BCG disease research 2023

BCG disease research 2023

Nick Poole has often said ‘The best fungicide for disease is dry weather’ and we can only hope we don’t see extremes of this in 2023. 2022 was however very different and proved a challenge for growers to know how to best manage disease in terms of product choice, timing and prioritisation. 

Seasonal conditions can vary dramatically across decile years in terms of rainfall quantities and patterns resulting in challenges around determining economic return on fungicide application and how best to implement integrated disease management strategies.  

For these reasons, in 2023 – 24 BCG has been granted a GRDC national grower network project to address the key challenges growers face regarding product choice, strategy and success in managing crop diseases, and determining economic thresholds. This will involve a mix of pre-planned trials with barley, wheat and lentils, as well as opportunistic work in these crop types within the Mallee and North Central regions. 

The trials  

The planned trials include wheat, barley and lentils at the Kinnabulla main site on the Lehmann family farm (25km north west of Birchip), as well as wheat and barley trials near Mitiamo. The strategies include seed treatments alone or in combination with foliar applications at critical growth stages as well as having consideration for financial outlay, through using cheaper versus more expensive options. To gain a full assessment of product response, varieties with varying levels of disease susceptibility were chosen while still aiming to have relevance to varieties commonly grown within the regions.  

Growers will see the effects of each treatment first hand throughout the season, gaining an understanding of disease identification, variety ratings, fungicide options and application strategies. There will also be a focus on ensuring growers are aware of integrated disease management strategies and fungicide rotation to ensure the limited options currently available have longevity. 

Looking at the forecast at this stage for the season, it could be easy to say disease may not be an issue this season, however growers need to keep in mind that build-up and carryover risk from the 2023 season is high, so it is important to remain vigilant. 

If you would like more information on this project, or have a disease outbreak during the season that would benefit from localised trial work, contact BCG on (03) 5492 2787.