (Switzerland) to add international confirmation.

In July 1994 the International Society of Soil Science held its 15th Congress in Acapulco, Mexico. Approximately 1800 ISSS members from almost 90 nations attended. The congress was held from Monday the 10th to Saturday 16th, the theme of this week was to discuss "Soil Utilisation in Harmony with Nature". Libby Roesner from the University of Sydney's Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science Department attended this conference with funding from the CRDC to present a paper on the new methods she is researching for using image analysis techniques to evaluate soil structure in vertisols. Her paper was entitled: "Measuring the Impact of Intensively Irrigated Cotton Production in Australia - Using New Methods of hnage Analysis to detect degradation of Soil Structure" and was co-authored by Tony Koppi and Alex McBratney. A copy of the extended summary of this paper is included at the end of this report. Two papers in the symposia "Soil physics and environmental protection" were found to be particularly relevant to Libby's research. These papers both used computers to conduct quantitative analysis of soil structure, they looked at improving image analysis techniques to make them more practical to the end users. This report will take the form of full summaries and discussion of these two papers and then brief summaries of other papers relevant to Libby's work. Also a list of the titles of some other symposia from the conference that may be relevant to other cotton researchers are included

Modern molecular genetic techniques are used to examine Helicove1pa armigera for variation amongst individuals from different geographical locations around Australia. The prime objective has been to assess population structure: to find regionally diagnostic variation that will allow us, indirectly, to estimate the magnitude, direction and timing of movement patterns of these pest moths. This infonnation would be valuable to the ecologists in their efforts to better predict moth movement into cropping areas and hence improve control. It would also help in planning strategies to minimise the spread of insecticide resistance and thus benefit the Cotton Industry.

OBJECTIVES: 1. To study sampling and control practices for mirlds in irrigated and dryland cotton. * development of more accurate sampling techniques *insecticide trials to improve control *development of economic thresholds 2. To assess the importance of local alternate hosts in producing populations of green mirids that attack cotton. * assess mirid invasion of cotton from nearby lucerne and safflower *assess whether mirids invade cotton on weather fronts from distant sources

Supplementary funding was provided by the CRDC allowing three personnel ($1750 each, $5,250 total) from the pesticide chemistry group to attend the 8th International Congress on Pesticide Chemistry, held in Washington DC from July 4-9, 1994. Additional funding was provided by personal contributions (ca. 25%) and a University travel grant for postgraduate students. I.R. Kennedy also travelled to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France in connection with a collaborative research program on nitrogen metabolism, with travel costs partly covered by an Austra1ian Research Council grant. Alice Lee, a CRDC Research Scholar working on the development of immunoassays for pesticides, also attended, funded separately.

Supplementary funding was provided by the CRDC allowing three personnel ($1750 each, $5,250 total) from the pesticide chemistry group to attend the 8th International Congress on Pesticide Chemistry, held in Washington DC from July 4-9, 1994. Additional funding was provided by personal contributions (ca. 25%) and a University travel grant for postgraduate students. I.R. Kennedy also travelled to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France in connection with a collaborative research program on nitrogen metabolism, with travel costs partly covered by an Austra1ian Research Council grant. Alice Lee, a CRDC Research Scholar working on the development of immunoassays for pesticides, also attended, funded separately