The 6th World Cotton Conference was held in May 2016 in Goiania, Brazil. The conference is held every four years and was attended by 400 people from 40 countries. The conference was held over five days and had eleven scientific themes. Nine Australian researchers presented during the conference.

A wide range of topics were discussed although it was not possible to attend all sessions. Some snippets of interest include;

 there were no irrigation water use efficiency presentations, although occasional questions to speakers,

 One researcher suggested the establishment on an international cotton research centre like CGIAR.

 Several presentations on extension challenges ranging from modern countries like Australia to India/Africa with vast numbers of poor farmers.

 Paper on the variability of fibre quality in the plant and how HVI does not explain all the variance.

 Couple of interesting studies on the role of women in cotton farming and sustainable fibres eg South America FAO study.

 Excellent paper on motes and cotton seed linters and how much extra value could be unlocked here.

 Considerable discussion around resistance management for transgenic crops and the global variance. Knowledge gaps such as VIP3A efficacy, planting windows, non host crops.

 A former Cotton CRC PhD student now working in Argentina presented research on radiation impacts on flowering.

 Cotton Inc – Global LCA research would be of interest to people in this discipline. There appears to be no LCA research on man made fibres. Social LCA is a growing science.

 The rise of China and challenges it faces. China has 47 measures of sustainability and a target of zero growth in fertiliser and pesticide use. A lot of use of transplanting and plastic films. Growing “home invented” mechanisation. Growth in multidisciplinary sciences.

 There were a heap of papers on cotton genetics and breeding

 Soil changes over time. eg Impact of high summer temperatures on bare fallows on soil biology.

 Cotton Cultivated website of Cotton Inc. Webcasts. Plant Management links.

The conference tour was to the nearby Embrapa Research Station. Embrapa appears to have had a very significant impact on Brazilian agriculture. It has 47 research centres. The main cotton research centre was nowhere near the major cotton producing regions as the regional distribution of cotton in Brazil has changed over time. The centre we visited was a major soybean facility, but had some rice and cotton experiments. There seem to be a strong desire to integrate cotton into the soybean facility and farming system. This is definitely an R&D provider worth monitoring. https://www.embrapa.br/en/international.

Growers within the Mungindi Cropping Group felt there was a need to identify profitable summer crop options to be grown under dryland conditions in the western growing regions. Whilst winter crop rotations are being used to assist in the reduction of issues such as crown rot and root leision nematode the addition of a summer crop could further benefit the farming system from both a sustainability and profitability point of view.

Dryland growers are looking to adjust planting dates to better utilise planting opportunities and available soil moisture and minimise the negative impacts of peak flowering during extreme heat events. Greater understanding of the physiological development of dryland cotton, especially BG3 under different row configurations will enable growers to make better management decisions to maximise returns.

Pupae busting is a major hurdle to the adoption of dryland cotton. It’s a major expense, causing significant moisture loss, which minimises further opportunity cropping for dryland growers. The expansion of dryland cotton is significantly influenced by the need to pupae bust. Ratoon cotton can cause major issues in subsequent crop rotations.

The Cotton Info team undertakes extension and communication for the cotton industry.The team are from different organisations with a geographically spread. Information about activities was being captured via phone meetings without being systematically captured or recorded. This limited the capacity to report, review and evaluate the full activities and impact of the group.

The YourDATA M&E platform is a web-based application that provides a central data collection point for projects. By allowing team members to input raw data, view real-time graphical reports, and export collated data to spreadsheets, at any time and from anywhere (http://dev.couttsjr.com.au/yourdata/), it can be particularly tailored to collect and collate M&E data across regions, individuals and projects to allow reporting against milestones and strategic objectives.

For the first time, engagement, activity, output and impact data from the Cotton Info Team has been able to be captured in real time and collated for on-going improvement and reporting purposes. This is a significant jump in being able to demonstrate the role and value of the cotton team activities and clearly demonstrate the extent to which they are supporting the RD&E process and assisting industry to maximise the take up of new research, improved management practices and obtain productivity, profitability, environmental and social benefits.

This provides cotton growers and other stakeholders with the confidence they need that their levies and funding being used for this purpose is an effective investment. The process and system is flexible, easy to use and delivers timely information needed for decision-making about this significant development and extension delivery program to the cotton industry.

