A Pulse Australia proposal for Variety Specific Agronomy Packages (VSAPs) aims to ensure growers and the industry in general maximise the benefits from new crop varieties, particularly improved disease resistance.

Pulse Australia¹s program manager, crop support, John Slatter, says pulse plant breeders will be releasing a number of new varieties ­ in most major pulse crops ­ over the next few years.

"These varieties will have a range of new features, with most having improved levels of disease resistance," Mr Slatter said.

"But, while there¹ll be significant benefits for farmers in the improved disease resistance, often they will not involve full resistance or immunity.

"Consequently farmers and agronomists alike need to know how to manage the enhanced level of resistance to achieve the benefits incorporated into new varieties by the plant breeders.

"A similar level of understanding will be required for other new features, such as better grain quality or ease of harvest characteristics."

Mr Slatter said Pulse Australia envisaged a VSAP as a one-page summary of the key reasons for the release of a new variety, including its strengths and weaknesses, and how it should be managed relative to common, current varieties.

It would be readily available to all growers and agronomists and be supplied to farmers who would be encouraged to ask for a VSAP before buying seed of a new pulse variety.

The information in a VSAP would be based on what was available from current breeding and supporting research activities at the time of a new variety release, and be updated as experience and data were accumulated after release.

Development and publication of individual VSAPs would be the prime responsibility of breeders and marketers, and to avoid additional costs should be considered at the initial stages of planning promotional material for new varieties.

Pulse Australia¹s role would be to assist as required in bringing information together and extending the package to agronomists and growers.

"The Pulse Australia crop support team has held formal and informal discussions with industry right around the country over the last 18 months, and is now at the stage of circulating its final draft of the VSAP concept," Mr Slatter said.

"Earlier this year we circulated a questionnaire asking for comment on our VSAP proposals and received replies from five state agencies ­ representing research and extension ­ farmers, private consultants, agronomists and the seed industry. All were in favour of VSAPs."

Mr Slatter said information supplied with some new variety releases in the past had been very good, but often it was not as concise and open as the VSAP proposal.