Emissions Reduction Fund: ‘fertiliser efficiency in irrigated cotton’ method

The Department of Environment has been busy over the last year making new greenhouse gas emissions reduction methods available for use under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). A number of these are designed to benefit the farming sector, including a ‘fertiliser efficiency in irrigated cotton’ method released in December 2014.  

The ERF is the federal government’s centrepiece for emissions reduction, and will be used to purchase lowest cost abatement. Participation in the ERF is voluntary and open to everyone. Interested parties must establish a project which must follow…

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Water running short? How do we manage our irrigations?

When water is limited growers may need to change from their normal irrigation practice to optimise yield, quality and water use efficiency. As with fully irrigated production, the aim is to limit or minimise the amount of stress on the crop. Cotton’s response to water stress depends on the stage of growth that stress occurs, the degree of stress and the length of time the stress is present.

In order to determine when to irrigate under limited water conditions it is important to monitor both crop water use and crop development as the timing of stress can have significant impacts on…

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Late season irrigation management

Many crops, particularly in the northern regions, are fast approaching cutout. Cutout occurs when the plant has 4-5 nodes above white flower (NAWF) and generally occurs late January to mid February. This is the time of the last effective flower which can be used to plan irrigations after cutout.  End of season water requirements can be determined by estimating the number of days until defoliation and predicting the amount of water likely to be used over this period.

Last effective flower and cut out dates

The date of the Last Effective Flower can be used to…

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Rainy day and cloudy implications?

How will the plant respond in cloudy weather? This blog from CottonInfo technical specialists Susan Maas and Sally Ceeney (with input from researchers Stephen Yeates, Michael Bange & Ian Rochestor) investigates...

Cloudy weather and rainy days can impact plant growth. Low temperatures can lead to establishment issues and unusually cloudy or rainy conditions can change the look of the plant - plants may produce bigger leaves in response to generally low radiation. Root development can also be affected, as root systems do not need to seek out moisture at…

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