Key factors in managing transgenic Bt cottons for the future are to have an effective resistance management strategy. An essential component of any such strategy is to establish a resistance monitoring program. The core components of this project address resistance monitoring as well as examine the performance of transgenic cotton (two genes) in relation to resistance management. To develop an effective resistance management strategy it is important to understand the mechanisms of resistance as well as the possible behaviour changes that may occur within a resistant population as compared to a susceptible one. If the industry is to continue to use Dipel® and other foliar Bts, then the question of cross resistance between Bt proteins also needs to be evaluated.

To undertake this type of research it is important to develop colonies resistant to both Bt proteins used in transgenic cotton (i.e. Cry 1Ac and Cry 2Ab) and foliar Bts (Dipel®). To establish resistant colonies, surviving larvae have been reared in the laboratory. A colony with low to moderate resistance to MVP® (Cry 1 Ac), and lower order cross-resistance to fully expressing Bt transgenic cotton plants has been established. Further selection of the strain with MVP® and Ingard® plants should result in fully resistant colonies.

To help understand the underlying basis of the resistance to pirimicarb, and hence improve the chance of effective management, Dr Robin Gunning and Dr Graham Moores (Rothamstead, UK) did a preliminary screen on resistant clones. They found that the underlying resistance biochemistry (resistance mechanism(s)) is probably a target-site insensitivity and furthermore suggested that pirimicarb resistance can be maintained without selection. Once selected resistance should therefore persist through the season and overwinter causing ongoing and progressively worsening control problems.

Cotton Aphid: Due to its ability to rapidly develop resistance cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover) is world-wide the major aphid pest of cotton. It causes significant problems in Thailand, The Sudan, Russia and the USA. In Australian cotton it is a persistent secondary pest with potential to become a major pest due to resistance.

Resistance allows the uncontrolled increase in aphid numbers causing their sugary honeydew secretions to contaminate the cotton lint. This causes significant discounts due to the need to clean the cotton before it can be spun in today’s high speed spinning equipment. Such a scenario happened recently in the USA causing an immediate and substantial downgrading of the contaminated lint value. Recent Australian research has also confirmed that uncontrolled aphid outbreaks earlier in the cotton season can significantly impede plant development, through aphids competing for plant assimilate causing dramatic yield reductions (up to 75 %). As cotton production in Australia is a 1.5 billion-dollar industry uncontrolled resistance would be a national disaster, due to loss of yield but more significantly damage to our international reputation as a producer of ‘clean’ cotton.

Resistance management in Australia is further complicated because cotton aphid reproduces asexually with female aphids giving birth to live female ‘clones’. Unmanaged insecticide use can rapidly kill susceptible clones, leaving only resistant clones. Further use of the same insecticide group then may select for genotypes within the resistant clones that have small transcription errors or mutations that favour fitness or confer other mechanisms of resistance. Selection of resistant clones allows the rapid proliferation of resistance because there is no outcrossing with susceptible wild types. A second pest aphid, the green peach aphid is also a sporadic but at times damaging pest in cotton. This species is already widely resistant to a range of insecticides and can present major control problems for cotton growers.

Two-spotted mite: Worldwide over 33 species of mites attack cotton, but in Australia damage is due mainly to three species of Tetranychid mite, the banana spider mite (Tetranychus lambi), the bean spider mite (T. ludeni) and the two-spotted mite (T. urticae), though the latter is by far the most common. Two-spotted mite is extraordinarily adaptable and renowned for developing resistance to chemicals used for its control. Two-spotted mite is acknowledged as the most serious world mite pest of agriculture due to its ability to develop resistance and in Australia uncontrolled resistance has rendered some horticultural crops uneconomic. Two-spotted mite has been the dominant mite pest in cotton since the early 1980s. Uncontrolled populations can cause significant losses of yield and fibre quality.

Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum (Fov), is a destructive disease of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L) in almost all cotton producing countries of the world. First reported in 1993, this disease is now widespread in Australia and is causing substantial losses. Previous studies identified two distinct genotypes in Australia (VCGs 01111 and 01112) that were morphologically distinct from the eight races of Fov found outside Australia, but prior to this study the origin(s) of the Fov in Australian cotton fields were unclear.

