Cottoning on
The art of pest management in cotton has become so sophisticated, a DNA diagnostic testing service has been set up to quantify the effectiveness of biological control tools. In what is believed to be a world-first, the service can identify grub species involved and whether control agents have taken hold. The University of Queensland has joined forces with crop protection provider Cotton Growers Services to generate rapid feedback on the levels of infection of viruses and parasites offering biological control of cotton pests.
UQ?s Centre for Identification and Diagnostics (CID) within the School of Life Sciences is using DNA techniques to identify the species of grub in the crop, and whether they have been parasitised or infected by viruses that will eventually kill them.
CID director Dr Dave Merritt said that within a matter of hours of receiving insect samples, scientists can determine whether the 'goodies' have infected the 'baddies' and whether the pest battle can be won without the assistance of an application of chemical insecticide.
Cotton Growers Services development manager Philip Armytage said the level of insect infestation and effectiveness of biological controls are key variables in the cotton crop, and Australian growers were hungry for information andtools that enable them to fight Nature with Nature.
Under this joint-venture with industry, UQ scientists will fine-tune the techniques during what remains of this cotton season and be ready in November to provide a diagnostic service with a 24-hour turnaround.
Timing is crucial in managing insect pests in cotton, but the longer growers are able to hold off 'calling in the big guns', that is using chemical insecticides, the better it is for the population of beneficial insects which provide biological control of pests.
These diagnostics will also build confidence in biopesticides produced from naturally-occurring live viruses that cause a slow and steady demise of the pest population rather than the reassuring instant 'knock-down' provided by chemical insecticides.
"If growers know that the grubs are, for example, 80 percent infected, then they can be confident that although grubs are still alive in the crop today, their infection will result in certain demise before they can do excessive damage to the crop," Dr Merritt said.
He said it was rewarding for the University to see the commercialisation of research supported for many years by growers and the Federal Government through the Cotton and Grains Research and Development Corporations.
UQ will provide the scientific services to the partnership on a cost-recovery basis and plans to hand-over the service to industry within two years, when testing devices, valued at around $10,000 each, can be operating in the five major cotton-growing regions of Australia. The DNA diagnostic tests are also expected to be useful in grain crops, such as sorghum and pulses.
Research team
Glenn Graham, Chief Investigator and Assistant Director CID (UQ)
Dr Kirsten Scott, PhD, Senior Research Officer CID (UQ)
Leon Scott, Operations and Development Manager, CID (UQ) www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/scottlj.html
Dr Kendle Wilkinson, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, CID (UQ)
Corinna Lange, Senior Research Assistant, CID (UQ), Melissa Merritt, Senior Research Assistant, CID (UQ),
Dr David Merritt, PhD, Director, CID (UQ) www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/merrittdj.html,
Philip Armytage Development Manager, Cotton Growers Services Pty Ltd
Funding
1999-2000 GRDC ($67,000), CRDC ($67,000)
2000-2001 GRDC ($154,000), CRDC ($149,000),
UQ ($220,000)
2001-2002 GRDC ($117,000), CRDC ($114,000), UQ ($220,000), CID contribution ($15,000)
2002-2003 GRDC ($110,000), CRDC ($116,000), UQ ($220,000), CID contribution ($10,000)
g.graham@cid.uq.edu.au
d.merritt@zen.uq.edu.au
k.scott@cid.uq.edu.au
l.scott@cid.uq.edu.au
Web link
www.uq.oz.au/entomology/david.merritt.html