This annual survey project measures the impacts and outcomes of research and production critical to the Australian cotton industry. Crop Consultants Australia (CCA) has collected quantitative and qualitative data for the industry since the early 1990s. The data helps the industry to better understand the impact of research and extension, technology adoption, farming practices and product usage as well as identifying new opportunities.

The project collected and provided quality quantitative and qualitative data of good geographical representation (coverage of Australia’s cotton production area) relating to economic, environmental and social factors of Australia’s cotton industry. The data collected each year and provided to CRDC is able to be compared with data from other years to determine progress on various issues and changes in management practices.

The data provided to CRDC is utilised by industry for benchmarking, trending and research purposes.

Development and demonstration of a practical and commercially viable ‘smart’ automation system for furrow irrigation was the aim and key outcome of this project. The system consists of three major component parts.

The Southern Valleys CGA Back Paddock Nutrition Workshop tour was conducted in the region in February 2015. The workshops proved to be an invaluable platform for building engagement and supplying networking opportunities for current and new cotton growers and agronomists across the southern region. Feedback indicated that an increased understanding of the relationships between nitrogen application and yield were achieved through testing alternate nutrient management strategies and tactics.

Industrlal trials as part of CRC Project No. 4.03.03 showed cotton through the MLC with a

combing ratio of 19 had 0.02 inches or 0.53 rum more length in terms of UHML (a 2%

increase), a 1.34 increase in length uniformity (a 2% increase) and a 1.16% decrease in SFC

(a 12% decrease) than standard lint cleaners (SLC). The results also showed that whilst there

was no significant difference in nep generation through a SLC or MLC, neps were

consistently lower for the MLC at lower combing ratios. Although trash levels as measured

by HVl and AFIS were consistently higher for LC systems with lower combing ratios

including the MLC, the differences were not significant and not reflected in lower classing

grades.

At the conclusion of this project it was proposed that upgrades to the MLC including

reducing the diameter of the new draft rollers, reducing the draft distance between the

condenser doffing rollers and the new draft rollers and revising the draft ratios between roller

sets, would further improve fibre length and reduce the number of neps and trash

Overall, the results from samples processed through the upgraded MLC indicated statisticalIy

significant improvements in fibre properties for cotton with fibre lengths ranging from 1.095

inches to 1.20 inches. Length (UHML), length uniformity (ML/UHML %), short fibre index

(SFl), USDA leaf grade and neps (AFIS) all improved when this type of cotton was

processed through the MLC, although the improvements were minor in terms of fibre value.

The effect of the upgraded MLC was more muted on longer cottons eg. , UHML > 1.17

inches, although like the shorter cottons produced cleaner cotton in terms of leafgrade.

FUSCOM has always been an excellent means to encourage collaboration between research groups within Australia and communicate research activities to various groups. But one of the greatest assets of this meeting platform is the discussions on where there are gaps in our knowledge and what research needs to be conducted to address these issues. For example, this year reniform nematode was detected in cotton and was determined to be widespread in Theodore. The cotton industry has never faced this issue before. Verticillium wilt in recent years has become increasingly more severe and the possibility that new strains are present was raised. Boll rots are increasing in incidence and severity in Central Queensland. New projects funded by CRDC are commencing to research these new issues, however to assist in tackling these problems, collaboration with international researchers who have experienced these issues, would benefit Australian research.

This funding provided four experts from overseas to attend an International FUSCOM workshop in Toowoomba, Queensland to address very specific pathology issues current in Australian cotton with focussed presentations from international guests and Australian pathologists targeting current pathology issues and potential future issues. Four international pathologists will be invited to cover the breadth of current RD&E activity relating to cotton pathology (including nematodes). The workshop will follow a similar format to previous FUSCOM workshops, however with a more targeted approach. The workshop will also provided for informal interaction at the welcome reception and in the evenings.