There are 17 native Gossypium species or wild cottons in Australia, some of which have ranges that overlap cotton-growing regions. Wild crop relatives are a traditional source of novel resistance genes for many plant diseases, and preliminary studies of Australian Gossypium species suggested they may contain some useful levels of Fusarium wilt resistance. At the same time, however, it was possible that the native species could be harbouring potential cotton pathogens. The main objectives of this project was to explore the risk and the potential of the Australian Gossypium species, specifically 1) to screen accessions of native Gossypium species for Fov resistance; 2) to determine if Fusarium wilt pathogens occur in native Gossypium populations; and 3) to investigate the genetic relationships between Fov causing the disease in Australian cotton fields and indigenous F. oxysporum associated with native Gossypium populations.

Screening the Australian Gossypium species identified a range of accessions that will be useful in the continuing efforts to new cotton cultivars with improved levels of Fusarium wilt resistance. Although there was considerable variation in Fusarium wilt resistance among the Australian Gossypium species, G. sturtianum emerged as a possible source of novel resistance genes. At the same time, a number of susceptible G. sturtianum accession were identified that can be used to generate segregating populations for genetic analyses. Future genetic analysis will assist cotton breeders by providing a clearer picture of how Fusarium resistance is controlled genetically.

Simultaneously, it has become clear that while the native Gossypium species are not harbouring cotton field pathogens, there are some of the native soil fungi of potential concern and continuing vigilance would be appropriate.

Fusarium wilt is an endovascular disease, and while endovascular fungi are commonly found in the stems of the wild Gossypium species, with only one exception, none of the 600+ isolates tested were related to cotton field pathogens. More importantly, pathogenicity trials of these endovascular fungi established that none of these isolates have the ability to invade cotton through the roots and cause wilt symptoms, and therefore are highly likely to give rise to new cotton field pathogens. It is unlikely that the native Australian Gossypium species are harbouring potential new pathogens that will impinge upon the Australian cotton industry in the future.

Surveys of soils from the native cotton populations and native vegetation in the Norwin—Boggabilla region, where Fusarium wilt was first detected, identified a range of diverse Fusarium oxysporum genotypes. Broadly speaking, these genotypes fall into one of five distinct lineages, designated A to E. Pathogenicity trials established that 14% of these Fusarium oxysporum genotypes could induce mild Fusarium wilt symptoms on cotton. While none of these isolates currently are virulent enough to cause plant death, isolates in lineage A have emerged as the closest known relatives of the cotton field pathogens, and it is now certain that the origin of the cotton field pathogens can be traced to native Fusarium oxysporum genotypes. Whether other Australian genotypes have the same potential to develop into new cotton field pathogens will be the focus of ongoing research.

The silverleaf whitefly is characterised by a huge host range, high fecundity, the ability to induce physiological responses in plants, transmit plant viruses, the copious production of honeydew, and an extreme ability to develop insecticide resistance. The whitefly damages cotton crops by direct feeding (yield can be reduced by 60% under heavy infestation), copious production of honeydew (which contaminates cotton lint and reduces the photosynthetic efficiency of cotton leaves) and by virus transmission.

B-biotype B. tabaci came into Australia with insecticide resistance to most pyrethroids, organophosphates and carbamates. Explosion of the silverleaf whitefly into horticultural crops in north Queensland during the late 1990’s ensured development resistance to other insecticides (bifenthrin, endosulfan, amitraz and imidacloprid) to which they initially susceptible. Field selection experiments in horticultural crops in North Queensland (DAN 106C) showed a very rapid rate in the selection of resistance to insecticides.

At the commencement of this project, B-biotype B. tabaci was not a pest of cotton but was considered to be a major threat to the Australian cotton industry needing pre-emptive research. The aims of this project were therefore, to monitor silverleaf whitefly numbers on cotton, secondly to monitor insecticide resistance levels and to investigate novel insecticides and insecticides combinations as candidates for whitefly control. In December 2001, the silverleaf whitefly exploded on cotton in central Queensland and reached economically damaging levels.

