The cotton mealybug (CMB), Phenacoccus solenopsis, also known as the solenopsis mealybug, is a highly polyphagous and invasive global insect pest of cotton. Damage to cotton by this pest includes limiting yield potential (plant stunting and/or mortality) and marketability through effects on lint quality (boll characteristics and lint contamination). This project was designed to continue the lines of investigation commenced in DAQ1204 and provide research outcomes to underpin the successful implementation of

IPM in cotton production systems with CMB as an important and recurring element of the pest spectrum.

CMB is believed to be native to North America and was first reported from cotton growing areas in Texas in the early 90s. CMB has since been recognised as a globally invasive species, and poses a significant threat to the world’s major cotton industries in Asia (India, Pakistan), Brazil and China. In Australia, economically damaging outbreaks of CMB on cotton were reported from the Burdekin and Emerald region of Central Queensland in 2010.

It is well established from research done overseas and in Australia that CMB is easily controlled by naturally occurring predators (lacewings, various coccinellid beetles) and a parasitic wasp in agroecosystems where beneficial arthropod populations are not exposed to the detrimental effects of disruptive agents such as broad-spectrum insecticides. In Australian cotton production systems where a number of key insect pests often require chemical control, anecdotal reports from growers and consultants indicate a potential link between control of other sucking pests (e.g. mirids, aphids) using broad-spectrum insecticides, and the severity of CMB infestations, presumably mediated through the effects of the insecticides used on beneficial arthropod communities. Such a putative cause-effect relationship is consistent with the rising pest status of CMB since 2010, as evidenced by the recurrence of infestations and expansion of its distribution into southern Queensland and New South Wales in 2017.

The Cotton Australia grower RD&E Advisory Panels provide a critical role within the cotton industry by providing practical advice on research, development and extension needs and priorities. This advice is important guidance to CRDC in its formation of five-year Strategic R&D Plans, Annual Operational Plans, Expressions of Interest for RD&E and resultant CRDC decisions as to project investments.

Cotton Australia facilitates 4 advisory panels that are aligned with the CRDC strategic plan priorities. The panels consist of up to 40 grower, consultant and ginners members from every cotton growing region.

The TIMS Committee is facilitated by Cotton Australia and the TIMS Technical Panels are facilitated by CRDC. TIMS functions as a cotton industry stewardship group, with broad representation from growers, research organisations, crop consultants and members of the pulse and grains industries. The agricultural chemical, biotechnology and planting seed companies that provide crop protection tools to Australian cotton growers approach the TIMS Committee for advice on issues associated with developing or amending resistance management plans for new or existing technologies. Cotton Australia is represented by 6 grower representatives, the TIMS Committee Chair, the Chairs of the three technical panels and the Executive Officer.

The Cotton Australia-facilitated Industry Biosecurity Group (IBG) has traditionally met annually to ensure that the cotton industry’s responsibilities under the Emergency Plant Pest Response (EPPR) Deed are met. Development of an implementation plan through recent revision of the Industry Biosecurity Plan has led to a need to formalise this group to address key biosecurity needs of the industry. The IBG includes one grower and one staff representative of Cotton Australia as well as representatives from CRDC, CottonInfo, CSIRO, NSW DPI, QDAF.

The National Working Party on Pesticide Applications (NWPPA) has been working since 2010 to bring a national, coordinated technical approach to spray drift issues.

Our vision is that the regulatory system is science based and recognises the use of drift reduction technologies, better education and practice to enable the use of smaller, practical buffer zones.

With most of the research commissioned by the NWPPA either finished or nearing completion, and the delay in the release of the APVMA consultation paper, the Working Party reduced activities in 2016-17. However, dialogue with the APVMA and other stakeholders was maintained and operation of the TWG supported.

At a meeting with Stakeholders held in Canberra on 12 April 2017, the APVMA confirmed and acknowledged that work facilitated by the NWPPA has delivered science that has provided significant support for the proposed framework.

However, as a result of reorganisation, relocation and other business factors, the APVMA is currently prioritising activities to improve on its overall core KPIs https://apvma.gov.au/node/26841

Consequently, as of June 2017, the APVMA has not yet released the final spray drift draft consultation paper and although “the science has been done”, the APVMA has indicated that it does not currently have the resources to “roll out” and implement the new spray drift framework.

