1. International Instrument Testing of Cotton Best Practices GuideThere was consensus at the CSITC meeting in Bremen that there should be one instrument testing manual based on harmonisation of the existing ITMF and USDA guidelines.

The guide at the moment is very much in draft form. CSITC are looking for input from a range of organisations from instrument manufacturers to mills. I have put my name down for input. It is important that this guide conforms with the CCAA BMP so Australian input is important.

Some of the requirements are as follows:

* Sampling at gin including sample weight and dimensions

* Calibration material – some countries still using ICC calibration cottons which can test differently to HVI calibration cottons. India producing and testing using ICC calibration cottons

* Laboratory environment including conditioning, space for instruments, lab design and sample conditioning

* Calibration, sample testing and quality of data

* Participation in CSITC round trials & qualification of instruments

2. Reports on 2010 round trialsResults from RT 2010-3 show that a record number of labs and instruments participated. There were 77 labs and 123 instruments. Results for 2010 show no difference in variation from previous years.

CSITC would like all labs to send their results for future round trials electronically via CSITC website. Results can be sent directly from instrument software which is preferred option. Instructions for this will be with samples for RT 2010-4.

RT 2010-4 will include optional Leaf area % and Leaf count for data input.

RT 2010-4 will include HVI calibration micronaire low and high cottons if required.

3. Interpreting CSITC combined properties measurement and measurements for each parameter

CSITC looking at new system that avoids rating labs but provides additional information on consistency and repeatability. This was brought about by some labs not understanding the current CSITC round trial results system and not knowing whether they are testing within acceptable tolerances.

4. Discussion on Instrument colour

It was discussed whether instrument colour Rd & +b values could be traded in the future rather than the current instrument colour grade system or visual classification. The Zimbabwe representative was against instrument Rd & +b values, believing that this could discount cotton from this region given their high +b readings. It was decided as a project that Axel would look at the variability and repeatability of both Rd & +b values and what tolerances could be used if trading on instrument colour.

The CCAA is looking at Australian colour grade chart for instrument testing to replace the existing US colour grade chart. Trials are still continuing in this area.

Should Australia look at trading on Rd & +b values rather than instrument or visual colour grades?

5. Election of Chair of CSITC

Andrew Macdonald was voted as CSITC chair for the next two years.

Visit to USDA Classing Facility in Lubbock

I visited Lubbock classing facility with Jimmy Knowlton. Unfortunately there was no classing with the crop in the High Plains due in the next couple of weeks.

Lubbock operates 24 hours 7 days a week employing 300 people over 3 shifts. The USDA class colour grade by Instrument and are looking at classing leaf grade by instrument. They plan to have all cotton classed for instrument colour grade and leaf grade by 2012. All facilities now testing with HVI 1000 and the USDA are happy with the leaf measurement on this instrument. They use software provided by Uster that measures leaf grade by both Area % and Count. The software we use in Australia only uses Area % for leaf grade. I will take this up with Uster representative in Australia to find out if we can trial the USDA software.

TheManual class will only be checking for extraneous matter.

USDA qualify all their instruments before each classing season.

The USDA has not performed any study on variation between round and conventional modules. At this stage they do not see any reason for this given they test every bale within a module.

Interesting Breakout Sessions during ICAC included:

* Improving industry efficiency in storage, transportation and handling

* Best Practices in Cotton ginning – I attended this session and included guidelines that ginning BMP in Australia has in place.

The Australian Farm Institute (AFI) held the Harvesting the Benefits of Digital Agriculture conference at the Crown Promenade Melbourne on the 15th and 16th of June 2017. With support from gold partners, PwC, and bronze partners, Myriota, SST Software, Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), Geosys, Monsanto, National Narrowband Network Company, DiscoveryAg, Rezare Systems and ICT International, the conference was a great success, attracting over 300 delegate registrations and extensive media coverage from The Australian, ABC Landline, Australian Financial Review, The Weekly Times, ABC Rural, and Stock and Land/ Fairfax Rural.

