The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, ranks second to Heliothis in importance as a pest of cotton. Mites reduce profitability by reducing the yield and fibre quality of cotton.

Yield responses to increasing amounts of irrigation water have been demonstrated in the past by individual trials. In these trials watering occured at varying deficits of soil moisture below field capacity .

This Overview has been compiled after talking with a limited number of growers from most districts, and as could be expected there were some opposite opinions expressed.

As most of you are aware, the Siratac Cotton Management Advisor computer program is being rewritten. There will be those amongst you who are unaware as to why this is being done.

The actual decision regarding which seed variety to plant had to be made some months -ago by growers through CSD, this decision is mostly based upon a number of factors, viz: 1: Yield 2: Resistance to insects and dise

Most, if not all, entomologists involved in the development of cotton insect management systems agree that an essent1al part of a successful Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program is the ava;lability of an eff1cac1o

Irrigation scheduling in cotton using the water balance program WATERSCHED has been the subject of an extension development project in Queensland for two years. The project is funded by Cotton Research Council.

The major Australian cotton yarn spinners are encouraged by the improvements the researchers and the growers have managed to obtain in the newer varieties.

Insecticides can poison insects in many ways. Insecticides r...:an interfere with metabolic processes , of energy production, cuticular growth and hormone production.

Irrigation trials have been conducted at Byee over the last two seasons as part of a Statewide project funded by the Cotton Research Council.

There are increasing areas of cotton grown in regions which are prone to cool seasons, eg. the Darling Downs, the upper Namoi and upper Macquarie valleys.

At the time of the initiation of the H.armigera resistance management strategy, there was a need to demonstrate that any increase in resistance was limited to crops sprayed with pyrethroids.

It is now two years since we advi sed the previous conference on the progress of the trials so will take this opportunity for a further update.

All insecticide management decisions require a solid platform of reliable data and this can only be achieved by a long term committment to pesticide studies, obtaining baseline susceptibility data and monitoring of ch

Four cotton breeding programs have been operating in Australia, three i n New South Wales and one in Queensland .

The frequency of resistance to synthetic pyrethroids in Heliothis armigera has been monitored in the Namoi Valley since the introduction of the insecticide resistance management strategy in 1983.

in the Gwydir Valley where the water resource has been over committed to such an extent that a full allocation of water will only be realized only SO years out of every 100 years.

The objective of the cotton breeding programme is to breed cultivars which are adapted to central Queensland environments.

Host Plant resistance is one such method and has been adopted in developing plant resistance to a range of plant problems. Plants posses both natural physiological and chemical defence mechanisms.

Currently in Australia there are approximately 700 cotton germplasm accessions located with CSIRO, QDPI and a few private seed companies.