Grains Research and Development

Protecting your crop

This theme aims to develop cost-effective control options that prevent pests, weeds and diseases from causing crop yield and quality losses, and increase growers’ profit.

 

Existing control measures for pests, weeds and diseases require ongoing review in light of:

-- potential and actual incursions of exotic pests

-- changes in regulation of pesticide use and access

-- the need to

-- reduce the cost and increase the speed of delivery of resistant and tolerant varieties

-- manage herbicide and pesticide resistance

-- provide ongoing stewardship of gene technology and pesticide products to support long-term access.

 

The ‘Protecting your crop’ theme develops the cultural, chemical and genetic options available to manage key pests, weeds and diseases in each region. Management options need to take into account cost-effectiveness, resilience of control strategies and flexibility to fit different farming systems.

 

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Planned outcomes for Theme 3—Protecting your crop

Aspirational outcome (10+ years)

 

Australian grain growers managing their farms to maximise profit and reduce risk by

adopting effective, sustainable and efficient control of weeds, pests and diseases

 

A greater proportion of growers and their advisers monitor crops for pests, weeds and diseases.

- Breeders and pre-breeders use available genetic diversity for resistance and tolerance breeding.

- Growers and their advisers cost-effectively manage pests, weeds and diseases.

- A greater proportion of growers and their advisers use practices to increase pesticide longevity and reduce the risk of resistance.

> More than 70% of growers are aware of integrated weed, pest or disease management practices, and 50% use some form of integrated management methods on their farm.

 

- A greater proportion of growers and their advisers use surveillance and biosecurity measures to manage and prepare for incursion and containment of exotic plant pests, plants and diseases.

> At least 50% of growers undertake on-farm practices to maintain or improve their biosecurity.

 

- Breeders and pre-breeders use available genetic diversity to deliver varieties resistant to high-risk biosecurity threats.

- A greater proportion of growers and their advisers manage stewardship of pesticides and varieties to prolong pesticide effectiveness and ensure safety to health and the environment.

> 90% of growers undertake activities to delay the onset of or manage herbicide resistance in weed populations.

 

Effective, sustainable and efficient management of weeds

Growers use a combination of new genetic, biological, cultural and chemical weed management tools to reduce crop losses and minimise control costs.

 

Effective, sustainable and efficient management of vertebrate and invertebrate pests

Growers use a combination of new genetic, biological, cultural and chemical tools to reduce crop losses and minimise control costs of vertebrate and invertebrate pests.

Growers use a combination of new genetic, biological, cultural and chemical tools to reduce crop losses and minimise control costs of vertebrate and invertebrate pests.

 

Effective,sustainable and efficient management of cereal (non-rust), pulse and oilseed fungal pathogens

Growers use a combination of new genetic, cultural and fungicide management tools to control cereal (non-rust), pulse and oilseed root and foliar fungal diseases.

Growers use a combination of new genetic, cultural and fungicide management tools to control cereal (non-rust), pulse and oilseed root and foliar fungal diseases.

 

Effective, sustainable and efficient management of cereal rusts

Growers use a combination of new genetic, cultural and fungicide management tools to reduce crop losses and minimise control costs of cereal rusts.

Growers use a combination of new genetic, cultural and fungicide management tools to reduce crop losses and minimise control costs of cereal rusts.

 

Effective, sustainable and efficient management of viruses and bacteria

Growers use a combination of new genetic and cultural management tools for the control of viruses and bacteria.

Growers use a combination of new genetic and cultural management tools for the control of viruses and bacteria.

 

Biosecurity and pesticide stewardship

Effective biosecurity and science-based support for pesticide and genetic technology stewardship.

Effective biosecurity and science-based support for pesticide and genetic technology stewardship.

 

Effective, sustainable and efficient management of nematodes

New genetic, biological and cultural management tools for the control of nematodes are delivered.

  • Core DRT Database to Support the Ground Application of Pesticides (boom sprayer), accommodating Nozzles, Formulations and Adjuvants

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    30.06.2011
    GRDC Project Code
    UQ00060
    Region
    National
    Institution
    University
    R&D Area
    Crop Protection

  • Pathways to registration. Tactical pesticide registration program

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    30.06.2011
    GRDC Project Code
    AKC00005
    Region
    National
    Institution
    Private Consultant
    R&D Area
    Crop Protection

    The combined effects of changes in pest management needs, e.g., through resistance, regulatory activity, market access and registrant indifference with respect to generic pesticides, is placing increasing pressure on grains, pulse and oilseed industries to pursue gaining access to needed alternative pest and weed management options. A potentially serious outcome of the lack of pest management options can be the use of unapproved pesticides or inappropriate choices for pest control. The impact of such actions can be to compromise industry efforts to develop best management practices, e.g., in resistance management, and market access through the detection of unwanted pesticide residues in crop or animal commodities, jeopardise QA accreditation as well as have negative trade implications. While APVMA minor use permits are potentially available for non-major industries, as a means of gaining access to pest management options, permits are not generally an option for major broadacre agricultural industries. More recently, the option of gaining label extensions via Category 25 applications has been explored and appears to provide an alternate avenue for gaining regulatory approvals for major industries.The proposed modification to the pathways project aims to secure access to necessary pesticide options generally not available to growers via pesticide manufacturers and formulators. Industry can support Category 25 applications via critical data development, undertaken through ongoing liaison with industry stakeholders regarding priority needs and consultation with manufacturers and federal regulators on data requirements and availability.

  • Study of surface inversions and Sigma Theta relationships and development of grower tools to manage spray drift risk.

