All crop disease forecasting mechanisms on the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia (DAWA) website are now integrated to allow growers to more easily assess risk for the current cropping season.

It updates disease risk changes and will soon include DAWA observations on monthly plant samples received for disease diagnosis.

Thanks to GRDC support, growers and researchers can now better understand the biology of key plant fungal diseases, making it possible to estimate the risks associated with particular diseases in key crops in WA.

The website disease forecasts included are for blackleg in canola, rust in cereals, blackspot in field peas, anthracnose in lupins, barley yellow dwarf virus and cucumber mosaic virus.

To access the Plant Disease Forecast 2005, go to www.agric.wa.gov.au, select Pests, Weeds and Diseases and follow the link to Plant Disease Forecast 2005.