Project Objective: A new project with the objectives of: * to supply equipment to accurately weigh cotton from field trips. * to assist regional adaptive research including implementation of the CRDC Variety Trials Protocol.,

The project was intended to collect germplasm of two of the wild relatives of cotton, Gossypium australe and G. sturtianum from eastern Australia, and to initiate a seed bank of these species.,

An insecticide resistance management (IRM) strategy was introduced into the summer rainfall cropping areas of eastern Australia in the 1983/84 season. The aims of this IRM strategy were to manage pyrethroid and endosulfan resistance problems in Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner), formerly Heliothis armigera (Hubner), and to avoid any possible future problems with organophosphate or carbamate resistance. An alternation strategy was adopted which was based on the rotation of unrelated chemical groups on a per generation basis, along with a strong recommendation for the use of ovicidal mixtures. These chemical countermeasures were then incorporated into an acceptable integrated pest management (IPM) programme. The voluntary restrictions were applied to all crops susceptible to H. armigera. They were even applied to other co-incident pest species on these hosts, such as sorghum midge Contarinia sorghicola (Coquillet) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), as it was shown that pyrethroids applied to flowering sorghum for midge control caused selective mortality of co-incident H. armigera larvae and resulted in differential selection for resistance. The demonstration of the independence of the endosulfan and pyrethroid resistance mechanisms vindicated the sequential use of these two groups in Stages I and II of the IRM strategy, respectively

OBJECTIVES 1. To establish Helicoverpa species composition in the Macquarie Valley and to relate the data to that from other cotton growing areas in NSW and Queensland. 2. To determine insecticide resistance levels in the Macquarie Valley and to relate the data to that from other cotton growing areas in NSW and Queensland. 3.To trial biochemical resistance detection methods in H. am1igera.,

The objectives of this project were to evaluate the potential of larval parasitoids, principally Microplitis, for use in biological control programs against Helicoverpa spp. and to introduce and monitor the establishment of exotic larval parasitoids of Helicoverpa spp

I have been in Australia to attend 'the 1992 Australian Cotton Conference' in Qld and to visit the Cottonseed Mill of Cargill Oilseed at Narrabri , last August. During the Conference, I presented a paper whose title is "A preliminary study on the chemical composition of Australian cottonseed and the relevance of cottonseed as a feedstuff for ruminant and monogastric livestock". The Conference brought a great chance for me to present my work and meet others involved in the cotton industry in Australia. After the Conference, I visited the cottonseed mill and CSIRO Cotton Research Unit Narrabri, and also learned a gossypol analysis method. The method has been used in the laboratory at Massey University, for analyses of the samples which were sent to me by CSIRO (Narrabri) . The trip was very successful and most informative

In 1990, a Cotton Research and Development Corporation funded project was begun, in cooperation with the Industry Hail Scheme Insurers, to evaluate the growth response after hail damage, of cotton varieties currently grown in the Australian cotton industry. The regrowth of varieties after simulated hail damage was investigated in a series of trials carried out over three cotton seasons. Australian-bred varieties, currently grown, were compared to the U.S. bred variety, Deltapine 90. Growth responses were measured in terms of final lint yield, delayed maturity and changes in lint quality. It was found that although there are observed differences between varieties in the rate of regrowth of vegetative material and in the rate of square production following simulated damage, hail did not affect the lint yield of varieties differentially. Date of damage and level of damage were found to be the major contributing factors to yield loss. Seasonal effects such as season length were examined to determine the effect on the lint yield of varieties, and from this it was determined that hail damage will not produce a difference in lint yield between varieties as long as the each variety is allowed to go through to maturity This is not the case in 'normal commercial cotton production' where total farm management or the climatic character of an area impose restrictions on the regrowth of one variety in comparison to another and hence can induce a difference in final lint yield. From this data, loss adjustment procedures are to be modified by the overlaying of damage date and season length to take into account the effect of damage date as measured in this work. Varietal recommendations for high hail risk areas cannot be made on the basis of differing ability of varieties to regrow after hail but should be made on the basis of the suitability of a variety for a cotton production of the specified average season length, with management strategies imposed following damage to ensure that the variety fully matures in the remaining available growing season.

In June 1993, Mr Neville Gould, Team Leader, Agricultural Engineering, NSW Agriculture, Trangie travelled to the USA for 30 days to investigate for the Australian cotton industry the issues of anhydrous ammonia application, cotton stalk and ginning trash management, non-chemical weed control, machinery design and soil compaction. Discussions were held with engineers from both John Deere and Case IH, the two machinery manufacturing companies contributing to the Australian cotton industry with the view to increasing their awareness of Australian industry needs. Mr Gould also attended the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) Summer Meeting in Spokane, where contacts of substantial future benefit were made and liaison between the ASAE and its Australian counterpart, the Society For Engineering In Agriculture was formally enhanced.

This report summarises the findings from the CRDC funded project "Managing soils to avoid compaction problems in cotton growing". The project ran from 1989/90 to 1991/92. It had the principal aims of:� developing a management system for cotton growers that would minimize tillage requirements, and� avoiding current problems with soil compaction associated with heavy machinery. The project was based on a controlled traffic approach so that compacted machinery lanes and compaction free plant zones were separately maintained

This project studied the factors responsible for frequency changes in endosulfan resistance.in populations of H. armigera in cotton. From these results it should be possible to.predict under what conditions resistance could reduce the efficacy of endosulfan for the.control of H. annigera and lead to field failures