The cotton mealybug (CMB), Phenacoccus solenopsis, also known as the solenopsis mealybug, is a highly polyphagous and invasive global insect pest of cotton.

The cotton industry relies on GM cotton expressing insecticidal toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This provides resistance to key pests of cotton, the bollworm Helicoverpa armigera and the native budworm H.

This project built on many years of weeds work supported by CRDC and value added to earlier research, while providing strategic information to growers in support of MyBMP, based around updating WEEDpak.

The principal aim of this project is to pilot a system for remote identification of cotton pests using mobile technology, wireless microscopes and the Pestpoint software developed by the Plant Biosecurity CRC(PBCRC).<

Black root rot, caused by the pathogen Theilaviopsis basicola is an important disease in Australian cotton.