Australia
January 10, 2006

Queensland and the northern half of New South Wales – the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s (GRDC) “northern region” – isn’t the greatest grain producer in the country but it sure comes up with some good ideas.

Like the one put forward by John Slatter, Pulse Australia’s crop support manager, to a recent Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F)  “think-tank” in Dalby.

John suggested the agronomist training and accreditation programs developed and presented by the department and Pulse Australia in recent years could be used in the on-going battle to control crown rot in wheat. 

The original accreditation courses for agronomists were developed to improve the reliability and overall profitability of mungbeans, and the process was extended soon after to cover chickpeas in Queensland and northern NSW.

With official accreditation provided through the Dalby Agricultural College, more than 500 private and public sector agronomists have now taken the chickpea and mungbean courses. And 200 more have attended unaccredited courses on field peas, lupins and faba beans. 

It’s estimated crown rot costs Australian graingrowers more than $50 million a year, prompting the GRDC to include the disease in a Strategic Initiative that also targets common root rot and Fusarium head blight.

John Slatter told the QDPI&F Consultative Forum in Dalby it’s generally accepted now that a farming systems approach will be one key to the eventual control of crown rot and that winter and summer pulse crops are important in wheat-based systems in the north.

But recent pulse industry debriefing and planning meetings had identified the need to provide graingrowers and agronomists with guidelines on the effective use of pulses in combination with other strategies to reduce crown rot in wheat.

The Queensland and NSW DPIs, consultants and Pulse Australia will support the publication of those guidelines in time to coincide with presentations on the latest crown rot research at the GRDC’s Grains Research Updates for advisers in Goondiwindi and Dubbo in February and March.

Growers are looking to larger chickpea plantings in 2006, because of the high levels of crown rot in 2005, the release of new, more disease resistant varieties and the success of better agronomy and management practices. 

John thinks a well planned extension program to provide further information to growers, and his suggested training for agronomists, would be timely and important for the wheat industry. 

He points out that combined action like this proved highly successful in the management of Ascochyta blight in chickpeas a few years back. 

And that, to combat crown rot and other wheat diseases effectively, the area planted to winter pulse crops and canola needs to treble over the coming years, subject to economic and market considerations.