Opportunities for participants to liaise with international guests before and after the workshop and a pre-workshop tour of cotton growing regions will also take place, to enable our international guests to visit growers to get a better understanding of our farming practices and problems which will be invaluable to assist our guests to better address management strategies that suit our cropping systems

Australia contributes approximately 12% of the world’s total cotton production, and is the third largest exporter of cotton fibre. Most Australian cotton is cultivated in New South Wales, (70% of the total production), with the remainder cultivated in Queensland, an area that extends from Emerald in Queensland to Hay in New South Wales (Hearn and Fitt, 1992). Australian cotton is generally furrow irrigated with only a small proportion rainfed. There has been a dramatic increase in cotton production in Australia from 45,000 tonnes in 1970s to 600,000 tonnes in 2000s, with an average increase in lint yield of 1.8% per year (Constable, 2004). Despite this enormous improvement in cotton production systems, the cotton yield in Australia remains substantially subject to various abiotic stress factors including drought, heat, waterlogging and cloudy conditions.

Waterlogging is an important factor that adversely affects cotton yield. Australian cotton is cultivated on heavy clay soils with inherently low drainage and a summer dominant rainfall pattern poses significant risk of intermittent waterlogging. In addition, the reproductive phase of cotton, which starts by late December through January, often coincides with heavy summer rains in cotton producing regions. As the reproductive phase of cotton growth is most sensitive to stress-induced damage, exposure to waterlogging at this phase can significantly reduce yield. A degree of damage to cotton is expected if heavy rainfall occurs just after an irrigation event. Heavy lint yield losses have been recorded in Australian cotton under persistent rainfall and cloudy weather during the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 cotton seasons (CRC, 2010-11).

Waterlogging-induced growth and yield reduction are the result of a complex syndrome caused by O2 deficiency in the soil. Soil hypoxia impairs root growth and subsequent water and nutrient uptake. An inhibited supply of nutrients and water influences leaf development, light interception and photosynthetic efficiency leading to growth reduction. In addition, soil waterlogging alters the level of phytohormones in root tissues; specifically it accelerates biosynthesis of 1- aminocyclopropane 1-carboxylic acid (ACC). This ACC is converted into ethylene in the presence of O2 and ACC oxidase in aboveground plant parts (Bradford and Yang, 1980). Elevated ethylene accumulation in cotton tissues can stimulate leaf senescence and fruit abortion (Lipe and Morgan, 1973).

Tolerance to waterlogging in plants is a complex phenomenon that depends on tolerance to by-products of anaerobiosis and elemental/molecular toxicities. Plants exhibit a variety of modifications to survive in O2-deficient environments. Development of aerenchyma is one of the most common responses in many plant species at the anatomical level. Aerenchyma facilitates oxygen diffusion into root tissues (Jackson et al., 2008). Other morphological changes include increased root porosity via development of adventitious root and hypertrophied lenticels, and rapid shoot elongation in some waterlogging-tolerant species. Modifications of water relations, stomatal changes, decreased transpiration and photosynthesis are the physiological adaptive responses in plants. Metabolic adaptations, including energy production via fermentation, metabolic adjustments and anaerobic protein synthesis are also crucial for survival of plants exposed to low O2 concentration.

Absence of any apparent changes in cotton roots in terms of aerenchyma formation (Conaty et al., 2008), as well as the slow rate of energy production through anaerobic respiration, make cotton relatively sensitive to waterlogging. Cotton roots rapidly respond to soil O2 deficiency, showing symptoms of growth inhibition under mildly hypoxic conditions (O2 < 10%) within a short time (Huck, 1970). Inhibited root growth restricts nutrient uptake and interferes with various physiological process, causing overall yield reduction. Yield loss in cotton is directly associated with the duration for which root roots remain under O2 deficient environments. For example, an inundation period of 4 to 16 h (when soil O2 < 10 %) caused a 8% reduction in cotton lint yield, while prolonging inundation time to 32 h increased yield losses to 18% (Hodgson, 1982). Similarly, 27 – 30% yield reduction was recorded in response to 4 to 9 d of waterlogging, respectively (Wu et al., 2012). Despite significant improvements in cotton production systems, limited effort has been made in improving tolerance to waterlogging. Waterlogging tolerance in cotton is a complex trait, which depends on several environmental and physiological factors. Screening and breeding for waterlogging tolerance alone may not be adequate, as the waterlogging-tolerant cultivars identified in one experiment may appear intolerant in other trials. Therefore, understanding the impact of environmental factors and plant adaptation to waterlogging is critical for developing efficient waterlogging tolerance strategies. Physiological and biochemical modifications can provide clues to understanding plant tolerance mechanisms to waterlogging and assist in devising techniques for reducing yield losses under stressful conditions.