A survey of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) volunteers was conducted along the 1400 km of a cottonseed transport route in north-east Australia to determine the extent of naturalisation from spilt seed. In each year, 1% of the road distance was inspected for volunteer plants. The survey results were juxtaposed with the eco-climatic suitability predictions from inferential modelling. Over 3 years, 22 cotton plants were found at eight sites. Within the cotton production region, volunteers averaged 2.28 plants km )1 of road; their most likely source was seed cotton spilt during the previous harvest. Further north, three plants were found over 3 years, at an average density of 0.089 plants km )1 of road; all three plants were found in locations with a positive Ecoclimatic Index. No secondary spread was detected. Roadside slashing reduced plant survival and the potential to produce seed. In the wet tropics, weed competition and slashing prevented volunteers establishing. The surveys indicate that roadsides in north-east Australia are a hostile environment for the establishment of cotton plants, with no evidence of naturalisation or secondary spread. Current transport practices utilizing fully covered loads present negligible risk of producing naturalised populations of cotton (either transgenic or non-transgenic) on roadsides in north-east Australia.
The sterile insect technique (SIT) is increasingly being evaluated as a potential complementary strategy for pest suppression or elimination New Zealands export fruit sector has an imperative to meet strict international phytosanitary requirements together with increasing market demand for residuefree produce SIT is a pestspecific method of insect control that can complement current Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies Successful SIT presents significant challenges the target pest must be a good candidate for suppression and strong stakeholder and community commitment is required to achieve and maintain suppression until areawide elimination is achieved Emerging sterilisation technologies and refinement of existing methods are making this technology progressively more efficient and costeffective This study reviewed the advantages of including SIT in an IPM programme and described the first use of codling moth SIT in New Zealand A pilot programme is currently underway to evaluate its potential to achieve local elimination of codling moth in Central Hawkes Bay apple orchards
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