The aim of this research was to measure by laboratory incubation trial, fertiliser and soil mineral nitrogen supply under variable wet and dry soil conditions. The experimental design will include:

 Black Vertosol at constant temperature in pots,

 Simulated wet/dry cycle,

 2 nitrogen fertiliser formulations (Entec and Urea) + unfertilised control,

 Single nitrogen application rate

 Measure soil mineral nitrogen at intervals over a period of up to 60 days,

 Measure N2O if budget allows.

Results from this trial will provide an indication of nitrogen release characteristics which can be linked to patterns of nitrogen release expected in field conditions and which can help to constrain soil mineral nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions models. The researcher will be involved in a range of other cotton industry research projects (compaction, irrigation efficiency, energy efficiency, salinity) whilst based at the National Centre for Engineering in Australia, to enhance exposure to the industry.

Management practices in current Australian cotton farming systems, e.g. reduced tillage, crop rotation, residue retention, organic manure application and reduced insecticide use, can change the levels of key soil microbial functions. They need to be optimised to promote soil biological functions to sustain cotton production, improve nutrient use efficiency, reduce soilborne diseases and maintain environmental health. Preliminary results from research at ACRI suggest that management systems can be manipulated to optimise microbial functions to improve N and C cycling processes and improve soil biological health. Diseases such as Fusarium wilt, Black root rot and Verticillium wilt have significant impact on cotton production. Crop rotation, stubble retention and tillage can either reduce the levels of pathogen inoculum or modify pathogen-soil microbe interactions thereby influencing disease. Currently the management of diseases is through the selection of genetically resistant cultivars (where available), agrochemical application and rotation with non-host crops. But even in our current high F-rank cultivars significant losses can occur from Fusarium disease under the right environmental conditions (Stiller W 2012 FUSCOM). Soil fungal community has been shown to have capacity to affect pathogen inoculum levels and their disease causing potential. Examples of enhanced biological disease suppression have been suggested in cotton (suppression of black root rot). Biological mechanisms behind disease suppression in high-input cotton soils are not known and we are unable to extend individual observations to other sites or develop management options that promote biological disease suppression. In the lower carbon cotton soils, composts can provide a source of organic carbon and nutrients for soil biota and increase soil fertility as well as provide other biological and structural benefits. But little is known about the effects of compost addition to cotton soils on soil biological health and fertility. Long-term rotation trials at ACRI and in Qld provided a valuable resource to quantify management effects on key beneficial microbial communities and processes. In collaboration with these projects/experiments this project provided new knowledge on the underlying biological mechanisms that promote soil biological health.

Climate risk management one of the most important issues facing cotton growers. An international researcher of some repute was engaged to expound his expertise in this emerging field and was to be a keynote speaker in the climate risk session at the 18th Australian Cotton Conference, august 2016. Raising awareness and promoting the need to implement an appropriate climate risk strategy and extend useful tools and decision support for cotton growers and advisors - to enable better on-farm decision making.This work builds on the climate risk management undertaken in the CFEO project.

As it transpired, visa complications meant that Dr Walter Baethgen tuned into the session from the back of the room via Skype. A Cotton Conference ‘first’ saw technology play a role with an international speaker submitting a pre-recording due to complications with VISA entry requirements.

The following recording was played in the climate session in front of a capacity crowd of approximately 300: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u5jJznUsAQ

The aim of this research was to improve nitrogen use in irrigated cotton by looking at how farmers around the world are improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE), and to identify what management tools and practices farmers are implementing to improve NUE. To achieve this research was carried out in England, USA and Japan.

The research undertaken overseas highlighted that farmers have implemented rotations and cover crops to improve NUE. Rotations are being used to increase the amount of mineral nitrogen in the soil through planting legume crops that fix nitrogen in the soil. Cover crops are being used to provide ground cover for the soil surface, to improve water infiltration, improve water holding capacity, and reduce leaching and runoff.

Farmers overseas have introduced new irrigation techniques to improve Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and reduce waterlogging, which in turn improves NUE. Farmers have moved away from flood irrigation and have introduced overhead sprinkler irrigators, in which Australian cotton growers have been slow to adopt.

