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Australia - Victorian growers urged to plan ahead for cereal diseases


Australia
April 11, 2014

As cereal disease patterns continue to shift in 2014, Victorian grain growers are being urged to plan ahead for the coming season.

Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) Senior Plant Pathologist Cereals, Grant Hollaway, said that although wheat rust levels were predicted to be low and occur late in the season this year, growers still needed to make important strategic decisions to proactively manage the disease.

“The way conditions are at the moment, we wouldn’t see rust being much different in 2014 to what it was during 2013. We had low rust levels in crops at the end of the season and we’ve gone into quite a dry summer up until where we are now. At the moment we’d be expecting rust levels to be low,” said Dr Hollaway, whose work is supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

“That doesn’t mean growers should ignore rust, particularly stripe rust in wheat. They still need to work out how they’re going to manage rust, but they can adjust their plans in light of the fact the disease is likely to occur a bit later than it has in other years and the pressure will be a bit less.

“The varieties that we’re particularly concerned about are susceptible and very susceptible varieties. It’s important for people growing those varieties that, even though rust pressure will be lower, they know how to manage it. It’s very important for those most susceptible varieties that growers are proactive in their rust management strategies.”

Dr Hollaway said current predictions were that rust levels in wheat would be similar to what Victorian grain growers saw in season 2013, given a drier summer meant less plant material to fuel the disease.

“Rust needs living plant material to survive from one season to the next, so when we get a dry summer, there’s a lot less volunteer cereals growing, which means there’s a lot less opportunity for the rust to carry over.

“Last year we didn’t see stripe rust in wheat crops until quite late in the season, which was what we expected. We didn’t see any leaf rust or stem rust in wheat crops to any extent either and that was all to do with the dry summer conditions we had.”

While rust levels are tipped to be lower for the coming season, an old foe of Victorian grain growers appears to be gathering strength in parts of the State, according to experience from last season and recent research.

Dr Hollaway said septoria tritici blotch (STB), which had been prevalent in wheat crops in Victoria during the 1970s, was again posing a threat in certain areas.

Recent GRDC-funded research conducted by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries found STB to be resistant to many fungicides commonly used across Victoria’s High Rainfall Zone, which could be attributable to growers using fungicides with the same active ingredients repeatedly.

“What we saw during 2013 was that septoria tritici has become of increasing concern in the high rainfall area of Victoria,” Dr Hollaway said.

“During the 1970s, septoria had been regarded as one of the most important foliar diseases of wheat in Victoria.

“It’s only in the last couple of years that we’ve started to see septoria reoccurring in Victoria. In 2013, in the higher rainfall areas and the southern Wimmera, we saw septoria occur again as an issue. It’s something that’s going to need very active management by growers in those areas.”
For barley grown in Victoria this season, disease pressure is predicted to be high from spot form net blotch (SFNB), net form net blotch (NFNB) and scald.

For root and crown diseases, cereal cyst nematode (CCN) was reported in Wimmera and Mallee wheat crops last year, and the effects of take-all and Rhizoctonia were seen around the state. Root and cereal diseases can often be controlled with a one to two year break, including heavy control of weeds and grasses, with effective results. Root diseases, such as Thizoctonia and take-all are often more severe following a dry summer.

Dr Hollaway said when dealing with all cereal diseases, growers needed to consider their variety choice first, and then an integrated disease management strategy.

“The first thing growers need to think about is their variety selection. Importantly, in starting that process, people can consult their relevant cereal disease guide, and DEPI has recently published its Cereal Diseases Guide for 2014.

“There are changes that happen in disease ratings from one year to the next, so having a current guide is really important. When managing disease, it’s important to avoid varieties that are susceptible or very susceptible.”

Victorian DEPI is working on a number of GRDC-funded cereal disease projects, including screening of wheat and barley lines in the National Variety Trials for their reaction to a range of diseases, which is used to inform seasonal disease guides.

Victorian grain growers can access DEPI’s Cereal Disease Guide 2014 at http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/252664/VIC-Cereal-Disease-Guide-2014-v4.pdf

To view a video interview with Dr Grant Hollaway on cereal disease management, go to http://youtu.be/6BynFchNFbY 



More news from: GRDC (Grains Research & Development Corporation)


Website: http://www.grdc.com.au

Published: April 11, 2014

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