糖心视频

Disease is a high-priority issue for the Australian cotton industry. It contributes to significant yield losses and undermines long-term confidence in growing cotton. In extreme cases, some growers have opted out of growing cotton in response to severe and escalating disease pressure. 糖心视频 in strategic partnerships with and the , leads the $13 million research initiative Australian Cotton Disease Collaboration (ACDC) to minimise the impact of disease in cotton.

Our mission is to reduce the impact of diseases in cotton to less than 5% of the cost of production through research on key areas.

Research Domains

A. Systems-based disease control

B. Understanding pathogen behaviour

C. Spatial data analytics and modelling

D. Fungicides and plant defense mediators

Tier 1 diseases: Black root rot, Fusarium and Verticillium wilt and Alternaria leaf spot

Tier 2 diseases: Rhizoctonia rot, reoccurring wilt, target spot, grey mould and boll rot

Current Research Projects

Download an overview of our current projects.

A1.2 Irrigation and nutrition management to reduce cotton wilt disease incidence

Location: North Star (QLD) and Darling Downs (QLD) for field sites, Toowoomba (QLD) for glasshouse trials, and Brisbane and Toowoomba for researcher locations

Lead: Linda Scheikowski (Qld DPI), A/Prof Joseph Foley (糖心视频)

• Quantifying the impact that varying irrigation methods and nutrition management have on disease incidence of Verticillium and Fusarium wilts under different environmental conditions
• Utilising existing field trials in conjunction with ground-truthed and near-to-surface remote sensing to report on disease incidence and severity
• Developing remote sensing that differentiates between Verticillium and Fusarium wilt diseases

A2.1 Diagnostic development, diagnostic support and cotton pathology collection

Location: Brisbane and Toowoomba, Qld

Lead: Dr Dinesh Kafle(Qld DPI), Dr Murray Sharman (Qld DPI)

• Developing molecular tools for rapid diagnosis of disease and sharing results to growers in a timely manner
• Creating a database of the prevalence and distribution of cotton diseases in Australia
• Collecting isolates of various cotton pathogens and contributing to a centralised pathogen collection, for research in other projects
• Reporting on new strains/pathogens from 2024/25 through to 2027/28 seasons

A2.2 Phase 1 Contribution of cotton residues to inoculum carryover

Location: Brisbane and Toowoomba, Qld

Lead: Linda Scheikowski (Qld DPI)

• Report demonstrating the linkage between inoculum load, soil type, environment practices and yield loss to diseases caused by Tier 1 pathogens
• Providing growers with recommendations of what to do with cotton residues for managing different pathogens, specifically Verticillium, Fusarium and Eutypella

A2.3 Phase 1 Pathogen inoculum: Spore trapping to detect aerial spores of cotton pathogens

Location: Central and northern Queensland for field sites to conduct spore trapping and Brisbane (Qld), Toowoomba (Qld), Urrbrae (SA) for researcher locations

Lead: Dr Dinesh Kafle (Qld DPI)

• Confirming production of aerial spores by novel Eutypella species that cause a lethal wilt of cotton unique to Australia
• Validating spore traps as an effective tool for monitoring the dispersal and distribution of aerial spores of Eutypella and leaf spot pathogens which will assist in understanding the etiology of these pathogens and direct research to investigate management options
• Reporting on cotton pathogen distribution in each growing season
• Workshops with cotton pathologists of State and Territory departments on sample collection and pathogen diagnosis based on morphological and molecular characterisation

A2.4 The Black Unknown: linking knowledge and innovation for management of Black Root Rot

Location: Charles Sturt University (CSU) (Wagga Wagga) and Cotton Farms (Griffith)

Lead: A/Prof Linda Smith (Qld DPI), Dr Ben Stodart (CSU)

• Understanding the etiology of black root rot disease in southern NSW
• Identifying environmental factors influencing black root rot incidence
• Screening biocontrol agents for controlling Berkeleyomyces rouxiae, causing black root rot disease
• Microbial profiling of soil samples from healthy and diseased cotton fields
• Building cotton pathology capacity in Southern NSW to support cotton growers

