Several recent experiments at ACRI, Narrabri have illustrated the fate of N fertiliser in irrigated cotton cropping. During the cotton growing season of 2011-2012, nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions totalled 0.51, 0.95, 0.78 and 10.62 kg N2O /ha, for the four N fertiliser rates (0, 120, 200, or 320 kg N/ ha). Further measurements have indicated that about 12 kg N/ ha was lost to deep drainage and 10-15 kg N/ha was lost in the tail water following irrigation. Shallow fertiliser placement resulted in N moving out of the hills and lost via denitrification in the irrigation network

To provide the cotton industry with an update of the rates of work related serious injury and fatality to ensure that the most current and complete data possible is made available so that any priorities for and/or actions to improve cotton farm health and safety, can be based on up to date, comprehensive evidence.

Cotton continues to be a tricky plant to get a consistent understanding on its responses to phosphorus and potassium fertilisers. Methodologies used successfully in broadacre annual cereal and pulse crop research haven't necessarily translated to similar benefits in the cotton crop. Biomass and tissue concentration differences are being measured with phosphorus and potassium application in early growth stages, but not necessarily at maturity or in yield. Some observations on what is happening, why and where research is heading are offered and explored.

Solenopsis mealybug establishment onto cotton and the damage they inflicted at different plant development stages was studied in a glasshouse trial and through field observations. The plant growth stages that were studied included; 4-5 leaf, squaring, early boll, late boll and mature. Results from these studies indicate that the earlier mealybug establish on cotton, the more damage they cause. Solenopsis mealybug establishment at 4-5 leaf stage caused 100% yield loss while infestation at squaring and early boll stage caused 90 and 65% yield loss respectively when compared to the control plants with no mealybug. Establishment of solenopsis mealybug on mature plants caused little or no yield loss.

The issue being addressed? With yields now approaching cotton's known physiological limit, the focus is on how to sustain productivity growth through crop management. A key component of this is staffing, yet there are longstanding and unresolved workforce issues in the Australian cotton industry. These include the difficulty of attracting new entrants because of the poor perception of agriculture as a career, low levels of formal education and training in agriculture, and restructuring resulting in fewer, larger farms combined with reduced familial succession

Issue being addressed Australian cotton farmers have achieved substantial reductions in insecticide use from their adoption of GM technology to control Helicoverpa spp. However they now face problems associated with a wider range of insect pests that were once incidentally controlled, such as green mirid, cotton aphid and white fly. These pests have few insecticide options available for their control, forcing ongoing use of older, broad-spectrum insecticides that are likely to face increased regulatory scrutiny. Reliance on limited insecticide options can also create other problems by destroying beneficial insects and causing pests to become resistant over time. Thus, there is an urgent need to investigate and develop new alternatives such as pesticides derived from natural materials (biopesticides) and chemicals that mediate interactions between organisms (semiochemicals).

Issue being addressed? Volunteer Roundup Ready cotton is becoming an emerging weed issue for the Australian cotton and grains industry. Innovative weed management strategies that specifically address volunteer cotton are required to eliminate a potential and significant problem for the industry into the future. A key component of volunteer cotton management is the ability to detect volunteer cotton in fallow fields and amongst other crop. An image analysisbased detection system is being developed to achieve such discrimination

Aim To provide the cotton industry with an update of the rates of work related serious injury and fatality to ensure that the most current and complete data possible is made available so that any priorities for and/or actions to improve cotton farm health and safety, can be based on up to date, comprehensive evidence

Current RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft, also known as drone) technology is capable of a wide range of applications. Detailed crop inspection has become possible as RPAs become cheaper and can easily carry light-weight cameras. This research will design a RPA system to autonomously monitor cotton fields, and explore the improved camera capabilities for new navigation techniques. This method of surveillance will give more frequent in-crop information than currentlyavailable crop surveillance methods. The autonomous capability of the RPA will enhance on-farm useability

In 2010-2011 some 96% of the strains tested showed some level of neonicotinoid resistance (ie Actara-Cruiser or Shield) but that had fallen to 29% of cotton strains in season 2011-2012 and a similar 33% of cotton aphid strains in season 2012-2013. It is possible that neonicotinoid resistance will plateau at approximately 30% of populations tested. For the 2013-2014 season cotton aphid was particularly difficult to find although eight strains were eventually collected. This season cotton aphid will be additionally tested against sulfoxaflor (Transform) and spirotetramat (Movento) for resistance. During 2012-2013 two-spotted mite (TSM) was susceptible to diafenthiuron (Pegasus) only with all strains showing some degree of bifenthrin (Talstar) resistance and half the strains indicating some abamectin (Agrimec) resistance. The detection of propargite (Comite) resistance in 1 of the 4 strains tested is of concern because it is a mainstay product for mite control. TSM made resurgence during 2013-2014 with some thirteen strains collected (normally ca. 5). Despite ubiquitous and large thrips numbers reddened two-spotted mite hotspots were evident in some fields with mites requiring targeted sprays. Work has continued preparing for possible resistance in mirids and these past two seasons' baseline data was generated against clothianidin (Shield) and fipronil (Regent) and discriminating doses for resistance detection interpolated. For season 2013-2014 some growers thought fipronil (Regent) may not be working as reliably as before so samples were collected and for the first time are to be evaluated using molecular methodology for a fipronil (Regent) resistance causing gene