The autumn 2022 edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, continues the focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Recent events in the carbon trading market have growers contemplating their carbon status and what they should potentially do with any credits. In this edition, we bring you the key things to consider before embarking on soil carbon farming.

In addition, to help growers continue to improve their carbon footprint, we’ve included salient research from leading scientists on how and why nitrogen fertiliser must be better managed for the industry to meet its commitments to sustainability. Not only has trial work been undertaken to ascertain exactly the N requirements of cotton crops, and how and when they use it, but economic analyses of current versus best practice paints a clear picture: we have all the knowledge – we now need action.

OBJECTIVES OF VISIT: * To attend the 1992 Beltwide Cotton Production Research Conferences organised by the National Cotton Council o. America which included the 52nd Cotton Disease Council. To review the latest developments in the biocontrol o seedling diseases and verticillium wilt of cotton with colleagues at the USDA 'Biocontrol of Plant Diseases laboratory at Beltsville

The main aim of this trip was to accept an invitation from the British Society of Chemical Industry to deliver a paper at their 'Resistance 91' international symposium. While in Europe, the opportunity was taken to review the latest developments in the agrochemical industry1s R & D programmes. including both biological and conventional chemistry innovations. More detailed notes are given in an Appendix.

Aposter was displayed by Ms Greenhalgh titled' Diagnosis of Soil structural Conditions', co-authored by David MCKenzie and Donald MacLeod. It was the only display or presentation that dealt with the practical assessment of soil structure in the field. This poster was highly commended for its content and presentation. It was ranked one of the top 4 posters out of 160 posters by the judging panel

This visit was made to study recent research. The topics of most interest were crop nutrition, mycorrhizae, growth regulators, row spacing and breeding. The following sites were visited: University of California at Berkeley, Davis, Riverside, West Side Field Station and Kearney Agricultural Center. USDA Cotton Research Station, Shafter. CPCSD Research Station, Shafter. University of Georgia at Athens, Tifton and Griffin. USDA Forest Service, Athens. This visit has been invaluable in establishing the applicability of USA cotton research under local conditions. We have opportunities for collaborative research with research groups in the USA which could be utilised.

The findings from the research highlight a number of key issues which have already been outlined in my previous reports, however, these are repeated in summary as follows; * First, the results have confirmed the results of previous local and international studies which indicated that endosulfan I is the more volatile isomer. However, the study has shown that both isomers readily volatilise from a free water surface. * Secondly, the principal isomer of endosulfan (endosulfan I), can be rapidly degraded by naturally occurring soil microorganisms from tailwater drain sediments when these organisms are encouraged to grow in anaerobic growth media in laboratory liquid cultures. This finding indicates the potential of microorganisms to degrade endosulfan in environments where oxygen is limiting. *Thirdly, endosulfan is dissipated at a slow rate from both sullage pit soils and soils from a cotton growing field under aerated conditions in the laboratory. This occurs regardless of whether the soil is sterilised or biologically active. It is likely that the absence of readily available forms of carbon in these soils limited the degradation rates.

... This project's major goal was the development of tissue culture regeneration and transformation protocols for Australian cottons and to use such protocols to demonstrate the potential benefits to the industry of producing new cultivars by genetic engineering. These objectives have clearly been met with the production of cotton plants that are either tolerant to a herbicide or to insect pests. Specific details are are outlined below

This project was a transitional one covering only one year to enable the incorporation of all our CRDC breeding projects under one submission (CSP 40C). Thus the vital work to develop Verticillium tolerant and Bt transgenic cottons will continue in that project

An Orthman Mk II tracking unit was purchased in October 1991 prior to cotton sowing. The unit was successful in planting CSIRO's Leitch's block using a Kinze planter. Modifications to NSW Agriculture listing rig was conducted over summer to accommodate the tracking sensors which are fixed at the front of the listing rig, together with the manufacture of suitable marking arms to accommodate minimum tillage experiments. The 1992/93 cotton areas have been prepared using the Orthman tracker and has eliminated the 'guess row' errors previously experienced. The tracker will be used through the coming season for inter-row cultivation, now that standard width rows have been constructed