In season 2001-02, the Central Highlands area

of experienced Australia's

first major outbreak of Silverleaf Whiteny

(Bentsi" tobcci biotype B) in a cotton

production system. The situation was managed

to some degree with existing products, and

whilst there is no indication that the quality of

Central Highlands cotton was diminished this

season, the industry realised that advances

needed to be made for the effective management

of this pest in the future.

Two key factors that made management of

Silverleaf Whitefly (SLW) difficult in 2001-02

were a lack of suitable insecticides and knowledge

of the pest and how it would react in cotton in the

Australian environment.

To address the second issue, the Cotton Research &

Development Corporation, Cotton Seed

Distributors, and the cotton grower associations of

the Central Highlands, Theodore and Biloela

sponsored 12 people involved in the cotton

industry in Central Queensland to visit regions in

the United States of America that had experienced

and managed problematic SLW populations.