RESEARCHERS are working to develop a new alarm system to help pulse growers stay ahead of fungal diseases such as chocolate spot and grey mould.
The aim of the GRDC-funded project, according to SARDI senior pulse pathologist Jenny Davidson and project officer Mohsen Khani, is to use data loggers to monitor environmental conditions in the crop canopy to determine when fungicides need to be applied. Spore traps are also being used to monitor the timing of spore release, which initiates disease.
"We know a lot about the disease conditions and what is happening out here with a weather station - the information we didn't have was what was going on in the crop," she said.
"Conditions can be very different inside a crop to outside."
She said the technology could have significant cost savings, give growers peace of mind, and reduce the risk of fungicide resistance.
"Growers all have a different attitude to risk, some will have a tendency to want to spray more but this is going to help them sleep at night, since the data will help them make the correct decision for economic disease control," she said.
In July, SARDI deployed the portable equipment into crops at Bool Lagoon, Frances and Bordertown.
It measures temperature and relative humidity every hour inside the crop canopy, while soil moisture records are taken every six hours.
The data is transmitted by narrow band telemetry to a server every six hours, and can be linked to a grower and agronomist's phones or computers.
Once the temperature reaches between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius and more than 70 per cent relative humidity for eight hours, Dr Khani says a warning is triggered, and if conditions remain the same for 12 hours, there is a red alert, meaning it is time to spray.
No warnings have been activated this year due to the drier-than-average season, but Dr Davidson still sees this as a win, as it demonstrates potential savings where growers need not have sprayed their faba beans.
"There are a lot of questions we still need to answer, like if we had a big disease risk, would the alarms go off early enough for growers to get out and spray?" she said.
"We have started at a conservative level of 70pc relative humidity, but in time we might be able to fine-tune it, with the literature showing these fungal diseases don't really occur until 80pc or even 85pc."
Dr Davidson says the technology could have applications for just about any rain-fed crop disease, with four lentil and faba bean sites also being monitored on the Yorke Peninsula and in the Mid North.
Whether it is cost-effective for individual growers to each have the data loggers or if the data can be collected on a regional basis is still being determined.
Elders Naracoorte agronomist and GRDC Regional Cropping Solutions panel member Adam Hancock says there is a strong appetite among growers and agronomists for such a decision-making tool.
"There is a big demand for a tool we can be confident in rather than spraying by growth stage, or growers working on fungicides lasting three weeks so it must be time to do it again," he said.
Data Effects has built and provided data loggers and IT supports for this project.
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