The major challenge to sustainable use of Bt cotton is the risk that the target pests, Helicoverpa spp, may evolve resistance to the engineered toxins. Resistance to conventional Bt sprays has evolved in field populations of other moths (e.g. Plutella xylostella), H. armigera has consistently developed resistance to synthetic pesticides in the field, and cultures of Bt resistant strains of H. armigera have been generated in the lab. Bt resistance concerns are thus well-founded. Much effort has therefore been devoted to developing and implementing pre-emptive resistance management strategies, most notably based on the use of refuges to maintain sources of susceptible moths in the population which will mate with potentially resistant individuals produced in Bt crops - thus dampening the development of resistance. This project aimed to help identify the most productive refuge options. Such information is essential to allow robust estimates of refuge sizes. Crops considered in CSE90C included sprayed (non Bt) conventional cotton, unsprayed conventional cotton, pigeon pea, sorghum, maize and soy bean.

One of the major criteria defining effective refuges is that they will generate enough susceptible moths to ensure that matings between resistant survivors from Bt crops are extremely unlikely. But our knowledge underpinning the optimal placement of refuges within a landscape and how well the moths generated there disperse to Bt crops is very limited. Some studies have simulated movements of H. armigera from refuges to transgenic crops using the model HEAPS and argued that dispersal from refuges can be patchy according to wind speed and direction and spatial distribution of crops. The qualities of plant hosts at source and sink, aggregative / synchronous movement behaviours of the moths and limits of simple diffusion are also considered likely to be important. But empirical data from the field on all this are scarce. In CSE90C, we sought to use strontium to mark moths in refuges and set traps to recapture them in nearby Ingard cotton crops.

Many questions about the seasonal abundance and resistance dynamics of Helicoverpa require knowledge of which crops contribute to local populations. While we can infer something about the relative importance of different crops from pupal numbers, the definitive answers require that we can assign moths to probable crop origin. We intended to do this, and thus infer local movements of moths, using the ratios of carbon isotopes that vary between C3 (cotton, legumes) and C4 (maize, sorghum) plants and thus are likely to be transferred to moths reared on them.

Despite some previous research on cultivation and its usefulness in reducing the abundance of over-wintering pupae of Helicoverpa (“pupae busting”), questions often arise as to the best tillage methods to use to achieve this. We intended in CSE90C to establish field trials, in collaboration with soil scientists, to determine optimum methods amongst commonly available machinery to destroy pupae, whilst taking into consideration the impact of such methods on soil structure and fertility.

The project focussed on understanding more about the egg parasitoid Trichogramma pretiosum. This minute wasp attacks the egg stage of heliothis (Helicoverpa spp.) and causes significant mortality of heliothis on the Darling Downs.

T. pretiosum is a new species to the Darling Downs. It is native to North America, but was established in the Ord River region of Western Australia in the mid 1970’s. The DPI obtained some T. pretiosum from scientists in Western Australia and released it onto the Darling Downs in 1995. It appears to thrive in agricultural environments, especially when selective pest management tactics are employed, e.g. Bt. cottons and the use of selective insecticides.

There is increasing grower interest in utilising beneficial insects and spiders in pest management, and thereby reducing the need to spray pests with insecticides. Cotton growers on the Darling Downs are interested in learning more about Trichogramma because of the high impact the wasps have had in dryland cotton. In particularly, leading consultants and growers want to know if T. pretiosum can be utilised in irrigated cotton and conventional cotton.

The project built on the findings of previous research where T. pretiosum successfully managed heliothis in unsprayed dryland INGARD® cotton for three consecutive years, including a high pest pressure year when heliothis egg densities rose to 90 eggs/m. Previous DPI research found that T. pretiosum is a significant natural enemy of heliothis (DAQ 96C –“IPM in dryland cotton on the Darling Downs’). This work was carried out in dryland INGARD® cotton at Jimbour on the Darling Downs. The research reported here was conducted in other regions, and included trials in irrigated conventional cotton.

Meeting of the task force on CSITC, Sunday 21st Oct.

Meeting opened with Axel Dreiling presentation on results from CSITC trials 2/2007 and 3/2007. The following observations were made:

• 54 testing facilities and 74 instruments participated in CSITC 2/2007 and 52 testing facilities and 69 instruments participated in CSITC 3/2007

• Difference in micronaire average being lower in CSITC results than established values. Difference in length average being higher in CSITC results than established values (Established values are from USDA. I have noticed on USDA check testing that participating labs usually fall lower on micronaire and higher on length than USDA)

• The question was asked whether the same labs were consistently out of tolerance range for evaluation result. It was not known but will be looked into from now on.