Research undertaken in USA and England showed that both dryland and irrigated farmers have introduced no till farming practices. While in Australia dryland farmers have adopted no till farming practices, irrigated cotton growers have not introduced these practices and still use excessive tillage as a farming practice. No till farms in the USA and England illustrate the benefits of no till outweigh the conventional tillage practices.

The adoption of Precision Agriculture (PA) has been much faster overseas compared with Australia. Famers are using a number of PA practices including imagery and real time soil testing to improve NUE through the introduction of Variable Rate Technology (VRT). Farmers are using NVDI imagery from satellites and drones to create management zones across the fields. Farmers are able to apply different rates of fertiliser through VRT, which has not been widely used by Australian cotton farmers.

The cotton sector is a leader in farm WHS because growers have used evidence-based information to develop practical and effective systems to manage WHS. In some instances WHS can be complex due to conflicting interpretation of WHS standards e.g. advice on practical machinery guarding, bunding for diesel tanks, access to distribution tanks/ irrigation gates etc. This leads to less than optimal uptake and compliance by growers. It is widely accepted that for increased adoption of safety practices to occur, WHS systems need to be convenient, result in cost efficiencies and assist with meeting compliance and legislation requirements.

There is also a requirement to ensure that all workers are competent to undertake the tasks required, with a safety induction being critical to assist in this process. Consequently, enhancing the ease with which contractors can be inducted will assist growers.

With the increasing uptake of smart phone and tablet computer technologies by growers, this provides an opportunity to develop alternate approaches that may further streamline the process to improve WHS.

The Field to Fibre course, which is a formal three 3 day course, is presented in Geelong at

CSME. It gives participants an opportunity to interact with leading researchers

on allaspects of the cotton production pipeline including global perspective,

fibre properties, agronomy, picking, ginning, classing, marketing, yarn

formation, fabricformation and dyeing and finishing. A strong emphasisis

placed on the impacts offibre quality on textile processing. Information is

presented by way of lectures and practical demonstrations using the modem

commercial cotton spinning and processing equipment available at CTF

The course is constantly updated with all practical suggestions considered, to

ensure that the course stays relevant and current.

Compaction caused by machinery traffic can have severe yield consequences. Compaction increases soil strength and reduces soil porosity, which hinders root growth, moisture and nutrient uptake, and plant growth. GPS-auto steer and modification of machines to 3 m wheel centres can minimise compaction of fields. Conventional 1 m cotton does not accommodate for 3 m wheel centres so row spacing can be altered to alleviate this issue. The aim of the experiment in this study was to test the hypothesis: is cotton yield and fibre quality in wide 1.5 m row the same as conventional 1 m rows? There were two main components to the experiment at Auscott Warren farm, a replicated plot experiment and a paddock scale whole block experiment. The replicated experiment was a RCB design with nine replicates of 1 m and 1.5 m row treatments. The paddock scale whole block was two large field blocks of 1 m and 1.5 m row treatments. 1.5 m cotton was 10 cm taller than 1 m cotton. There was little difference in harvest index (60%) between the two configurations. The 1 m cotton yielded 1.8 bales/ha and 3.6 bales/ha higher than the 1.5 m cotton in the machine picked and handpicked replicated experiment, respectively. Yield of 1 m cotton mainly came from fruiting nodes 1-8, position 1. In contrast, yield in 1.5 m cotton mainly came from vegetative fruiting branches. There was a strong positive correlation (R2 = 0.99) between the number of bolls/m2 and yield, but only a weak correlation between lint per boll and yield (R2 = 0.28), and between number of bolls and lint per boll (R2 = 0.21). Only minor differences in fibre quality were observed. Gross margins of the two row configurations were very similar. Future research should quantify water usage to improve grower decision making.