The conference built on the themes explored in AFI’s 2016 Digital Disruption in Agriculture conference, which examined the potential for digital technologies to change farm production practices and inform decision-making through accumulation and analysis of vast amounts of data. This year’s Harvesting the Benefits of Digital Agriculture conference went beyond individual applications of technology to explore the ways that entire agricultural supply chains, business systems and government and market compliance systems could be disrupted and changed by digital agriculture. The program included 27 speakers spread over eight sessions, including a closing panel of experts who provided their opinions on technology in agriculture around the world. Presentation session themes and speakers included:

1. Who will benefit from digital agriculture?

2. Digital technology through the supply chain (and its impact on-farm

3. The role of digital technologies in governance and compliance systems

4. The impacts of digital technologies on the rural workforce

5. Traceability and provenance – will digital technologies help to sell agricultural produce with confidence and will farmers see the benefit?

6. The connection between digital agriculture and agricultural finance

7. Is the agriculture sector ‘investment ready’ for digital products and services?

8. Closing panel – the global context

This project focused on developing and testing best management options for key pests in Bollgard®II and conventional cotton. The influence of the surrounding habitat (Bollgard®II & conventional cotton, sorghum and maize) on natural enemy abundance and diversity was also investigated.

Field sampling showed that the Bt toxin was effective against Helicoverpa, providing a high level of efficacy season long. The beneficial complex between conventional cotton and Bollgard®II was assessed. Species diversity and abundance in Bollgard®II was higher than that in conventional cotton sprayed with broad-spectrum insecticides. However it was found that Bollgard®II contained significantly fewer predatory bugs and lacewings than low-sprayed or IPM sprayed conventional cotton. Bollgard®II did not have any apparent impact on parasitism levels by Trichogramma, a key natural enemy of Helicoverpa.

The role of landscape diversity in augmenting natural enemies was investigated by intercropping sorghum, maize and cotton. Sorghum was found to contain many key natural enemies of Helicoverpa and aphids. Trichogramma parasitism was found to be higher in cotton adjacent to maize with evidence of decreasing parasitism approximately 50 metres from the cotton - maize interface. Various trials conducted during the project gave evidence that sorghum – cotton farmscapes encouraged numbers of ladybirds (particularly ladybird larvae), pirate bugs and spiders and increased Trichogramma parasitism in adjacent cotton. The abundance of predators in sorghum was variable across years, however even when numbers were low there was evidence that the sorghum was contributing to insect diversity and abundance in adjacent cotton. This supports the hypothesis that natural enemies may use sorghum or maize as a haven and disperse into nearby cotton fields.

The most serious pest of Bollgard®II on the Southern Downs over the three years of the project was green mirids. Each year of the project commercially managed dryland Bollgard®II was compared to an unsprayed crop to assess economic damage from mirids. Though water availability was variable (high and low) across years, there was no difference in yield making unsprayed Bollgard®II the more economical crop. Insecticides used to needlessly control mirids, decimated natural enemies, potentially contributing to aphid and whitefly infestations in Bollgard®II.

Though in their infancy, farmscaping trials were encouraging and the cotton industry should continue to promote this method of enhancing natural enemies in Bollgard®II and conventional cotton. For Bollgard®II these practices should reduce pest infestations i.e. aphids and whitefly, and may also play an important role in delaying Helicoverpa resistance to Bollgard®II.

H. armigera and H. punctigera are important pests of cotton in Australia. Transgenic cotton (containing Cry1Ac) has been commercially grown in Australia for 5 years, The susceptibility of both species to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins in Australia field populations has been monitored since 1993.

This paper reports results of Bt resistance monitoring for the 2000/2001 cotton season as compared with results from previous seasons. Our studies indicate the development of resistance in H. armigera and possible esterase mediated mechanism of resistance in H. armigera.

