Investment in science and industry development key to profitable agrifood sector 2

HIGHLIGHTS

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  This national project aims to develop disease response curves for selected varieties of wheat and barley representing various resistance categories.
  
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  A full experimental program is being deployed nationally, across all regions, with collaborators delivering disease assessments, grain yield and grain quality measurements across a targeted range of root and foliar diseases.
  
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  The research will provide growers with vital information on crop resistance categories with actual and potential yield loss for key diseases, and will help growers decide on suitable varieties and manage diseases.
  

Funding and collaborators

GRDC, DEDJTR, QDAF, NSW DPI, Foundation for Arable Research Australia, Victoria.

The project team met in Horsham for the first module leaders’ meeting and associated site visit, hosted by Dr Grant Hollaway (third right). DAFWA staff Dr Rob Loughman and Dr Manisha Shankar are first from left and fifth from right, respectively.

Trial on yield loss from stagonospora nodorum blotch at South Perth depict clear varietal differences in resistance.

Providing decision support tools for consultants and growers

Science Team: Jean Galloway (project leader), Dr Art Diggle, Dr Kawsar Salam, Geoff Thomas, Ciara Beard, Dr Ravjit Khangura, Dr Brenda Coutts, Pip Payne, Fumie Horiuchi, Bec O’Leary

The cost of diseases of cereals, oilseeds and pulses is over $1.4 billion per year. Managing diseases at the right time with the right control techniques does substantially reduce the losses from disease and increases farm income. This project will provide the grains industry with tools and information packages to aid decisions to minimise production risk and increase returns.

Our focus is on disease management of sclerotinia and blackleg in canola and yellow spot in wheat using predictions from a better understanding of disease spread and damage.

Fungicide decision support tools for these key diseases are being to determine the best timing and predict the economic benefit of fungicide application. These decision tools are being field tested with groups of potential users across the country.

Crop disease models for stripe rust of wheat, ascochyta blight of lentils, powdery mildew of mungbean, wheat streak mosaic virus and beet western yellows virus of canola and pulses are being developed with project partners in SA, Vic, Qld and NSW. These models will become the basis for decision support tools for major grain crops across Australia.

This project currently provides a web and SMS service to guide growers across Australia to make more informed planting decisions of canola and field pea relating to blackleg and blackspot.

Decision support tools to help growers and their advisors apply fungicides at the optimal time are being developed and tested with project collaborators and industry for blackleg and sclerotina in canola and yellow spot in wheat. New prediction models are under development for important fungal and viral diseases of wheat, pulses and canola.

HIGHLIGHTS

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  A mobile decision app will bring paddock and season specific information to growers and agronomists in the field to maximise returns and minimise production risk for yellow spot in wheat and blackleg and sclerotinia in canola.
  
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  Web and SMS services are guiding planting decisions for management of blackleg of canola and blackspot of field pea across Australia.
  
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  New prediction models are under development for important fungal and viral diseases of wheat, pulses and canola
  

Funding and Collaborators

GRDC, UWA, SARDI, DPI, DEDJTR, Marcroft Grains Pathology and USQ

DAFWA’s new decision tool will help weigh your risks when managing Sclerotinia and Blackleg in canola

PestFax: from paddock to print and back

Science team: Darryl Hardie (project leader), Cindy Webster, Svetlana Micic, Dustin Severtson, Ciara Beard, Kithsiri Jayasena, Ravjit Khangura, Geoff Thomas, Dr Brenda Coutts, Dr Daniel Huberli, Dr Sarah Collins, Art Diggle, Fumie Horiuchi, Alan Lord, Pip Payne, Jean Galloway

PestFax is an interactive reporting service, providing risk alerts, current information and advice on pests, weeds and diseases threatening crops and pastures throughout the grainbelt.

PestFax received over 1200 reports of pests and diseases from the grains industry in the 2015 season. The service is provided by DAFWA and co-funded by the GRDC. The PestFax newsletter publishes weekly pest and disease updates throughout the growing season to around 1000 subscribers.

PestFax provides a direct link for the grains industry to DAFWA’s experts in entomology, fungal diseases, viruses, weeds and nematodes. It provides readers with risk alerts, current information and advice.

The PestFax Map web tool shows the spatial distribution of reports of pests and diseases. The map is widely used by consultants and agronomists to alert their clients to prepare for likely pest and disease threats, and by chemical company representatives to support logistical movement of chemical stocks to where they will be needed.

Grain growers and agronomists can now report crop pests, diseases, weeds or other damage from their smart phone with the new PestFax Reporter app, helping to build a comprehensive picture of cropping issues during the season.

The app has been designed to quickly and easily report pests, diseases, weeds or other damage, like frost, by answering a set of straightforward questions.

The app also provides the opportunity to send a photograph of the cropping problem to aid identification or provide additional information.

The app can be used in locations outside mobile range, as the report is sent once the smart phone returns to an area with coverage or a connection to wifi.

These tools will improve management decisions by advisers, growers and industry personnel applicable to WA farm businesses by capturing accurate and representative field reports and delivering timely and regionally relevant information.