Research priorities
- Use ‘Smart’ methods for the early detection of pests, weeds, and diseases.
- Reduce chemical footprint: reduced or no pesticides.
- Understand the biology, epidemiology, ecology, and adaptation to identify weak spots.
- Integrate new technologies into farm and regional management packages.
- Work with growers, grower groups, and agronomists for profitable WA farming systems.
Priority projects
The NGDSI is a groundbreaking national initiative with a focus on biosecurity. The DPIRD Crop Protection team is conducting research to help provide the grains industry with fast, accurate diagnostics for key industry personnel, including growers, to enable timely management decisions that reduce the impact of biotic threats on grain crops.
Start date: 3/03/2023
Finish date: 3/03/2028
Project description
The NGDSI is a groundbreaking $42.7 million national initiative with a focus on biosecurity led by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) in partnership with five state government agencies. However, there is also a significant component allocated to addressing diagnostics, surveillance, early warning and forecasting of established pests and diseases. With the increased threats of chemical resistance evolving in pests and diseases, the decrease in number of traditional taxonomists and time delays in accessing this expertise, the increasing cost of inputs, and an increase in the number of looming biosecurity threats, this research is not only timely but essential to supporting the grains industry, grower decision-making, and food security for Western Australia.
Timeliness of detection and response are critical to success when it comes to both exotic incursions and management of endemic threats. For example, early detection of an exotic pests or diseases can mean the difference between successful eradication, long-term management costs for growers, or the devastation of a crop or an industry. In the case of established pests and diseases, if the pest or disease is detected early and over a limited area, it may be easier to severely restrict growth and spread of the infestation and use fewer resources in doing so.
In addition to detecting pests, rapidly and accurately identifying them is essential for proper biosecurity and management action. In the past, identifying pests and diseases required specialists who were often located some distance from the paddock. There are new techniques and tools that can make diagnostics more accessible and faster. The department’s Crop Protection team is conducting research across three of the four NGDSI themes to help provide the grains industry with fast, accurate diagnostics for key industry personnel, including growers, to enable timely management decisions that reduce the impact of biotic threats on grain crops.
Theme A
Adoption of modern quantitative PCR (qPCR) and HTS platforms as diagnostics standards for the Australian grain industry
Theme B
In-field or near field diagnostics systems advanced and implemented for near real time identification of biotic threats
Theme D
Forecasting seasonal occurrence, magnitude and distribution of diseases and pests
This project will enable and support growers to implement specific integrated weed management strategies to reduce the economic impact of brome grass across the low rainfall zones of the Western and Southern Regions.
Start date: 01/03/2023
Finish date: 30/03/2028
Project description
Great brome is a serious weed of many Australian cropping regions and is widespread across the sandy soils of the low-medium rainfall zone of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and south-western New South Wales. It is a highly competitive weed that can cause significant yield losses and is especially damaging in dry years.
The control of great brome has previously relied upon Group 2 (B) herbicides in cereal crops and Group 1 (A) grass selective herbicides in broadleaf crops. However, resistance to both herbicide groups is developing in great brome populations.
Practical farm management relies heavily on Clearfield technology (Group 2 herbicides), which can be very effective. However, reliance on this chemistry is not sustainable from a resistance management standpoint. It has potential rotational restrictions and has caused market access concerns for barley. Therefore, alternative multi-faceted management strategies need to be proven at a local level.
Brome grass Integrated Weed Management (Brome RIM) modelling demonstrates that sustainable control of brome requires a multi-year approach. These modelling scenarios show there are gains to be made through current knowledge but require localised research and demonstration. The Facey, WANTFA, and Liebe grower groups are conducting trials to develop regionally appropriate management strategies.
This project will also address the need for research into potential new innovative control tactics, given limitations by herbicide use and the long period required to drive down brome grass seedbanks.
Funding partner: GRDC-PA
Project code: UOA2303-006RTX
Wheat and barley growers in the low rainfall zone and medium rainfall zone of the Southern and Western Regions will be able to reduce the impact of Rhizoctonia on their crops through gaining new knowledge on the risk of the disease and implementation of new disease management strategies.
Start date: 10/06/2022
Finish date: 30/06/2025
Project description
Sound disease management strategies are required for growers to minimise the impact of Rhizoctonia in the low rainfall zone and medium rainfall zone of the Southern and Western regions and southwestern New South Wales.
Grower Network members indicated Rhizoctonia was a serious issue, with observations that every paddock had some level of damage. A recent situation analysis of wheat diseases in the Western region indicates that yield loss due to Rhizoctonia was as much as 20% in the northern Kwinana West, Kwinana East, and Esperance port zones.
An integrated and cost-effective approach that includes cultural, chemical, and biological management strategies needs to be developed as genetic solutions do not exist for Rhizoctonia.