CRDC has for many years supported the development and maintenance of computer systems at The Australian Cotton Research Institute, Narrabri(previous project CSF77C). These computer systems have benefited all research programs through their use in data processing, storage, statistical analysis, modeling and the development of end-user packages. In addition the network services located at ACRl provide printing services and communication which includes e-mail.

The development of the Internet in recent years has provided a means of communication and also dissemination of information. A dedicated World Wide Web server that support the Australian Cotton CRC's website is now located at ACRl. This has enabled information

and systems developed at ACRl to be made available immediately to the Cotton Industry

(e. g. updates to CottonLOGIC). Data published on this server includes daily weather data downloaded from weather stations in the cotton growing regions as well as research

publications produced by the CRC.

With the increase in computing power and staff at ACRl, the need for sustained technical support directly to the user has expanded. Support for these services is imperative to the proper functioning of the research station.

Plans at the beginning of this project were being finalised to completely reachable the Myall Vale site to CSIR0 saturation cabling standards. Both CSIRO and NSW Agriculture are providing funds for this project.

Since1988, CRDC has funded a series of projects focussing on the management of problem weeds (nutgrass, polymeria takcall, cowvine, budda pea, lippia and others) and weed management systems for the cotton industry. The research included work on transgenic, herbicide tolerant cotton (Roundup Ready, Oxygene,

Liberty Link and 2,4-D tolerant cotton), noogoora and thornapple competition, herbicides for use with pigeon peas, and monitoring weed management systems.

Nevertheless, weeds continue to cause significant problems for the cotton industry, and the cost of weed control increases year by year. Four of the key weed problems in cotton are nutgrass, cowvine, bellvine, and polymeria takcall. While considerable research has been undertaken on nutgrass, there are still considerable gaps in the knowledge of this weed and its management. Even less is known of the management options for cowvine, bellvine and polymeria takcall in irrigated cotton.

Problems with weed control are being exacerbated by changes in the farming system, with trends towards reduced cultivation, reduced chipping and stubble retention. These changes are placing increasing pressure on the use of herbicidcs, and as a consequence, a group of problem weeds that are largely tolerant of the

commonly used herbicides has been selected out. The increase in residual herbicide use also has had flow-on environmental impacts both on and off the farm.

In order to address this situation, ACGRA has requested that the weeds team put all available information together into a WEEDpak format during the next year. Much of the data collected in DAN 124C and previous projects will form an important part of WEEDpak. This will provide a valuable resource to cotton growers and will also allow future research and extension priorities to be more readily identified.

Abstract and poster format of research relating to project CSP105C was presented at the International Conference held in Colorado, USA, as part of the Keystone Symposium series. The conference was entitled "Plant Foods for Human Health: Manipulating Plant Metabolism to Enhaiice Nutritional Quality". The speaker list included researchers leading the field in plant metabolism and engineering, and also included speakers whose expertise were in the fields of nutrition and assessing solutions for world hunger. The key plant metabolic pathways discussed at the meeting were broad and often overlapping and included vitamin E, folate, vitamin C, iron, zinc, calcium oxalate, lipids and fatty acids, amino acids, terpenoids, sterols, carotei-toids (vitamin A), isoflavonoids and lignans, alkaloids and phytonutrients.

An important issue highlighted at the conference was the enormous potential of genetic engineering to modify plant metabolic pathways for specific downstream applications. Examples of these include nutritional applications such as altering fatty acid profiles for healthier vegetable oils which could reduce cardiac problems, a pharmaceutical application may be tlie diversion of glucosinolate pathways in poppy for controlled production of morphine or codeine, and an indtlstrial application may be the overproduction of rnonoterpenoid oils from mint species for use as fragrances. The research conducted as part of CRDC project CSP105C has multiple applications. Modifying terpenoid biosynthesis in transgenic cotton could result in plants with increased tolerance to diseases and insect feeding, reducing gossypol levels in the seeds would improve the quality of cottonseed for use as stock feed and edible oils, and overproduction of gossypol may provide a market opportunity if gossypol is proven to be a safe and effective male contraceptive. The

conference highlighted just how achievable these goals are since several other pathways have been successfully modified using genetic engineering approaches.

