Report your frost observations
Growers are encouraged to report frost observations via our free PestFacts Reporter app and online reporting tool, to assist in department analysis and research endeavours.
Report onlineFighting frost damage in cereals
We are working to provide growers with accurate and current information on how present and emerging farming practices change the severity of frost events and their impact on crops, and agronomic management packages that can change frost damage.
What research are we currently doing?
The department is a key partner in the Grains Research and Development Corporations' frost research projects, which aim to provide the Australian grains industry with targeted research and development solutions to manage the impact of frost and minimise seasonal profit variability.
The department leads the western node of two national wheat genetic frost projects. These projects aim to:
- Identify and validate metabolite and lipid biomarkers associated with decreased levels of frost damage in wheat plants at the flowering stage, in a broad diversity of germplasm (CSP2310-008 RTX).
- Determine the impact of wheat morphological and anatomical traits on frost sensitivity quantified in controlled environment experiments and field trials. These results will be reported to Australian wheat breeding companies to support their efforts to reduce the susceptibility of wheat to frost damage at flowering (CSP2307-003 RTX).
In another project, we have screened products to reduce the impact of ice nucleating bacteria.