While the Australian cricket team has been gearing up for another season, CSIRO cotton breeders have already scored a century of their own, releasing their 100th variety of cotton.
The first variety was released in 1984.
“We’ve been working on breeding new cotton varieties since 1960 and while it took 24 years to release the first variety, cotton research has made great leaps since then,” CSIRO’s Dr Warwick Stiller said.
Dr Stiller, who leads CSIRO’s cotton breeding group at Narrabri works closely with growers, industry groups and partners.
“CSIRO and industry have invested significant resources in cotton research and it has been worth it. For every dollar spent on breeding, economic analysis shows that the dollar returns $165 to the industry, so although it is a long-term investment, it’s a good one.”
“Over the years we have had a fantastic partnership with Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) which has marketed all the varieties.”
In the list of 100, there are some real seminal varieties.
Siokra 1-4 was a breakthrough in yield and bacterial blight resistance, Sicala V-2 had a step change in verticillium wilt resistance, Siokra V-16 had a major advance in yield stability, fibre quality and dryland performance, Sicala 40 set the benchmark for high yield with earliness and Sicot 71 had broad adaptation and outstanding yield.
The important contribution that the late Dr Norm Thomson made in setting up the program cannot be underestimated and the capacity of Peter Reid (retired) to develop and deliver new varieties over a 30 years period has to be acknowledged.
The 100th variety, Sicot 75BRF, combines the best traits of all the varieties.
It is high yielding, produces excellent quality fibre and has outstanding resistance to fusarium wilt.
In the time that CSIRO has been developing cotton varieties, enormous improvements have been made.
Modern CSIRO cotton varieties combine all their excellent performance characteristics with Monsanto’s Bollgard II and Roundup Ready Flex traits and Bayer CropScience’s Liberty Link trait.
Growers only use half as much herbicide as they used to and only one fifth as much insecticide.
This benefits the growers’ bottom line and is good news for the environment and for everyone wearing Australian cotton.
For growers it also means less time out in the paddocks checking for pests and spraying.
“Instead of scouting for insects, growers can spend more time on improving other agricultural management practices which means greater productivity, so biotechnology has delivered many benefits,” Dr Stiller said.
Working on the development of new varieties are plant breeders in Narrabri and molecular biologists in Canberra.
In addition, breeders rely on entomologists and agronomists based at Narrabri to research better farming systems to allow new varieties to achieve their yield potential.
Today, the CSIRO breeding program is managed and funded through a joint venture between CSIRO and CSD called Cotton Breeding Australia. This is an excellent example of how government and industry can work together for the benefit of Australian agriculture, the CSIRO said.
Stephen Ainsworth, general manager of CSD said: “It is a remarkable effort to produce 100 varieties and CSD are proud to be associated with CSIRO in delivering high-impact cotton varieties to industry.”
Australia has the highest cotton yields in the world, and the CSIRO says it is proud to have contributed to this success, not only through its breeding program, but also through improvements in environmental, water and pest management.