The APVMA’s current approach for addressing the risk of spray drift was established in March 2010. Following implementation, it was found that:

• The scheme lacked flexibility and an ability to adopt DRTs

• Assessments were based on worst case scenarios

• There was little incentive to adopt best practice

• There were deterrents to including some types of applications when registering products

Consequently, in step with the NWPPA, the APVMA commenced an internal project to develop a new spray drift regulatory framework in 2013. This new approach proposed a set of on-line tools that could be made publicly available on APVMA’s website for calculating spray drift and setting buffers. A draft consultation document was sent to the NWPPA in September 2015 for review and comment. Comments were received by the APVMA and draft documentation updated in accordance with submissions made during the ground truthing exercise.

The new approach proposes to make use of a new Spray Drift Management Tool (SDMT) to generate scientifically justifiable deposit curves. This initiative would enable:

• Simplified and consistent label statements.

• Quicker assessment by APVMA through use of a Spray Drift Risk Assessment Tool, (SDRAT).

• Increased flexibility by end users (SDMT).

• Greater use of drift reducing technologies (DRTs).

Sustainable weed management in cotton farming systems is critical to the long-term production of profitable, high yielding cotton crops. The introduction of Roundup® Ready cotton in 2000 has seen a major shift in weed management in cotton, with greatly increased reliance on glyphosate for weed control, frequently at the expense of diversity in the cotton weed management program.

Roundup Ready cotton provides growers with a number of advantages, including:

– Earlier planting opportunity, with less time dedicated to weed management between spring weed emergence and planting

– Control of weeds which were previously more ‘difficult’ to control e.g. nutgrass

– Less crop yield impact from residual herbicides

– Reduction in the use of chipping and interrow cultivation

– More simple and ‘easy’ weed management program.

In parallel with and prior to the adoption of Roundup Ready crops, many cotton and adjoining paddocks and farms were also increasing their reliance on glyphosate with the conversion to zero till management in the non-cotton phase and/or prior to establishing cotton.

The high reliance of glyphosate has seen three major trends:

– Species shift towards surface germinating weeds in no-till farming

– Species shift towards weeds with higher levels of tolerance to glyphosate

– Selection of weeds resistant to glyphosate.

An increasing number of cotton growers are experiencing glyphosate control ‘failures’ on certain weeds on parts of their farms. Through travel, some growers have also been exposed to the glyphosate resistance issues (Palmer Amaranth in particular) currently being experienced in North American cotton systems.

This has increased the level of urgency to address the lack of diversity in weed management. As a reflection of this demand, ICAN has recently been approached by a number of cotton advisers to assist them in facilitating discussions on increasing diversity in weed management processes with their cotton grower clients.

IN support of women in agriculture, a cotton industry contingent attended the AgriFutures Australia Rural Women’s Award at Parliament House in September.

CRDC has long been a supporter of projects and initiatives designed to support rural women, such as the Rural Women’s Award. This year it was women who inspire the ambition of country kids who took out the top awards. Winner Tanya Dupagne was chosen for her work in supporting the wellbeing of young rural Australians through her role as director of Camp Kulin in WA’s wheatbelt region. Runner-up was Simone Kain, recognised for her work in educating children about farming and encouraging them to consider a career in agricultural industries through her ‘George the Farmer’ and soon to launch ‘Dr Ruby’ characters.

“CRDC continues to support the award, as it recognises, inspires and connects women in our agricultural industries,” CRDC Executive Director Bruce Finney said.

“Along with the many personal development programs we support, our new Cotton Industry On-Farm Workforce Development Strategy has further committed to supporting women through business skills planning courses, including business planning, business performance, risk management (including climate), human resources and WHS.”

Cotton Mealybugs have moved south from Central Queensland with confirmed sightings on the Darling Downs and in the Macintyre Valley in January and February 2017. This funding enabled the district growers to engage in both a webinar /and or workshops to gain knowledge and understanding of this new pest, with the imminent threat of their movement the Gwydir and Namoi valleys, the CottonInfo Team acted quickly with a range of communications. Mealybug workshops were conducted in Dalby and Goondiwindi, however to reach a larger geographical area a webinar was thought to be a suitable extension tool. John James, Director High Impact Training was engaged to provide support in developing and running of the webinar.

This research sought to determine why differences in dye uptake may occur between cottons with near identical fibre properties.

