Browsing by Author "Olsen, D"

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Soil health tools of the trade
(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2018) Olsen, D
Soil health tools of the trade
Solving Yellow Canopy Syndrome
(BSES, 2014) Olsen, D
The project has made progress in addressing its four key objectives. Those being: i) To provide leadership in terms of industry focus and communication ii) to identify the causal factors of YCS iii) to develop management strategies to mitigate YCS impacts and iv) to assess the efficacy of remote sensing as a diagnostic tool
Starch accumulation in sugarcane in response to stress
(ASSCT, 2016) Joyce, P; Don, NH; Sousa, M; Olsen, D
Yellow Canopy Syndrome (YCS) is a new problem affecting the Australian sugar industry. It was first reported in 2012 and has increased in occurrence and spread from the initial reports in North Queensland to further south in Mackay last year. While the causal agent is still unknown, several physiological studies have been performed. This paper examines the accumulation of starch in sugarcane leaves. This was an initial observation in YCS affected leaf sections of tillers of KQ228A. Subsequently, a method for routine high throughput qualitative analysis of starch has been developed, enabling rapid assessment of this response. Follow up work has compared this phenomenon in affected stalks, both between leaves of different ages within a stalk, as well as within regions of the same leaf. The accumulation of starch in sugarcane plants in response to biotic stress and in naturally senescing leaves has been undertaken to understand this phenomenon better and will be described in this paper. Our results showed that unlike YCS affected leaves, starch did not accumulate in the leaves of diseased plants nor in senescing leaves collected from the field.
WinRHIZO software for evaluating effects of farming systems on sugarcane root systems : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper
(ASSCT, 2019) Di Maggio, L; Olsen, D; Verrall, R
Sugarcane roots are notoriously difficult to study. The opaque nature of the soil matrix, large biomass, and ratooning habit of the crop make studying roots challenging. WinRHIZO is a specialist root analysis software that provides rapid and accurate measurement of a host of root characteristics in a fraction of the time that it would take by traditional methods. This paper demonstrates the use of WinRHIZO to evaluate root systems under different farming systems management. A paired site was identified in the Herbert district consisting of two commercial sugarcane blocks. One was conventionally managed while the other was under an improved farming system. Importantly, both blocks had been farmed this way for more than 14 years. WinRHIZO analysis found root systems in the fields managed under improved farming systems showed significant improvement in total root length, proportion of fine root hairs, root biomass, and many other root properties. This technology has wide ranging applicability as a tool for measuring the impact of farming decisions on root health.
Yellow Canopy Syndrome update
(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2013) Olsen, D
SRA is leading the Solving the Yellow Canopy Syndrome research project, which is funded by the Sugar Research Development Corporation, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Queensland (DAFFQ) and BSES. With our project partners – Burdekin Productivity Services Limited (BPS), Herbert Cane Productivity Services Limited (HCPSL) and DAFFQ – we have made good progress in ruling out some possible causes and setting up new trials to learn more.