TRADE COTTON
“The cotton industry has historically had a reputation for high insecticide use. IPM is a game changer for the cotton industry.” – COTTON FARMER CHARLES BOILEAU
He farms in a high rainfall zone, with an annual average of 71cm, on land that is sloping with rollover contours. Paddocks are deep self-mulching black soils with a reasonably high clay content. Charles expects to plant cotton this year, given the soil moisture profile is full after winter. The couple also grow cotton as a partner in seed trials, to measure emergent, growth and yield of these seeds against quality and growth per area, and environmental impact. “Last year we grew a CSD seed trial and have another one this year. It gives you more flexibility in weed control. The varieties we sow have Roundup Ready genes in them,” Charles says. “We usually put some pre-emergent on the country straight after we sow; then spraying occurs based on rainfall and what weeds emerge and survive the pre-emergent herbicide. This year we only applied weed control twice, and used only one insecticide spray, to take out the mirids but not the beneficial and predator insects.” He also utilises the cold conditions of wintertime to avoid bacterial growth problems in the crop. NEW INNOVATIONS IN COTTON
Other innovations led by researchers in collaboration with CRDC and NSWDPI have been the use of integrated pest management and other ways to reduce the use of chemical pest control methods. This research has led to the development of DAT11 (Metarhizium sp.), an entomopathogenic fungal isolate demonstrating effective control of insect pests in cotton – including Helicoverpa spp., and sucking insects like green mirids, silverleaf whitefly, green vegetable bugs, Rutherglen bugs, fruit fly and mealy bugs. More recently, botanical products have also been identified as effective in controlling Helicoverpa spp., green mirids, green vegetable bugs and silverleaf whitefly. Research is focussed on increasing the use of biologicals and biopesticides to help drive production efficiencies, and reduce growers’ reliance on synthetic crop protection chemicals – annual insecticide use in Australia is currently valued at more than $8 billion. Andrew Watson has been using integrated pest management (IPM) to encourage beneficial insects and biological control across all of his crops. He has
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THE FARMER
NOV - DEC 2021
OLD D O GS, NEW TRICKS
Australia is at the cutting edge of cotton farming research, with a focus on water efficiency and pest control. “This year we only applied weed control twice, and only used one insecticide spray,” says Charles of his crop.
