Field work was conducted over the 1988/89 and 1989/90 cotton growing seasons in the Central Highlands of Queensland. Pheromone dispensers, specially formulated for P. scutigera, were obtained from Shin-Etsu Chemical Company Ltd, Japan. In 1989/90 the P. gossypiella pheromone formulation . was trialed, and in 1988/89 a microencapsulated formulation produced by Allied Colloids (Australia Pty Ltd) was also trialed. Experiments Q were generally conducted in large fields (2.7 - 18.3 ha) and dispensers applied at a rate of 1,000/ha (78 mg (AI) (Z,Z)- and (Z,E)- isomers of 7,11 hexadecadienyl acetate mixed in a 9:1 ratio). Effects of treatments were assayed using pheromone traps (both years), regular fruit samples (usually 100 per time, both years), mating table trials (year 2) and dissection of females caught in light traps, (to determine mated status, year 2).

Despite the great potential for increasing cotton productivity through the genetic engineering of fibre development, little progress has so far been made in this area. This is in sharp contrast to the success of pest and herbicide resistant transgenic cotton that have already made a large impact on agriculture in both the U. S. and Australia (2). The major impediment to fibre engineering is our poor understanding of the biology of the cotton fibre, particularly, the identities and functions of genes controlling various fibre developmental processes (I, 2,3,4). Consequently, a recent major thrust has been on elucidating the molecular and cellular basis for fibre development and the cloning of a number of genes highly expressed in developing cotton fibres

The cost of running and maintaining cotton experimental trials at ACRI is a cost that has increased over years of research as more trials have evolved. The purpose of this project is provide such funding in order that all operational costs of growing experimental cotton for NSW Agriculture are met.

This project has assured the vability of cotton experiments at ACRI over the last three seasons undertaken by NSW Agricultufe.

The Cotton Industry has benefited from the practical research programs that have operated from this centre. Greater understanding of crop agronomy and disease control has assisted growers to increase yields while entomological studies on insect resistance has ensured a viable cotton industry.

The majority of cotton growers in the Australian cotton industry are familiar with an integrated approach to insect pest management. Researchers and agronomists often tout integrated pest management or IPM as the most sustainable approach for managing insect pests in cotton. The development of IPM systems reflects societies' expectations that pest management systems will neither degrade the environment nor will they cause health problems. Hence, the primary focus of an IPM strategy should be to reduce the reliance on synthetic pesticides (Wilson 2000). Integrated weed management (IWM) is an extension of the principles of IPM as applied to weed management. The focus of an IWM program is the development of sustainable weed management practices that ensure good control of weed problems while minimising the threats of herbicide resistance and species shift to the Australian cotton industry.

Fusarium wilt of cotton (Gossypium. spp. ) is caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum schletend f.sp vasinfectum (Atk) Snyder and Hansen (Fov). The disease has been recorded in most of the world's major cotton growing areas and causes significant losses in the USA, Tanzania, Egypt, and India (Smith et al 1981) and China (Chen et al, 1985). Australia was considered to be free from the wilt pathogen until 1993, when it was confirmed in Queensland (Kochman, 1995). Fov was also recently discovered in the Philippines. Wilted cotton plants have been collected from field sites throughout the Queensland and New South Wales growing areas since 1993. Several hundred isolates of Fov have been recovered from such material and examined in laboratory and glasshouse studies to determine the range of genetic and pathogenic diversity in the Australian fungal population. Where possible, Australian isolates have also been compared with isolates of Fov imported under quarantine from other countries

Northern Australia has long presented a series of problems in terms of sustainable cotton insect management. This is exemplified by the failure of the Ord cotton industry in the early 1970's under extreme insect pressure. Numerous studies and reports have suggested that for cotton growing to be successful in Northern Australia considerable changes to the production system were required (Yeates 2001). The advent of transgenic cotton has provided the impetus for renewed research interest in cotton in northern Australian. The production system proposed involves growing transgenic varieties in the winter or dry season. The move to the dry season is largely in response to research findings showing that insect pressure from Helicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera litura, and Pecinophora gossypiella are lower in this period. Although preliminary research has shown this to be true, a number of additional problems have become apparent. This paper discusses some of the entomological issues associated with cotton production in northern Australia and the research being undertaken to address these problems

The 2015-16 CRDC Researchers' Handbook is a key resource for all researchers working with, or interested in applying for funding from, the CRDC.

