The CRDC-funded project, -Ecology of Helicoverpa punctigera revisited: implications for Bt resistance-, followed our inland trip in May 2009 to determine the extent of winter breeding of the native budworm, Helicoverpa punctigera in the Diamantina and Eyre Creek floodplains, and collect larvae for testing Bt resistance in these populations, in collaboration with Sharon Downes (CSIRO). We have now conducted four field trips to far western Queensland, and established a network of pheromone traps and permanent vegetation monitoring sites in a transect from Bourke to Birdsville and Bedourie. The inland floodplains, where the annual verbine, Cullen cinereum is common, can support continued activity of H. punctigera well into spring/summer in response to floods/winter rains. In contrast to what was found by the Heliothis Inland Research Group (HIRG) in the 80s-90s, very few host plants and larvae are now found in the mulga areas, which serve as a -bridge- between the far western floodplains and deserts and the eastern cropping regions. Substantial moth numbers were caught only in the pheromone traps in the floodplains (Bedourie and Birdsville). Traps at Windorah, Eromanga, Thargomindah and Eulo (in the mulga areas) had very low numbers. In the cropping areas at Bourke and Narrabri, moth numbers were also low. These results suggest that there has been very little immigration from the inland into the cropping regions in recent years

Fusarium wilt of cotton caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp vasinfectum remains an economic constraint to cotton production. The pathogen remains indefinitely in the soil so using rotations as a management tool may be limited. Our research does suggest, however, that some rotations do result in reduced disease and increased yields.

NSW DPI is actively working with research teams to comply to internationally recognised standards

This project examined a wide range of water quality parameters of surface water and groundwater in the Quirindi -Gunnedah area including trace elements, nutrients, agricultural chemicals, stable isotope ratios, organic carbon content and trace organic constituents. Samples were obtained in October 2011 and January 2012.

The Healthy HeadWaters Water Use Efficiency (HHWUE) project is helping Queensland Murray-Darling Basin irrigators invest in more efficient irrigation systems and technologies that reduce water loss and deliver long-term economic benefits. It is also returning a share of water savings to the Basin's rivers, wetlands and floodplains

The Cotton Industry needs to demonstrate that its practices are sustainable (and communicate this to the community and government). Sustainability involves an understanding of economic, environmental and social attributes. This project compiles these attributes into a one stop shop

Water use is an important and well researched issue in the cotton industry. However, there is growing interest worldwide in water use throughout the product supply chain, covering not only production, but also manufacturing and use. At the farm level, water use can be determined using a water balance, but there is still a need to aggregate data across the whole supply chain using a specialist approach. To do this, there are two main supply chain water assessment methods; water footprinting (WF) and life cycle assessment (LCA). A recent review of these methods for CRDC concluded that LCA is the most robust and useful method for conducting supply chain water use assessments in the Australian cotton industry for a number of reasons.

The aim of this new 3 year project is to map the Australian cotton industry and to catalogue the extent of cotton research

This season's results show the potential for damage to cotton crops from resdues of Hussar, Intervix, Spinnaker and Lontrel, with reductions in plant stand, seedling vigour, crop development and yield recorded. Cotton growers need to ensure the reccomended plant-back periods for these and other residual herbicides are observed.

irrigated systems using solid, single-skip and double skip configurations to a fully irrigated solid crop Irrigations were scheduled using NAWF with the aim to keep the crop in the partially irrigated system flowering as long as possible to take advantage of any in-crop rainfall where three irrigations were available or to finish the crop off where only one was planned The season was characterised by a very wet start and dry finish, with less ability for the partially irrigated treatments to capture rainfall than in a more typical year The solid, fully irrigated crop yielded over 12.5 bales/ha but the single-skip semi-irrigated had a respectable yield of 8.65 bales/ha with better irrigation water use efficiency Difficult to make conclusions about these systems from one year's data and more research is needed to determine the potential of the single-skip semiirrigated system (or others) in a partially irrigated production system