Whilst some fungicidal solutions are available, they are not economically viable. A greater understanding of the true economic impact of Rhizoctonia and thus thresholds for disease management, and alternative disease control options are required for the low rainfall zone and medium rainfall zone.
This project will:
- provide knowledge on the economic impact of Rhizoctonia for growers in the low rainfall zone and medium rainfall zone of the Southern and Western regions and southwestern New South Wales.
- provide new knowledge on Rhizoctonia, such as the impact of earlier drier sowing, and herbicide interactions on the disease epidemiology.
- explore cost-effective and practical alternative management strategies (cultural and biological), ensuring the development of disease risk and management strategies that are practical and economical for growers to reduce the impact of Rhizoctonia in the Southern and Western cereal growing regions.
Funding partner: GRDC
Project code: DAW2206-006RTX
Australian grain growers will be able to reduce the manageable impact of fungal disease using validated decisions support tools in managing the major diseases of cereal, oilseed, and pulse crops.
Start date: 01/12/2021
Finish date: 30/09/2026
Project description
A big component of production stability is the management of major impacting diseases in ways that are cost effective and environmentally informed based on host, pathogen, and climatic knowledge. With increasing disease pressure due to changing pathogen virulence, climatic conditions, and farming systems, opportunity exists to develop robust decision support tools to enable growers to make informed, timely disease management decisions that are economically viable.
This project builds on the successes of previous investments and continues to deliver improved decision making for management of key foliar fungal diseases in cereal, oilseed, and pulse crops.
Through the production and delivery of management tools and targeted risk information, Australian grain growers can reduce the manageable impact of fungal diseases, resulting in improved profitability and decreased financial risk. The accuracy of these tools and information will be ensured through detailed epidemiology and collaborative testing performed across Australia.
This national project, funded by the GRDC and led by the department, conducts detailed epidemiology, disease management, and validation experiments in all relevant grain growing regions, targeting yellow leaf spot and stripe rust of wheat, net blotches of barley, Sclerotinia and blackleg upper canopy infection of canola, Ascochyta blight of chickpea, and chocolate spot of faba bean.
The project maintains and further develops existing management decision tools and products for blackleg and Sclerotinia of canola, stripe rust and yellow spot of wheat, powdery mildew of mungbean, and blackspot of field pea.
New management decision tools will be released for upper canopy blackleg of canola and net blotches of barley, as well as the development and testing of prototype decision tools and modelling frameworks for further high priority diseases, including Ascochyta blight in chickpea, chocolate spot of faba bean, and Sclerotinia of lupin.
The project pioneers the delivery of decision tools through commercial third-party platforms so decision support for disease management can occur as part of routine crop management processes.
Funding source: GRDC
Project code: DAW2112-002RTX
This project will provide growers, advisers, and researchers with knowledge on the distribution and information to correctly identify the 'Dongara weevil' that is currently damaging canola crops in the Western Australian wheatbelt.
Start date: 05/12/2022
Finish date: 31/03/2025
Project description
Understanding the extent and distribution of the Dongara weevil aids in conserving Australia’s biosecurity and biodiversity status.
Additionally, a preliminary understanding of the host and environmental preferences and the taxonomic classification of the pest is important for the development of tools and information to correctly identify the pest, build a better understanding of the pest and ultimately assist with the development of effective management strategies.
This project aims to expand the understanding of the weevil’s distribution in Western Australia, determine some of the factors that influence the incidence and severity of crop damage caused by this species, and identify or describe the ‘Dongara weevil’. This information will be pivotal to better informing possible future initiatives of managing this unidentified crop pest.
Funding partner: GRDC
Project code: DAW2212-001RTX
The aim of this study is to determine if Desiantha weevils are resistant to current insecticides and to investigate their biology (host plants and environmental cues) to identify improved management options.
Start date: 01/01/2023
Finish date: 31/12/2024
Project description
Desiantha weevils are a common pest of canola seedlings in Western Australia, especially in the Albany and Esperance port zones. Growers rely on insecticide applications for weevil control. However, spray failures are reported every year.
Spray failures for the control of Desiantha weevil could be due to this pest developing resistance to the synthetic pyrethroid insecticides, which are the main group of insecticides used. The failures could also be due to spray applications not being applied when the adult weevils are actively moving in paddocks.
Through a series of bioassays, this project will investigate if Desiantha weevil populations across Albany and Esperance port zones differ in susceptibilities to insecticides.
It is clear from the current challenges with this pest and reliance on insecticides that options other than chemical application are needed.
Given that little is known about the biology and ecology of this pest, research will be undertaken to identify the host range for larval development and determine if weevil activity can be linked to environmental cues, such as humidity, temperature, season, and photoperiod.
This information can be used to determine optimal spray windows, areas for spray application, and identify other weak links in the pest biology that could be targeted through alternative management tactics.
