GROWERS are urged to monitor crops and apply fungicides as soon as practically possible following a number of reports of barley leaf rust and wheat stripe and leaf rusts across SA and Vic.
Agriculture Vic cereals senior plant pathologist Grant Hollaway said with forecast rain, there was likely to be an increase in rust as the season progressed.
“Growers need to be monitoring crops and making decisions now for applying fungicides,” he said.
“Growers will need to consider the growth stage of their crop, yield potential, variety susceptibility to rust and the level of rust in the crop when deciding on a fungicide strategy.
“As the weather warms during the coming weeks the speed of rust development will increase, which is why growers need to make their control decisions now.”
Rust has been reported in barley and wheat crops in the Mallee and Wimmera.
Wheat leaf rust is present at low levels, but it is likely to increase as temperatures warm during spring.
In SA, recent warmer weather will likely have enabled a rapid spread of leaf rust in wheat and barley, according to SARDI pathologist Hugh Wallwork.
“Virulence in leaf rust on the new barley variety Compass has been detected on the EP and a crop of Compass was found to be severely infected in the Mallee near Sherlock,” he said.
“Compass is now rated as very susceptible (VS) to leaf rust.
"This means that barley crops across the state should be closely monitored from now on as infection is likely to move rapidly in the more susceptible varieties.
“In wheat, leaf rust is still mostly at low levels although a report from the West Coast suggests that infection in warmer areas has started to become more serious.
“This is why it is vital that unprotected wheat crops are monitored carefully from now on.
“A shortage of some fungicides means that options for spraying are more limited than we would like. Growers and advisers need to bear this in mind when planning ahead.”
