Last year’s wet growing season created some severe disease pressure, and resistance ratings for some varieties have been adjusted accordingly. Photo: Joshua Fanning

THE newest editions of cereal and pulse disease guides are now available to download as mobile-friendly e-books from Agriculture Victoria’s website.

The 2023 Cereal Disease Guide and 2023 Pulse Disease Guide rank susceptibility of new and commonly grown grains and pulses including wheat, barley, oats, lentils, faba bean and chickpea.

The guides have been produced with support from Grains Research and Development Corporation and provide updated disease ratings and advice on reducing disease risk this season.

Growers should consult the current disease guide for the latest ratings and definitions to plan disease management.

Agriculture Victoria pulse pathologist Joshua Fanning said the varieties GIA Leader, PBA Hallmark XT and PBA Kelpie XT have been provisionally downgraded.

These varieties will need to be monitored more closely during 2023.

“It’s essential for growers to use the latest edition of the disease guide to inform their crop disease management strategy, as disease ratings are reviewed and revised annually,” Dr Fanning said.

“Last year’s wet conditions were highly conducive for pulse diseases across Victoria and have impacted the ratings of some varieties and some disease ratings have changed to reflect this.”

“Due to the high risk posed by stubble borne diseases growers should not double crop paddocks.”

Agriculture Victoria’s cereal pathologist Hari Dadu said the release of the updated cereal disease guide complements earlier advice this season from Agriculture Victoria.

“They contain the latest disease resistance ratings to assist growers with their crop disease management plans and help prevent grain yield loss this season,” Dr Dadu said.

“Within the guide, we advise on how to proactively manage crop disease risk particularly stripe rust, which wreaked havoc in wheat crops last year.

“Choosing a variety that is less susceptible to disease using the ratings in our guide is a recommended step to keep disease at bay.

“It’s also important for cereal growers to avoid managing disease solely through fungicide treatment; the guide has advice on reducing the risk of fungicide resistance through crop rotation.”

For pulse growers, this year’s edition of the Pulse Disease Guide will be of particular interest to growers as it includes new botrytis grey mould ratings for lentils.

The 2023 Pulse Disease guide and Cereal Disease guide are both available on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Source: Agriculture Victoria