Encouraging results from southern field trials of a new biological agent to combat snails in grain crops have researchers on track for development of a commercial control.

Recent Grains Research and Development Corporation-funded field trials of the nematode-based control on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, where snails are a major pest, have been declared a success, enabling scientists to progress with more refined field trials to be conducted this year in SA and Victoria.

The Victorian trials will also target slugs which were a significant problem in that state’s cropping regions during the 2011 growing season.

The new age of information technology is catching up with the age-old problem of weeds in cropping systems.

Heralding a new era in the provision of information to Australian grain growers, an innovative smart-phone application is being launched today to assist southern cropping region growers in identifying weeds growing on their properties.

The Grains Research and Development Corporation’s Weeds: The Ute Guide application provides growers with a free-of-charge weeds identification service that can be accessed anywhere at any time.

The application is designed to be used in the paddock by growers to assist in identifying the most common annual, biennial and perennial weeds in southern Australia.

GRDC Regional Grower Services’ Manager of Delivery Platforms, Tom McCue, says the weed identification application represents a major advancement in communicating industry knowledge to growers.

“Most grain growers carry a mobile phone with them wherever they go so the GRDC is adapting its information resources to enable growers to have ready access to data and facts when that information is needed most,” said Mr McCue.

Speaking at the application’s launch, which took place during a National Integrated Weed Management Initiative Committee meeting in Adelaide, Mr McCue said the GRDC was planning to convert a number of its popular hard-copy Ute Guides into mobile phone applications.

Grain growers are being encouraged to avoid pesticide spray drift by developing an understanding of weather conditions conducive to spray drift.

Recognition of conditions that lead to a surface temperature inversion is particularly important as the potential for spray drift is high when this occurs, according to industry authorities.

Spray consultant Bill Gordon, whose work is supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), says surface temperature inversions commonly develop overnight, when the ground loses heat and the low-level air cools.

“This results in air temperature increasing with height and the temperature profile is said to be inverted. When this occurs close to the ground it is called a surface temperature inversion,” said Mr Gordon, of Bill Gordon Consulting, Lawrence (NSW).

“Unlike warm air that rises, cool air is dense and remains at the surface. Sprays applied in these conditions can become trapped in this cool air layer.

“Once trapped, unpredictable air movement can transport droplets away from the target area.”

Meteorologist Graeme Tepper, of MicroMeteorology Research and Educational Services, said when surface inversions exist pesticides in the air can move long distances at high concentrations near the surface and adversely impact non-target receptors, often in directions and locations that could not be estimated from general weather patterns.

Grain growers in Western Victoria are being advised of an increased risk of snails contaminating grain this harvest.

Snail contamination can result in clogging of machinery and potential downgrades of cereals, pulses and oilseeds.

Victorian entomologists warn that the build-up of extreme snail populations during the 2011 cropping season in the State’s west has increased the potential for significant issues at harvest.

PestFacts South-Eastern co-ordinator Dr Paul Umina, of cesar, says growers must monitor snail populations (particularly numbers that are similar in size to grain) prior to harvest to determine the need for header modifications.

“They should also be to be aware of receival standards for grain contaminated with snails,” said Dr Umina, whose work is supported by growers and the Australian Government through the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s (GRDC) investment in the National Invertebrate Pest Initiative (NIPI).

Dr Umina said that during spring snails increasingly move into the crop canopy in preparation for summer aestivation.

“This means that any snails in the canopy above cutting height and also in windrows are often harvested along with the grain.

“If snails are present in crop canopies or windrows at harvest time, the options available to growers to reduce snail contamination are limited.”

The GRDC Board is accountable to Australia's grain growers, through the industry peak organisation and to the Commonwealth Parliament, through the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The GRDC Board normally has between seven and nine directors.

The Chairman is selected and appointed by the Minister. Mr Keith Perrett was appointed by the Minister on 1 October 2007, and reappointed until 30 September 2013.

The Managing Director is appointed by the Board of the Corporation. The Managing Director is the sole Executive Director and holds office at the Corporation's pleasure. John Harvey was appointed as the GRDC’s Managing Director on 1 March 2011.

Five to seven Directors are appointed by the Minister, on advice from a selection committee selected by the Minister. On 22 November 2011 the Minister announced the appointment of 6 directors, until 30 September 2014.

In cooling night conditions airborne pesticides can concentrate near the surface and unpredictable winds can move droplets away from the target. Understanding weather conditions can help spray applicators avoid spray drift.

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During the harvest period, biosecurity risks are heightened due to factors including extensive movement of vehicles and machinery, and the exchange of seed between growers.

Agronomists and growers who find chickpea crops affected by ascochyta blight are urged to send samples to the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) at Tamworth as part of this season’s diseases survey.

Agronomists and growers who find chickpea crops affected by ascochyta blight are urged to send samples to Agri-Science Queensland in Toowoomba as part of this season’s diseases survey.

The responsibility to avoid herbicide residues in delivered cereal, pulse and oilseed grains sits squarely with grain growers and their advisers.

The application of herbicides late in the season to prevent weeds setting seed or to desiccate crops must be carried out with caution and in line with herbicide label recommendations.

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