Grain growers, agronomists and farm advisers will be able to get the latest fungicide resistance news from regional experts next week.
A webinar delivered by the Australian Fungicide Resistance Extension Network (AFREN) will be streamed for each region:
- Monday, 16 August from 1.30pm AEST (1.00pm ACST) for South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania
- Wednesday, 18 August from 1.30pm AEST for Queensland and New South Wales
- Thursday, August 19 from 11.30am AWST for Western Australia.
The event will focus on recent fungicide resistance developments and issues in each growing region.
Monday’s southern presentation will be presented by Dr Tara Garrard from the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), Nick Poole from the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) Australia and Dr Steve Marcroft from Marcroft Grains Pathology.
Dr Garrard and Mr Poole will provide resistance updates for fungal diseases of barley and wheat, including recent detections of QoI resistance in septoria tritici blotch, while Mr Marcroft will focus on resistance management in canola.
Dr Garrard stresses that fungicide resistance is an important issue in both the high and medium rainfall zones of the southern region.
“Fungicide resistance in the southern growing region has developed rapidly during the past two years and understanding the issues in your local area is critical,” she says.
“We hope people will join the webinar and learn as much as they can about local risk factors.”
Wednesday’s northern presentation will be presented by Dr Steven Simpfendorfer from the NSW Department of Primary Industry (NSW DPI) and Dr Levente Kiss, Director of the Centre for Crop Health, University of Southern Queensland.
Dr Simpfendorfer says fungicide resistance is an important threat to crop protection in northern cropping systems.
“It’s easy to think fungicide resistance isn’t a big issue for the north but there are diseases of real concern, especially wheat powdery mildew,” he says.
“We hope people will join the webinar and learn as much as they can about local risk factors.”
Thursday’s Western Australian webinar will be presented by Dr Fran Lopez-Ruiz from the Centre for Crop Disease Management (CCDM) at Curtin University with Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia (DPIRD) specialists Geoff Thomas, Dr Kithsiri Jayasena and Andrea Hills.
Dr Fran Lopez-Ruiz, Centre for Crop Disease Management, Curtin University.
The presenters will provide updates on recent cases of fungicide resistance in barley net blotches, as well as resistance risks in wheat powdery mildew and practical strategies for limiting fungicide resistance development.
Dr Lopez-Ruiz stresses that fungicide resistance is an important issue throughout the grain belt, not just areas in the southern high-rainfall zone.
“Recent cases at Cunderdin have shown fungicide resistance can emerge under intense cropping systems in lower rainfall zones, so all growers across the western region cannot afford to be complacent,” he says.
“We hope people will join the webinar and learn as much as they can about their regional risk factors.”
AFREN represents a significant investment in the problem by GRDC, in partnership with the CCDM at Curtin University and a network of regional plant pathologists, disease management experts and extension specialists.
The project aims to provide growers with information and practical advice about fungicide resistance in common fungal diseases of grain crops.
Growers and advisers can also access a range of AFREN resources on reducing fungicide resistance risk through Integrated Disease Management (IDM) strategies and better fungicide usage planning.
These resources are available via the AFREN website.
To join the webinar for your region, please register to attend: