In 1985 one of the main questions asked by growers was "How does Deltapine 90 and Siokra compare with Deltapine 61?". Now in 1986, the questions is "How does Deltapine 90 compare with Siokra?".

I have been asked to discuss two features of the CSIRO cotton breeding work at Narrabri. The first concerns the quality. criteria we use, the second the role that biotechnology will play in varietal improvement.

firstly canvassed growers on their experiences with Siokra. Most said that weeds were no more difficult to control in Siokra than in Deltapine 90. Both varieties, but especially Siokra, rated highly for their good germination and vigorous seedling growth. However, a few farmers found that Siokra had more weeds than did 90, and occasionally an extra cultivation or herbicide application was given. Yet one well-known Downs grower publicly stated that vigorous weeds like thornapple were easier to spot in Siokra, and this was (another!) good feature of the variety. On balance then I won't differentiate between the two varieties for cost of weed control.

This document provides and overview of design and functionality of the Cotton Best Management Practices eBMP project. This project has arisen from a number of opportunities for improvement in the implementation of the Cotton Industry’s Best Practices program (BMP). These are to;

 Develop cost effective ways of distributing updates to the BMP manual content.

 Enable industry staff to have access to an ‘electronic’ auditing system for conducting Pre-certification assessment, Certification assessment and;

 Allow cotton growers, managers the ability to conduct their annual self assessment declarations ‘electronically’.

 Better link BMP to research

 Monitor Practice Change

WHAT IS EBMP?

eBMP is a system for relevant stakeholders to implement the cotton industry’s best management practices program. The BMP program is underpinned by best practice research and as such the system has the ability to interact and integrate this research to make it available to the user. The eBMP system allows the relevant stakeholders to fulfil the auditing requirements of the BMP program as well as have then ability to monitor practice change within the industry.

EBMP – USERS

The eBMP system has a range of users, these are;

 Cotton Grower

 Cotton Australia Grower Services Managers

 Best Management Practices (BMP) Implementation Officers

 Researchers

 Other interested industry people

 The public

Techniques to Improve Profitability of Growing Cotton

As a result of a major fall in world cotton prices, the Namoi Cotton Co-operative has been actively looking at ways of reducing costs on cotton farms.

A set of Environmental Performance Indicators (EPls) have been developed that provide

a means of scoring soil health; water quality; biodiversity, industry health; and carbon

emission performance of an enterprise.

The soil and water indicators can be used to translate changes in practice to changes in

soil and water resource conditions while biodiversity indicators provide a semi quantitative

indication of vegetation and riparian condition. The carbon emission

indicators are included in recognition of greenhouse gas emissions being a new issue that requires development of understanding. Industry health has been included to provide a gauge of an industries commitment to environmental management.

The proposed EPls have been compared to and are consistent with those being

proposed by the beef and grains industries in their respective NRM programs. In

addition, the proposed EPls reflect the objectives of several NRM bodies.

Initial assessment of the EPls and the use of indicators in general has indicated that

even simple indicators (e. g. soil cover) are much harder to use in the real world due to spatial and temporal variability. It is evident and growers do not regularly collect

quantitative estimates of inputs or outputs. From a grower's perspective the primary

measure of NRM performance is based on maintaining farm productivity and profitability.

This knowledge gives an indication that it will be difficult to establish new orfonnal

indicators unless there is a) a direct and immediate benefit to the grower; by the process is simple and rapid and c)training and support is available to demonstrate benefits.

A system for collation and spatial aggregation of EPls is required for reporting at

catchment, region and industry scales. Currently there are several related activities

involving electronic capture of performance indicators. This dispersion of effort across industries will require some rationalisation if there is to be wide spread adoption of environmental performance measurement and reporting.

Web based Cotton Greenhouse Gas and Irrigation WUE calculators have been proposed as simple tools for estimating carbon emissions and WUE. These tools need to be further developed to be more educative. Currently, the logic behind calculations is not readily accessible, and the ability to learn about management options to improve on-farm management is limited as a result.

While a set of EPls has been developed, a range of approaches is required to

demonstrate NRM credentials including; random stratified surveys, establishment of

reference sites as benchmarks, monitoring of sentinel sites, remote sensing and

publication of case studies. A range of approaches is required to support communication of an industry's environmental management, with different audiences requiring different styles of information.

A review of overseas literature shows that several approaches have been recommended for the control of bacterial blight of cotton . These methods include resistant cultivars, destruction or avoidance of infested crop debris, seed treatments, bactericide sprays and clean seed schemes . For various reasons not all of these methods are applicable to the Australian cotton growing situation.

Bacterial blight of cotton is a major disease in most cotton growing countries of the world. It was first recorded in Australia in 1923 in Queensland and since then has been present in most crops in varying degrees of severity. This disease is caused by the bacterium. Xanthomonas campestris pv. malvaceum

The cotton bollworm, Heliothis armigera Hubner, is the most serious pest of cotton in Thailand. A programme of screening chemicals for this insect in the field has been conducted since 1965 to discover the most effective insecticides and to establish a control strategy. This report gives a brief account of the history of insecticide use, beginning with endrin plus DDT, and toxaphene plus DDT during 1966-1983. Details of recent findings include some organophosphate compounds, one carbamate compound, one organic hydrocarbon, many synthetic pyrethroid compounds and some interesting insecticide tank mixtures. Insect resistance to the synthetic pyrethroids and some side-effects of certain insecticides are also discussed in the text. Alternate sprays between 2 different groups of chemical compounds is proposed for as one control measure.