What a year. Drought, frost, and below average rainfall dominating many areas. Disease issues? Not so much. But no matter the conditions, always count on us to bring you news you can use from CCDM researchers. As our fungicide resistance expert Fran Lopez-Ruiz said in this podcast:
“Fungicide resistance hasn’t gone away, it’s still there, it’s just waiting for a more conducive season, and then it will be a problem we will have to deal with again in the near future.”
So what were 10 of our highlights that may be of use to you?
1. PRIM Tool launched
CCDM’s involvement in the Analytics for the Australian Grains Industry (AAGI) led to the release of the PRIM tool, an online tool that in its first release, can show the spatial distribution of fungicide resistance across Australia.
- Play around with the tool here.
- Read the Spotlight on the tool, and watch a demo video while you’re there.
2. New gadget in the lab speeds up detection
Fungicide resistance testing has improved big time, with the use of a new lab gadget called the MinION from Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which can detect multiple mutations – both known and novel – in one test. This is particularly useful for both net-form and spot-form net blotch, which both have their own suite of different mutations that allow the pathogen to be resistant to fungicides. CCDM researcher Kat Zulak said they can now use the device to rapidly determine the resistance profile of paddock samples and flag any new mutations and get results back to growers as quickly as possible. Watch the video here:
3. Case studies on growers carrying out rigorous on farm experimentation
You can see how growers have had some success with rigorous on-farm experimentation through the ‘On Farm Experimentation Grower Case Studies’ booklet, launched by CCDM in 2024. This project is led by CCDM’s Julia Easton and involves three farmers from Merredin, Nyabing and Kojonup in co-designing, developing and analysing paddock-scale trials using farm equipment to find solutions to nutrition management.
- Read the booklet here.
4. WA lupin varieties are highly susceptible to sclerotinia stem rot!
In a GRDC project with DPIRD, CCDM researchers Sarita Bennett and Pippa Michael were able to confirm the high susceptibility of commonly grown WA lupin varieties and how fungicides work to control the disease. Among other things they found fungicides were able to control mycelium growth on basal infection, however noted that getting the fungicide onto the mycelium with canopy closure can be difficult.
5. The trade-off between yield and disease resistance uncovered
Ever wondered why there seems to be a trade-off between breeding for yield and breeding for disease resistance? This was looked into by CCDM’s Mark Derbyshire in collaboration with UWA. Mark found that plant growth and defence is controlled by many molecular pathways that are incompatible with each other.
On the bright side, he said genetic pathways behind this antagonism don’t always mean choosing between disease resistance and yield. “While trade-offs may occur in some cases, both traits are complex and influenced by many factors. With new tools like genomic prediction, breeders now have better ways to manage these trade-offs and achieve stronger, less disease-susceptible crops.”
- Read the research review here.
6. Exploring lessons learnt from barley powdery mildew epidemics.
It wasn’t long ago when prolonged outbreaks of barley powdery mildew caused massive concern across the industry, particularly in WA, where extensive use of susceptible varieties and over-reliance on group 3 fungicides led to fungicide resistance. This review paper by CCDM’s Simon Ellwood, Fran Lopez-Ruiz and Kar-Chun Tan reflects on the comprehensive steps taken to mitigate the impact of this disease and the significant breeding efforts to introduce durable resistance into barley varieties.
To help with the emerging threat of wheat powdery mildew resistance, they discuss the need for diversified and sustainable disease management strategies
- Read the research paper here.
7. Crop Protection Forum came up with the goods in late November! Some important key themes emerged for the Southern Queensland region including:
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Steven Simpfendorfer presenting at the Crop Protection Forum
How we don’t all need to be plant pathologists to diagnose disease. We just need to know the basics. For example, it takes 7-14 days for disease to affect the leaf after it infects the leaf, therefore the top leaf cannot have disease, even though it may look like it does. Correct diagnosis leads to the correct management. NSW DPIRD cereals pathologist Steven Simpfendorfer covers this in detail in a recent podcast – listen here.
- Issues and solutions around the events topics were also discussed, including the barriers around communications from researchers to agronomists to share information with the growers, the challenges with herbicide resistance and fall armyworm management. Also how to think outside the box and how being proactive rather than reactive can help when it comes to resistance management. Read a short summary of each presentation on our LinkedIn post (and follow our page while you’re there!)
8. A seasonal update podcast episode covers some tips for 2025.
Here we interviewed three agronomists from WA, SA and NSW on how the season went, what to do differently and how to prepare for the next one:
- Rohan Brill from Brill Ag in the Riverina region said to prepare for next year, think about how to treat stubble. “They’re going to be quite strong in their nutrition, so probably ensuring the nutrition gets into the ground, so maybe grazing the stubbles to cycle the nutrients better into the soil.”
- Jana Dixon from Pinion Advisory, Freeling SA recommended growers manage cover over the summer, particularly on fragile soil-types. Also being careful about recency bias, and carrying out a comprehensive financial review and budgeting for the next couple of years.
- James Bee from Elders in Albany WA, said it was worth considering the new barley varieties that were coming through that have very good disease resistance, and to have a range of varieties in the mix. Soil amelioration will also continue in his region in 2025.
9. We know more about how pathogens infect the plant
By studying the pathogen that causes septoria nodorum blotch (SNB) of wheat, CCDM’s Kar Chun Tan and former PhD student Evan John were able to confirm the function of a key genetic mechanism that enables the pathogen to infect crops.
What’s so exciting about this? The team are hoping they can transfer this knowledge to other diseases that have the same genetic mechanism within them such as yellow spot of wheat, as well as blackleg and black spot of canola.
- Read the media release here
10. A CCDM student wins a national prize for speaking about lentil disease in 3 minutes!
Finally, we were so happy to hear our CCDM student Johannes Debler won the national FameLab competition, giving a 3 minute presentation on Ascochyta blight resistance in lentils. It’s not easy bringing this complex molecular biology research into layman’s terms!
Want to see how he did it? Watch the three minute video here:
Thanks for reading, watching and listening to our material in 2024, and get ready for more interesting releases in 2025! If you have a friend or a colleague who may be interested in our work, please get them to sign up at the bottom of our website so they don’t miss out.