• There is still colour Rd variation between HVI 1000/Spectrum instruments compared to older models. Uster are looking into this problem. Colour technology on HVI 1000 and Spectrums is different to older models

• The question was asked whether CSITC Should be testing Stickiness and neps - Results on stickiness and neps are still too variable

CSITC meeting Wednesday, 24th Oct.

Andrew McDonald opened meeting with following comments:

• Good progress has been made with commercial differences between instruments

• Convince the world that instrument testing is the way to go

• Three trials in 07 have provided very good results

• Organisations very close to USDA established results

• Help those organisations that are out of tolerance

• Encourage other test centres (Maybe Australian merchants could encourage overseas mills to participate. I would think South East Asian mills would not know about CSITC round test trials)

Jimmy Knowlton made the following comments:

• Still looking at having SFI on calibration cotton. If achieved will only be for HVI 1000 instruments

• China’s 5 year plan to have 370 instruments in 90 facilities to test all China crop. There will be 200 instruments in China by end 2007

• USDA working with China CFIB to participate in CSITC round trials

• USDA will be releasing standards for instrument qualification (CCAA are looking at instrument qualification)

• USDA will be releasing procedures for establishing calibration cotton values (Maybe Australia could create their own calibration standards in the future)

It was also mentioned that the 5th sample sent by CSITC is a bale from another country outside the USA. CSITC are asking other countries to donate a bale for the 5th sample. This bale would be sent to the USDA for testing prior to sending out as 5th sample. Obviously a very good uniform bale is required.

Would Australia donate a bale for CSITC testing? I could work out costing for this if required for CRDC to evaluate. I think it would be good to send out a good quality Australian bale for CSITC testing.

CSITC round trial 2007/4 has just been completed and results are due in December.

A new form will be sent out for participation in 2008 CSITC round trials. There will be a new box on the form to ask participants if they do not wish to be identified as a CSITC round trial participant.

The next CSITC task force meeting will be held in Bremen, Germany on Wednesday 2nd April, 2008.

I have included the following reports:

• RT 2007-2 General Evaluation lab.pdf (results of all labs)

• RT 2007-3 General Evaluation lab.pdf (results of all labs)

• CSITC – 2007.pdf (CSITC 2007-2 Rene’s report on CCAA participation)

• CSITC – 2007RT 3.pdf (CSITC 2007-3 Rene’s report on CCAA participation)

Comment on Rene’s report:

It is evident that the colour is better on CSITC 2007-3 than 2007-2 for Australian labs. However, there is still more improvement required. We are in the process of more HVI colour trials over the next couple of months. Certainly all other properties are well within tolerance for all labs which is encouraging.

We are hopeful that all CCAA labs will participate in CSITC round testing in 2008.

The International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) young farmers’ congress and

NFF study tour was an initiative of the National Farmers Federation supported by agricultural

industries and associated sponsors. The NFF is the Australian member organisation to IFAP

along with 150 other producing countries.

Australian agriculture is not alone in looking for strategies to encourage young people to

consider agriculture as a rewarding career choice. The NFF see this as one of their most

important strategies moving forward to ensure agriculture continues to renew with building

effective leaders for tomorrows agriculture.

Facilitating young farmers to enter agriculture is one of the nine priorities of IFAP’s Strategic

Plan. Also, one of the 10 principles of the World Farmers Charter adopted in Seoul (2006) is

to address the special needs of women farmers and young farmers.

The Congress gave the opportunity to make progress on these commitments, giving special

attention to questions of transmitting farm holdings between generations and to encouraging

young people to enter farming as a career. Young farmers’ points of view are also critical to

follow up local, regional and international issues, and to contribute to the IFAP policy work.

The following points;

Strengthening and effectiveness of young farmers’ groups or associations,

Renewal of farmer’s generations,

Climate change and risk management,

Update on the WTO negotiations & its influence on the young farmers.

The 2006 Australian Cotton Comparative Analysis (ACCA) is the sixth report produced by Boyce Chartered Accountants in conjunction with the Cotton Research & Development Corporation (CRDC) / Cotton Catchment Communities CRC.

