Reducing the costs of pest management may be looked at in two ways. These are the actual reduction of chemical costs which must be balanced against the need to maintain or enhance yield.

Of the five species of Heliothis in Australia, only two, Heliothis armigera and H. punctigera are major economic pests. They are clearly the major pests of cotton in all production areas.

Heliothis spp. have two main attributes which give rise to their pest status and make them difficult to manage (see Fitt this volume).

The development and release of SIOKRA, the new okra-leaf variety, has created considerable interest with respect to pest management.

Each furrow irrigation waterlogs most of the root zone of cotton in cracking clay soils. This deprives the roots of oxygen, they take up less water and nutrients. and this reduces growth and yield.

Answers to the questions : How do I find and use probes for scheduling irrigations? Are they used as the only scheduling tool? How do we use our water most effectively?

Early crop protection is a controversial subject in modern pest management. Grower magazines in Australia and the U.S. carry articles expressing firm opinions both for and against.

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The visits to research institutions proved extremely enlightening and valuable.

To determine the various factors affecting the loss of activity of insecticides on cotton over time.

This 3 year study examined the relationships between catches of Heliothis adults in monitoring traps and the abundance of eggs on cotton crops.

* Testing various versions of SIRATAC on a commercial scale. * Ptoviding a database of the response of cotton to damage. *Comparing the response of the new varieties Siokra and DP90 with DP61.