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    30.06.2011
    GRDC Project Code
    MRE00001
    Region
    National
    Institution
    Private Consultant
    R&D Area
    Environment / Climate / Land Mgt

  • Understanding and Management of Resistance to Group M, Group L and Group I Herbicides - National Project

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    01.06.2011
    GRDC Project Code
    UA00124
    Region
    National
    Institution
    University
    R&D Area
    Crop Protection, Crop Products

    Herbicide resistance is a major risk to crop production in Australia. No-till cropping is highly reliant on herbicides for weed control. The loss of herbicides to resistance will increase costs to growers, increase the difficulty of management and threaten the sustainability of farms. This project will seek to prolong the life of glyphosate, paraquat and Group I herbicides through better understanding of the herbicide resistance problem, better decision making and demonstration of resistance management strategies in a whole farm situation. Discussions will be held with other users of these herbicides where resistance may impact on the grains industry to develop better practices and reduce the risk to grain growers.This project will develop better understanding of resistance to glyphosate, paraquat and Group I herbicides to better inform weed management. The project will develop a range of tools for farm advisors to improve their confidence in decision making with respect to reducing the risk of glyphosate, Group I and paraquat resistance. These will include risk assessments, case studies and scenario exploring tools. The project will investigate the potential for alternatives to these herbicides, concentrating on knockdown uses and Group I herbicides for Brassica weeds, which may prove useful in Australian agriculture. The project will discuss with commercial providers the potential for new herbicide registrations. The project will establish farm advisor learning groups to work on the application of the research in local areas where resistance is already a major problem and to improve adoption of research outcomes from this and other projects.The outcomes of the project will be primarily aimed at farm advisors, but will also be of benefit to grain growers and others in the industry.

  • New strategies for phenotyping reproductive stage frost and chilling tolerance in wheat.

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    01.12.2010
    GRDC Project Code
    CSP00143

  • Adult Plant Resistance and strategic fungicide use for integrated management of cereal rust, S. nodorum blotch and yellow spot in wheat

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    01.07.2010
    GRDC Project Code
    US00053
    Region
    South, West
    Institution
    University
    R&D Area
    Crop Protection

  • Australian Centre for Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens; Phase 3 Pleosporales Functional Genomics

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    01.07.2010
    GRDC Project Code
    CUR00012
    Region
    National
    Institution
    University
    R&D Area
    Pre breeding research

  • Biological Suppression of Root-lesion Nematodes in Grain-growing Soils

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    01.07.2010
    GRDC Project Code
    DAQ00164
    Region
    North, West, South
    Institution
    State Government
    R&D Area
    Crop Protection, Agronomy/Farming Systems

    This project encompasses a focused research program to understand the nature of suppressiveness of northern grain-growing soils to root-lesion nematodes. Disease suppression is the ability of a soil to suppress disease incidence or severity even in the presence of the pathogen, host plant and favourable environmental conditions. Suppression can be abiotic and biotic. This theme focuses on the biotic component and how it can be influenced by management practices. Root-lesion nematodes, the focus pest in this project, costs the Australian grain growing industry in excess of $250 million/annum and 25% of these occur in the northern grains region.The components of this research project cover general suppressiveness, specific suppressiveness, the role of the soil food web in suppressiveness and enhancing suppressiveness through farm management practices. Studies will compare the general suppressiveness of different soils through the use of glasshouse bioassays, examine suppressiveness at different depths in the soil profile (since root-lesion nematode populations tend to be highest at depths of 30-60 cm), identify and isolate the natural enemies and parasites of nematodes, and determine whether endophytes might be involved in nematode suppression in northern grain-growing soils. Soil selected for their suppressiveness tor fungal diseases from southern Australian will also be assessed for their ability to suppress root-lesion nematodes.It is unlikely that suppressiveness will be due to the activity of a single organism. It is more likely that a consortium of organisms within the soil food web is involved. Thus an important part of the project will be to understand the type of food web required to achieve suppression and how such a food web can be maintained. Nematode community analysis (which quantifies the bacterial feeders, fungal feeders, omnivores and predators in the nematode community) will be used to determine the structure and enrichment status of food webs in suppressive soils and the predominant decomposition channel (fungal or bacterial) in the detritus food web. Other measurements (e.g. pH, Total Organic C, labile C, Total N, mineral N , microbial biomass C, catabolic activity) will provide information on the chemical and biological status of the soils. Relationships between these parameters and suppressiveness will be used to identify the type of biological community required to achieve suppressiveness and the key factors (e.g. quality or quantity of C inputs) driving the development of suppression.

  • Characterisation of effector proteins from necrotrophic fungal wheat pathogens

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    01.07.2010
    GRDC Project Code
    ANU00016

  • Crown rot germplasm enhancement for wheat : University of Sydney and SARDI components

    Research & Development

    Grains

    Date
    01.07.2010
    GRDC Project Code
    US00054

    This project aims to develop wheat germplasm with levels of resistance/tolerance to crown rot superior to all cultivars currently available to growers, in backgrounds based on elite bread wheat varieties. The background elite varieties to be used were selected by the wheat breeding companies and represent most of the bread wheat growing regions of Australia. The project has two components; one based in the University of Sydney will focus on wheats adapted to the Northern Region and will use a strategy of Marker Assisted Recurrent Selection (MARS). The second component based in SARDI will focus on wheats adapted to southern and western Australia, will also use molecular markers but will focus on more conventional crossing strategies. Both components will rely heavily on phenotypic screening of lines and will use a variety of adult plant and seedling screening technologies but evaluation in field nurseries at Narrabri and Roseworthy, as well as further independent yield trials, will be critical in ensuring the value of the germplasm to breeding companies. Selection of lines with good agronomic characteristics as well as improved crown rot reaction, will be a key component of the selection procedures, thus enhancing the utility of the output lines to the breeding programs. Another project managed by DEEDI and the University of Southern Queensland will provide assistance through access to improved resistance sources and the use of molecular markers linked to the genes of interest.