SA agronomists will have the opportunity to attend soilborne disease courses that will be held to provide agronomists with the latest information to help growers minimise production losses on-farm.
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Cereal root diseases cost grain growers, on average, more than $200 million annually in lost production, and much of this loss can be prevented.
The root disease risk management courses will provide accreditation for delivering a world leading DNA-based soil testing technology which enables identification of the pathogens posing the greatest risk to crops.
A GRDC investment, PREDICTA B is a service provided by SARDI.
In recent years there has been a considerable expansion in the range of tests provided by the PREDICTA B service, with each soil sample now tested for up to 20 soil and stubble borne pathogens.
The most recent additions to the test include the foliar diseases yellow leaf spot in wheat and Sclerotinia stem rot in canola and pulses.
SARDI's soil biology and molecular diagnostics group Alan McKay said a feature of this year's events would be an update on a national pulse root disease survey that has investment from the GRDC and the South Australian Grain Industry Trust.
"This survey was instigated following several reports of southern region pulse crop failures in 2017, due to suspected root rot disease, which prompted further investigations of soilborne diseases of pulses," Mr McKay said.
"Pulse crops in different grain growing regions have been surveyed under this project, with most data so far coming from SA where the project has been running for two years," he said.
"Initial results suggest that pulse root diseases have been underestimated in Australian farming systems and that the risk has increased in areas where pulses are frequently included in the cropping sequence."
Dr McKay said each course would cover current problematic soilborne diseases for each region and include speakers who are national experts on each disease.
The Adelaide course will focus on Rhizoctonia root rot, Pratylenchus (root lesion nematodes) and crown rot;
Other course topics include interpreting and understanding PREDICTA B results; using it to make better informed variety, rotation and paddock management decisions; yield loss risk categories for established tests and population density categories for new tests; disease management options; soilborne diseases in dry times; and soil sampling strategies.
The courses will be held at the SARDI Plant Research Centre on November 7.
