Note: this project supported the operation of a fibre quality laboratory at ACRI to service most research projects. Specific details on fibre quality results are listed in those project reports.

This project part funded operation and maintenance of HVI900 and FMT3 cotton fibre testing instruments and associated air conditioning in CSIRO’s fibre testing laboratory at ACRI for the 2006/07 season. The laboratory supports measurements of fibre quality from cotton experiments in CSIRO’s breeding program and research projects by other organisations and projects.

More than 20,000 samples were tested by HVI and 10,000 samples by FMT.

Global cotton production and market dynamics indicate Australia needs a future edge with fibre quality to ensure buyers will want our cotton in preference to our competitors. This means developing varieties, management and processing to ensure we deliver better fibre. There may be opportunities for premium fibre products in future. Thus the CSIRO cotton breeding program raised the emphasis on developing improved fibre varieties to address these needs.

Negative associations between yield and fibre quality present challenges for variety development. We have accurately measured these associations and developed breeding population sizes to ensure the rare combinations of high yield and quality can be identified. Accurate measurement of fibre quality is an important component of that work.

Progress has been good, with improved fibre length achieved in high yielding varieties and breeding material with premium fibre identified.

This project started in 1981 funded by ACGRA. CRC assumed funding until the project terminated in 1986. The aims of the project were: * to link the SIRATAC fruit model to a water balance model and to a soil and plant nitrogen balance model. *to make the SIRATAC fruit model sensitive to water and nitrogen stress. * to develop an expert system that uses data from the enhanced fruit model for pest, irrigation and nitrogen management decision making.

GUNNEDAH farmer Scott Morgan has slashed the amount of money he spends on electricity used to irrigate cotton on his property, 'Kensal Green', by investing in solar and by reducing the amount of energy he uses to pump water for his crops.

AN ENERGY expenditure that had been climbing by around 10 per cent per year coupled with concerns about climate change have prompted St George cotton irrigators Ian and Anne Brimblecombe, 'Burgorah', to install solar panels which generate 100kW of electricity

Australian cotton production areas are prone to significant damage by hail storms. Following a hail strike, a grower is left with trying to make the most out of what remains of his crop. There are few guidelines or criteria available to assist growers in making management decisions in regard to their hail damaged crop. A three year project looking at the management of hail damaged cotton crops, instigated and funded by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, was begun in the 1993/94 season with the aim of developing some guidelines for managing hail damaged cotton crops

Farmers have probably always realised that soil is alive. Good soil seems to have certain intangible qualities, over and above its physical structure and chemistry. There is something special about topsoil. What are these intangible qualities? We all know that microorganisms in the soil can cause disease. However, in the last 25 years scientists have started to recognise the importance of some very helpful soil inhabitants, especially the vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi and beneficial bacteria.

The cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest of fibre and horticultural and ornamental crops worldwide. When present in sufficient numbers, it can cause extensive damage through direct feeding, the production of large quantities of honeydew and as a vector of many viruses. A new biotype was first identified in the USA, known as the B-type or poinsettia strain. Overseas, the B-type B, fabric is a primary pest on cotton, other vegetable crops (curcubits, tomatoes, rock melons) and ornamentals. This strain is extremely virulent, insecticide resistant, adapts to temperate climates and has a host range of over 500 plants. B-biotype B.tabaci were detected for the first time in Australia in October 1994 in both Darwin and Tamworth. During 1994/95, the Cotton Research and Development Corporation funded a survey to determine the current Australian distribution of B-type B. tabaci and its insecticide resistance status. Investigations suggest that the B-biotype B.tabaci was first introduced into Australia in late 1993, via poinsettias which were legally imported from California in the United States to Coffs Harbour (NSW). Our surveys show that this whitefly is well established and widespread in eastern Australia and eradication is not considered possible. The whitefly has not yet been detected in Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia, however it is very likely that infested plants have been sent to these states.

This talk is heavily dependant on slides, so the following 1s really only a &quote;background&quote; paper. My approach when giving such a talk to canegrowers, has been to devote the first half to explaining why it is essential that an industry be seen to be environmentally sensitive. If you, the grower ( be it cane or cotton ) don't appreciate that need, you are not likely to listen with any degree of interest. I've heard Maree McCaskill, Executive Director of the Australian Cotton Foundation speak at a Canegrowers' conference, and imagine many of you are already aware of the public relations benefits of such an approach.

In Australia the primary pesticide for control of heliothis in cotton is the organochlorine endosulfan. In recent years it bus been supplemented by a variety of other pesticides including organophosphates, carbarnates, pyrethroids and trisect growth regulators in an effort to reduce the level of pesticide resistance. Endosulfan is toxic to aquatic life (either as the two parent isomers or as the breakdown product, endosulfan sulfate), with fish being reported as highly sensitive to the chemical. Concern over the environmental fate of cotton pesticides in the late 1980s, led the New South Wales Department of Land and Water Conservation DLWC) to undertake in 1992 biological monitoring of aquatic macro invertebrates to assess the impact of irrigated agriculture on the rivers in the north west region of New South Wales (Figure I). The work forms part of the Central and North West Regions Water Quality Program (CT. IWRWQP) which is jointly funded by the DLWC and the water users of the Gwydir, Macquarie, Namoi and Border Rivers valleys. The other major components of the CN\NRWQP focus on pesticide, physico-chemical and nutrient monitoring.