In the 1996/97 season the Australian cotton industry adopted an insect-resistant variety of cotton (Ingard®) that is specific to the group of insects including the target Helicoverpa spp. but excluding predators and parasitoids of this pest. To prolong the efficacy of transgenic cotton against Helicoverpa spp., a resistance management plan (RMP) that restricted the area grown to Ingard® was implemented due to the critical importance of preserving the efficacy of the Cry1Ac gene.

In the 2004/5 season Bollgard II® replaced Ingard® as the transgenic variety of cotton available to Australian growers. It improves on Ingard® by incorporating an additional insecticide protein (Cry2Ab) to combat Helicoverpa. Due to the perceived difficulty for Helicoverpa spp. to evolve resistance to both proteins simultaneously within Bollgard II®, the RMP for transgenic cotton was relaxed to allow growers to plant up to 95% of the total area to this product. Bollgard II® was well adopted, with up to 70% (200,000 hectares) planted area throughout the industry.

The sensitivity of field-collected populations of Helicoverpa spp. to Bt products was assayed before and subsequent to the widespread deployment of Ingard® cotton expressing Cry1Ac in the mid-1990’s. From 1994/95 until 2002/03, a Bt spray (MVPII®) that contained formulation ingredients additional to Cry1Ac was used in the screens. The program also incorporated a Bt spray (DiPel®) with insecticidal proteins additional to Cry1Ac to test for resistance to combinations of Cry toxins. The program used only F0 screens however this method cannot detect individuals that are heterozygous for a recessive form of resistance.

During this project we developed screens using a pure Cry1Ac spore/crystal mix as our source of toxin. In anticipation of Bollgard II® replacing Ingard® in 2004/05, we developed methods to screen for resistance to Cry2Ab. In addition to performing F0 screens to detect major changes in gene frequencies, we incorporated an F2 screen to detect and ‘capture’ any rare resistance alleles in natural populations. This method allowed us to simultaneously screen for resistance to Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab, hence making the screens using DiPel® redundant.

There have been no reported field failures of Bollgard II® due to resistance. Our work shows that alleles that confer high level resistance by field populations of H. armigera and H. punctigera are rare for Cry1Ac. However, resistance genes for Cry2Ab in field populations of moths are surprisingly common. Our current best estimate is that they occur for H. armigera at a frequency of 0.004 (upper limit, 0.011; lower limit, 0.0008) and for H. punctigera at a frequency of 0.009 (upper limit, 0.005; lower limit, 0.0001). Individuals that carry a resistance allele for Cry2Ab are killed by Cry1Ac.

Our current knowledge of the ecology and resistance profiles of Australian Helicoverpa populations suggests the RMP is adequate to retard increases in the frequency of resistance. Computer models that incorporate our present knowledge of resistance frequencies, fitness costs, form of dominance and refuge size, suggest that Bollgard II® should prove effective at managing Helicoverpa in the medium to long term. However, it should be emphasised that these models assume that refuges are well maintained in order to produce large numbers of susceptible moths.

The purpose of the travel was to present at the 2005 Genetics Society of Australasia (GSA) conference in Auckland, on the results obtained from CRDC project UA12C to an international audience, and to gain information from other research undertaken in the field.

The need for a comprehensive and integrated weed identification and management guide for the Australian cotton industry has long been recognised. During May 2001, a meeting was held involving the Australian Cotton CRC weeds focus team, a team including both weeds researchers at ACRI and extension personnel from the National Cotton Extension Network, and representatives from the CRDC and ACGRA to discuss the production of WEEDpak.During the period May 2001 – June 2002 members of the weeds focus team, headed by the co-ordinating editor Dr Stephen Johnson, have worked to produce WEEDpak. The end result is a multi-faceted publication that includes information on the following components that are needed to achieve integrated weed management in Australian cotton farming systems:-

a weed identification guide,

integrated weed management,

herbicide resistance,

herbicides and spray guidelines,

roundup ready,

farm hygiene, controlling volunteer cotton and an examination of the interactions of cotton pathogens and insects with weeds,

best bet management guidelines for weeds,

management of problem weeds,

weed management in rotation crops and

appendices on the regional distribution of weeds, a weed species and further reading list with other supporting documents.