“Good crop disease management will be required in 2024 due to the early summer rain events and potential disease risk in south-east of Victoria,” Agriculture Victoria Research Scientist Dr Hari Dadu has confirmed.
The cereal disease expert will be outlining his approach at the BCG Members’ Only Trials Review Day on Friday, February 23, at the Birchip Leisure Centre.
“I’ll be discussing the importance of off-season and in-crop strategies to manage cereal diseases during 2024. This will include the advantages of removing green bridge by mid-March, use of cereal disease guide to select better varieties and the importance of paddock selection,” Dr Dadu explained.
“I’ll also highlight the status of fungicide resistance in Victoria and detail the strategies to slow the fungicide resistance development and protect their longevity.”
Yield Losses
Dr Dadu will also be discussing the results of 2023 trials which showed significant yield losses due to disease despite the dry spring.
“AgVic trials during 2023 demonstrated yield losses of up to 28 percent and 18 percent in susceptible varieties due to Septoria tritici blotch (STB) in wheat and Net form of net blotch (NFNB) in barley, respectively,” Dr Dadu reflected.
“Yield losses due to STB in Mallee were reported for the first time. In both crops, avoiding highly susceptible varieties reduced disease risk and yield losses. Fungicides were found effective where susceptible or worse rated varieties are grown.”
Other Topics
Other topics covered on the day will include farmer and adviser experiences, grid sampling at a paddock scale, silicon in wheat and lentils, long coleoptile for moisture management, crop disease research, Rosinweed and Star of Bethlehem management, insects in harvest weed seed control systems, vetch for risk mitigation in dry times, soil microbial indicators, slug and snail management, pulse varieties update, the latest cereal varieties and protein mapping experiences.
As a members-only event, attendees will have first access to the 2023 BCG Season Research Results compendium to be released on the day.
Opportunity
“BCG Trials Review Day also offers a wonderful opportunity for members to connect, meet new people and catch up with other farmers, researchers, agronomists and industry representatives from across the region,” BCG Senior Extension Manager Kelly Angel said.
BCG Trials Review Day is a members-only event. To become a member visit www.bcg.org.au/memberships. To secure your place at BCG’s Trials Review Day, register at https://www.bcg.org.au/event/bcg-trials-review-day/. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m..
This project received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 19 January 2024.
