This project followed on from the production of the SOILpak manual (A soil management package for cracking clays). It is essential to be able to recognise features of soil structure in order to be able to use the SOILpak manual effectively. The "Soil Management Training" project addressed this issue. It trained cotton consultants, extension personnel, farmers and agronomists, in the skills required to diagnose soil structural condition. The trainees now use these skills to make, or help cotton growers to make, informed soil tillage decisions. Decision support materials in the form of videos, stereoscopic images and field guides were produced as part of the project. These materials are now available for use by the trainees to train others. Increasing the skill level in soil diagnosis has allowed those making tillage and other soil management decisions to see the results of their management and soil trafficking policies. On farm decision making has been improved as a result.

Mr. Martin Dillon was not able to attend the congress, as it coincided with the birth of his son on 24 November 1993. However, Martin Dillon and Dr. Gary Fitt were co-authors with others, on two papers presented at the congress by Mr. Wayne Rochester. As well as being published in the conference proceedings, both papers were also selected for publication in a special edition of the journal Ecological Modelling, and are currently in press. Copies of the papers are attached. After notifying the CRDC, the travel funds were used for Mr. Martin Dillon to attend the 1994 Conference of the Ecological Society of Australia at Alice Springs, 28 - 30 September 1994. This conference included a special symposium on "Applied spatially dynamic modelling" which was of particular interest to Mr. Dillon and his co-author Mr. Wayne Rochester. A number of valuable contacts were made with Australian and international scientists interested in modelling the spatial dynamics of organisms. A poster paper and an oral presentation were presented at the meeting (abstracts are attached). There were no proceedings published from this conference.

To make the OZCOT cotton crop simulation model more robust and versatile; enabling it to be used for decision support in a broader range of applications and situations. This involved five specific objectives: 1. Improve the water balance component of the model. particularly the parts dealing with water movement in the soil profile. by incorporating the CERES water balance subroutines. 2. 3. 4. 5. Incorporate the soil nitrogen subroutines from CERES to allow simulation of nitrogen and organic matter dynamics in the soil. Develop an explicit carbon balance for the model in which photosynthesis produces dry matter which is then partitioned between organs. In the past, carbon balance has been modelled implicitly by using "carrying capacity" (bolls supported per metre of row) as a surrogate for photosynthetic capacity. Develop subroutines to model the uptake and distribution of nitrogen within the cotton plant. This will allow the model to respond dynamically to nitrogen supply, introducing the capacity for consideration of tactical nitrogen issues. It is also a necessary interface for connection to the soil nitrogen sub-model. Collect data on key developmental parameters which characterise the differences in fruiting dynamics between cotton cultivars. These model parameters allow a degree of cultivar sensitivity in the simulation output. The data will be used to maintain the models relevance to current cultivars and to test the importance of variation in these parameters for simulation output

The aim of the project, to enable cotton to be grown in experiments in the disciplines of breeding, agronomy and entomology by the CSIRO Cotton Research Unit at the Australian Cotton Research Institute, has been met Over the three years of CSP34C (ln/91-30/6/94) a series of agronomic, breeding and pest management studies were completed. An indication of the scale of research is detailed below with that for 1993/94.

Nitrification inhibitors were successfully used to improve the recovery of fertilizer N in the irrigated cotton-growing system. By slowing the rate of nitrification of applied ammonium-N, it was shown that the loss of N through denitrification was limited by the reduced concentration of nitrate in the soil. The effectiveness of recognised and experimental nitrification inhibitors to inhibit nitrification and reduce N loss through denitrification were compared in field and laboratory experiments. The more effective inhibitors (2-ethynylpyridine (2-EP), Terrazole and N-Serve) were able to reUird nitrification for more than 8 weeks. They also improved N fertilizer recovery (from 35 to 50% in one situation) and enabled the cotton crops to better utilise fertilizer N where denitrification loss was severe. In some instances, lint yields were increased significantly (up to 18%) to where the profitability of cotton-growing was substantially improved.

A new glasshouse was constructed at Narrabri to enable an expansion of the backcrossing of genetically engineered characters into CSIRO cotton varieties. The glasshouse was constructed and in operation within three months

The Second Canberra Bacillus thuringiensis Meeting was held in the Manning Clark lecture theatre complex at the Australian National University from 21st to 23rd September 1993. The Meeting was organised by the CSIRO Division of Entomology with financial support from R&D Corporations (CRDC, RIRDC), AIDAB. The British Council and 11 Bt production and distribution companies. It was attended by 120 registrants. including 29 from 10 other countries in Asia, Europe. New Zealand and North America. The registrants were drawn from research institutions, universities, commercial interests, regulatory bodies. and R&D Corporations. The opening address by Professor B.A. Federici. University of California Riverside. provided a global view of knowledge of Bacillus thuri.ngiensis (Bt) and its various uses and opportunities for expansion of those uses. The 19 invited papers. 13 contributed papers and 13 posters explored details of the mode of action of Bt toxins, resistance to Bt toxins, novel toxins, production and application technologies. use of Bt genes in transgenic organisms, and conventional spray usage of Bt. Bt in transgenic plants. the social and environmental impact of Bt. and regulation of Bt products were the subject of extended discussion forums.

The anisotropic nature of the soil continuum does not lend itself to classification schemes constructed as many are by predetermined hierachical classes. Membership to classes are hard and are hence unable to consider the reality of the continuum, which ultimately manifests itself in the resultant soil map which delineates areas of supposed similarity. Further, the soil profile acts as the individual which itself varies vertically, with depth. In the following report the rather novel approach of fuzzy classification or continuous classification is used to classify individual soil layers from the lower Namoi Valley in an attempt to better represent the anisotropy of the soil continuum. Essentially 1419 chemical soil layers with particle siza analysis data taken from specified depths within 227 soil profiles were classified using fuzzy kmeans. Ten soil layer classes or clusters were identified within the data, which were then reclassified to consider an additional extrade layer class or outlier class. When reassembled into their constituent profiles the layers from these classes formed readilly identifiable profile sequences which were classified accordingly. The resultant proflies once mapped corellated well with field perceptions of the geology and geomorphology of the lower Namoi Valley. As with the classificatory difficulties associated with soil classification many land evaluations are constructed in a similar fashion in which subjective cut offs are used to delimit areas or tracts of land which are better suited than others. Continuous classification was applied to a quantitative land evaluation introduced for New South Wales for wide variety of land utilisations by using a function which by its nature produces a continuous membership between two classes, suitable and non suitable to any particular land utilisation. The following report illustates the potential of such a classification scheme which could be used in a number of disciplines where the continuous nature of a medium can be expressed and has potentially many practical applications. As a consequence of the work undertaken and presented within this report new directions and technologies are suggested which could be undertaken for further research

The work has identified condensed tannin (CT) as occurring in cottonseed hulls but not in cottonseed kernels. Approximately 20% of the CT in cottonseed hulls is extractable and 80% is bound to protein and fibre. This contrasts with forage plants, where 75% of CT is extractable and 25% is bound. As Australian cottonseed meal (CSM) contains some hulls, this explains its content of CT (0.8-1.6% DM). Animal nutrition experiments were then conducted to study the effect of adding hulls upon the digestion and availability of kernel protein to ruminant and monogastric animals. During 1993 and 1994 all experiments were done with solvent-extracted unheated kernel.

This project commenced on the 1st July, 1993. Since that time the following has occurred