THE AUSTRALIAN COTTON INDUSTRY RESPONSE TO THE FUSARIUM WILT PROBLEM

摘要

Fusarium wilt of cotton was first recognized in Australia in 1993 and has since become widespread and significant. Thedisease was quickly identified as a threat to productivity and the Australian cotton industry responded accordingly. Thisresponse included: the establishment of a centralized free diagnostic service; the appointment of an extension coordinator andthe production of appropriate extension material; the promotion of the importance of farm hygiene to reduce the spread of thepathogen; the development of a seed production protocol; an investigation into the efficacy of fungicide treatments for seeddisinfestation; the development of intensive breeding programs to identify and incorporate local or overseas sources ofresistance; the development of an industry-wide protocol for describing and ranking the level of disease resistance in currentcommercial varieties; the implementation of a field research program to identify agronomic practices that would reducedisease incidence and/or severity; and the utilization of biotechnology to develop diagnostic tools and identify geneticmarkers and transgenic traits that might be of use to the breeding program. These research and extension efforts, thoughfunded and directed from different sources, are coordinated by an Australian Cotton Cooperative Research Centre - Fusariumwilt research coordination committee (FUSCOM) that organizes annual workshops and field inspections.