Investment

This project will build on the successes of previous investments and continue 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 will reduce the manageable impact of fungal diseases resulting in improved profitability and reduced financial risk for growers. The accuracy of these tools and information will be ensured through detailed epidemiology experiments and collaborative testing performed across Australia.

The project will conduct 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 will maintain and further develop 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. The project will release new management decision tools for upper canopy blackleg of canola and net blotches of barley. The project will develop and test 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 will also pioneer the delivery of decision tools through commercial third-party platforms so that decision support for disease management can occur as part of routine crop management processes.