The aim of this project was to improve understanding of cotton dyeing by identifying properties affecting dye uptake aside from those routinely measured such as maturity and micronaire. This knowledge could help reduce the occurrence of off-shade dyeings, which can result in costly re-dyes or batch losses for mills and may dissuade repeat purchase from the source as the cotton may be perceived as lower in quality. This project had a focus on Australian cotton in an effort to maintain a good reputation in international textile markets. The prevailing conclusion throughout the experiments conducted in this project was that cotton base colour is the factor primarily influencing dyed colour, whether that be the colour of the raw fibre or the colour after treatment. The key properties influencing raw fibre colour were found to be fineness, reflectance, and yellowness. The biggest impacts for the cotton industry from this project relate to mills, with the work highlighting a need for more extensive colour measurement and a revision of fibre selection criteria. The work also demonstrates the importance of consistency in pretreatments and proper rotation of cotton in storage.

Mills select cotton on the basis of similar HVI properties, yet despite this control there are still cases where dyed colour differs on a time/batch basis. Inconsistent dyeing can be costly for mills in terms of both time and money, and may deter mills from repeat purchase from the source due to perception of lower quality. This project had a focus on Australian cotton in an effort to maintain a good reputation in international textile markets.

Verticillium dahliae is a highly destructive fungal pathogen that causes an annual global product loss in cotton of 20%. Currently there are no effective treatments for verticillium wilt, but bioinoculants might provide an environmentally friendly solution. This project aimed to: develop methods to study the interactions between the cotton plant Gossypium hirsutella, the pathogen V. dahliae and a rhizopheric competent fungal symbiont, Beauveria bassiana. To quantify root colonisation by the pathogen and/or symbiont in single or multiple inoculations, and to identify patterns in peptides secreted by the plant, pathogen and symbiont during single or multiple inoculations. Soil was replaced by vermiculite and the plants were cultivated using Hoagland’s nutrient solution allowing complete control over their nutrient availability and uptake. This study found that there was no significant difference in the susceptibility of two cotton cultivars Sicot F-1 and Siokra 1-4. Results indicated that pre-infection with B. bassiana cause no interference with V. dahliae’s ability to colonises and infect the plants. B, bassiana did however supress the infection of a contaminating unidentified Aspergillus. Post-infection of B. bassiana did have a significant effect on the colony forming units of V. dahliae when it was introduced as a pre-infection, this interaction also occurred when the fungi’s roles were reversed. A significant difference in peptide secretion profiles was observed when comparing UV chromatographs from different treatments.

Twice annually, the full CottonInfo team contingent meet to plan activities and receive professional development. The Cotton Info team meeting has three key objectives:

1. AOP action planning to take into account the seasonal developments and to clarify the next level of activity planning to achieve the objectives of the Annual Operating Plan

2. CottonInfo team input into the 2018-23 Strategic Plan development

3. Professional development in the area of intellectual property considerations for extension

Resourcing was sort to provide an enabling environment for the meeting and to engage an independent facilitator. This allowed all team members to focus on contribution to the activities on the agenda.

The summer edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, brings you stories about the people who are passionate about the cotton industry and how, with added support from CRDC and organisations such as Cotton Australia and Auscott, we are helping them achieve their potential. From researchers, PhD students, Nuffield scholars and the Australian Rural Leadership Program participants, CRDC is building capacity and resilience within the industry.

This edition also includes a focus on climate change research within the cotton industry. CRDC-supported RD&E has been addressing how a changing climate will affect future cotton growing, ensuring industry preparedness for future sustainability. Preparedness is also key to biosecurity and protecting the cotton industry from exotic pest threats. CRDC has been engaging with fellow plant industries to form a cohesive and collaborative front to future incursions. The cotton industry, with Plant Health Australia, recently ran Exercise Blueprint – an incursion scenario focused on cotton blue disease, a priority pest for the industry. It showed that communication is vital in the immediate period following the discovery of an exotic pest, and the industry is well placed to disseminate information and follow a clear management plan.

Australia is no stranger to successfully dealing with exotic incursions and owes much to the quality of the research that provides detailed information about threats before they reach our soil. We also owe much to the growers who continue to support researchers and trials on their farms to improve disease and pest preparedness. In this edition we catch up with Darling Downs cotton grower Graham Clapham, who in his words, ‘became famous for all the wrong reasons’ but is now highly respected and appreciated for all the right reasons. Graham had the first identified case of Fusarium wilt on his property in 1993 and has been helping researchers and the industry overcome its effects ever since.