ARRIP is a national database of rural research in progress. It was developed by the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, and CSIRO, in response to a request in June 1982 by the Standing Committee on Priorities for Rural Research in Extension to develop an inventory of rural research. The major aim of this initiative was to publish a Compendium of rural research in order to better co-ordinate research activities throughout Australia. A pilot publication was printed in 1984 with subsequent issues in 1985 and 1986.

With current Australian cotton production around 1.25 million bales this equates to C.R.C. research expenditure of A$3.2 to 3.5 million per year - allowing for reserves, administration, etc. These C.R.C. funds are used to assist selected projects, and in most cases they are supplementary to funds being spent by the relevant institutions.

The aim of the present work was to assess if the fatty acid profiles of moths are useful in establishing different larval dietary histories

The aim of this project was to develop a mass screening technique for the selection of cotton plant antibiosis resistance (AR) to H. armigera.

It is already well established that sprays containing the ultra-safe pesticide azadirachtin are very effective in reducing egg-laying Heliothis spp. in cotton in the field

For a long time, pest control In the cotton industry has depended on a narrow range of broad-spectrum insecticides. However, because of increasing insecticide resistance, the future Is uncertain and alternatives are urgently required. There is a need to conserve natural control in the crop, principally parasites and predators, and exploit other biological control agents where possible. Unfortunately, most of these are vulnerable to chemicals and attempts to integrate them with chemical control are likely to be only partially successful. However, microbial insecticides In the form of microbialchemical mixtures can have a role in delaying the development of resistance.

During the 1988/89 cotton season trials were conducted to evaluate the potential of synthetic pheromones to control the pink -spotted boll worm, Pectinophora scutigera, by mating disruption

Last year I spent several months at Rothamsted Experimental Station in the U.K., as a Churchill Fellow, studying biochemical toxicology in H. armigera was inspired by the Insecticide Resistance Groups very practical application of basic research on biochemical resistance mechanisms, to develop sensitive and reliable methods for monitoring resistance in field populations. If felt that in H. armigera too, that we will be able to use the power of biochemical and molecular genetic techniques, not only to gain a fundamental understanding of the processes, but to exploit this knowledge to study problems in the field. In this paper, I want to share some of these very exciting developments with you.

A complex of pests attacks the Australian cotton crop, none more important than the cotton bollworm, Heliothis armigera. and insecticides are considered necessary for its control. H. armigera has a long history of insecticide resistance in Australia. To DDT in the early 1970's and more recently, in 1983. to the synthetic pyrethroids. Since 1983 , H. armigera insecticide resistance has been the subject of an insecticide resistance management program in NSW and Queensland. A knowledge of resistance mechanisms is fundamental to the resistance management strategy, so management can be targeted at avoiding or counteracting the mechanisms.