Verticillium wilt of cotton is caused by a fungus (Verticillium dahliae) that infects the host plant via the roots and colonises the vascular system. Symptoms therefore include a brown discoloration of the vascular tissue within the stem, branches and petioles and a yellowing and death of leaf tissue especially between the veins. The pathogen survives the intercrop period in association with infected crop debris or susceptible weed hosts. Verticillium wilt is favoured by cool soil conditions and symptoms are therefore most obvious in late spring and autumn. Yields may be reduced by up to 25% in seasons when environmental conditions favour the disease.

A widespread problem of premature defoliation and physiological cut out of cotton has occurred in the Emerald Irrigation Area since the early 1980s. The problem was particularly severe in 1988 and 1989. This premature senescence has consistently been associated with a discolouration of the upper leaves towards plant maturity, and also with the leaf spot fungus Altemaria macrospora. Premature senescence can occur and lead to leaf loss even in the absence of leaf spot infection, although defoliation is neither as swift or complete. To enable comparison between visual estimates in the field, a standard scale of the symptom severity has been adopted (table 1). This is usually assessed at a time just prior to the first boll splitting.

Question: When is a cotton plant not a cotton plant? Answer: All the time. Healthy cotton plants are always part of a mycorrhiza.

Documentation of crop yields and varieties in the Toowoomba Royal Agricultural Show Irrigated Crops Competition since 1972 demonstrates the great advances achieved by cotton breeders as new varieties have been introduced to the industry. Data is based entirely on commercial crops entered in the competition on the Darling Downs. Agronomic data for those crops collected since 1987 also provides an interesting documentation of commercial crop management on the Darling Downs. Unfortunately, previous crop history, which influences nutrition inputs, and insecticide applications were not recorded, depriving us of a more complete picture. Crop yields are determined from the field area, precisely measured, required to produce a full module. The module is then weighed and ginned commercially at the ginnery

Cotton production is an increasingly complex business requiring continuous adaptation to changing circumstances. Resilience thinking is an approach designed to understand a complex and changing operating environment and maintain capacity to manage future challenges. CRDC undertook this resilience assessment of the Australian cotton industry at multiple scales to better understand how to best adapt to change and identify critical threats and opportunities for the industry, and strategically target investment and resources. This resilience assessment is structured around the three scales of cotton production in Australia – the farm, the region and whole of industry.

This Guide provides you with a comprehensive summary of the key cotton crop protection issues, and is brought to you by CRDC and the Australian cotton industry's joint extension program, CottonInfo.

During the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons planting date experiments were carried out at Narrabri Agricultural Research Station using a range of cotton varieties. These experiments form part of an on-going program to investigate the agronomic performance of new cotton genotypes and they also provide data for the development of crop simulation models. This paper presents the yield results from these experiments and draws conclusions about the most appropriate varieties for planting in various pans of the season.

This study tour and work experience opportunity was undertaken to give the student researcher a broader look at cotton, agricultural technology and general agriculture in America and Canada, in the hope of finding practices or technology to implement into our Australian industry. Whilst on tour, the researcher also attended the 2017 International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) Global Conference and participated in the student case study challenge, placing third globally.

A detailed research tour is documented in the Final Report.

The outcomes on return include the follow-up on implementing plant psychrometers to assess the commercial viability and benefit/gain to the grower and have approached Plant Phytech to conduct a trial this 2018 cotton season on the Liverpool plains. In addition, the researcher will be looking at the practical implementation of precision ag by trialling echelons approach to collecting, interpreting and uploading data without needing the farmer to export or upload data themselves.

Encouraged by a trial 1/2 acre result of 2.8 bales per acre from the 1990 cotton pick, Tandou has grown 70 acres in 1991 and 850 acres in 1992 installing one roller gin to process the 1991 crop and expanding the gin this year to four roller gins with provision to expand to a total of eight. The same Tandou gin also accommodates two saw gin stands with provision for a third.

It is anticipated that the IPM short course will develop sufficient interest, motivation and confidence in growers to implement appropriate IPM strategies. By learning together it is expected that growers will contiriue to communicate regularly in developing their lPM management systems. This will lead to quantifiable changes in farm management involving real adjustment in management of insect pests. There will also be long-term economic benefits and improved sustainability for cottongrowers.