Improved management practices for Desiantha weevil based on its biology, mean control measures could be implemented early to prevent significant crop loss. This is especially important as future projections in WA are for a shorter growing season, meaning there will not be a window for re-sowing crops, if Desiantha weevil adults or larvae cause significant seedling loss.
Funding source: COGGO
Project code: COGGO2023 1
This project will provide growers with access to improved best practice approaches to manage pest molluscs effectively and economically in their production systems to minimise losses and maximise market opportunities.
Start date: 18/04/2023
Finish date: 01/05/2026
Project description
Several snail species of European origin have established in Australian cropping regions and become significant pests of grain crops. Snails attack seedling crops, resulting in plant damage, yield impacts, and losses associated with the costs of resowing and field control.
Additionally, snails can climb crop plants in spring and contaminate the grain harvest, leading to significant harvest costs, such as the need for post-harvest grain cleaning. Affected growers experience losses, such as grain value downgrades and receival rejections. Snails therefore pose serious market access risks for the industry.
Mollusc management consists of an integrated, year-round approach comprising of cultural, mechanical, and chemical (baiting) methods.
Methods currently used for snail control are physical control methods prior to crop sowing (such as stubble burning, slashing, rolling, cabling, and grazing), chemical control methods prior to crop harvest (such as baiting in the field with registered baits), and physical control methods at, or after, harvest (such as use of a modified header, grain cleaning).
Even when performed exceptionally well, these management strategies are not effectively reducing mollusc pressures.
This project focuses on four species of European pest snails and includes a range of inter-related activities that directly address priority areas. The range of activities is designed to provide immediate management outcomes for growers, including new tools and technologies, supported by an increased understanding of snail biology and ecology.
Funding source: GRDC-PA
Project code: UOA2205-005RTX
This project will demonstrate the value and suitability of electric weed control, a new thermal technique to Australian agricultural industries, to improve existing weed management programs and reduce reliance on herbicides.
Project description
Weeds are the one of largest threats to global food security and environmental integrity globally, and herbicides are extensively used to keep weeds at bay. However, the use of such chemical measures is currently under threat from widespread development of herbicide resistance and increasing social pressure to reduce chemical use both across Australia and globally.
Glyphosate is at particular risk and is the most widely used herbicide for weed control in agricultural, industrial, and urban areas. Such loss of herbicides threatens the successful control of a wide range of nationally distributed weeds in a variety of scenarios across Australia.
This has ensured the need to consider alternative management options, including electric weed control. Electric weed control devices deliver a high voltage current to the weeds and their root system via electrodes that are in direct contact with the plants. This energy transforms into heat and bursts the weed’s cells, killing it or supressing its growth.
DPIRD research scientists have been trialling electric weed control in an Australian-first project. This project will assess the efficacy of the electric weed control machinery in a variety of trial sites that represent the various conditions experienced in Western Australia.
The objectives of the research are to assess:
- the efficacy of electric weed control on Australian weeds
- the impact of electrocution on the biology of plant pests in Australia
- the range of situations in which this technology may be of use in Australia
- the practicality of this technology in Australian systems.
Funding partners: CRDC-GRDC-Wine Aust
Project code: DAW2303-002OPX
This project will provide growers with an increased awareness of the impact of virus diseases, leading to an increased profitability through the adoption of virus resistant varieties and implementation of virus and insect vector management strategies.
Start date: 01/07/2023
Finish date: 30/05/2028
Project description
By reducing crop yields and spoiling seed quality, virus diseases constitute a serious threat to global food, with an estimated annual impact of over AU$40 billion.
Currently, 4 major viruses have been detected as serious threats in cereals, 4 in oilseeds, and at least 9 pulse viruses.
Whilst recognising high prevalence and incidence, losses from viruses were originally estimated to be low. However, recent research has demonstrated significant yield losses are occurring even in the absence of virus symptoms, suggesting that yield losses from virus infections are being severely underestimated.
Barley yellow dwarf viruses (BYDV) in wheat and barley can reduce yield by 1% for every 1% of virus incidence, while Turnip yellow virus (TuYV) in canola is capable of 0.4% yield loss for every 1% incidence. Similar yield losses are observed in pulses, and it is expected that viruses will become an ever-increasing constraint to the expansion of high value pulses into higher rainfall production regions of Australia.
The remarkable diversity of plant viruses and their vectors makes it impossible to implement ‘one-size-fits-all’ control solutions. Developing successful management packages for viruses therefore relies on understanding the potential virus-induced yield impacts and the access to diverse options for the control of viruses and their vectors.
This project will provide strategies for effective virus management in grain crops by:
- surveying virus prevalence, incidence across Australia
- quantifying yield losses and promoting grower awareness
- establishing protocols for variety disease resistance ratings
- developing strategies for management of virus infections in the field using biological sprays
- investigating genetic strategies for resistance to virus infection and virus spread via insect vectors.
Funding partner: GRDC
Project code: DAW2305-003RTX