The development of decision support systems to assist cotton growers is a key part of

facilitating sustainable cotton cropping within Integrated Pest Management principles.

One system that has been in use in Australia is the SIRATAC/OZCOT simulation

model which predicts yield based on agronomy and weather input daki. This model is

currently undergoing improvements including the incorporation of cotton response to pest damage. Reliable prediction of yield compensation to pest damage will enable growers to improve confide~icein the principles and maximise natural recovery and minimise pesticide application and its negative impact.'

Over the last several yeal-S,field trials at the CSIRO Narrabri have generated a substantial dataset on the growth and yield effects of damage ranging from early season defoliation and tip damage to single and multiple fruit removal events (by Lewis Wilson, Victor Sadras and Tom Lei). It has become clcar that reliable prediction of compensation requires the modelling of not only fruit losses but canopy development which can bc significantly altered by pl-c-squaringterminal and leaf damage. To fully account for the process of compensation, we need to include in the model space- and time-specific variations in light interception, carbon assimilation, regrowth and fruiting

potential following damage. Specifically, the spatial arrangement of leaves and branching structure should be explicitly accounted for in the mechanistic modelling of pest damage, the response in plant growth, and its consequences in light capture.

T o best achieve rapid initiation of the modelling work, I spent one month collaborating with Dr. AkioTakenaka at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan). Dr. Takenaka has an established expertise in modelling the interaction between canopy architecture, light interception and carbon uptake (see a list of his relevant papers below). W e will develop a compensation submodel capable of simulating the effect of tip, leaf and early square damage on lateral branch and canopy growth and the consequences of architecture on light interception, carbon assimilation, and fruiting dynamics. Calibration of parameters (e.g., leaf area index, photosynthesis, number of fruiting sites) will be derived from published results (see references below) and recent field data (from C S R O Narrabri). Although Dr. Takenaka has not worked with cotton, the physiological principles from his research and modclling should apply to cotton and may provide input of new ideas into OZCOT which could assist with futureenhancements. We will also explore the possibility for Dr. Takenaka to visit the OZCOT modelling group in future to expand this collaboration if necessary. The linking of the compensation submodel to OZCOT will be done with the approval and support of Dr. Stevc Milroy and Dr. Mike Bangc who are currently directing the core model revision.

the 5th International Conference on Precision Agriculture* was held in Bloomington, Minnesota from July 16 - 19, 2000. This conference brought together 698 delegates from around the world including representatives from commercial companies, researchers, farm managers, consultants and growers. The conference highlighted that an expanding number of companies are becoming involved in the development and application of technologies specifically for use in site-specific management systems. Researchers are using this technology to develop more economicalIy and environmentally sound farming systems for an increasing number of crops worldwide. We presented papers on establishing an opportunity index for precision agriculture and the variable-rate application of nitrogen fertiliser to Australian cotton fields, which are included as Appendices I and 2 respectively. Full proceedings from the conference are now available.

Dr Brubaker was invited to present of summary of the research completed under CRDC grant CSP85Cand continuing under CSP120C in the cotton workshop during the IX Plant and Animal genome conference (Jan 17-18 2001) in San Diego California. I also was asked, as one of the two Australian representatives to the steering committee of the International Cotton Genome Initiative (ICGI), to a lead a discussion of this new initiative at the end of the Cotton Workshop at the conference. The International Cotton Genome Initiative arose from a cotton marker workshop organized by Greg Constable, funded by CRDC and CSD, and held at CSlRO Plant lndustry March 2000. Additionally I presented a poster describing the first genetic linkage map of an Australian cotton species, and I was co-author on a second poster arising from a collaboration with US cotton researchers that developed out of the ICGI.