In this report, we present an analytical review of the 2006 results, a comparison with prior years and comments on emerging trends. Feedback from participants and growers has been very positive. The clear message in this and previous reports has been the required focus on yield as opposed to cost reduction or price enhancement. In the 2005 report we highlighted that, due to drought in the 2003 and 2004 years, the reduction in area grown on each farm during these years caused a significant increase in the per hectare non direct costs such as depreciation, interest, wages, repairs and maintenance, and channel spraying. When reviewing the ten year schedules, this needs to be taken into account. To state the obvious, water makes a world of difference. Again in the 2006 year the area of cotton grown has been significantly effected by water shortages (but not quite to the extent

of 2003 and 2004).

The industry has been hit by the unreliability of water in the past few years. It is worthwhile to stress that, in drought years, a grower may not be included in this analysis as they may not have grown a crop under normal irrigation practices. If you assume that the figures would not have shown good profits in that year, then the 5 and 10 year average figures should not be used as an indicator for industry profitability.

As a general statement, the 10 year average figures should not be used when analyzing the profitability of the industry as a whole without making an allowance for the drought years where the figures on non irrigated farms will not be included in the report.

• As in previous years, the analysis includes the results of farmers who were able to plant, grow and pick their crop using close to normal irrigation practices. In the sample there may be some growers who had to stretch their water or were unable to give part of their crop a final water. The total number of hectares in the sample decreased again due to a decrease in the availability of water throughout many of the cotton growing areas of Australia. The average hectares planted per participant decreased from 1,027 hectares in 2005 to 889 hectares in 2006.

• It is important to note that the analysis does not show the health of the cotton industry. Where a cotton grower grew skip or solid cotton that did not receive the full water, or grew no cotton at all, these figures are excluded from the analysis. In most, if not all cases, these alternate crops would have returned a reduced profit in comparison to growing fully irrigated cotton. Therefore, although the grower may have made a healthy per hectare profit on the hectares grown, the net profit of the total farm would have been significantly less than if the

grower was able to have normal production.

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• While recognising marketing as an important part of management, growers and interested parties were concerned that participants in the top 20% may be there only due to receiving a high cotton price and not as a result of good farming practices. Alternatively, good cotton growers, due to adverse currency, lint and basis positions, may have been excluded from the top 20%. As many growers review their operation against the top 20% to look for areas of improvement, it was suggested that the top 20% and bottom 20% be selected using an average price. We have therefore selected the top 20% and bottom 20% by substituting the price that the grower

received with a price of $375. This was the average net price for all participants. Using this average price, the participants with the highest and lowest operating profits per hectare were noted for inclusion in the top and bottom 20%. Even though the average price was used to select the participants in the top and bottom 20%,

the growers’ actual figures are reported in this analysis.

Financial analysis using comparative statistics helps farmers identify relative strengths and weaknesses. Accompanying budgets and long term business plans will then focus on ways to overcome weaknesses and build on strengths. In other words, this comparative analysis is a management tool to implement change and to identify where effort should be directed on a day to day basis.

Obviously, this analysis does not provide all the answers. It is a benchmark or a standard to strive for. It is up to management to develop and implement specific action plans, based on their improved knowledge, to reach new goals set. These reliable, independent figures are the starting point for farmers to develop "best practice".

We encourage participants in this survey to discuss their results with us and to clarify any queries, so everyone can develop a better understanding of the industry.

Cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV) is the causal agent of a damaging disease of cotton (CLCuD) that is caused by a number of different begomoviruses and vectored by Silver Leaf Whitefly (SLW). CLCuV is exotic to Australia but is categorised as one of our industry’s most serious Emergency Plant Pests. Crop losses can be devastating.

The cotton industry biosecurity plan (2006) rates the overall pest risk from this pathogen complex as high to extreme. While prior to the introduction of Bemisia tabaci (B biotype) the risk of introduction may have been considered low, clearly now, with the widespread distribution of this insecticide resistant vector the impact of a disease incursion would be very serious for our industry.

The purpose of this scientific exchange was for a highly focused stakeholder based group from the Australian cotton industry to visit an overseas cotton growing area where CLCuV is endemic and growers must manage both the insect vector and plant pathogen on a routine basis. This exchange also provided an introduction to scientists conducting research at various institutes on the management of this disease and will allow for ongoing information exchange with leading researchers on this pathogen.