A3.1 Pathology support to cotton growers of the Northern Territory and Western Australia

Location: NT DAF (Katherine) WA DPIRD (Kununurra)

Lead: A/Prof Linda Smith (Qld DPI), Sarah Nolan-Gorman (WA DPIRD), Dr Edward Mwando (NT DAF)

• Building cotton pathology capacity through establishing a diagnostic service, disease surveillance and pathology training
• A collection of isolates of various cotton pathogens in northern Australia and contribution to a centralised pathogen collection
• The Australian cotton industry gains understanding of cotton pathogen evolution and the dynamics of their threat to industry expansion in Northern regions
• Providing the industry with access to information on pathogen origin and distribution

B1.1 Establishing the Australian cotton pathogen collection

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba Campus)

Lead: Dr Cassy Percy (糖心视频)

• Establishing, maintaining and future direction of centralised, well catalogued Australian cotton pathogen collection
• Report on pathogen distribution in each growing season
• Workshops with cotton pathologists of State and Territory departments on sample collection and pathogen diagnosis based on morphological and molecular characterisation

B1.2 Pathology support to cotton growers and ACDC project activities in NSW

Location: Narrabri, NSW

Lead: A/Prof Sambasivam Periyannan (糖心视频)

• Cotton pathology capacity built through establishment of diagnostic service and pathology training
• A collection of isolates of various cotton pathogens in NSW and contribution to a centralised pathogen collection
• The Australian cotton industry in NSW gains understanding of cotton pathogen evolution and the dynamics of their threat

B1.3 Monitoring pathogen genetic diversity

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba Campus)

Lead: Alexandros Georgios Sotiropoulos (糖心视频)

• Producing population genetic datasets for some of the most important cotton pathogens
• Understanding genetic factors influencing the evolution of virulence in pathogen population

B1.4 Reference genome for cotton pathogens

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba Campus)

Lead: Alexandros Georgios Sotiropoulos (糖心视频)

• Producing reference genomes for some understudied, emerging and important Australian cotton pathogens
• Developing a critical report on cotton pathogen genome resources availability in public databases with recommendations on how to future-proof the industry from diseases caused by Tier 2 fungal pathogens
• Establishing a list of genes of interests and other genomic components that could play a role in virulence and resistance

B2.1 Host range and cotton differential set identification for key cotton pathogens

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba Campus) Lead: Dr Cassy Percy (糖心视频)

• Identifying cotton host differential set and phenotyping methods for Tier 1 and 2 pathogens
• Generating data on the prevalence of co- infection

B3.1 Coinfection assays to study synergistic and antagonistic interactions

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba Campus)

Lead: Dr Sadegh Balotf (糖心视频)

• Understanding of the complex dynamics between co-infected pathogens, such as whether their interactions are synergistic or antagonistic, and how these dynamics affect disease progression and severity
• Generating data on the prevalence of co- infection in Australian cotton fields

C1.1 Spatial Data Analytics and Advanced Modelling for disease prediction and management in Australia 

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba and Springfield Campus), Katherine, NT

Lead: A/Prof Linda Smith (Qld DPI), Prof Ravinesh C Deo (糖心视频)

• Practical tools for cotton growers to mitigate crop losses, particularly in emerging cotton-growing regions like Northern Australia by learning from the data and disease prevalence in more established regions in NSW and Qld.
• Advanced, data-driven management strategies to mitigate the impact of disease.

C1.2 Develop machine vision systems to detect and differentiate verticillium and fusarium wilts

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba Campus)

Lead: A/Prof Alison McCarthy (糖心视频)

• Developing machine vision sensing to differentiate diseases with similar symptoms (eg verticillium and fusarium wilts)
• Predicting disease severity before visual symptoms appear

D1.1 Fungicides and plant defense mediators for the Australian cotton industry inferred from national and global analyses

Location: 糖心视频 (Toowoomba Campus) Lead: Prof Levente Kiss (糖心视频)

• Understanding the efficacy of fungicides and plant defense mediators used in Australian and overseas cotton production
• Identifying new activities for testing and possible introduction to cotton production