In March 1995 I attended two Keystone Symposia, "Frontiers of Plant Morphogenesis" and "Signal Transduction in Plants", held concurrently at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Cotton fibres are differentiated from single ovule epidermal cells and grow synchronously, initiating at about the time of anthesis.

The cotton plant has two main sets of traits that contribute to its resistance to pests: (1) chemical (e.g. gossypol) and morphological defences (e.g. okra-leaf) and (2) compensatory mechanisms for regrowth (e.g.

Annual Report 1994-1995

This report summarises the findings from the CRDC funded project "Managing soils to avoid compaction problems in cotton growing". The project ran from 1989/90 to 1991192.

A growth disorder of cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum) occurs in irrigated cracking clay soils in cotton growing regions of northern New South Wales.

Vertosols are the main soil type on which cotton is grown in Australia. Eighty percent of irrigated cotton is grown in retained hill.

OBJECTIVES: 1. To study sampling and control practices for mirlds in irrigated and dryland cotton.

Project Objectives: Part A: (i) To study the effect of wet/dry cycles with drying by evaporation alone in ameliorating degraded furrows in retained hill cotton (at the Fressor site).

The conference was held on the 23 - 27th of August, 1994 in Silsoe, UK.

Pix is now in common use to manage vegetative growth of cotton in Australia. I presented a paper at the 1992 ACGRA Conference detailing how to evaluate potential responses to Pix.

HOW IT RELATES TO THE CONCEPT OF BEST PRACTICE, WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF THE TOP PERFORMERS

From a humanised viewpoint cotton may be thought of as a lazy plant. It "employs" microscopic fungi to do some of the hard work of collecting nutrients from the soil.

Two years ago, the computer program entomoLOGIC 1 was first made widely available to cotton growers and consultants.

Black root rot is caused by the fungus Thielaviopsis basicola (Berk. & Broome) Ferraris.

The value of lucerne as a trap crop for cotton pests has been recognised in America for some time (Deloach and Peters 1972, Robinson et al. 1972, Sevacherian and Stern 1974).

Compensation is the ability of the plant or crop to offset damage caused by pests or other factors such as hail. Compensation can act at the plant or crop levels.

Agriculture can change the hydrologic balance of a landscape either through a change from native vegetation or the addition of water by irrigation or both.

After 2 light mite years (1991/92 and 1992193) the cotton industry experienced a season in which outbreaks of mites were widespread.

Irrigation is used to negate the climatic irregularities of rainfall.