CONFIDENTIAL Supporting Southern cotton production systems: Southern cotton agronomy and Fibre quality

The cotton industry in southern NSW expanded from negligible areas less than a decade ago to be a key part of the cropping farming system today. Addressing emerging issues such as integrated pest management (IPM), disease and fibre quality is important to ensure that the Southern production system remains sustainable and reliable.  This project will develop clear and quantified strategies for cotton production in southern regions by continuing to optimise seedling establishment and improve crop agronomy for optimised yield and fibre quality. The project will match retrospective grower survey data with yield and quality data to validate anecdotal observations that some management practices can influence the micronaire of cotton fibre. The survey will analyse many factors, both alone as well as with the interaction effects between variables. Where interesting trends appear or if more detailed information is required to answer specific questions, additional observations can be added to the survey in following seasons. After identifying the factors that appear to influence micronaire, the NSW DPI cotton research team based at Yanco Agricultural Institute (YAI) will establish field experiments on- and off-site to scientifically confirm the findings with replicated experiments and investigate how those practices can be manipulated to optimise micronaire. The field based experiments will utilise current and emerging technologies to measure and record data. The overarching aim of this project is to develop management practices that Southern cotton growers can adopt on a commercial scale to mitigate the risk of producing low-micronaire cotton and in turn preserving the reputation of Southern NSW cotton in the wider industry. It is hoped the knowledge gained from this work will support the expansion of the cotton industry into the more marginal growing areas further south and south west of the Southern Valleys.