Project Leader: Warwick Stiller

Key Researchers: Warwick Stiller, Shiming Liu, Warren Conaty, Heidi Clements, Greg Constable, Danny Llewellyn (QA)

Brief Summary of Project Objectives: 

The aim of this long-term project is to develop improved cotton varieties adapted to Australian growing conditions and producing fibre suitable for export markets.

Market/ end user: Australian cotton growers

Estimated year to uptake by end user: 

Varies based on germplasm and trait package. A minimum of eight years is required to develop a commercial variety, but some may take more than 20 years.  Releases of varieties containing Bollgard 3/XtendFlex are possible from 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and ongoing evaluation of their economic and agronomic fit in Australia. During the 2022/23 growing season there is a Limited Release of Bollgard 3/XtendFlex planned for commercial trials/evaluation.  

Executive Summary:

This project has delivered significant industry outcomes in the form of new varieties and trait packages that have completely displaced previous varieties and traits. Three main varieties containing Bollgard 3/RRF (Sicot 714B3F, Sicot 746B3F and Sicot 748B3F) make up the majority of the Australian market. While not widely grown, Sicot 754B3F has proved itself with a premium fibre package that has enabled some growers and merchants to achieve significant price premiums. Two varieties containing Roundup Ready Flex were released – Sicot 711RRF, which replaced Sicot 71RRF, and Sicot 812RRF which has better staple specifically for the dryland industry. Two new conventional lines were also released, Sicot 620 and Siokra 250. These are high performing lines that address the concerns of some growers that we are not providing choice and locking them in to having to grow varieties with GM traits. One of the most exciting developments has been the limited release of a new variety, Sicot 606B3F. While it has no improvement in fibre length and strength it does have a better micronaire than the current full season varieties when grown in the southern regions and it has performed particularly well from a yield, maturity and growth habit perspective both in CSIRO experiments and CSD trials over the last three seasons.