Western Australia
October 29, 2014

By GRDC western regional panel member Shauna Stone (pictured)

Western Australian grain growers were fortunate this year to largely escape significant crop damage caused by frost events. But this has not been the case in a number of past seasons.

Frost costs the national grains industry more than an estimated $360 million on average each year, and has inflicted some devastating losses on growers in the eastern states this year.

It continues to be a top priority for the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), and was again frequently highlighted by WA growers during 2014 GRDC western regional panel spring tours.

While frost itself may be sporadic and difficult to predict, frost research is constant and ongoing.

From 2014, the GRDC increased its investment in frost research by establishing the five-year National Frost Initiative.

Under this initiative, a number of interesting new projects - encompassing activities in the areas of genetics, management and environment - have recently hit the ground, additional to existing projects.

The initiative’s aim is to provide the Australian grains industry with targeted research, development and extension solutions to manage the impact of frost, and minimise seasonal profit variability.

This will deliver growers a combination of genetic and management solutions, to be combined with tools and information to better predict frost events.

Genetic-based research aims to develop more frost-tolerant wheat and barley germplasm and rank current wheat varieties for frost susceptibility.

Management solutions are also being investigated including determining whether growers can employ preventative approaches such as stubble and canopy management practices to reduce the severity of the frost’s impact.

One new management study is investigating whether frost tolerance in wheat can be induced by applying chemical compounds that can temporarily stimulate plant metabolisms and protect against frost.

Another management project is exploring the potential role of plant nutrition in protecting crops against frost damage. Measurements will be taken to determine if improved supply of boron, calcium, copper, magnesium, molybdenum and zinc increases the resistance of wheat to frost.

In addition to research focusing on genetic and management solutions, the third component of the GRDC’s frost initiative is environmental prediction. This work is focusing on predicting the impact of frost events on crop yields and mapping frost events at the farm scale to enable better risk management.

More information on frost and its impact on crops can be found in the GRDC Managing Frost Risk booklet which is available for viewing and downloading via www.grdc.com.au/GRDC-Booklet-ManagingFrostRisk.

A GRDC Fact Sheet on managing the risk of frost is available via www.grdc.com.au/GRDC-FS-FrostRisk. To assist with identification of frost damage in crops, the GRDC’s Back Pocket Guides are a useful resource and can be found at www.grdc.com.au/GRDC-BPG-FrostCereals and www.grdc.com.au/GRDC-BPG-FrostPulses.

The GRDC Hot Topic What to do with a frosted crop is available at www.grdc.com.au/FrostedCrop.

 

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

Published: October 29, 2014