Updated annually, the Handbook outlines the key information researchers need to know, including key dates, the application process, funding and stipends available, the payment, evaluation and reporting processes and the CRDC’s intellectual property policy. These, and other critical details needed by researchers are provided in the Handbook. In 2015-16, the Handbook has undergone a complete update, to ensure it remains a critical reference tool for researchers.

When faced with attack by disease-causing organisms, plants rely on an elaborate surveillance system that detects pathogens and triggers a battery of defences to protect the host. Recent studies on the DNA of plants have uncovered an extensive collection of genes that direct this recognition of harmful organisms. These disease resistance genes (R genes) are present in hundreds to thousands of copies, and generally reside in large clusters on the plant genome. SurprisingIy, all of these R genes possess regions of similar DNA sequence that encode highly-conserved

protein structures essential for effective plant defence. Despite this similarity,

different genes can provide resistance to pathogenic organisms as diverse as

bacteria, viruses, fungi and nematodes (see our background story in the January

2001 issue of The Australian Cottongrower). In earlier work we successfully cloned a

small selection of R gene-like DNA sequences, known as resistance gene analogues

or RGAs, from cotton. In this project we proposed to extend the existing work, and as

a result we have now targeted the two major classes of R-genes in plants (NBS-LRR

and STK types). We also proposed to characterise these different genes, and have

attempted to link DNA polymorphism within the genes with Verticillium disease resistance in Australian cotton cultivars.

The floral organs and wounded leaves of Nicotiana alata, the ornamental tobacco, produce a serine protease precursor molecule (NaPI) which is cleaved into six individual inhibitors of 6 kDa. Two of these inhibitors have chymotrypsin activity and four have trypsin activity. These proteinase inhibitors inhibit trypsins and chymotrypsins in the gut of Lepidopteran

pests, and when incorporated into artificial diets or transgenic plants they have a detrimental effect on growth and development of Hellcoverpa punctigera larvae, but some larvae are unaffected. This study describes the characterisation of one of the major targets for NaPI, the chymotrypsins and their potential role in the tolerance of larvae to ingestion of Napl. Chymotrypsin CDNAs were isolated from a CDNA library made from the gut H. punctigera larvae. Phylogenetic analysis of the encoded protein sequences indicated there were six major families of chymotrypsin genes in Lepidoptera.

Cotton is currently the only crop whose transgenic varieties are used in large-scale production in Australia. Transformation of cotton is therefore of special importance for the healthy development of plant biotechnology in Australia.

Unfortunately, cotton is also one of the most difficult plants to transform and regenerate from tissue culture. Currently, transformation of elite Australian cottons is through backcross to Coker varieties, which are no longer used in production. The main obstacle for direct transformation of Australian varieties, as well as most other non-Coker varieties around the world, is the lack of a reliable plant regeneration system for these varieties. CSIRO Plant Industry has had some success with one Australian variety, Siokra 1-4, and a breeding line, Siokra I-3, but only at low frequency in both cases. There are no published reports about embryogenesis or regeneration of other Australian cotton varieties.

Even in the Coker varieties, which have been used as the model varieties in cotton transformation studies, transformation efficiency is low. To make things worse, this process is very time consuming, requiring more than 9 months to obtain transgenic plantlets from Coker varieties. In addition, it has been difficult to regenerate normal plants from cotton embryogenic callus, so the frequency of healthy transformed plants is very low even in the best available system.

One way to speed up the genetic transformation of cotton is to substantially improve the regeneration of plants from tissue culture. The initial phase of our research focussed on applying techniques that have proven successful in lower plants and in carrot tissue cultures to induce elite lines of cotton to regenerate from tissue culture.

In the course of this project, we concluded that a systematic study of the response of

cotton to tissue culture conditions was necessary for development of reliable

regeneration systems for cotton transformation. Most published reports are about

success with specific genotypes, and the protocols outlined are essentially identical

to earlier published protocols with small modifications. The paucity of information

about culture conditions favouring cotton regeneration may be due to difficulties in

collecting sufficient solid data for publication, as cotton tissue culture requires much

more time and space than other commercial crops because the success rate is so low.