The talks presented at the Beltwide cotton conference which will have the greatest impact on researchers, and the Australian cotton industry as a whole, will be the new transgenic insecticidal packages of MXB-13 from

Salinisation as a consequence of irrigation can occur as a result of the application of poor quality (i.e. saline) water or mobilisation of salts from rising water tables (i.e.

Five sites representing the main cotton growing soil types in the Lower Macquarie Valley were selected and soil sampled in late October and May 2004.

Project Summaries from Postgraduate Visit

McKinnon, Buchanan, Delaney, Dodd, Humphries, Ivkovic, Lightfoot, Lowor, Machado, Najar, Speirs, Vanags, Werth, Whiffen and White

This research project involved the development and application of crop simulation tools to assist with crop management within the cotton industry.

Final Report as participant in the 2004 Australian Rural Leadership Program

The aims of the project were: (1) Use composted cotton gin trash and pelletised cotton gin trash to

monitor soil response and soil nutrition benefits; (2) Establish experimental woodlots of

Cotton production in Central Queensland will continue to impose a unique set of challenges due to climate and it’s remoteness from other production areas.

The current project was devised in the knowledge that increased sodicity and salinity of percolating water will alter the saturated conductivity of many soils, especially sodic soils.

This project investigated how key insect predators contribute to the suppression of the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, in Australian cotton crops and explored the interaction between predator abundance and div

The research into aphid bio-control in cotton has documented the agents attacking cotton aphid in southern and central Queensland, and provided an indication of their relative importance.

Soil biota communities are one of the most diverse groups of earth’s biota.

ABSTRACT

To establish if the spider communities in cotton at different locations around Australia are similar, we sampled, using beatsheets and pitfall traps, over 4500 spiders from seven locations extending from the tropical

Stinkbugs are emerging pests in cotton. In conventional cotton the use of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill Helicoverpa spp.

In growing their crops Australian cotton farmers need to comply with Australian regulations.

The Australian cotton industry is heavily dependent on chemical insecticides for pest control.

Shielded sprayers have been widely and quickly adopted by cotton growers for weed control

in the inter-row. In the last three seasons, the increase in area sown to RoundUp Ready®

Healthy soils are fundamental to the profitability and sustainability of cotton ecosystems.